4 - Learning to Speak: The Art of Logic

Summary

Once grammar had been mastered, twelfth-century students proceeded to the study of the other arts of the trivium: rhetoric and dialectic. In allegorical schemes these two arts were clearly distinguished (although the order in which they were placed varied), but in twelfth-century writing these arts were often conflated as parts of logic. Thus Hugh of Saint Victor identified both arts as parts of rational or argumentative logic, whilst John of Salisbury linked all the parts of the trivium with logic, but particularly those related to reasoning. The close association of rhetoric and dialectic arose from the fact that both arts were concerned with speech, either as oratory or debate. Unlike grammar, rhetoric and dialectic were not primarily connected with language, but rather with specific constructions, uses and performance of speech, serving either to convince the hearer of an argument or to establish truth through discussion. In order to take part in such formal oratory students had to learn particular ways of speaking. These were considered to derive from antiquity, echoing the texts on the arts by Cicero, Aristotle and Boethius studied in the schools. Students could then demonstrate their mastery of these subjects in debate, proving themselves before other teachers and students. The processes of producing eloquent speech and reasoned argument were difficult to portray in art, but allegories of these arts were sometimes shown making gestures suggestive of speech. These images, together with less straightforward allegorical representations of Rhetoric and Dialectic, find parallels with images of debate and discussion associated with texts studied in monastic and cathedral schools, and with accounts of the practice of teaching, which relied on the ability of a master to convince his listeners of both the truth of his words and his skill and experience. These were arts concerned with performance and substance, and both elements were explored by medieval artists.

THE ARTS

The allegorical representations of Rhetoric and Dialectic are often striking. Following the tradition recorded by Martianus Capella in the Marriage of Mercury and Philology, Rhetoric appeared as a warrior in at least four cycles of the arts, as well as in the image of the trivium that accompanied the copy of Capella's text now in Paris (Bibliotheque Sainte-Genevieve MS 1041) (Plate I).