Note 79 — Chapter III · RHETORIC IN THE DE ORATORE AND ORATOR OF CICERO[1]

Sandys notes that the avowed object is “criticism, and not direct instruction.” This, however, is part of Cicero’s literary method and of his habit of scorning the manuals. As to his main topic, elocutio, he writes doctrina as definite as that of De oratore on the other parts; and though his headings are not all conventional, his outline and order are thoroughly systematic.