Machiavelli and the Rhetorica ad Herennium: Deliberative Rhetoric in The Prince
A portion of classical rhetorical theory of particular interest in a Machiavellian context is that which deals with the ethical ends (fines) of deliberative, or political, oratory. The theoretical account of this issue that presents the closest affinities with Machiavelli's rhetorical practice...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sixteenth Century Journal Publishers, Inc.
1997
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| In: |
The sixteenth century journal
Year: 1997, Volume: 28, Issue: 4, Pages: 1109-1141 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | A portion of classical rhetorical theory of particular interest in a Machiavellian context is that which deals with the ethical ends (fines) of deliberative, or political, oratory. The theoretical account of this issue that presents the closest affinities with Machiavelli's rhetorical practice is that of the pseudo-Ciceronian Rhetorica ad Herennium, which gives equal weight to security and honor as the ends of political deliberation, supplies tactical guidance to orators seeking to argue the case for security over virtue, and identifies force and deception as the means by which security is achieved. The amoral character of this account of the ethics of political counsel tended to be obscured within medieval and humanistic traditions of commentary, which sought to bring the anonymous work into moral alignment with the rhetorical writings of Cicero and Quintilian. The force of traditional moralizing interpretations of Ad Herennium may, however, be conjectured to have been weakened by the doubts over the text's Ciceronian authorship that gained ground during Machiavelli's lifetime. |
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| ISSN: | 2326-0726 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The sixteenth century journal
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/2543571 |