The Rethorica Nova of Ramon Llull: a Guide to "Speaking Well"

Abstract

THE RETHORICA NOVA OF RAMON LLULL: A GUIDE TO "SPEAKING WELL" Mark Johnston DePaul Univeristy Scholarship on the literary culture of the European Middle Ages used to affirm confidendy diat die practice of eloquence was limited to diree areas—dieais dictaminis, arspoetriae, and arspraedicandi—cultivated almost exclusively by clerics and scholars, for narrowly professional purposes.1 The Classical exercise of public oratory codified by Cicero supposedly survived only as a subject for scholastic commentary in a few university curricula. Evidence for die popular practice ofeloquence seemed so limited that even as recently as 1988 an historian ofrhetoric could declare simply diat "Oratory was a lost art" in die Middle Ages.2 During die last two generations, new and extensive research on literacy, oral diluire, and popular learning has, happily, made it impossible to accept the old view that attention to eloquence survived only in chanceries, lecture halls, and pulpits.3 Evidence gadiered from many fields now shows that men and women outside die schools, the Church, or government administration also appreciated keenly the importance of, as they often called it, "speaking well" (bene loqui). An extraordinary Iberian testimony to this wider interest in eloquence is the treatise Rethorica nova (RN)4 of Ramon Llull (12321316 ). In this work, the celebrated Mallorcan lay theologian and 1 The prevailing view, certainly, in North American scholarship from Charles Sears Baldwin, Medieval Rhetoric to JamesJerome Murphy, Rhetoric in the MiddleAges . 2 Brian Vickers, In Defense ofRhetoric 227. 5 Research on the development ofcourtly culture has especially contributed to this broader knowledge: Joachim Bumke, Courtly Cuitare; C. Stephen Jaeger, The Origins of Courtliness and The Envy ofAngels; or Aldo Scaglione, Knights at Court. On the literature of "speaking well", seeJohnston, "Ciceronian Rhetoric and Ethics". 4 All references, by section and page, are to the edition byJohnston. Recent editions also include that ofJosep Batalla, Lluis Cabré y Marcel Ortin; and anotherbyJaunie Medina. La corónica 34.2 (Spring, 2006): 135-60 136Mark JohnstonLa coránica 34.2, 2006 philosopher combines advice drawn from many sources: pre¿iching, grammar, rhetoric, moral theology, courtesy and vernacular poetics. The result of this diverse confection is a comjirehensive phin for artful discourse that ultimately serves Llull's larger goal of reforming Christian society. At the saure time, it illustrates sujierkitivelv how educated laypeople like Llull were capable of synthesizing the different models of eloquence available to them, without recourse to the training provided for clerics or scholars. Lull's Rethorica nova The/t^Vis the first full-length work on eloquence from Llull's long and prolific career; he later composed other guides to preaching and various compendia ofsermon material. ' The colophon ofthe RN states that he wrote it in the vermicular (jircsumablv Catalan) while ? ¡siting Cyprus in 1301. during one of his overseas missionary excursions, although there is nothing in the work that specifically connects it to the circumstances ol his missionary activities in Cyprus: Finitus est liber isle ad dei gloriam et honorem, in quo tradit¿i est doctrina inveniendi rcthorice subiectiun et ad verba pulcra et ornata secundum artein rethorice componenda. Islum tractatuni compihivit Magister Ravniundus catehinus secundum vulgarem stillimi in insula cipri in monasterio sancii Iohannis crisostomi, Anno domini millesimo.C.C.C. primo in mense septembris. Sed eiusdem domini Anno Millesimo.C.C.C.iii. fuit in latinum translatus in Janna gloriosa vtalie civitale. Explicit rethorica nova. Deo gratias amen. (4.11; 54) The text's prologue also notes that he had long wished to write such a work; it is possible that he had composed much of it prior to 1301. I his seems especially probable because the AiV contains no reference to his controversial projiosal of speech as a sixth sense (called affatus), which he first announced in 1295 and regularly included in all his works composed after that date.6 The text's colophon further explains -' F(Jr fiill discussion of.ill Llull's theories on eloquence, see Johnston, Evangelical Rhetoric: on his sermon theories in particular, see Llius Cabré. "Homilètica lui-liana". " The origin and purpose of this unusual theorv remain subjects of considerable scholarly debate; see Johnston. "Affitius: Natural Science as Moral Theologv" and Elena Pistoiesi, "El rerefons de...