Rhetoric, defined in the dictionary as the art of words, of good argumentation, has a pejorative connotation in our society, as it is associated with the use of language for the purposes of manipulation or persuasion.

But it was not always so. In Ancient Rome, Rhetoric was part of the formation of the citizen to the extent that the exercise of citizenship – understood as participation, as far as applicable at the time, in the life of the city – presupposed the ability to effectively expose the points view and arguments. In this way, Rhetoric belonged to the field of education.

In that context, an author gained prominence, remaining a reference until contemporary times: Marco Fábio Quintiliano, whose masterpiece, “Instituição Oratória”, is being published by Editora da Unicamp within the scope of the Fausto Castilho Multilíngues de Filosofia Unicamp collection, in Latin-Portuguese bilingual edition. The 12 original books were compiled into four volumes, two of which have already been released – the first (books I, II and III) and the second (books IV, V and VI). The third and fourth volumes, with the other books, should be released in 2016.

Born between the 30s and 40s of the Christian era, in Calagurris Nassica, now Calahorra, Spain, Quintiliano spent a good part of his life in Rome, where he worked as a lawyer and professor of Rhetoric. He died in the capital of the Roman Empire around the year 100. His work, however, spans centuries, remaining relevant in various fields of human sciences – from Philosophy to History, including Linguistics.

“Quintilian is an important author in the training of philosophers. Its main merit was to systematize the culture of citizenship, with the objective of forming the Roman citizen”, points out philosopher Alexandre Soares, coordinator of the Fausto Castilho collection and professor at the Federal University of Uberlândia (UFU).

“At the time, participating in the city, that is, exercising citizenship, was premised on exposing points of view and arguments. Training for citizenship then involved learning grammar and argumentation”, adds the philosopher.

It is necessary to keep in mind, however, that in Ancient Rome, a society in which there were slaves and in which a large part of the population was illiterate, the precepts presented in Quintilian's work could be followed by few.

A humanistic pedagogy

Oratory is the basis of education, in Quintiliano's view, contextualizes historian Pedro Paulo Funari, professor at the Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences (IFCH) at Unicamp. “Oratory is this entire series of precepts, exercises and reflections that aim to produce a man capable of exercising his role as a citizen, which, in Roman imperial times, meant exercising leadership as an employee of the State”.

However, such leadership could only be exercised satisfactorily by educated people guided in their actions by high moral standards, which refers to education. “Therefore, the objective of education should not only be to provide technical training, as we would call it today, but also to offer moral training – or humanistic, in current terms – so that these citizens/employees can fulfill their task well”, explains Funari. The ideal of a wise man, then, would be a man “experienced in acting and speaking well”.

The breadth and characteristics of the orator's training are related to his role in society: he was a person especially qualified to read, judge and produce in different areas of knowledge, which is why he should have the most complete command of language possible (in this case , Latin and Greek) and other areas with which he necessarily had to deal.

“His training was based on the different forms of the language in its various achievements (grammar, poetry, history, philosophy, oratory). It also involved other areas of knowledge, such as arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music, which constituted the set of what were then called liberal arts”, details Marcos Pereira, professor at the Institute of Language Studies (IEL). “Quintilian bequeathed to us the idea of ​​encyclopedic knowledge”.

This vision refers to a pedagogy that was not limited to the training of the speaker; differently, it aimed at the general formation of the human being and, in particular, of the citizen, explains the work's translator, Bruno Bassetto, retired professor at the University of São Paulo (USP) in the Presentation of Volume 1 of the work.

According to him, the particularity of Quintilian's pedagogical guidelines lies in the fact that they are based on respect for the person with their individuality, especially in their stages of development according to age and environmental influences. The author therefore values ​​the formation of the spirit and emotionality, writes Bassetto in the presentation.

From Antiquity to the Renaissance

Hence we understand the influence of “Instituição Oratória” in the period itself and in the Renaissance, a period in which it was a reference for humanistic studies. “Due to these characteristics, Quintilian is an author who has aroused interest as an ancient source of reflections on language. His more general thinking about the place of education in the formation of citizens is also something that needs to be revisited”, argues the professor at the UFU Institute of Philosophy, Anselmo Ferreira.

Quintilian advocates the formation of come bonus dicendi peritus or “the good man, expert in the art of speaking”. Bonus, or good, means honest, virtuous and upright – ideal of pedagogical methods, whether in ancient times or in contemporary times. Quintilian's pedagogy aims, therefore, to promote the integral development of man (moral, social, family, intellectual), until he becomes a perfect human being, the indispensable basis of the perfect speaker.

“As not everyone is an orator or a master of Rhetoric, what Quintiliano indicates to form the perfect man is valid at any time or place, because it seeks to develop innate human potential”, reiterates Basseto.

Valued until the Renaissance as part of training for citizenship, with the passage of time and the increasing specialization of the various domains of knowledge, Rhetoric – or oratory – was relegated to a secondary level in favor of disciplines (or areas) considered more “scientific”, in a process that became more pronounced from the 16th and 17th centuries onwards in the Western world.

