Quintilian and the progymnasmata to develop writing ability and gather communication rules

Abstract

Abstract In the educational project of Quintilian, the teacher aims at not only linguistic but also moral training of young people. The progymnasmata, which in Rome were mostly taught by grammarians, were a useful course for acquiring the skills in the composition of texts and getting strong civic virtues. By completing the graded series of exercises on the various types of texts, the students learned exposition techniques, forms of expression and the most appropriate rules for laying out an argument according to type of text (fable, anecdote, narrative, encomium, ekphrasis, etc.); through reading the classics, they also furnished themselves with noteworthy cultural awareness made up of myths, historical episodes, sayings and quotations, philosophical themes and juridical formulae.