Cicero's Five Cannons and Digital Rhetoric
During the classical era, in Cicero’s De Inventione, he introduced a conceptual way of dividing and ordering speech known as the five canons of rhetoric. These cannons (invention, arrangement, style, delivery, and memory) have maintained their validity through the centuries with each cannon’s purpose evolving to meet today’s digital rhetoric. The practices of all five cannons can be translated to digital rhetoric and are described in Eyman’s Digital rhetoric: Theory, method, practice.
The first cannon, invention, which Cicero defined as “the discovery of valid or seemingly valid arguments” (as cited in Herrick 2018, p. 110). The differences in classical discourse in comparison to digital rhetoric regarding invention is the vastly expanded availability of means to acquire information. Douglas Eyman describes the digital version of the invention canon as “searching and negotiating networks of information; using multimodal and multimedia tools” (Eyman, 2015).
The second cannon, arrangement, Cicero defined as “the distribution of arguments thus discovered in the proper order” (as cited in Herrick, 2018, p. 111). This again has a new purpose with the multiple modes of acquiring information in the digital age. Eyman describes digital arrangement as “manipulating digital media as well as selecting ready-made works and reconstituting them into new works; remixing” (Eyman, 2015).
Cicero’s third cannon, expression, focused on “the fitting of proper language to the invented material” (as cited in Herrick, 2018, p. 111). Classical rhetors relied on carefully crafted striking and persuasive language to convey their arguments. The digital practice of expression employs the “understanding elements of design (color, motion, interactivity, font choice, appropriate use of multimedia, etc.)” (Eyman, 2015).
Memory is Cicero’s fourth canon of rhetoric. He described this canon as “the firm mental grasp of matter and words” (as cited in Herrick, 2018, p. 111). Classical rhetors relied on a strong capacity to memorize speeches that sometimes lasted several hours. The mental capacity to store information has shifted to more technologically reliant methods in the digital age. Eyman describes the digital version of the memory cannon as “information literacy – knowing how to store, retrieve, and manipulate information (personal or project-based; blogs or databases)” (Eyman, 2015).
Last, Cicero’s fifth cannon is delivery which he described as “the control of voice and body in a manner suitable to the dignity of the subject matter and the style” (as cited in Herrick, 2018, p. 111). A classical speech was a “performance, and the skilled orator needed the presence, poise, power, and grace of an actor” (Herrick, 2018, p. 111). In our digital age, no longer is the physical stage the only platform for delivery of discourse, but the multimodal and multimedia resources at hand. Eyman describes this fifth cannon’s digital practice as “understanding and using systems of distribution (including the technical frameworks that support varying protocols and networks)” (Eyman, 2015).
The fact that Cicero’s five canons of rhetoric still hold true nearly two-thousand years after their conceptualization speaks directly to Cicero’s greatness as a rhetorical theorist. The cannon’s applicability and practice have maintained validity through the shifting times from classical discourse to the multimodal and multimedia of today’s digital discourse.
Eyman, D. (2015). Digital rhetoric: Theory, method,
practice. ProQuest Ebook Central https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu
Herrick, J. A. (2018). The History and Theory of
Rhetoric: An Introduction (6th ed.). Routledge.
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