Classical Greek and Roman rhetoric and the modern audience

The formal structuring of oral discourse or rhetoric was highly developed in antiquity. Both Greek and Roman authorities on the subject codified for orators an arrangement of material and a contextual format which have utility in the present day. The art of public lecturing should encompass relevance of material, structure of presentation and style of delivery in order to render the whole enjoyable and memorable. Teaching does not cause learning, but skilful rhetorical technique can imbue the student with a potent desire for further self-directed study. In this field, the ancient is auxiliary to the modern.