Cicero vs. Mark Antony: identity construction and ingroup/outgroup formation in Philippics One and Three
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Merlijn Breunesse
Abstract
This chapter is concerned with the beginning of the conflict between Cicero and Mark Antony, which was sparked by the orator’s performance of the Philippics and ended with his death in 43 BCE. This starting point has been the subject of much debate among many scholars, including Ramsey (2003), Manuwald (2007), and Usher (2010). Based on Cicero’s intent with and Antony’s interpretation of the speeches, the content of the speeches, and the political climate of 44-43 BCE Rome, they have argued convincingly in favor of either Philippic One or Philippic Three as the conflict’s beginning. This chapter adds to their analyses by taking a Social Constructionist approach to the texts, considering the subtle ways in which Cicero constructs Antony’s identity in Philippics One and Three through his use of language. Taking the three dimensions of identity construction suggested by Bamberg (e.g. 2011a) - sameness/difference, agency, and diachronic identity navigation - as a starting point, it investigates the linguistic devices that contribute to ingroup/outgroup formation. Based on an analysis of phenomena such as category-bound activities, footing-shifts, agency expression, and dissociative demonstratives, it concludes that the conflict between Cicero and Antony started with Philippic Three.
Abstract
This chapter is concerned with the beginning of the conflict between Cicero and Mark Antony, which was sparked by the orator’s performance of the Philippics and ended with his death in 43 BCE. This starting point has been the subject of much debate among many scholars, including Ramsey (2003), Manuwald (2007), and Usher (2010). Based on Cicero’s intent with and Antony’s interpretation of the speeches, the content of the speeches, and the political climate of 44-43 BCE Rome, they have argued convincingly in favor of either Philippic One or Philippic Three as the conflict’s beginning. This chapter adds to their analyses by taking a Social Constructionist approach to the texts, considering the subtle ways in which Cicero constructs Antony’s identity in Philippics One and Three through his use of language. Taking the three dimensions of identity construction suggested by Bamberg (e.g. 2011a) - sameness/difference, agency, and diachronic identity navigation - as a starting point, it investigates the linguistic devices that contribute to ingroup/outgroup formation. Based on an analysis of phenomena such as category-bound activities, footing-shifts, agency expression, and dissociative demonstratives, it concludes that the conflict between Cicero and Antony started with Philippic Three.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
-
Clause
-
Constructions
- Linguistic theory in daily lexicographical practice: dealing with arguments and satellites in the entries of regnare and nectere in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae 1
- The expression of knowledge in Latin: cognosco, nosco, scio, nescio and ignoro 20
- Los verbos latinos timeo y metuo: sintaxis, semántica y pragmática 48
- Potest + passive infinitives: auxiliary or impersonal verb? 67
- Ruinam dare : les complexités d’une construction latine à verbe support 79
- On the use of the ablative of the gerund and the nominative of the present participle in Latin technical literature 96
- Praedicativum and subject complement: a question revisited in light of the Latin verb sto 116
- Der lateinische Dativ: neue Wege in Transitivität und funktionaler Semantik 134
- Between syntax and magic: some peculiarities of nominal syntax in Latin curse tablets 155
- Les complétives en quoniam : étude à partir du latin biblique 174
-
Semantics
- Animacy in Latin: explaining some peripheral phenomena 199
- Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres: Sapir’s typology and different perspectives on totality 219
- General extenders in Latin 241
- Les parcours sémantiques vers l’adversatif : une approche typologique des langues anciennes 259
- The diffraction of iam: contextual effects in interpretation 280
- Le système latin de la déixis et de l’endophore : l’évolution linguistique chez Sénèque 296
-
Discourse
-
Tense and discourse
- On the expression of relative time in Latin narrations 319
- Progression thématique et types de séquences chez quelques historiens romains 339
- Engaging the audience: an intersubjectivity approach to the historic present tense in Latin 351
- ‘I hereby present the use of the Latin first-person perfect indicative as a performative’ 374
-
Politeness and identity
- Expressing happiness as a manifestation of positive politeness in Roman comedy 393
- Impoliteness in Plautus’ comedies 413
- How to assess politeness in response to impoliteness: some examples from Latin comedy 431
- Cicero vs. Mark Antony: identity construction and ingroup/outgroup formation in Philippics One and Three 448
- Ego sum Amphitruo: Selbstidentifikation in der römischen Komödie 464
- Index 479
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
-
Clause
-
Constructions
- Linguistic theory in daily lexicographical practice: dealing with arguments and satellites in the entries of regnare and nectere in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae 1
- The expression of knowledge in Latin: cognosco, nosco, scio, nescio and ignoro 20
- Los verbos latinos timeo y metuo: sintaxis, semántica y pragmática 48
- Potest + passive infinitives: auxiliary or impersonal verb? 67
- Ruinam dare : les complexités d’une construction latine à verbe support 79
- On the use of the ablative of the gerund and the nominative of the present participle in Latin technical literature 96
- Praedicativum and subject complement: a question revisited in light of the Latin verb sto 116
- Der lateinische Dativ: neue Wege in Transitivität und funktionaler Semantik 134
- Between syntax and magic: some peculiarities of nominal syntax in Latin curse tablets 155
- Les complétives en quoniam : étude à partir du latin biblique 174
-
Semantics
- Animacy in Latin: explaining some peripheral phenomena 199
- Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres: Sapir’s typology and different perspectives on totality 219
- General extenders in Latin 241
- Les parcours sémantiques vers l’adversatif : une approche typologique des langues anciennes 259
- The diffraction of iam: contextual effects in interpretation 280
- Le système latin de la déixis et de l’endophore : l’évolution linguistique chez Sénèque 296
-
Discourse
-
Tense and discourse
- On the expression of relative time in Latin narrations 319
- Progression thématique et types de séquences chez quelques historiens romains 339
- Engaging the audience: an intersubjectivity approach to the historic present tense in Latin 351
- ‘I hereby present the use of the Latin first-person perfect indicative as a performative’ 374
-
Politeness and identity
- Expressing happiness as a manifestation of positive politeness in Roman comedy 393
- Impoliteness in Plautus’ comedies 413
- How to assess politeness in response to impoliteness: some examples from Latin comedy 431
- Cicero vs. Mark Antony: identity construction and ingroup/outgroup formation in Philippics One and Three 448
- Ego sum Amphitruo: Selbstidentifikation in der römischen Komödie 464
- Index 479