SPEECH AND

THEATER
ARTS
Submitted by:
Najera, Ma. Jesieca S.
BSED-ENGLISH 1
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Declamation (from the Latin word declamation) is an artistic form of public speaking. It is a dramatic oration
designed to express through articulation, emphasis and gesture the full sense of the text being conveyed.
In Ancient Rome, declamation was a genre of ancient rhetoric and a mainstay of the Roman higher education
system. It was separated into two component subgenres, the controversia, speeches of defense or prosecution in fictitious
court cases, and the suasoria, in which the speaker advised a historical or legendary figure as to a course of action. Roman
declamation survive in four corpora: the compilations of Seneca the Elder and Calpurnius Flaccus, as well as two sets of
controversiae, the Major Declamations and Minor Declamation spuriously attributed to Quintilian.
Declamation had its origin in the form of preliminary exercises for Greek students of rhetoric: works from the
Greek declamatory tradition survive in works such as the collections of Sopater and Choricius of Gaza. Of the remaining
Roman declamations the vast majority are controversiae; only one book of suasoriae survive, that being in Seneca the
Elder’s collection. The controversiae as they currently exist normally consist of several elements: an imaginary law, a
theme which introduced a tricky legal situation, and an argument which records a successful or model speech on topic.
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It was normal for students to employ illustrative exempla from Roman history and legend (such as
were collected in the work of Valerius Maximus) to support their case. Important points were often
summed up via pithy epigrammatic statements (sententiae). Common themes include ties of fidelity
between fathers and sons, heroes and tyrant in the archaic city, and conflicts between rich and poor men.
As a critical part of rhetorical education, declamation’s influence was widespread in Roman elite
culture. In addition to its didactic role, it is also attested as a performative genre: public declamations
were visited by such figures as Pliny the Elder, Asinius Pollio, Macenas, and the emperor Augustus. The
poet Ovid is recorded by Seneca the Elder as being a star declaimer, and the works of the satirists
Martial and Juvenal, as well as the historian Tacitus, reveal a substantial declamatory influence.
 FAKE
Declamation by: Veronica Jean Malay
THANK YOU!