Roman Oratory: Cicero’s Caesarian Speeches

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–44 BC) was the most accomplished orator of the Roman Republic.  Among the most fascinating of his speeches are the three “Caesarian” speeches delivered to Julius Caesar on behalf of persons who had opposed Caesar in the civil war.  In the speeches Cicero, in many different ways, uses his hard-won rhetorical and literary skills, practiced over a lifetime in lawsuits, political debates, and philosophizing, not merely to speak on behalf of the immediate subjects of the speeches, but also to suggest social and political roles for Caesar himself.  Caesar’s place in the Roman world is as much a topic of the three speeches as the immediate issue of each speech.  The chief purpose of this class is to reach an understanding of the basic issues of each speech and the roles that Cicero scripts for Caesar in them. B. Krostenko. Autumn.