Cicero, rhetoric, and empire

"Cicero presents himself as a politician whose importance lies in influencing what goes on in Rome. Many of his speeches, however, are closely engaged with Roman activities, civil and military, in the provinces of the empire. This book analyses for the first time all Cicero's speeches dealing with empire: those on provincial extortion (particularly the Verrines and pro Flacco), on citizenship (pro Archia and pro Balbo), and on the distribution of military commands (de imperio Cn. Pompei and de prouinciis consularibus). Detailed readings of these texts provide the basis for an enquiry into the political wisdom of Cicero's imperial advice." "Cicero puts forward a view of empire which sees it not as a matter of territory, but of the power wielded by individuals. For him the problems of the empire are due to the misbehaviour of individuals, not inherent in the system of administration itself. The consequence is that his speeches on empire consistently obscure the very difficulties in running an empire which were to lead directly to the collapse of the Republic. Comparison with the views of other leading figures of the late Republic show that Cicero's analysis was by no means universal; but the weaknesses of his analysis cannot be explained simply as the result of a lack of experience and insight. Cicero had to impose strict limits on what he could and could not say as an orator because oratory was his only political capital: his position is to be explained as much by his commitment to the political centrality of the orator as it is by his sympathies for popular or aristocratic political positions."--Jacket.