Lewis & Short

† rhētŏrĭcus, a, um, adj., = ῤητορικός, of or belonging to a rhetorician, rhetorical.

  1. 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,
  2. II. Substt.
    1. 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.
    2. B. rhētŏrĭci, ōrum, m.
      1. 1. Teachers of oratory, = rhetores, ipsi magistri, qui rhetorici vocantur, Cic. de Or. 1, 12, 52.
      2. 2. Books on rhetoric: nisi rhetoricos suos (the erroneouslynamed 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.
    3. 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.