327: Rhetoric
Attias
Timeline: Rhetoric in Ancient Rome
The Roman Monarchy
753 BC:
Founding of Rome by Romulus
750 BC:
Rape of the Sabines
510 BC:
Romans end Etruscan domination, expelling the last Etruscan king,
The Early Republic
509 BC:
Founding of the Roman Republic
505-449 BC:
Intermittent warfare with Sabines
497 BC:
Battle of Lake Regillus; alliance of Latins & Romans develops
494 BC:
Strike of the plebeians, who win some rights from upper classes.
474 BC:
Romans sign 40-year peace treaty with Etruscans
450 BC:
Twelve Tables of Law published so citizens know their rights
431 BC:
Battle of Algidus – Romans defeat Aequi & Volsci
396 BC:
Etruscan city Veii overthrown by Romans
395 BC:
Rome takes Capena
394:
Rome takes Falerii
390-387 BC:
Rome falls to Gauls, except for capitol
386 BC:
Etruscans on offensive vs. Romans
381 BC:
Tusculum becomes first former enemy to gain full Roman citizenship rights
367 BC:
Licinian Rogation passed limiting the amount of public land any one man could
occupy
359 BC:
Rome retaliates against Etruscans
351 BC:
after 8 years of fighting another 40-years truce is negotiated with Etruscans
348 BC:
Agreement with Carthage provides Rome opportunity to regain control of
southern Italy
338 BC:
Rome breaks up Latin League & negotiates decisive treaty binding them to a new
confederacy.
321 BC:
Romans defeated by Samnites at Caudine Forks
295 BC:
Battle at Sentinum – Rome defeats Samnite/Gaul alliance
290 BC:
unconditional surrender of Samnites
The Middle Republic
287 BC:
Lex Hortensia gives full rights to plebians
285 BC:
Gauls defeated again and driven north of Rubicon
281 BC:
Rome declares war vs. Tarentines
272 BC:
Battle of Tarentum: Rome defeats Greek colony in Italy
Livius Andronicus, the first Greek to write Latin, goes to Rome from Tarentum.
265 BC:
Rome becomes supreme power in Italy south of the Gauls.
Sicily, Corsica and Sardinia still not under Roman rule.
264-241 BC:
First Punic War.
Rome defeats Carthage and acquires Sicily as its first colony.
234 BC:
M. Porcius Cato b. in Tusculum
218-201 BC:
Second Punic War
Battle of Zama (Tunisia) is turning point; Rome wins.
197 BC:
Battle of Cynoscephalae – Rome defeats Philip of Macedon
Rome announces full freedom for Greece under Roman Empire
195 BC:
M. Porcius Cato "the Elder" is consul
Cato defines orator as vir bonus dicendi peritus ("a good man skilled at
speaking") and the "divine injunction" rem tene, verba sequentur ("seize the
subject: words will follow!").
194 BC:
Romans pull out of Greece
Antiochus (Syrian king) joins forces with Egypt, marrying his daughter to Ptolemy
V to birth the first Cleopatra (whose descendant 150 yrs later caused some
trouble for the empire).
190 BC:
Cato's accusations vs. Q. Minucius Thermus
189 BC:
Antiochus defeated by Rome at Battle of Magnesia
187 BC:
Cato instigates prosecution of L.Scipio & P. Scipio Africanus
184 BC:
Cato the Elder becomes Censor
173 BC:
Two Epicurean philosophers expelled from Rome
168 BC:
Battle of Pydna: final end of Macedonian empire to Rome
167 BC:
Cato's speech On Behalf of the Rhodians
164 BC:
Cato, On His Own Expenses
161 BC:
Senatus Consultum outlaws the teaching of rhetoric in Rome by Greek sophists.
149 BC:
Lex Pecuniis Repetundis enacted by tribune Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi
(establishes a court for extortion cases).
Cato the Elder dies
149-146 BC:
Third Punic War
147 BC:
Macedonia fully incorporated as a Roman province
146 BC:
Romans sack and burn Corinth and Carthage.
