Ciceronianism

Walter Nicgorski

In the broadest sense of this somewhat elusive concept, Ciceronianism is an attraction to Cicero giving rise to a desire to imitate him in one or more features of his manifold achievement. The initial use of the term, as well as the most frequent usage, seems to pertain to Cicero's quite universally acknowledged stylistic mastery reflected above all in his orations but also in evidence in his writings on rhetoric and philosophy as well as in his letters. Cicero's excellence in this respect comes to give the name Ciceronian to a period of Latin literary excellence that is co-extensive with the second half of his life. Ciceronianism becomes directly relevant to political theory as, over time, it takes on a meaning that goes beyond stylistic achievement and by means of the example of Cicero himself comes to refer to a commitment to a life of public leadership informed by In ...

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