Cicero's construction of his auctoritas in the Verrines

• Grant number: 23/08103-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2023
• End date: September 30, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature
• Principal Investigator: Adriano Scatolin
• Grantee: Natália Miranda Fernandes da Silva
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The research proposes to analyze the Divinatio in Caecilium and the actio prima of the accusation speech delivered by Cicero against Gaius Verres in 70 BC. Our aim is to identify the ethical strategies he uses both to strengthen his own cause and to defame his opponent. We will consider that, for Cicero, discourse is a way of "existing and operating within the public sphere" (STEEL, 2005, p. 7) and that he is still constructing his auctoritas in the pre-consular context in which the Verrines are inserted. Auctoritas was a type of reverence mainly directed to nobiles, but it was conquered by Cicero precisely because of the oratory skills he demonstrated in the case against Verres and the network he built after that.