The Eloquence of Publius Sulpicius Rufus and Gaius Aurelius Cotta in Cicero's Brutus

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to investigate the personalities of Publius Sulpicius Rufus and Gaius Aurelius Cotta, that illustrate the Roman eloquence at the beginning of the first century BC with particular regard to the wide section of the Ciceronian Brutus, the treatise in which they are protagonists of an intense confrontation in order to reflect on different styles of eloquence. On the other hand, a survey on the characteristics of their eloquence, conducted in the absence of direct evidence that provides objective feedback about their oratorical qualities, also makes possible to analyse the importance (and in some cases the indispensability) of Cicero’s opinion.