Cicero

Cicero

 Marcus Tullius Cicero is regarded as one of the most illustrious figures from the Roman Republic, aside from Julius Caesar. He became recognized as a great orator, a prolific writer and one of the most famous defense attorneys in the Republic. His speeches, as most are, contained a great degree of rhetoric that helped influence his role as a prominent figure in society as well as serve a historical purpose of significantly delineating he cultural physiognomies of the Roman Republic. In this essay, I will analyze Cicero’s speeches and personal documents in order to formulate a hypothesis regarding his linguistic precision and rhetorical skill. In addition, I will analyze exactly how his philosophical humanism influences his rhetorical views and practices. Accordingly, the aims are (1) to sketch Cicero’s rhetorical patterns and methods of persuasion and (2) to analyze the ramifications of Cicero’s philosophical beliefs towards which they directly effected his written and oratory abilities
In his speech, Against Catiline, given in 63 BC, Cicero was addressing Lucius Sergius Catiline, the Roman Senator of the first century BC. Caitline was a political affiliate notorious for planning a conspiracy against the government of the Republic, and in particular the power of the aristocratic senate. In this address, Cicero uses his illustrious and prolific literary and oratory skills to condemn a traitor of the Senate but more particularly, the government and as Cicero sees it—the entire Roman Republic. In the address, Cicero implements a substantial use of rhetorical questions that, unequivocally, add to the emphasis and overall pathos of the oration. In the first paragraph alone, Cicero uses five rhetorical questions, which comprised the entire paragraph. These rhetorical questions are used to appeal to the emotions or pathos of the audience through the use of conciliare (winning over), a term used to suggest a form of action dependent on emotions. (pg. 411, Gary...