dēclāmātiōnēs

dēclāmātiōnēs (Gk. meletai or scholastikai, ‘declamations’), in Roman oratory (but originating in Greek practice of the third and second centuries BC), the technical term for the exercises performed by young would-be orators in the rhetorical schools. These pupils were required to speak on invented themes (thesēs), some highly implausible. For judicial declamations, controversiae, and deliberative declamations, suasoriae, see SENECA (1) and QUINTILIAN.