Startseite Altertumswissenschaften & Ägyptologie Comic Invective in Cicero’s Speech Pro M. Caelio
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Comic Invective in Cicero’s Speech Pro M. Caelio

  • Dennis Pausch
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Comic Invective in Ancient Greek and Roman Oratory
Ein Kapitel aus dem Buch Comic Invective in Ancient Greek and Roman Oratory

Abstract

Cicero’s speech Pro Caelio is a prime example of the entertaining as well as aggressive use that can be made of a combination between rhetoric and comedy. Cicero enriches his speech with many references and citations from Roman plays. In addition to this, he portrays the persons involved in the trial, above all his client Caelius and Clodia, whom he wants to be seen as the true moving spirit of the accusation, as if they were figures in a comedy. On the one hand, this enables him to play down the importance of the charge. On the other hand, he casts his client in the favourable light of the young lover in a comedy, whereas he assigns to Clodia the role of the prostitute, even alleging an incestuous relationship with her brother Clodius Pulcher. Whereas the speech has been analysed mainly with regard to the strategic use of the elements of comedy, this chapter focuses on the complex invective dynamics between the two genres, but also between the speaker, his opponents and the audience. In doing so, we can also see why our own reactions to Pro Caelio are changing, shifting away from the artistry of the speaker towards his victims and their emotional violations.

Abstract

Cicero’s speech Pro Caelio is a prime example of the entertaining as well as aggressive use that can be made of a combination between rhetoric and comedy. Cicero enriches his speech with many references and citations from Roman plays. In addition to this, he portrays the persons involved in the trial, above all his client Caelius and Clodia, whom he wants to be seen as the true moving spirit of the accusation, as if they were figures in a comedy. On the one hand, this enables him to play down the importance of the charge. On the other hand, he casts his client in the favourable light of the young lover in a comedy, whereas he assigns to Clodia the role of the prostitute, even alleging an incestuous relationship with her brother Clodius Pulcher. Whereas the speech has been analysed mainly with regard to the strategic use of the elements of comedy, this chapter focuses on the complex invective dynamics between the two genres, but also between the speaker, his opponents and the audience. In doing so, we can also see why our own reactions to Pro Caelio are changing, shifting away from the artistry of the speaker towards his victims and their emotional violations.

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. Acknowledgements VII
  4. Killing with a Smile: Comic Invective in Greek and Roman Oratory 1
  5. Part I: Intertextual and Multi-genre Invective
  6. Comedy and Insults in the Athenian Law-courts 25
  7. Comic Invective and Public Speech in Fourth-Century Athens 43
  8. Comic Invective in Attic Forensic Oratory: Private Speeches 65
  9. Rhetorical Defence, Inter-poetic Agōn and the Reframing of Comic Invective in Plato’s Apology of Socrates 81
  10. “You are Mad!” Allegations of Insanity in Greek Comedy and Rhetoric 107
  11. Comic Invective in Cicero’s Speech Pro M. Caelio 125
  12. How to Start a Show: Comic Invectives in the Prologues of Terence and Decimus Laberius 147
  13. Part II: The Cultural Workings of Invective
  14. Comic Somatisation and the Body of Evidence in Aeschines’ Against Timarchus 171
  15. Comic Invective, Decorum and Ars in Cicero’s De Oratore 191
  16. No Decorum in the Forum? Comic Invective in the Theatre of Justice 211
  17. Part III: Invective in Ancient Socio-political Contexts
  18. Political Rhetoric and Comic Invective in Fifth-Century Athens: The Trial of the Dogs in Aristophanes’ Wasps 235
  19. Democracy, Poverty, Comic Heroism and Oratorical Strategy in Lysias 24 257
  20. Notes on Editors and Contributors 273
  21. General Index 275
  22. Index Locorum 279
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110735536-007

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. Acknowledgements VII
  4. Killing with a Smile: Comic Invective in Greek and Roman Oratory 1
  5. Part I: Intertextual and Multi-genre Invective
  6. Comedy and Insults in the Athenian Law-courts 25
  7. Comic Invective and Public Speech in Fourth-Century Athens 43
  8. Comic Invective in Attic Forensic Oratory: Private Speeches 65
  9. Rhetorical Defence, Inter-poetic Agōn and the Reframing of Comic Invective in Plato’s Apology of Socrates 81
  10. “You are Mad!” Allegations of Insanity in Greek Comedy and Rhetoric 107
  11. Comic Invective in Cicero’s Speech Pro M. Caelio 125
  12. How to Start a Show: Comic Invectives in the Prologues of Terence and Decimus Laberius 147
  13. Part II: The Cultural Workings of Invective
  14. Comic Somatisation and the Body of Evidence in Aeschines’ Against Timarchus 171
  15. Comic Invective, Decorum and Ars in Cicero’s De Oratore 191
  16. No Decorum in the Forum? Comic Invective in the Theatre of Justice 211
  17. Part III: Invective in Ancient Socio-political Contexts
  18. Political Rhetoric and Comic Invective in Fifth-Century Athens: The Trial of the Dogs in Aristophanes’ Wasps 235
  19. Democracy, Poverty, Comic Heroism and Oratorical Strategy in Lysias 24 257
  20. Notes on Editors and Contributors 273
  21. General Index 275
  22. Index Locorum 279
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Heruntergeladen am 26.12.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110735536-007/html?lang=de
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