"When and why did men speak in public at Rome and why did they subsequently write down what they had said? This book offers an introduction to public speaking at Rome from its origins until the second century AD. It looks at how orators were supposed to behave and how they were trained: and what the behaviour and training of orators can tell us about the things which the Roman elite in general considered important, given that being a good speaker was a skill very highly valued in the culture."--BOOK JACKET.