Ars Rhetorica
This course teaches the doctrines of the art of rhetoric; but, as with the art of grammar, to acquire the art in itself students must read widely, write at length and in depth, and practice speaking.
The study and exercises here build rhetoric’s foundation: its principles, parts, and figures are learned and drilled. But the art of rhetoric itself, that is, the art that is ordered to persuasion and truth, is perfected only by practice: wide reading of good authors and orators, extensive writing, and frequent speaking (cf. Augustine, De doctrina christiana IV.3.4–5; Cicero, De oratore I.150). As with Ars Grammatica, students can go as deeply as they wish into the doctrine and exercises here, but they should not think this course can replace a wide knowledge of good authors and practice in writing and speaking.
Course settings
The level is the difficulty of the exercises in Free Practice, from Level I to Level V.
Free Practice opens every exercise at once and keeps no record.
Using the Guided Path
Keeping the record. The record is kept only in this browser, and only once tracking is turned on under Progress & Review; the Export button there saves a copy.
The order of the path. The exercises open in eight steps, in the order of the art: the three species; the three pisteis; the enthymeme, the issue, and the topics; character and the passions; the parts of the oration; style and the figures; the whole case (Antiphon, the paired debates, and the whole-case set); and last, Augustine’s Christian orator and Gregory’s contrasting audiences. Each step opens when every exercise of the step before it is passed. The study decks are always open, and the optional set of further figures is never required.
Passing an exercise. An exercise is passed when nine of the last ten answers at Level III or above are correct, on at least two different days. Levels IV and V of an exercise open only after it is passed.
Mastery. An exercise is mastered (★) when eight of the last ten answers at Level V are correct, on at least two different days.
Review. A mastered exercise returns for review after 1, 3, 7, 16, and then 35 days. Each review asks three questions: if all three are right, the next review comes after the longer interval, but if one is missed, the exercise returns to daily review. The level of the questions rises as the intervals lengthen, from Level III to Level V. Today’s Review gathers everything that is due, interleaves it, and then names the next exercise to learn. A missed review never closes an exercise that has been opened.
Content reviews. After each Division’s decks and exercises comes a short review of the doctrine itself, one for each deck. It asks for definitions and distinctions from memory, and on the Guided Path it is ready one day after the deck is finished and one of its exercises is passed. These reviews open nothing and close nothing.
This browser is not permitting storage, so progress will last only for this visit. The Export button under Progress & Review keeps a copy.
Designed and directed by Timothy Kearns, Ph.D. AI tools were used for drafting some of the study sections and for building the interactive exercises and answer keys.
Sources
Passages already in the course are marked in the text.