This paper analyses the history of the scheme aition, sunekhon, krinomenon in the rhetorical theory of stasis (issue-theory). The role of this scheme in the theory of Hermagoras of Temnos is reconstructed; it is shown that successive changes of position in Cicero's theoretical writings reflect the breakdown of Hermagoras' system. Responses to this breakdown in a number of later rhetoricians, including Quintilian, Lollianus and Minucianus, are discussed; Zeno and Hermogenes abandoned the scheme
