Cicero's BRUTUS

The End of Oratory and the Beginning of History

Bibliographic Data

ID9288571
AuthorsC E W Steel (University of Glasgow), Catherine Steel (0000-0002-7119-5840, University of Glasgow, corresponding author)
Year2003
Volume46
Issue1
Pages195-211
Publication date2003-12-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0076-0730 • E-ISSN: 2041-5370
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/j.2041-5370.2003.tb00741.x
OpenAlexW1986549193
LanguageEN
Citations received22

The ostensible function of the Brutus is to record the history of oratory at Rome and thereby confirm that it has ceased to exist under Caesar's dictatorship. But the gulf between Cicero's ideal of oratory and its actual use mean that he is unable to implement his inclusive selection criteria, as the absences of Marius, Sulla, Catiline and Clodius from the catalogue indicate; and his discussions of speakers have to concentrate on technique and not content. And whilst the narrative logic of the work tends towards Cicero himself as the culmination of Roman eloquence, his ultimate failure to inscribe himself into the canon shows that he is not yet willing to withdraw from political activity and cease to be an orator

Art · Cicero · Dictatorship · Epistemology · Ideal (ethics · Literature · Narrative · Political science · Politics · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classics · Historical and Literary Analyses · History · Law · Organic Chemistry Synthesis Methods · Philosophy