Rhetorica ad Herennium

The Rhetorica ad Herennium remains the oldest surviving complete Latin manual of rhetoric and one of the most influential works on persuasive speech in Western thinking. This Lyceum Institute reprint presents the 1954 public domain English translation by Harry Caplan, edited for modern readers, students, and scholars. Caplan’s clear, accessible English preserves the precision and practical insight of the original treatise, guiding readers through the fundamentals of invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. From judicial advocacy to deliberative counsel and epideictic praise and blame, this edition illuminates the enduring techniques of classical rhetoric that shaped Cicero, Quintilian, and the entire tradition of rhetorical education in the Latin West and into the vernacular languages of the Renaissance.

Ideal for courses in composition, rhetoric, classics, and communication, as well as for writers, speakers, and anyone serious about persuasive craft, this reprint includes brief introductions for each book, chapter titles, and an accessible, readable presentation. Whether used for academic study or general enrichment, the Lyceum edition of the Rhetorica ad Herennium in Caplan’s translation offers an insight into the ancient practice of rhetoric as an art.