The article analyses the emergence of decorum (appropriateness) as a central concept of rhetorical theory in the early sixteenth-century writings of Erasmus and Juan Luis Vives. In rhetorical theory, decorum shifted the emphasis from formulaic rules to their creative application in concrete cases. In doing so, it emphasized a close analysis of the rhetorical situation (above all the preferences of the audience) and underscored the persuasive possibilities of civil conversation as opposed to passionate, adversarial rhetoric. The article argues that the stress put on decorum in early sixteenth-century theory is not just an internal development in the history of rhetoric but linked to far wider questions concerning the role of rhetoric in religious and secular lives. Decorum appears as a solution both to the divisiveness of language in the context of the Reformation and dynastic warfare of the early sixteenth century and as an adaptation of the republican tradition of political rhetoric to a changed, monarchical context. Erasmus and Vives maintained that decorum not only suppressed destructive passions and discord, but that it was only through polite and civil rhetoric (or conversation) that a truly effective persuasion was possible in a vast array of contexts.

本文分析了作为 16 世纪早期伊拉斯谟和胡安·路易斯·维维斯 (Juan Luis Vives) 著作中修辞理论中心概念的礼仪（适当性）的出现。在修辞理论中，礼仪将重点从公式化规则转移到它们在具体案例中的创造性应用。这样做时，它强调了对修辞情况的仔细分析（首先是观众的偏好），并强调了民间对话的有说服力的可能性，而不是热情的、对抗性的修辞。文章认为，对礼仪的强调16 世纪早期的理论不仅是修辞学历史上的内在发展，而且与有关修辞学在宗教和世俗生活中的作用的更广泛问题有关。Decorum似乎是解决 16 世纪早期宗教改革和王朝战争背景下语言分裂的一种解决方案，也是政治修辞的共和传统适应变化的君主制背景的一种方法。伊拉斯谟和维夫斯坚持认为，礼节不仅能抑制破坏性的激情和不和，而且只有通过礼貌和文明的言辞（或谈话），才能在广泛的背景下进行真正有效的说服。