Abstract

This dissertation explores how the Roman concept of dignity informed Cicero's civic persuasion. The Roman's dignity was his worth as recognized by his fellow citizens. The nobility of his family, his virtues and his achievements made the citizen's worth manifest and showed that he deserved recognition. But at the same time, the citizen possessed dignity only when that worth was in fact recognized by his fellow citizens, and the recognition in turn was made manifest in the applause, offices and monuments accorded him. The pursuit of dignity dominated civic life at Rome; dignity was the main end of a politician's endeavors. Dignity also dominated the persuasive efforts of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Rome's leading orator. Cicero routinely faced the task of bringing to completion the transaction between one citizen's worth--often his own--and the recognition of his fellow citizens. This demanded of Cicero activities that would elicit and confer the recognition due. His fellow citizens' commitment to dignity also made available to Cicero a range of appeals he could deploy within his oratory. These included calls for the citizens to gain recognition, to show their worth and to defer to his authority. In this project, I account for the persuasive force of these activities and appeals, that is, why what Cicero said and did in them gave his auditors reason to respond as he desired. Such an account is significant in three ways. First, re-creation of the persuasive force of Cicero's oratory supports a more favorable judgment of his abilities as an orator and statesman than has recently been popular. Second, the activities and appeals thus analyzed help put life back into the study of the civic discourse of recognition--what traditionally has been called epideictic rhetoric. Third, the civic and persuasive practices associated with dignity open a window on concepts of recognition, including glory, honor, fame and dignity, which may be just as dominant in our republic as in ancient Rome, though less talked of and less well understood