As most of the speeches were written out beforehand in the study, the manuscripts served as a means of further publicity afterwards.The great extemporaneous speakers, on the other hand, were attended by shorthand writers.We must further remember that not all the orations which have come down to us were intended to be actually delivered.The panegyric, for example, of the elder Beroaldus on Lodovico il Moro was presented to him in manuscript.In fact, just as letters were written addressed to all conceivable persons and parts of the world as exercises, as formularies, or even to serve a controversial end, so there were speeches for imaginary occasions to be used as models for the reception of princes, bishops, and other dignitaries.
For oratory, as for the other arts, the death of Leo X (1521) and the sack of Rome (1527) mark the epoch of decadence.Giovio, but just escaped from the desolation of the eternal city, described, not impartially, but on the whole correctly, the causes of this decline:
'The plays of Plautus and Terence, once a school of Latin style for the educated Romans, are banished to make room for Italian comedies.