Attic vs. AsiaticThe Attic style in Greek literature and art was replaced, for a time, by the more decorative and florid Asiatic style. The attic re-emerged again, as the ideal, suggesting a more ascetic, brief and witty concise style. Both styles influenced writers and orators in Rome, and much later in Britain. Writers such as Matthew Arnold made use of an Attic prose style, while the more florid Asiatic style also had its advocates. In Roman times Cicero analyzed these styles and suggested that there were different Attic styles and the simple style was not the only one. Cicero was involved in the Attic-Asiatic debate; he was considered an Asian writer by those who wanted to discredit him. Cicero wrote a treatise on rhetoric. Rhetoric is the art of meaning, speech, writing, and language. Roman rhetoricians, such as Cicero and Quintilian, used Aristotelian concepts in their writings, as would later commentators. Cicero's works served as a link between Aristotle and subsequent generations, carrying through the Hellenistic age ideas that would otherwise have been lost: "They provide, consequently, some notion, certainly incomplete but nevertheless valuable, of the ideas about government that passed from Greece to Rome in the three centuries before the Christian era and produced such profound effects on Roman law" (Cicero 40). Cicero's works influenced Saint Augustine in the Middle Ages. Before converting to Christianity, Augustine taught rhetoric. Augustine revived interest in rhetoric: an important contribution, after the early Christians abjured it as a pagan art. He embodied rhetorical concepts in his writings and teachings and argued that preachers should be able to teach, delight, and move—the same notions advocated by Cicero. Augustine said that to achieve the goals of Christianity it was necessary to pay attention to the rules of effective expression. And such rules were to be used only in the service of truth and thus revitalized the philosophical foundations of rhetoric (Bizzell and Herzberg 382-383). As noted, some saw Cicero as more Asian than Attic, one such person was Francis Bacon. Francis Bacon advocated world empirical scrutiny by promoting a revival of secular knowledge. He rejected fables, myths and other narratives as highly inaccurate. His definition of rhetoric suggests that he attempted to bring the power of language under rational control. Bacon also promoted the scientific rhetorical approach; his ideas were important in three strands of modern rhetorical thought: epistemological, belletristic, and elocutionist (Foss, Foss and Trapp 8).