Cicero's Political Personae

Argues that Cicero assumed eight distinctive personae in the speeches of the latter half of his career to maximize political leverage and persuasion. Provides new insights into his political manoeuvring and the subtleties of his Latin prose. Accessible to students and non-specialists as well as scholars.

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Cicero's speeches provide a fascinating window into the political battles and crises of his time. In this book, Joanna Kenty examines Cicero's persuasive strategies and the subtleties of his Latin prose, and shows how he used eight political personae – the attacker, the grateful friend, the martyr, the senator, the partisan ideologue, and others – to maximize his political leverage in the latter half of his career. These personae were what made his arguments convincing, and drew audiences into Cicero's perspective. Non-specialist and expert readers alike will gain new insight into Cicero's corpus and career as a whole, as well as a better appreciation of the context, details, and nuances of individual passages.