Asiatic Rhetoric

In his Roman Lives, Plutarch notes the popularity of Asiatic rhetoric (usually a more flowery and bombastic form of rhetorical delivery than its Attic counter-part) where he says of Mark Antony: "He adopted the so-called Asiatic style of speaking, which was flourishing with particular vigour just then and which bore a considerable resemblance to his life, in that it was kind of showy whinnying, filled with vain prancing and capricious ambition" (2).