This movement is due, in part, to the fact that, in the production of speeches, Rhetoric also dealt with human passions and forms of “seduction” of subjects – something considered less scientific or capable of being rationalized.

Resuming a perspective

Currently, however, there is a movement to rescue ancient Rhetoric through New Rhetoric, guided precisely by its pedagogical meaning: that is, by the association of oratory with ethics, present in authors such as Quintilian. “The rescue takes place in the sense of the vision of Rhetoric in the service of values”, states the philosopher Soares.

At the same time, the breadth and interface with different fields of knowledge that characterize the “Oratory Institution” highlight its relevance and interest for the human sciences – from philosophy to language.

“As scholars of philosophy and its history, we cannot waste the opportunity to dialogue with a work like this, which is almost 2 thousand years old and touches on the essential problems of philosophy; It is not only a very important historical document, but also food for our current reflections on ethics, education and the very meaning of wisdom, the search for which, after all, is the philosopher's task”, analyzes the philosopher Ferreira.

In the area of ​​language, Pereira emphasizes, the value of Quintiliano's work is manifested, among other aspects, in statements in tune with the contemporary vision of language and language. “Throughout the work, the author remembers that the language (gem), as he understands it should be used by its speaker, is guided by broader criteria than simple grammatical correctness. This is not, in any way, devalued, but, at the same time, he reiterates the need to choose appropriate forms for each discursive situation”, explains the linguist.

Another important value, from the perspective of historian Funari, is the emphasis on humanistic training in a society in which technique presents itself as a fundamental value. “Certainly, our time has relegated this role of humanistic training in the name of more technical training. Even Rhetoric has become a marketing technique, more or less in the style of that art criticized by Plato. In our society, increasingly controlled by technology, I see the task of reproposing humanistic models of training and education of citizens as urgent”, he concludes.

The translation

Despite the importance of the “Instituição Oratória”, there is no complete translation of the work, says translator Bruno Bassetto. “Book X was translated, but little publicized. The translation of this book is due to its practical nature, in which it applies what was explained in previous books”.

The first translations into Portuguese date back to the Modern Age. “One of the best known is that of Soares Barbosa, professor at the University of Coimbra in the 18th century”, reports professor Marcos Pereira. “Thus, the publication of the work in its entirety fills a large gap and will allow access to one of the master works of Latin Antiquity”, adds Pereira.

Professor Bruno Bassetto has been dedicating himself to translating “Instituição Oratória” for two years and hopes to complete it by the end of the first semester of 2016.

“Translating a work that is almost two thousand years old is not an easy task. The underlying vision of the world, present in the author, is very different from the current one”, comments Basseto. “The human species at that time is the same as ours. This is the first conclusion drawn from this work.”

In this sense, a challenge is imposed on the translator, who must be able to show the reality lived by people at that time, reporting their values, uses, customs, institutions, traditions, laws, social organization and other aspects, in a language understandable to people. of our century. “We do not always have words to translate certain ideas, objects or facts, making it necessary to resort to circumlocutions or explanations in footnotes; Even so, the desired clarity is not always achieved”, explains the translator.

Another challenge lies in the difference between classical languages ​​(with their synthetic character) and modern Romance languages ​​(with their analysis). “For Quintiliano, master of the art of oratory, clarity of language is a fundamental quality of the orator, which he addresses on several topics. Now, what was transparent for a speaker of Latin, a language said to be synthetic in its structure, is often not transparent for us”, contextualizes Bassetto.

The author and the work

Quintilian was one of the most respected Roman pedagogues. He taught at the school of Rhetoric, founded in Rome. He was one of the masters and theorists of ancient Rhetoric in the Latin language. Alongside Cicero and the Greek Aristotle, he makes up the ancient pantheon of an area that has produced a long tradition of studies in the Western world.

“In life, he was very influential, but he was even more important in posterity, particularly in the Middle Ages and from the Renaissance onwards, as he served as the basis for education for centuries. He taught how to write and speak, nothing less”, says historian Funari.

The “Oratory Institution”, his main work, had more than two hundred manuscripts and was only discovered in its complete form in the 15th century.

Book I contains a synopsis of the work and is dedicated to the education of children up to the age of 12, during which they must learn to speak and write correctly. Book II focuses on learning public speaking.

Books III to VII expose the steps related to invention and arrangement in different genres (demonstrative, deliberative, judiciary with exordium, exposition, digression, narration, division, proposition, evidence, argumentation and rhetorical syllogism).

In Books VIII, IX and X it addresses elocution. Book XI is dedicated to the speaker's memory, presentation, appearance, gesticulation and attire. Book XII, the conclusion of the treatise, shows the “complete speaker” in action.

SERVICE

Degree: Oratorical institution – Tome I – Books 1, 2 and 3 
Author Quintilian 
Translation: Bruno Fregni Bassetto
pages: 584
Price: R$96,00
Unicamp Publisher
Area of ​​interest: Philosophy

Degree: Oratory Institution – Tome II – Books 4, 5 and 6
Author Quintilian
Translation: Bruno Fregni Bassetto
pages: 552
Price: R$84,00
Unicamp Publisher
Area of ​​interest: Philosophy
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