Rhetoric and Roman Political Culture

Forensic advocacy was a highly specialised area of oratory, demanding not simply highly developed rhetorical skills but also a detailed knowledge and understanding of Roman law and competence in witness cross-examination. Oratory played an important part in Republican political culture, but individual politicians had a high degree of control of the extent to which they themselves spoke. A basic organisational principle of the Roman Republic was the lack of differentiation among its elite in terms of the functions they might be expected to perform during their careers. The conclusion, for rhetoric just as much as for the other skills and activities which make up the political culture of the Roman Republic, is that no single factor can adequately explain its working. In this highly individualised and intensely competitive world, the ability to speak persuasively was a valuable asset and rhetoric, therefore, a skill of persistent interest to the elite