Lectures on Rhetoric and Oratory: Delivered to the Classes of Senior and Junior Sophisters in Harvard University, Volume 1Before becoming President of the United States, John Quincy Adams was a Harvard professor of language, rhetoric and oratory, with this book comprising his lectures. Published in 1810 when Quincy Adams was in his forties, this work is a collection which demonstrates the breadth of knowledge which he passed to students eager to learn about the arts of speaking. The early lectures cover the basic principles of oratory and eloquence in the context of public speaking, and the origins of rhetoric as a celebrated art form in ancient Greece and Rome. It is clear that the author possesses an intense knowledge of the subject and its professional application. Later on in the text are more specific lectures, such as the importance of perfecting oratory for the courtroom, and the personal qualities a good speaker should cultivate. Keeping tight control of one's emotions when speaking or debating with others, and delivering compelling lectures from the church pulpit, are also discussed at length. Although this material is well over 200 years old with much of the language archaic by modern standards, the ideas and principles espoused by Quincy Adams remain both relevant and important to students and those working in fields where speech is vital. |
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... Rome LECT . V. Cicero and his rhetorical writings · 95 117 LECT . VI . Institutes and character of Quinctilian 139 LECT . VII . Constituent branches of rhetoric b · 161 CONTENTS . LECT . VIII . State of the controversy.
... Cicero , whether eloquence is an art , worthy of the cultivation of a wise and virtuous man . To assist us in bringing the mind to a sat- isfactory result of this inquiry , it is proper to consider the art , as well in its nature , as ...
... Cicero , planted upon the rostrum . She ascended the tribunals of justice ; there she found her child , Persuasion , manacled and pinioned by the letter of the law ; there she beheld an image of herself , stammering in barbarous Latin ...
... de- sired . A subject , which has exhausted the genius of Aristotle , Cicero , and Quinctilian , can neither require nor admit much additional illustration . To select , combine , and apply their precepts , 28 INAUGURAL ORATION ,
... Cicero , and Quinc- tilian himself . Rhetoric , says Aristotle , is the power of inventing whatsoever is persuasive in discourse . } This is liable to two objections . First , as it includes only one part of the art , invention , omit ...