Consolatio

The consolatio or consolatory oration is a type of ceremonial oratory, typically used rhetorically to comfort mourners at funerals. It was one of the most popular classical rhetoric topics,[1][2] and received new impetus under Renaissance humanism.

  1. ^ Ernst Robert Curtius, European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages, trans. W.R. Trask (Princeton: 1953) section 5.1 Topics of Consolatory Oratory pp. 80–2
  2. ^ Petrie, Graham (1970) "A Rhetorical Topic in 'Tristram Shandy' ", Modern Language Review, Vol. 65, No. 2, April 1970, p. 262