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5 Cicero’s De Oratore and the Platonic Art of Writing

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Cicero as Philosopher
This chapter is in the book Cicero as Philosopher
JedW. Atkins andLeoTrotz-Liboff5Cicero’sDeOratoreandthe PlatonicArtofWritingIn hisfirstphilosophicdialogue,De oratore(55 BCE),Cicero self-consciouslyimi-tatestheformandmannerof aPlatonicdialogue,fittingQuintilian’slatertitlefor himofPlatonisaemulus,the rival of Plato(10.1.123). WhereastheothertwoPla-tonicdialoguesof the50s,theDe republicaandDe legibus,portray Platoas thechief(princeps)ofpoliticalphilosophers(Rep.2.21),De oratorepresentsPlatoasthe greatest orator (oratorsummus,De or.1.47).¹Furthermore, Cicero’sown author-ial reflectionpresentsDe oratoreas anoratio(3.9), suggestingthathe,likePlato,actsas an oratorthrough his writtendialogues.InDe oratoreCicero’sintertextual allusionsto Platonicdialogues,especiallythePhaedrus,reveal aPlatonicart of writingbasedon thenotionthatthe philo-sophicaldialogueis aformof rhetoric.Ourpaperinvestigatesandevaluates thecharacteristicsof thisPlatonicartof writingforCicero’spoliticalphilosophy, anundertakingneglectedby themajor bookson thetopic.²Thisart of writinghasthreemajorcomponents.³First,inlinewiththePhaed-rus,the art adaptsspeechto theparticular soulof one’saddressee.Second,suchrhetorichasan esotericquality,afeatureevidentinDe oratorefromcharacters’discussionof otherphilosophers’secrecy(2.60;3.63–66)andtheirpresentationof atheoryof ambiguityin writing(2.210–211). Third,De oratorearticulates“logo-graphicnecessity,”theviewthatphilosophicalwritingisawholein whicheachpartfitswiththeothers,likelimbsin abody.⁴Drawingon thePhaedrus,the conversationwithinDe oratoreexplicatesandenactsthisPlatonicart of writing.Understanding thisis thekeytomakingsenseof longstandingcontradictionswithinthedialogue.It alsohelpsus situatetheDe oratorewithinCicero’sotherPlatonicdialoguesof the50s:as oratoryestab-lishespoliticalinstitutionsandlaws,so Cicero’sDe oratoreprepares forDe repub-licaandDe legibus.Andas oratoryis thechieftopicofconversationwithinDe or-1Text ofDe oratoreis fromKumaniecki1969.2See,e. g., Atkins2013a;Nicgorski2016;Schofield2021a; Zetzel2022.3Thereis alsoafourth:De oratore’sperformativecharacterentailsan emphasison the overlapoforatory,theater,and poetry,which is characteristicof Plato(seeNightingale 1995). However,thiselementis notas importantas theotherthree for interpretingCicero’sDe oratore,and we haveomitted it for reasonsof space.4Cf.Phdr.264b7–c5 vs.De or.2.310;2.325;2.355;3.24;3.96; 3.185–186;3.199;for thisideain Plato, seeBurger1980,79–81, Clay2000,110–114, andTrotz-Liboff2023b, 402-406.https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111591520-006
© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

