Rhetorice according to the second book of Quintilian’s Institutio Oratoria

In the second book of Institutio oratoria Quintilian contemplates the definition and nature of rhetoric. The lecture on rhetoric can be divided into three parts: on art (ars), master (artifex), work (opus). The most common definition of rhetoric can be summed up as the power of persuasion (vis persuadendi). Every element of rhetoric changes with the content of the cases, the times, the circumstances, the needs. No law proposals, no resolutions passed by the people constituted the noble rules of rhetoric; they were formed by practice. If utility will advise us to do something different, we should follow such advice and not be constrained by the authority of the former masters. The important virtue (virtus) of the teacher is to take into consideration the different talents of every student and to discover their natural predispositions. In Quintilian’s definition the speaker and his art are not dependent on the effect. Though a speaker aims for victory, then even if he lost the case he still achieved the goal of his art, provided that he spoke honestly.