ROMAN RHETORIC AND ‘CORRESPONDENCE EDUCATION’: THE EPISTOLARY ‘VIVA VOX’ OF MARCUS CORNELIUS FRONTO

Abstract

The idealized ‘viva vox’ of face-to-face instruction, expressed by Quintilian and Seneca, offers a thematic paradigm for examining Fronto's pedagogical ‘self-lettering’. Fronto's didactic letters facilitate the long-distance rhetorical education of Marcus Aurelius, but beyond their pragmatic role, they also function symbolically to promulgate Fronto's status and intimacy with the imperial court.