The Late Republic
135-132 BC:
First Slave War
134 BC:
Tiberius Gracchus elected as Tribune of the People (Dec. 10)
133 BC:
Romans defeat Spanish army
Tiberius Gracchus is killed in a riot provoked by opponents when he came up for
re-election.
129 BC:
Gaius Gracchus sponsors Lex Iudiciaria, shifting control of court from Senate to
the equites. This probably eliminated the one check on the immense greed of
this class, who used their position to increase their profits.
124 BC:
Gaius Gracchus elected as Tribune of the People & amplifies his brother's land
redistribution scheme.
121 BC:
Gaius Gracchus murdered
106 BC:
Marcus Tullius Cicero b. at Arpinum, Jan. 3.
104-99 BC:
Second Slave War
95 BC:
Lucius Licinus Crassus elected consul
92 BC:
Gnaeus Domitus Ahenobarbus & Lucius Licinus Crassus publish a statement
condemning Latin schools of rhetoric as a moral outrage.
Athenian rhetorician Menedemus probably meets Cicero at Antonius' house
91 BC:
Death of Crassus
91-88 BC:
"Italic War"/"Social War" – Italians revolted after assassination of Livius Drusus.
Julian Law gives citizenship to all Italian communities who did not participate in
the revolt
87 BC:
Cicero, De inventione
89 BC:
Cicero studies law with Q. Mucius Scaevola Augur
88 BC:
Academic philosopher Philo arrives in Rome from Athens
c. 86-82 BC:
Rhetorica Ad Herennium published
83 BC:
Lucius Cornelius Sulla wins civil war against followers of Gaius Marius
81 BC:
Cicero, Pro Quinctio (earliest surviving speech).
73-71 BC:
Spartacus, a fugitive gladiator, leads slave rebellion
70 BC:
P. Vergilius Maro (Virgil) born
65 BC:
Horace born
64 BC:
Apollodorus of Pergamum flourishes in Rome
63 BC:
Consulship of Marcus Tullius Cicero
55 BC:
Cicero, De Oratore
58-50 BC:
Julius Caesar defeats Gallic tribes
52 BC:
Cicero, Pro Milone
49-45 BC:
Julius Caesar and Pompey fight in a large civil war; Caesar wins and declares
himself Dictator
48 BC:
Cicero, Brutus
47 BC:
Caesar, after battle of Zela in Egypt, writes "Veni, vidi, vici."
46 BC:
Cleopatra comes to Rome with Caesar's child; Cicero and other Roman
statesman are disgusted by her spoiled attitude of entitlement.
45 BC:
Cicero, Orator
44 BC:
Caesar murdered in conspiracy on March 15.
Augustuc Caesar, the new dictator.
Cicero, Topica
43 BC:
Cicero killed on Dec. 7
Ovid born
c. 40 BC:
Virgil, Eclogues
37-29 BC:
Virgil, Georgics
31 BC:
Augustus Caesar defeats Marc Antony and Cleopatra; Rome annexes Egypt
29-19 BC:
Virgil, Aeneid
30 BC:
P. Ovidius Naso (Ovid) sent from Sulmo home to Rome to study rhetoric
c. 30-10 BC:
Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Caecilius of Calacte active in Rome
Civil war breaks out, won by
The Roman Empire
27 BC:
Augustus Caesar agrees to share power with Senate
During the Augustan era, the actio gratiarum develops as a Roman epideictic
tradition.
16 BC:
Ovid, Amores and Heroides
12-8 BC:
Horace, Ars poetica
8 BC:
Death of Horace
4 BC:
Seneca the Younger born in Spain
1 BC:
Ovid, Ars amatoria
c. 1-19 AD:
Longinus, De sublimitate ("On the Sublime")
8 AD:
Ovid, Metamorphoses. Ovid exiled (died c. 12-16)
The Silver Age
14-37 AD:
Tiberius succeeds Caesar as Roman Emperor; goes paranoid and has
many killed including 2 nephews. Last days are spent enjoying tortures and
sexual indulgence at Capri with Caligula, who may have been involved in his
death.
