The aim of forensic oratory is to teach, to delight, to move.

Cicero, Rome’s most celebrated advocate and theorist of rhetoric, repeatedly describes the orator’s task as combining instruction, pleasure, and emotional persuasion. The triad is associated with his mature rhetorical works written in the mid-50s BCE, when he was reflecting on his courtroom and political career and systematizing Greek rhetorical theory for a Roman audience. In these treatises Cicero argues that effective forensic speaking (speech in courts and public causes) must do more than present facts: it must also hold attention and stir the judges’ feelings, since verdicts are often shaped by character, credibility, and emotion as well as by strict proof.

The line condenses Cicero’s view that persuasion is multi-dimensional. “To teach” points to clarity, evidence, and logical arrangement; “to delight” to style, wit, and verbal beauty that sustain attention and goodwill; “to move” to the strategic arousal of emotions that can tip an audience toward action or judgment. The order also implies hierarchy: instruction alone is insufficient, and delight is not mere ornament but a tool that makes teaching palatable and prepares the audience for emotional impact. For Cicero, the best orator unites these aims ethically and artistically, turning rhetoric into both civic instrument and literary craft.