"...whatever he may say bears a likeness to the written word...

From Cicero, De Oratore, yet again. This guy is just full of good bits (not to be confused with naughty bits). I'm fascinated by his zeroing-in on the importance of writing and the written word--this may be the first time we've come across this in class. Here's everything that I think is fascinating:

"But the chief thing is what, to tell the truth, we do least (for it needs great pains which most of us shirk)--to write as much as possible. The pen is the best and most eminent author and teacher of eloquence, and rightly so."

Later...

"...the actual marshalling and arrangement of words is made perfect in the course of writing, in a rhythm and measure proper to oratory as distinct from poetry."

Later...

"...he too who approaches oratory by way of long practice in writing, brings this advantage to his task, that even if he is extemporizing, whatever he may say nears a likeness to the written word..."

All found on page 309 in Rhetorical Tradition, 2nd Ed.

What I love about it is the marriage between the two things which up until now have seemed separate to our authors/philosophers. Writing and oratory go together so nicely, and complement each other so well. In fact, I might go so far as to say that you cannot have one without the other. For clearly it's possible to speak without writing, but is it possible to be an orator, per se? You have to have some clear goal, you have to be just, you have to speak well, as Quintilian would say. Writing helps us do that. And obviously the people from whom we get all this information penned their thoughts on rhetoric.

The oral histories get passed down, but changed, and lost, and misconstrued. Written history has a permanence that is both reassuring and, at times, frightening, but its lasting power cannot be under-valued. That we no longer think of rhetoric without thinking, in one way or another, of writing, speaks not only to the value of written language, but to the staying power of Cicero's thinking (and writing...had he not written it down, we might never have had these snippets to ponder).

Oh, and so I don't forget, "eloquence" is of the utmost importance to Cicero and everyone, and I find myself feeling pretty triumphant on behalf of writing that to become an eloquent speaker one must first be an eloquent writer.

P.S. "eloquence" is a really beautiful word.