Bendrieji viešosios kalbos reikalavimai antikoje ir šiandien

Abstract

The article provides the analysis of fundamental requirements, so called virtues of eloquence (purity of language – latinitas, clarity – perspicuitas, appropriateness – aptum and ornament – ornatus), necessary for any public speech regardless of its type or genre. The most complex, different and modified systems of great Greek and Roman authorities – Aristotle, Theophrastus, Dionysus of Halicarnassus, Hermogenes, Cicero and Quintilian – are presented in the article. Although the number of the virtues of eloquence has undergone many additions, subtractions and permutations, in general they remain fundamental and irreplaceable rules of good public speech and play a paramount role in the fields of modern rhetoric and stylistic.