<i>Clausulae</i>in the<i>Rhetorica</i>ad<i>Herennium</i>as Evidence of its Date

Abstract

Believing that there is still something to be said about the early history of clausulae in Latin prose, I set myself to trace the practice of the early orators, then that of the Rhetorica ad Herennium , accepting its conventional dating to 86–82 B.C., and lastly that of Cicero in De Inventione , assuming it to be roughly contemporary with the ad Herennium , and in his early speeches. But clausula -study itself, besides shedding light on the methods of composition used by the still unidentifiable Auctor ad Herennium, cast doubts on the conventional dating of his work. I gave a brief outline of my conclusions in C.R. , N.S. vi (1956), 134–6.1 propose to attempt here a detailed justification of those relating to the date of the work, with a few modifications of some points.