Cornelii Valerii Ultraiectini In universam benedicendi [sic] rationem tabula, summam artis rhetoricae complectens

CORNELII
VALERII VLTRA-
IECTINI of Utrecht IN VNIVER-
SAM BENE DICENDI RATIO-
nem system of speaking well table, embracing the sum of the art of Rhetoric.

Decorative drop cap 'R' featuring a figure within the letter.RHETORIC is the system of speaking well, or the science of speaking prudently and ornately about any proposed subject.
A rhetorician is one who teaches the precepts of speaking. An orator is, as Cicero says, one who can speak aptly, knowledgeably, and ornately about all subjects. He is called ῥήτωρ rhetor in Greek for speaking out, and eloquent in Latin, though we defined the rhetorician differently just now. For we sometimes understand rhetoric as that which teaches the system of speaking well, and sometimes as that power of speaking prudently, explicitly, abundantly, luminously in both things and words, and rhythmically—that is, eloquence—which is nothing other than wisdom speaking copiously. This faculty of speaking, like all arts, is perfected by these aids: nature, art, and exercise. Nature, or talent spurred by ardent study, brings the greatest force to speaking, without which art and precepts would be useless. Diligent exercise and the practice of speaking are also necessary, as well as the imitation of those who have excelled above others in the art of speaking, without which no one has ever achieved that oratorical power.

Rhetoric is nothing other than prudence combined with the faculty of speaking: Aristides on Rhetoric in the first Platonic oration.

Rhetorician.

Orator.

They can be adorned regarding all subjects, such as regarding honorable and base things, just and unjust, useful and useless, etc.

Cicero in Orator, book 3.

In how many ways rhetoric may be understood.

Eloquence is compared to nature, art, and exercise, as efficient causes.

Imitation of eloquent writers.