A. Cornelius Celsus writes an encyclopedia which defines rhetoric as "to speak
persuasively on doubtful matters of interest to a citizen" and claims the orator's
prize is victory rather than good conscience (This of course upsets Quintilian)
15 AD:
Caepo Crispinus accused pro-consul of Bithynia of treason spuriously. Tacitus &
Quintillian later find shared characteristics in the oratory of delatores (informers)
such as Crispinus.
19 AD:
Jews expelled from Rome
32 AD:
Seneca the Younger begins quaestorship in Rome and by 40 AD is known as
one of the finest orators of Rome, provoking Caligula's jealousy and almost
getting executed for it.
37-41 AD:
Reign of Emperor Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (Caligula)
Caligula appoints his favorite horse as a Senator; squanders the Treasury on
increasing decadence, and opens a brothel in the Imperial Palace (staffed by the
often reluctant wives, daughters, and sons of patricians) to raise funds. Caligula
had all citizens will their property to the Treasury and declared himself a god. He
is assassinated by praetorian guard along with family members on Jan 24, 41.
39 AD:
Death of Seneca the Elder
Caligula organizes a contest in Greek and Latin rhetoric with humiliating
punishments for losers.
c. 40 AD:
M. Fabius Quintilianus born in Calagurris, Spain
41-54 AD:
Claudius succeeds Caligula.
married his niece Aggripina.
Emperor.
49 AD:
Virginius Flavus teaches rhetoric to port Persius
54-68 AD:
Reign of Nero, who probably burned Rome in 64 AD. Committed suicide in 68
rather than letting the governor of Spain kill him.
55 AD:
P. Cornelius Tacitus born
Claudius is an ugly stuttering hunchback who
She poisoned him so her son Nero could be
59 AD:
Death of Agrippina. Ludi Iuvenales instituted by Nero against Roman tradition
(which admired contests as spectators but felt it beneath Roman pride to actually
participate in them).
c. 60 AD:
Juvenal born
61 AD:
Petronius Arbiter, Satyricon. Petronius' title was arbiter elegantiae, Nero's official
adviser on matters of elegance and extravagance.
62 AD:
Antistius Soranus indicted after writing satirical verses on Nero
66 AD:
Prosecution and suicide of Thrasea Paetus, at whose house Stoics and Cynics
philosophized against tyranny. Thrasea Paetus was a model of Stoic piety and
political courage for Tacitus.
Nero goes to Greece
69 AD:
Year of Four Emperors
69-79 AD:
Reign of Titus Flavius Vespasian, who attempted to reform the government of
Neronian corruption
71 AD:
Quintilian appointed to chair in rhetoric supported by Treasury.
79 AD:
Mount Vesuvius erupts, burying Herculaneum and Pompeii
81-96 AD:
Reign of Titus Flavius Domitianus
88 AD:
Tacitus' praetorship
89 AD:
Quintilian, De causis corruptae eloquentiae (On the causes of corrupt eloquence)
91 or 92 AD:
Quintilian retires from teaching
93 AD:
Quintilian begins Institutio oratoria. Defines rhetoric as bene dicendi scientia,
"the science of speaking well" (2.15.34), in the tradition of Stoics Cleanthes and
Chrysippus
c. 96 AD:
Quintilian dies
96-98 AD:
Reign of Marcus Cocceius Nerva. Nerva renamed the palace of Domitian to
House of the People; also, he took an oath before the senate that he would
refrain from executing its members.
c. 97 AD:
Tacitus, Dialogus de oratoribus (Dialogue on the Orators)
96-108 AD:
Pliny, Epistles
98-117 AD:
Reign of Trajan
100 AD:
Pliny's address to Trajan
M. Cornelius Fronto b. in North Africa
109 AD:
P. Cornelius Tacitus, The Annals
110 AD:
Juvenal publishes satirical poetry
125 AD:
Apuleius born in Madauros, North Africa
155-225 AD:
Hermogenes
c. 157:
Apuleius, Apologia
330 AD:
Constantinople founded.
354-430 AD:
Augustine
395 AD:
Official division of Roman Empire
410 AD:
Fall of Rome to Vandals
426 AD:
De doctrina Christiana
475-524 AD:
Boethius