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Shelby Saxon

December 3, 2015

ENGL 353

Dr. Murray

The Timeless Rhetorical Tradition

Throughout the documentation of Ancient Greek rhetoric, to medieval rhetorical text, and

into modern rhetorical tradition, the core foundation of techniques used in different types of

oration has remained consistent. The studies and philosophical theories of Greek rhetoricians set

the standard for argumentative and persuasive speech that is still currently used and taught.

Many new scientific, medical, and mathematical discoveries have been made, altering ideas and

beliefs that were once widely accepted. However, the art of discourse is still used in, primarily,

the same way that the very first philosophers intended it to be. Adopting many ideas from

Aristotle, Cicero’s Orator contains several of the rhetorical foundations that can be traced to

current speech techniques, over two millennia later. These ideas include the concept of topoi,

different speaking styles, and the purpose of speaking. This paper will explore Cicero’s works,

other scholars’ findings on the subject, and a few examples of modern speech, comparing and

contrasting Ancient Greek rhetoric to modern styles and discussing why these similarities or

differences may occur.

Cicero’s works are known for thoroughly teaching and discussing topoi. Topos (plural,

topoi) is a Greek word defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “a traditional motif or theme

(in a literary composition); a rhetorical commonplace, a literary convention or formula” (“topos”

def. 1). In other words, topoi are the rhetorical structures made famous by philosophers like

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Cicero. In his 2011 journal article, Muhammad Khan describes topoi with greater detail, in

regards to Aristotle and Cicero:

Topos was systematically developed by Aristotle as a method or theory that could help

students discuss every kind of controversial subject…. The analysis in the book makes it

clear that the purpose of the theory was to develop a system on the basis of which pupils

could construct arguments and counter-arguments in any discipline. In other words,

Aristotle was a pioneer in systematizing a system of argumentation that could have

universal applicability, and which later provided Cicero with the basis on which to apply

the concept in the rhetorical tradition of Rome. (Khan, 813).

Cicero not only applied the concept in the rhetorical tradition of Rome, but also established the

global rhetorical tradition that has continued for thousands of years.

One of the specific examples of topos in Orator is the low, medium, and high style

differentiation. Cicero explains that, “he, then, will be an eloquent speaker…who can discuss

trivial matters in a plain style, matters of moderate significance in the tempered style, and

weighty affairs in the grand manner” (343). In opposition to the idea that the greatest orators

spoke only in a “fancy” style with a high level of vocabulary, Cicero iterates that there is a time

and place for each style. In order to be an effective speaker, one must know when and how to use

these different manners. Augustine further touched on these low, medium, and high styles in his

medieval work, On Christian Doctrine. Not only did the basis of Cicero’s theory on styles

extend into the Medieval Era with authors like Augustine, but also into the current structure of

discourse.

At the 2013 Kids’ State Dinner, President Obama gave a speech to the attendees. Some of

the statements he made included, “I wanted to come by because you all look so nice” and “I hear

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the food is pretty good” (Obama). By opening his speech with a relaxed demeanor and joking

about only stopping by for the food, he has connected with the audience—specifically a younger

one. In this case, the plain style was necessary. “A speech of this kind should be sprinkled with

the salt of pleasantry…humour and wit, “ Cicero continues (341). As Obama proceeded, his style

began to change. The jokes began to tone down, and the introduction to the purpose of the

speech came into play. “Eating healthy, living healthy…you are setting up habits that are going

to be great for your entire life, and you’re setting up a good example for your classmates”

(Obama). This example correlates with Cicero’s statement that “the second style is fuller and

somewhat more robust than the simple style just described” (341). President Obama is not

speaking in a way that is difficult to understand, but his tone is more serious and is being used to

charm the audience. He compliments them and does not let their achievements go unnoticed. The

first and second style are strategically placed to set up the audience to accept the grand style that

Obama moved into when he said, “you are helping to create a stronger and healthier America,

and that saves us money; it means people are not as sick, our healthcare costs go down…”

(Obama). Since the president is still speaking to children, he does not necessarily change the

caliber of his vocabulary, but he is discussing a weighty matter. America’s financial and

healthcare issues are important subjects that Obama was able to tactically draw into a speech at a

children’s dinner. True eloquence, like Cicero documented, is reached when these styles can be

fluid among each other. One does not always come first or last, but instead they are used as

needed and wherever most strategic. Throughout the Kids’ State Dinner Speech, President

Obama continually resorts to the plain style with humor and wit at opportune times, so as not to

lose the young audience’s interest.

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As examined in Obama’s speech at the State Dinner, there cannot be a separation

between the speaker and the audience. Gary Remer, in “Cicero and the Modern Concept of

Representation,” states that “the moral, as opposed to simply expediential, character of these

ideas; and the basis of these ideas in the rhetorical situation, in which orator and audience…are

interdependent” (1064). Since this article discusses the similarities between Cicero and modern

rhetoric, it is understood that the interdependence of an audience and speaker is a theory

belonging to Cicero. That being said, Obama’s speech not only contains the styles explained by

Cicero, but also the orator to listener relationship. Speechwriters, however, may not always be

aware that they are using Cicero’s topoi in their work. “I do not claim that they were necessarily

conscious of acquiring these quintessentially Ciceronian concepts, or the different parts of the

standard account, from Cicero” (Remer, 1064). Since the ideas of Cicero are so commonly used

without direct credit to the originator, the adaptors may not even know from whom they are

deriving their structures. It is very possible that President Obama delivered this speech,

containing Cicero’s style differentiations, having no idea that his techniques dated back to

Ancient Greece. Despite the lack of origination knowledge, it is still accepted that Cicero

influenced the use of these topoi from ancient to modern rhetoric because “[writers] are heirs,

regardless of whether they were cognizant of their intellectual debt to Cicero, because he is the

source of certain prominent ideas about representation and that they structure their arguments

about representation along Ciceronian lines” (Remer, 1064).

