A central work in the history of rhetoric. Cicero, born in Spain around 35 BC, became a widely known and highly successful teacher of rhetoric in Rome. The "Training of the Orator" (Institutio Oratoria), a comprehensive training program in twelve books, draws from his own rich experience. It is a work of enduring significance, not only for its insights into rhetoric but also for the perspective it provides on education and social attitudes in the Roman world.

Cicero offers both general and specific advice. He provides guidance on proper training (starting from the young student); analyzes the structure of speeches; suggests tricks that will engage listeners and touch their emotions; reviews a wide range of Greek and Latin authors valuable for the orator; and offers advice on memory, presentation, and gestures.

The five-volume edition of "Training of the Orator" by Donald Russell of the Loeb Classical Library, which replaces an eighty-year-old translation by H. E. Butler, provides a text and parallel translation that are fully updated based on modern scholarship and adapted to the expression of today's era. Russell also offers unusually rich explanatory notes, which allow for a full appreciation of this central work in the history of rhetoric.