GENERAL INTRODUCTION
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
CICERO’S FRAGMENTARY SPEECHES
Unlike the other orators collected in Fragmentary Republican Latin, Cicero has a number of speeches (fifty-eight) that survive intact or in large part,1 for during and after his lifetime his orations were keenly read, circulated, and collected, being an object of study for other orators, especially orators in training, as well as for scholars and grammarians.2 Even so, some of his published speeches failed to survive but left traces in the record that we call “fragments,” that is, either verbatim quotations or an indication
- 1A brief general introduction to oratory at Rome will be found at FRLO 1: xiii–xviii. Greek and Latin authors and works are abbreviated as in OCD. All dates are BC unless otherwise indicated. Cicero’s letters are cited by the traditional numeration followed by Shackleton Bailey’s in brackets; De republica is cited according to Powell 2006, with the traditional paragraph number (if different) following in brackets.
- 2Thus Cicero speaks of publishing his consular corpus because he was “stimulated by the enthusiasm of young people” (adulescentorum studiis excitati: Att. 2.1[21].3; cf. QFr. 3.1[21].11); for further testimonia and discussion, see Stroh 1975, 52. On the use of Cicero’s speeches in rhetorical schools, cf. Keeline 2018; La Bua 2019. For discussion of the collection and circulation of Cicero’s orations in antiquity, cf. Espluga 2016.