Another example of topos in Cicero’s Orator is the purpose of argumentation: to prove,

to please, and persuade. “The man of eloquence whom we seek…will be one who is able to

speak in court or in deliberate bodies so as to prove, to please and to sway or persuade” (339).

Similar to the appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos from Aristotle, each of these rhetorical

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techniques serves a vital and specific purpose in a well-rounded argument. Cicero articulates that

“to prove is the first necessity” (339), and this appeal, like that of the style differentiations, can

be found in a number of modern political speeches.

In the first democratic debate of 2015, presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said, “it is

immoral and wrong that the top one-tenth of one percent, in this country, own almost ninety

percent, almost as much wealth as the bottom ninety percent.” Facts or statistical figures, such as

these, are necessary when attempting to prove. Being able to prove a point does not alone win an

argument, though. The next appeal is to please which Cicero calls charm. There are a few ways

one could go about charming an audience. Sanders uses an emotional standpoint in his debate to

defend democratic socialism: “When you look around the world you see every other major

country saying to moms that when you have a baby, we are not going to separate you from your

newborn baby because we’re going to have medical and family paid leave like every other

country” (Sanders). By referencing a subject that every mother or family with children can relate

to, he is targeting a large portion of his audience and connecting his political standpoint in a

pleasing way. Mothers with children who hear this speech are immediately engaged and drawn

into the idea that Sanders is trying to promote. Lastly, Cicero mentions that “to persuade is

victory; for it is the one thing of all that avails most in winning verdicts” (339). Facts and

emotions aside, the final outcome is in the sway a speaker can have on an audience. After

presenting his proving and pleasing appeals, Sanders leaves the audience by saying, “those are

some of the principles I believe in, and I think we should look to other countries and learn from

what they have accomplished for their working people” (Sanders). This was the closing

persuasion that specifically stated what Sanders was arguing. The proving and pleasing appeals

led him into this major point that attempted to “win the verdict” (Cicero), or in this case, political

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debate. Bernie Sanders’ debate answer is one of countless amounts of political discourse that

contains the topoi of proving, pleasing, and persuading.

In “The Ancient Argumentative Game: Topos and Loci in Action,” Sara Rubinelli

describes topos as “a pattern which leads speakers to focus on interpersonal, emotional and

linguistic aspects surrounding the production of arguments, including ways of tailoring certain

contents according to the audience…” (262). The explored contents of Bernie Sanders’ debate

answer contained emotional aspects that were tailored to the audience. The majority of

Americans who watched this debate were working class citizens, and many of them were parents

with children who have had to go back to work after having a child. No matter their political

views, the audience could connect to this emotional plug. Had Sanders been in a different setting,

the tailoring could’ve been adjusted.

At the start of my research, I originally intended to find and discuss not only the

similarities of ancient and modern rhetoric, but the differences as well. After deeply studying

Cicero’s topoi in Orator and researching other colleagues’ findings on the subject, I have found

that there are no apparent differences. Muhammed Khan further discusses the topoi examples of

style and speaking purposes in “The Classical Technique of Constructing Arguments From

Aristotle to Cicero” by stating, “the meaning, nature, scope and functions of topoi are based on

an in-depth and extensive treatment of the internal structure of topoi and their functions in

classical treatises of Aristotle and Cicero. The book is a timely addition to the field of modern

theory of argumentation” (813). As Remer concluded, modern writers and speakers may not be

aware that they are building from the foundations of Cicero, or even that their oratorical

structures are in the form of topoi, but Khan points out that these are indeed the structures of

modern argument. Even with thousands of years passed between the Ancient Greek and modern

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eras, the political topics and arrangements of speech and rhetoric have remained indubitably

similar.

As defined by Muhammed Khan and the Oxford English Dictionary, topoi are the

structures developed by Ancient Greek philosophers like Cicero, who explains many of these

concepts in Orator. Orator set the framework for speaking styles and the purpose of

argumentation. It is clear, as seen in examples from President Obama and Bernie Sanders, that

these concepts have transcended into the modern rhetorical tradition without much change.

Although not always aware of it, eloquent speakers still practice the low, medium, and high

speaking styles, as well as the appeals of proving, pleasing, and persuading. The use of these

timeless techniques still offers the same effectiveness as it did in Ancient Greece.

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Works Cited

Cicero. Orator. The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical times to the Present. By

Patricia Bizzell and Bruce Herzberg. Boston: Bedford of St. Martin's, 1990. N. pag. Print.

Khan, Muhammad Ali. "Review Of Arstopica: The Classical Technique Of Constructing

Arguments From Aristotle To Cicero." Discourse & Society 22.6 (2011): 813-814.

PsycINFO. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.

Remer, Gary. "The Classical Orator As Political Representative: Cicero And The Modern

Concept Of Representation." Journal Of Politics 72.4 (2010): 1063-1082. Political

Science Complete. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.

Rubinelli, Sara1, sara.rubinelli@lu.unisi.ch. "The Ancient Argumentative Game: Τóπoι

And Loci In Action." Argumentation 20.3 (2006): 253-272. Humanities Source.

Web. 1 Dec. 2015.

"topos, n." OED Online. Oxford University Press, September 2015. Web. 1 December

2015.

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