The roman art of speaking: some considerations about Tacitu´s view

Abstract

This paper aims at presenting some considerations on the oratory´s importance in the political formation of the Roman citizen, during the empire, specificlly in the 1 Century AD. The proposed study starts from the reading of a diversified bibliography and the analysis of the work by Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus, named The Dialog of Orators, probably written between the years 79 and 96 AD, and has objective, among others, to present the causes for the Roman oratory decadence. This work was approached from a methodological-theoretical reading based on the relationship between Literature and History, having as reference the concepts of author, audience and work. Thus, we could perceive from Tacitus literary work the intrinsic relation between politics, citizenship, education and the use of oratory in the exercise of public life within the Roman politic context in the 1 Century AD.