81. Passage 1 for Questions No. 81–85
From the Renaissance to the present, rhetoric, as the art of speaking or writing to inform or persuade, has held an important place in Western education. Over the years, however, the purpose and content of instruction in rhetoric have changed considerably.
During the 16th and 17th centuries rhetoric was chiefly a study of how to achieve ornateness in style. Such popular textbooks as Joannes Susenbrutus’ Epitome troporum ac schematum (Epitome of Tropes and Schemes), 1541, and Erasmus’ De copia (On Copiousness), 1512, contained extensive directions for decorating and dilating expression. Thomas Wilson’s Arte of Rhetorique (1553), based upon broader classical principles, was the exception rather than the rule. In 1555 the restriction of rhetoric to style was confirmed by the French philosopher Petrus Ramus, who in his influential reforms of the curriculum assigned the tasks of investigating and arranging subject matter to logic.
Despite the criticisms of Francis Bacon in The Advancement of Learning (1605), preoccupation with style persisted until about 1670. Then it gradually began to give way to a renewed interest in the rhetorical writings of ancient times, especially those of Cicero and Quintilian and those ascribed to Longinus. Editions of classical treatises became more numerous. Contemporary works expressing the classical tradition, such as Bernard Lami’s La’arte de parle (The Art of Speaking), 1675, and Fenelon’s Dialogues sur l’eloquence (Dialogue on Eloquence), 1717, began to appear. This revived classicism culminated about the middle of the 18th century, with the publication of John Lawson’s Lecturers Concerning Oratory (1758) and John Ward’s System of Oratory (1759). These works were exhaustive but imaginative rehearsals of ancient doctrine.
(International Encyclopedia, Modern Rhetoric, p. 425)
According to the passage, the aim of both ancient and modern rhetoric basically is …