rhētŏrĭcus, a, um, adj., = ῥητορικός, of or belonging to a rhetorician, rhetorical.
I Adj. : nostro more aliquando, non rhetorico loquamur, Cic. de Or. 1, 29, 133: ars, i. e. a treatise on rhetoric , id. Fin. 4, 3, 7: rhetorici doctores, i. e. teachers of rhetoric , Cic. de Or. 1, 19, 86: syllogismus, Quint. 5, 10, 3; 9, 4, 57: libri, books on rhetoric , Cic. de Or. 2, 3, 10. — Hence,
II Substt.
A rhētŏrĭca , ae, or rhētŏrĭcē , ēs, f. (the first form in Cic., the latter in Quint.), the art of oratory , rhetoric : dicam, si potero, rhetorice, sed hac rhetoricā philosophorum, non nostrā illa forensi, Cic. Fin. 2, 6, 17: rhetorice est bene dicendi scientia, Quint. 5, 10, 54: et rhetorice, cui nomen vis eloquentiae dedit, id. 2, 1, 5: jus rhetorices, id. prooem. § 23: rhetoricen exercere, id. 2, 1, 3; 2, 15, 24: de rhetorice, id. 2, 15, 10. —
B rhētŏrĭci , ōrum, m.
1 Teachers of oratory , = rhetores, ipsi magistri, qui rhetorici vocantur, Cic. de Or. 1, 12, 52.—
2 Books on rhetoric : nisi rhetoricos suos (the erroneously named books de Inventione) ipse adulescenti sibi elapsos diceret (Cicero), Quint. 3, 1, 20; so, in rhetoricis, id. 2, 15, 6; also in sing.: sicut ex Ciceronis rhetorico primo manifestum est, id. 3, 5, 14; 3, 6, 58.—
C Neutr. plur. : rhētŏrĭca , ōrum, rhetoric : rhetorica mihi vestra sunt nota, Cic. Fat. 2, 4.— Adv.: rhētŏrĭcē , in an oratorical or rhetorical manner , oratorically , rhetorically : rhetorice igitur nos mavis quam dialectice disputare? Cic. Fin. 2, 6, 17: ejus mortem rhetorice et tragice ornare, id. Brut. 11, 43: quam rhetorice! id. Tusc. 3, 26, 63.