CICERO AND THE RHETORIC OF IMPERIALISM - PUTTING THE POLITICS BACK INTO POLITICAL RHETORIC

This paper examines Cicero’s relation to Roman imperialism by focusing primarily upon his speech in behalf of Pompey’s special command against Mithradates (Pro lege Manilia, 66 BC) and his speech in favor of extending Caesar’s command in Gaul (De provinciis consularibus, 56 BC). These two moments in which Cicero contributed substantially to the empowerment of the two great imperialist generals who destroyed the Republic suggest the need to reassess versions of Cicero’s career which see him primarily in terms of domestic Roman politics and cast him as the heroic, would-be savior of the Republic. Applying a Marxist reading particularly indebted to Pierre Macherey, I try to explore the internal contradictions of the texts as pointers to the contradictions of late Republican society, contradictions which constitute the very conditions of possibility for Cicero’s political participation. © 1995, The International Society for the History of Rhetoric.