This volume investigates the technical principles of Roman oratory and the evolution of rhetorical theory as articulated by Marcus Tullius Cicero. The text provides a critical edition of Cicero's later rhetorical treatises, which serve as both practical manuals for the aspiring orator and philosophical inquiries into the nature of eloquence. By examining these works, the reader gains insight into the sophisticated linguistic and argumentative structures that defined the intellectual life of the late Roman Republic.

Experts and classicists recognize this Oxford Classical Text as a foundational resource for the study of Ciceronian rhetoric. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which is intended for scholars and advanced students of Latin literature.