References to historical figures as a means of persuasion in ancient rhetoric : a research methodology applicable to Cicero

Abstract

A speaker in republican Rome had a vast repertoire of arguments based on the past at his disposal. Although the ways in which they were employed differed considerably, both the ancients and modern scholars, with few exceptions, have tended to classify all of them as ‘historical exempla’. In the present paper, a distinction is made between the references to historical figures as a means of persuasion and the exempla in a broader sense. Additionally, a research methodology applicable to the study of the exemplum sensu stricto in Cicero’s orations is suggested.