El poder transformador del discurso y de los ejemplos personales en Agustín: Ambrosio como modelo oratorio

Abstract

Saint Augustine assumes traditional rhetoric in terms that he must teach, delight and move, but he modifies it by proposing that to teach is the only necessary thing. This because although such things teach, delight and move less, here is need to say what is true and just, despite that the consent of the auditor cannot be assured. A second difference is that traditional rhetoric maintains that little things have to be said in a simple way, medium things have to be said with moderation, and the large things must be said grandly; however, the Bishop of Hippo says that everything that is preached by the ecclesiastical orator is great, because it is linked to the Holy Scriptures. This paradigm shift is only possible from the example of St. Ambrose.