Rhetorical History Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

iRlmfOruC, WOMEN AND' Rhetoric rvas the art or ,to teach, to mLrve. 31 i1 persuaJe lt rr'as instrtrrtionalized rechne (in Grcek) thar sought and codificd bv the likes of the \lSl,::le. Ii. :e:-.:,.r ned ROman him Cornificius) $,ho penned the Rhetorica ad Herennium (Four Books on Rhztoric' Addressed ro Gaius Herennius), ancl then by Quintilian, in hrs Instrrutio oratoTld (Trainingof' OratoTs,first cenrur-v, Cr ). According to the dicrum of Cato, it was practtced by "the good' man [urr bonr.is] skLlled in speakrng." The rnfluence of this doctrLne of rhetoric-as oliy an art bur also as a moral force-spanned an in.rpressive interdisciplinary scope; cxtending far beyond larv and pohtics into rheologl, philosophy, literature, pedagogy, a4d perl-raps of greatesr interest in the contert of this volume, tl.re cultural construction '0 gender. j As earlv as rhe {irst cenlury, rhetorical rheorists had elaborated a compiex hermeneutlCi ",;,#:tii., ilJt* by which to conceptuatize the ge'de r oi the speakinF 'nt::";{; rorte, lncluJrng :uch fearure, a5 inronatlon, musicalrrl , arrd uhat ue might f'" l"t ,,te sticular" (because of its rnale-centeredness) language of tire body. in a fascinating untiirelativell'recently,egregiouslyneglectedaspectofrherhetorlcalcorpus'rve theorists discussu-rg rhe various sexuai identities of the oratorical voice as "mascul ,,femrnine,,,or,,effeminare." First and foremost, cato's "good men" \\'ele to sene 1 State in its poiitical bodies and law coLrrts with a vinle (note presence of Latin r'ir [ma'1 agarn) e loquence devoid of any rraces of femininitl, or effemrnac\'. For example' in prllar of the medievai educarional system the Rhetortca ad Herennium' the P'euJo-C claimecl that "sharp exclamations" in oratory were "sulted rather to femrnire 'utcn'ur ro manl1, dLgntry lad virtlem dtgutateml in speakir-rg" (Ad Here,,ttum, J, I I ' tt tt U:: Tj true fcrr other manrfestations of rhetorrc such as philosophv, music, e pi.. ll-,j :heaier' u,hich dastardh, traces effeminacy ar-rd prosttturion had infiltrateJ Qulr':rir-':^ ::el the