Ethics, Identity, and Community in Later Roman Declamation

Rhetorical training was the central component of an elite Roman man's education. Controversiae (declamations), imaginary courtroom speeches in the character of a fictional or historical individual, were the most advanced exercises in the standard rhetorical curriculum. The 'Major Declarations' is a collection of 19 full-length Latin speeches attributed in antiquity to Quintilian but most likely composed by a group of authors in the second and third centuries CE. This book is devoted exclusively to the 'Major Declamations' and its reception in later European literature.