Abstract:
The Philippic speeches, save Philippic 2, have received relatively little attention from scholars, despite providing an almost continuous narrative of the tumultuous year following Caesar's assassination. Philippics 10 and 11 are amongst the least studied of the Philippic orations and no commentary deals specifically with the two speeches, either together or individually. I have aimed to fill that gap. In Philippics 10 and 11 the focus turns away from Marcus Antonius, the principal target of Cicero's ire, to Brutus and Cassius, the assassins of Caesar and Cicero's champions of the republican cause who were seeking to gain control of the eastern provinces in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of Antonius' supporters. Cicero presents their actions as an ad hoc response to the manoeuvrings of Antonius' agents, and attempts to show their actions as being conducted in the best traditions of the republic. The thesis has three introductory chapters. The first of these covers, in brief detail, the historical circumstances immediately after the assassination and the events leading to the conflicts in the east. The second relates to the delivery and dissemination of Philippics 10 and 11, and the questions of form and purpose that arise from this enquiry. The third introductory chapter looks at praise and blame and the way Cicero manipulates these rhetorical loci in the presentation of Brutus and Cassius. The two following chapters form the commentaries on Philippics 10 and 11 respectively, in which the focus is firstly upon Cicero's method of persuasion, and then in placing the orations in a broader context of the failing Roman republic.
