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De Optimo Genere Oratorum
On the Best Kind of Oratory
also: de optimo genere dicendi, On the Best Kind of Oratory
Cicero's short essay on the best style of oratory, written as a preface to his (lost) translations of Demosthenes' and Aeschines' speeches On the Crown. He mentions it to Cornificius as a recent composition on which they may differ.
Reading notes
- Ad Familiares 12.17 §2 On the Best Kind of Oratory
Cicero's short treatise De Optimo Genere Oratorum, written as a preface to his (now lost) translations of the rival speeches of Demosthenes and Aeschines on the Crown, arguing for the Attic plain style as the orator's ideal.