The majority of Greek writers have held that this kind of oratory is entirely concerned with addressing public assemblies and have restricted it to politics.
[13]
For he, who would have
all men trust his judgment as to what is expedient
and honourable, should both possess and be regarded as possessing genuine wisdom and excellence
of character. In forensic speeches the orator may,
according to the generally received opinion, indulge
his passion to some extent. But all will agree that
the advice given by a speaker should be in keeping
with his moral character.
[p. 487]
Quintilian. With an English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1920.
The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.