Cicerone tra Pompeo e Cesare: riusi e variazioni di motivi encomiastici dalla De imperio Cn. Pompei alla Pro Marcello

The contribution examines two Ciceronian orations that significantly anticipate imperial panegyrics, the De imperio Cn. Pompei (66 BCE) and the Pro Marcello (46 BCE). In the Pro Marcello, Cicero reuses many encomiastic motifs he had already exploited in the De imperio, just replacing the laudandus, who was Pompey in 66 and became Caesar in 46. A close comparison of the two orations in the light of common motifs (the theme of copia dicendi; the celebration of military exploits; the relationship between uirtus and fortuna; the divine traits and uniqueness of the laudandus) allows us to see the evolution and transformation of the encomiastic genre within Ciceronian oratory, and the different attitude Cicero displays in the two orations, shifting from a total exaltation of Pompey and his deeds during the bellum nauale to a more contained and ambiguous praise of Caesar at the end of the civil war.