In Aristotle’s rational approach to rhetoric there was very little room for the sweetness of the speech.Cicero,on the contrary,considered suavitas as the virtue that leads the oratorical skills to their ultimate perfection.Suavitas is mentioned together with brevitas,with gravitas,with vis and copia,with varietas or lepos.Sometimes it concerns the whole speech,sometimes the use of the different styles,sometimes the orator himself.Its aim is always the pleasure stirred up in the hearers,a pleasure that overwhelms them and conveys persuasion.In Cicero’s understanding of the officia oratoris(docere,delectare,movere),suavitas is actually the instrument of delectare(Orat.69).Never,however,the suavitas which he refers to is for the hearers cause for satietas.To keep this difficult balance Cicero’s ideal orator,ornatus et suavis,couples the sweetness of the style with the sweetness of a profound content and,consequently,his suavitas is not dulcis atque decocta,but austera et solida(De Orat.3.103).Despite Cicero’s praise of this rhetorical tool,the attention of the Latin authors to the suavitas of the speech drops considerably after him.We find,on the contrary,that Hermogenes took into account Sweetness within his stylistic theory of the ideai and his doctrine emerges again in Italy,in George of Trebizond’s small treatise De suavitate dicendi and in his Rhetoricorum Libri V.I will discuss all these steps to show the role of Sweetness in the performance of a persuasive speech. In Aristotle’s rational approach to rhetoric there was very little room for the sweetness of the speech. Cicero, on the contrary, considered suavitas as the virtue that leads the oratorical skills to their ultimate perfection.Suavitas is mentioned together with brevitas, with gravitas, with vis and copia, with varietas or lepos.Sometimes it concerns the whole speech, sometimes the use of the different styles, sometimes the orator himself. Itts is always the pleasure stirring up in the hearers, a pleasure that overwhelms them and conveys persuasion. In Cicero’s understanding of the officia oratoris (docere, delectare, movere), suavitas is actually the instrument of delectare (Orat. 69) .Never, however, the suavitas which he is to to for the hearers cause for satietas.To keep this difficult balance Cicero’s ideal orator, ornatus et suavis, couples the sweetness of the style with the sweetness of a profound content and, therefore, his suavitas is not dulcis atque decocta, but austera et solida (De Orat. 103) .Despite Cicero’s praise of this rhetorical tool, the attention of the Latin authors to the suavitas of the speech drops urge after him. We find that on the contrary, that Hermogenes took into account Sweetness within his stylistic theory of the ideai and his doctrine emerges again in Italy, in George of Trebizond’s small treatise De suavitate dicendi and in his Rhetoricorum Libri VI will discuss all these steps to show the role of Sweetness in the performance of a persuasive speech.