ABSTRACT
Let us first consider the most obvious function of rhetoric, to teach men how to speak well. If Roman rhetoric succeeded at all in doing this, it was to some extent justified. And undoubtedly it did succeed. The intensive training in speaking which the Roman received made him a ready speaker, a good debater, quick to see the pros and cons in any situation, able to put his material in order, to hold it in his mind and produce it as required. The advocate in the forum, the politician in the senate or outside it, the commander among his troops, the man of letters in conversation, could say what he wanted to say easily and effectively.
