Caecilius of Calacte

Caecilius, of Calacte in Sicily, Greek rhetorician, flourished at Rome during the reign of Augustus.

Related Topics:
Calacte - Sicily - Rhetoric - Rome - Augustus

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Originally called Archagathus, he took the name of Caecilius from his patron, one of the Metelli. According to the Suda, he was by birth a Jew. Next to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, he was the most important critic and rhetorician of the Augustan age.

Related Topics:
Suda - Jew - Dionysius of Halicarnassus

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Only fragments are extant of his numerous and important works, among which may be mentioned:

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• On the Style of the Ten Orators (the lives and a critical examination of the works of the Ten Orators), the basis of the pseudo-Plutarchian treatise of the same name, in which Caecilius is frequently referred to;
• On the Sublime, attacked by (?) Longinus in his essay on the same subject;
• History of the Servile Wars, or slave risings in Sicily, the local interest of which would naturally appeal to the author;
• On Rhetoric and Rhetorical Figures, an Alphabetical Selection of Phrases, intended to serve as a guide to the acquirement of a pure Attic style?the first example of an Atticist lexicon, mentioned by Suidas in the preface to his lexicon as one of his authorities;
• Against the Phrygians, probably an attack on the florid style of the Asiatic school of rhetoric.