Swift's attachment to ancient learning has long been regarded as a settled matter. The Modest Proposal has been seen as reflecting this attachment through its use of a Ciceronian rhetorical model to enable the work’s irony. Reading the Proposal in the broader context of Swift’s prose non-fiction works, however, suggests that Swift’s experience as an Irish political writer caused him to question the connection between classical rhetorical models and political power. Against this background, the hyper-regular structure of the Proposal is as much the object of Swift’s satire as an enabler of it.

中文翻译：

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西塞罗的面具：乔纳森·斯威夫特，经典修辞和适度的建议

斯威夫特对古代学习的依恋长期以来一直被认为是已解决的问题。在温和的建议已被视为反映通过使用西塞罗修辞模式的这种执着，使作品的讽刺。然而，在斯威夫特的散文非小说作品的更广泛的背景下阅读该建议书，表明斯威夫特作为爱尔兰政治作家的经历使他对古典修辞模式与政治权力之间的联系提出了质疑。在这种背景下，提案的超常规结构既是Swift讽刺作品的目标，又是它的促成因素。