In De Inventione, Cicero has just finished his schooling and
writing a book to demonstrate what his years of schooling have taught him. He
is only beginning his career as a rhetorician. When I first read De Inventione,
I thought, “This is good stuff” or “I hadn’t noticed that about rhetoric
before”, Cicero did an excellent job of adding a fine touch to Aristotle’s
system of rhetoric. You can tell that Cicero thinks he knows a lot about rhetoric.
Now let us fast forward 30 years…
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| Each of us must carve our own path. We are just at the begining. There is so much ahead of us! |
It was hard for me to
believe that the writers of De Inventione and De Oratore were the same person.
His writing and his ideas were very powerful. I enjoyed his insights on what he
projected were the needed skills of a rhetorician because I think I could tell
that this particular writer possessed many of them.
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| Cicero sculpted his own life as he followed his passions and goals |
Things take time. I was very inspired by the works of
Cicero, mainly because he didn’t give up on his dream. He began a journey as an
eager and promising student, but it was what he did with his life after his schooling was over that
really defined him. Like it was for Cicero, so let it be for us.
I think a great lesson to learn from Cicero is to follow
your heart and to stick with your goals. Who we are now is not a reflection of
what we are forever destined to be. Regardless of where we are now with hard
work, consistency, and time we can sculpt our lives into something beautiful.
