Marcus Tullius Cicero: Rhetorical Analysis

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“Do you not feel that your plans are detected? Do you not see that your conspiracy is already arrested and rendered powerless by the knowledge which everyone here possesses of it?” (Cicero). Marcus Tullius Cicero was born on January 3, 106 BCE in modern-day Arpino, Lazio, Italy, where he served as Consul of the Roman Republic for a year in 63 BCE (Rawson, 303). While in office, Cicero was conspired against by Lucius Cataline in an attempt to kill a number of senators to overtake the Roman Republic in the Second Catilinarian Conspiracy (Clayton). Upon learning of Cataline’s intentions, Cicero gave an oration to the Senate in the Temple of Jupiter Stator against Cataline, to which he was surprisingly in attendance, in order to address him and his conspirators proclaiming his knowledge of their plans. Cicero was able to stop the conspiracy and avoid the Republic from falling into the hands of his opposition. Through the execution of five conspirators and the fleeing of Cataline, Cicero was able to put down the rebellion efficiently (Clayton). Cicero’s elaborate use of rhetorical questions, analogies, and mood precipitates an effective message that saves the course of the …show more content…

Once his plan was unveiled, Cataline took Cicero’s advice and fled Rome to avoid execution.
Cicero also makes excellent use of analogies, as he compares the circumstance of Cataline to that of others in his shoes, including, but not limited to, Caius Gracchus, Caius Servilius, Marcus Fulvius, and Lucius Saturninus. He does this in order to present similar cases of individuals who acted upon dissenting ideals towards the Republic and their punishments. One after the other, Cicero makes a point of naming dissenters who were executed for their unlawful actions. He then poses the question that asks if they died for their crimes, why shouldn’t

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