JedW. Atkins andLeoTrotz-Liboff5Cicero’sDeOratoreandthe PlatonicArtofWritingIn hisfirstphilosophicdialogue,De oratore(55 BCE),Cicero self-consciouslyimi-tatestheformandmannerof aPlatonicdialogue,fittingQuintilian’slatertitlefor himofPlatonisaemulus,the rival of Plato(10.1.123). WhereastheothertwoPla-tonicdialoguesof the50s,theDe republicaandDe legibus,portray Platoas thechief(princeps)ofpoliticalphilosophers(Rep.2.21),De oratorepresentsPlatoasthe greatest orator (oratorsummus,De or.1.47).¹Furthermore, Cicero’sown author-ial reflectionpresentsDe oratoreas anoratio(3.9), suggestingthathe,likePlato,actsas an oratorthrough his writtendialogues.InDe oratoreCicero’sintertextual allusionsto Platonicdialogues,especiallythePhaedrus,reveal aPlatonicart of writingbasedon thenotionthatthe philo-sophicaldialogueis aformof rhetoric.Ourpaperinvestigatesandevaluates thecharacteristicsof thisPlatonicartof writingforCicero’spoliticalphilosophy, anundertakingneglectedby themajor bookson thetopic.²Thisart of writinghasthreemajorcomponents.³First,inlinewiththePhaed-rus,the art adaptsspeechto theparticular soulof one’saddressee.Second,suchrhetorichasan esotericquality,afeatureevidentinDe oratorefromcharacters’discussionof otherphilosophers’secrecy(2.60;3.63–66)andtheirpresentationof atheoryof ambiguityin writing(2.210–211). Third,De oratorearticulates“logo-graphicnecessity,”theviewthatphilosophicalwritingisawholein whicheachpartfitswiththeothers,likelimbsin abody.⁴Drawingon thePhaedrus,the conversationwithinDe oratoreexplicatesandenactsthisPlatonicart of writing.Understanding thisis thekeytomakingsenseof longstandingcontradictionswithinthedialogue.It alsohelpsus situatetheDe oratorewithinCicero’sotherPlatonicdialoguesof the50s:as oratoryestab-lishespoliticalinstitutionsandlaws,so Cicero’sDe oratoreprepares forDe repub-licaandDe legibus.Andas oratoryis thechieftopicofconversationwithinDe or-1Text ofDe oratoreis fromKumaniecki1969.2See,e. g., Atkins2013a;Nicgorski2016;Schofield2021a; Zetzel2022.3Thereis alsoafourth:De oratore’sperformativecharacterentailsan emphasison the overlapoforatory,theater,and poetry,which is characteristicof Plato(seeNightingale 1995). However,thiselementis notas importantas theotherthree for interpretingCicero’sDe oratore,and we haveomitted it for reasonsof space.4Cf.Phdr.264b7–c5 vs.De or.2.310;2.325;2.355;3.24;3.96; 3.185–186;3.199;for thisideain Plato, seeBurger1980,79–81, Clay2000,110–114, andTrotz-Liboff2023b, 402-406.https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111591520-006
© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Table of Contents V
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part One: Cicero’s Philosophy Revisited
  5. 1 The Practical Basis and Coherence of Cicero’s Socratic Philosophy 15
  6. 2 Rereading De Republica: Popular Philosophy and Historicism 33
  7. 3 Designing Philosophical Authority in Cicero’s Dialogues 63
  8. 4 Contra physicos…Carneadeo more multa disputata: Cicero’s Timaeus and the Discussions about Physics in De Natura Deorum, De Divinatione, and De Fato 81
  9. 5 Cicero’s De Oratore and the Platonic Art of Writing 97
  10. 6 Between Chrysippus and Panaetius: Cicero’s Attitude to Second-Order Stoic Ethical Thought in De Finibus and Beyond 127
  11. 7 Does Philosophy Provide a Secure Path to Perfect Happiness? Cicero’s Discussion of the Sufficiency Thesis in Tusculan Disputations 5 151
  12. 8 Cicero’s De Officiis: A Cradle for Modern Ethics? 173
  13. 9 Cicero’s Philosophy of Just War 197
  14. 10 Friends and Obligations: Cicero’s De Amicitia and a Problem in Roman Political Culture 223
  15. Part Two: Cicero’s Afterlife
  16. 11 Augustine’s Reception of the Ciceronian Civitas 247
  17. 12 Auctoritas of the Thirteenth Century: Thomas Aquinas and Natural Teleology in the Ciceronian Tradition 265
  18. 13 “From the innermost and deepest grounds of philosophy”: On the Place of Cicero in Francisco Suárez’s De Legibus ac Deo Legislatore 285
  19. 14 The Public Latinity of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola: Cato, Cicero, and the Mighty Aristotle 307
  20. 15 Radical Readings of Ciceronian Dialogue in Early Eighteenth-Century England 329
  21. 16 Sunt autem privata nulla natura: Cicero and the Early Modern History of Property 347
  22. 17 Testing the Limits of Reason: The Place of Cicero in Locke’s Doctrine of Natural Law 367
  23. 18 Cicero in the German Enlightenment 391
  24. Index 409
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https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111591520-006

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Table of Contents V
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part One: Cicero’s Philosophy Revisited
  5. 1 The Practical Basis and Coherence of Cicero’s Socratic Philosophy 15
  6. 2 Rereading De Republica: Popular Philosophy and Historicism 33
  7. 3 Designing Philosophical Authority in Cicero’s Dialogues 63
  8. 4 Contra physicos…Carneadeo more multa disputata: Cicero’s Timaeus and the Discussions about Physics in De Natura Deorum, De Divinatione, and De Fato 81
  9. 5 Cicero’s De Oratore and the Platonic Art of Writing 97
  10. 6 Between Chrysippus and Panaetius: Cicero’s Attitude to Second-Order Stoic Ethical Thought in De Finibus and Beyond 127
  11. 7 Does Philosophy Provide a Secure Path to Perfect Happiness? Cicero’s Discussion of the Sufficiency Thesis in Tusculan Disputations 5 151
  12. 8 Cicero’s De Officiis: A Cradle for Modern Ethics? 173
  13. 9 Cicero’s Philosophy of Just War 197
  14. 10 Friends and Obligations: Cicero’s De Amicitia and a Problem in Roman Political Culture 223
  15. Part Two: Cicero’s Afterlife
  16. 11 Augustine’s Reception of the Ciceronian Civitas 247
  17. 12 Auctoritas of the Thirteenth Century: Thomas Aquinas and Natural Teleology in the Ciceronian Tradition 265
  18. 13 “From the innermost and deepest grounds of philosophy”: On the Place of Cicero in Francisco Suárez’s De Legibus ac Deo Legislatore 285
  19. 14 The Public Latinity of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola: Cato, Cicero, and the Mighty Aristotle 307
  20. 15 Radical Readings of Ciceronian Dialogue in Early Eighteenth-Century England 329
  21. 16 Sunt autem privata nulla natura: Cicero and the Early Modern History of Property 347
  22. 17 Testing the Limits of Reason: The Place of Cicero in Locke’s Doctrine of Natural Law 367
  23. 18 Cicero in the German Enlightenment 391
  24. Index 409
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