Description

Exploring the reception of an influential phase in the life of the orator and politician Cicero, this volume focuses on the legacy of his public speeches and political writings that were made between 60-50 BCE. During this period, Cicero experienced multiple challenges in his public career, which he countered by setting up an elaborate self-fashioning programme. His aim was to reinvent himself as republican statesman and a political philosopher. It is this body of Cicero's work that has been discussed, (re)interpreted and evaluated by countless later readers.

The contributions in this volume examine specific moments, such as Pro Caelio and Pro Milone, that have been crucial to his later image as a politician and writer. They focus on the profound interplay between Cicero's strategic political choices and the interpretations of writers and scholars spanning from antiquity to the early modern period. Together, they meticulously construct the canonical image of Cicero - an eminent literary figure, a formidable philosopher and the unrivalled orator of ancient Rome. As a result, the reader gains a deeper understanding of Cicero's enduring influence from antiquity, through the renaissance and right up until the 21st century.