Abstract
I once heard it said that, when asked for his view on evil, Lincoln Steffens replied, "It is privilege that causes evil in the world, not wickedness, and not men." When one considers the various historical events that the world labels "evil," one may find some truth to Steffens' claim. But perhaps there is no better illustration in classical history of the validity of this claim as that provided by Cataline in his plot to overthrow the propertied interests at Rome. Indeed, the portrait of Cataline that Marcus Tullius Cicero painted in the Prima Oralia in Catalinam is not that of a Roman patriot, but that of an incorrigible villain. Unfortunately, classical rhetoricians have spent a great deal of time debating the historicity of the conspiracy (1), the time when the first Catalinarian was delivered (2), and the various civic ideals expressed by Cicero in the oration (3), and very little time studying the actual rhetoric Cicero used to define Cataline as a person capable of formulating and of carrying out such a plot.
Journal Title
Iowa Journal of Communication
Volume
27
Issue
1
First Page
19
Last Page
37
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Mueller, Alfred II
(1995)
"The Metaphor of the "Mater Familias" in the First Catalinarian Oration,"
Iowa Journal of Communication: Vol. 27:
No.
1, Article 4.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/ijc/vol27/iss1/4
Copyright
©1995 Iowa Communication Association
