(in Polish) Cicero’s Caesar(s): Speaking Truth(s) to Power 3104-SD19BKROS
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–44 BC) was the most accomplished orator of the Roman Republic, his language a sensitive index of the political and ideological pressures of his time. Among the most fascinating of his speeches are the three “Caesarian” speeches delivered to Julius Caesar, then dictator, on behalf of persons who had opposed Caesar in the civil war—the pro Marcello, pro Ligario, and pro rege Deiotaro. 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 first and main question of this class is accordingly twofold: what are the basic issues of each speech? and what is the role that Cicero scripts for Caesar in each? That scripting often draws on allusions to not strictly rhetorical modes of speech, such as rhetorical criticism, popular philosophy, poetry, and the legal briefing. The second question of the class is thus, what does the highly varied rhetorical style of the speeches contribute to their arguments? and how is Cicero’s very language a mark of the ideological strain created by a supreme ruler?
Language of instruction: English, Polish
Languages required: Latin, English
Languages recommended: French, Italian, German
Type of course
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