Cicero and the Law

Abstract As an advocate, Cicero had intellectual preoccupations which he shared with his being a philosopher. In his theorising on advocacy, Cicero drew on his practical experience in the courts. Conversely, in his handling of law in all its forms before his public audiences, This chapter argues that Cicero's use of law as an advocate is best explained in terms of three factors: first, the nature of public pleading; second, the many uncertainties and obscurities inherent in the multifarious nature of Roman law in the first century BC, which allowed space for genuine dispute; and third, Cicero's contention, expressed most fully in the De Oratore of 55 BC, that knowledge of law per se was less important than eloquence in the winning of cases. Analysis of Cicero's speech on the disputed citizenship of L. Cornelius Balbus in 56 BC shows how his eloquent exploitation of legal obscurity before a patriotic audience worked in practice.