Abstract:

Cicero and Quintilian were critics of oratory who knew Greek well. They both have much to say about Demosthenes and are important figures in the history of Demosthenic scholarship. Cicero discusses Demosthenes mainly in the Orator, which he wrote primarily as an answer to the Atticists and as a defence of his own oratory. His comments, therefore, tend to be tendentious and to reflect Ciceronian practice more than that of Demosthenes. Quintilian, on the other hand, who was a critic rather than a practicing orator and who does not have an "axe to grind", makes many perceptive comments about Demosthenic oratory.