Isaac Chan’s Reviews > In Catilinam I-IV > Status Update

Note 1/2:
Cato, who I take to be Cato the younger, stood up after the 4th Catilinarian speech and castigated Silanus, his brother-in-law, for changing his mind, because as a strict Stoic, Cato believed that changes of mind could not be justified.

Wtf? Since when did the Stoics believe this? I did not know this.

Note 1/2:
I read in the general introduction that Cicero, when he just made consul in 63 BC, in the 4 De Lege Agraria speeches (only 3 are extant), managed to successfully persuade the people against a land reform bill (land redistribution) proposed by Publius Servilius Rullus.

So they were already talking about land reform in ancient Rome. Fascinating. I have many jumbled thoughts about land reform - like, what ...

Note 3/3:

Some scholars use the term 'political' as synonymous with 'deliberative', so I note that although all the speeches in my edition are political in the normal sense of the word, only 4 are deliberative.

The companion volume, 'Defense speeches', contains 5 forensic speeches.

Note 2/3:
level in Cicero's time.

So my copy of 'Political speeches' contains 2 forensic speeches, 4 deliberative speeches, and 3 epideictic speeches.

In Catilinam I may count as epideictic, and II - IV may count as deliberative.

pg xii

Note 1/3:
Some fascinating context: Cicero was a master of the 2 main types of oratory, 'forensic' (the oratory of the forum, i.e. of the law courts, also known as 'judicial') and 'deliberative' (the oratory of the political assemblies).

A 3rd type, 'epideictic' (of display, or of praise and blame, so D.H. Berry says more technically, 'panegyric' or 'invective') was less important at the higher political...