Letters of Recommendation and the Rhetoric of Praise
Letters of Recommendation and the Rhetoric of Praise
This chapter examines letters of reference or recommendations written by Charlesworth, Cicero, Pliny, and Fronto, focusing on how the authors emphasize their own discretion in offering their evaluation of the subject and how their statements about the subject's merit can be interwoven with praise. The style confirms its vintage, with the formal pairing of substantives and adjectives, the fondness for abstractions and the contrastive ‘but’ and certain details of phrasing, such as ‘I am glad indeed’ or ‘standing in work or games’. It is easy to identify both continuities and changes. Alignment of interests and obligations through triangulation can be seen throughout surviving letters of recommendation and identify them as best textual evidence for the processes of Roman patronage in action.
Keywords: letters of recommendation, Roman patronage, rhetoric, Cicero, Pliny, Fronto, Charlesworth, ancient letters
Oxford Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .
