The Hidden Teacher. ‘Metarhetoric’ in Ps.-Quintilian’s Major Declamations

There has been much debate in recent years over ‘school declamations’ and ‘show declamations’, and a tendency to draw sharp boundaries between the two. Since the pseudo-quintilianic Major Declamations have played a prominent rôle in this debate, it is worth focusing on an aspect that has hitherto remained largely unnoticed: the repeated presence, throughout these fully-developed speeches, of self-conscious allusions to didactic conventions and technico-rhetorical issues clearly pointing to a school milieu. The present paper scrutinizes these ‘metarhetorical’ hints; it contributes to a fairer assessment of the relationship between ‘school’ and ‘show’ declamations; and it sheds some light on the disputed chronology and authorship of the Maiores.