Cicero's Topica is one of the canonical texts on ancient rhetorical theory. This is the first full-scale commentary on this work, and the first critical edition of the work that is informed by a full analysis of its transmission.

Cicero's Topica is one of the canonical texts on ancient rhetorical theory. This is the first full-scale commentary on this work, and the first critical edition that is informed by a full analysis of its transmission. Cicero recommends an Aristotelian theory of argumentation to an expert on Roman law. The introduction and the commentary seek to elucidate the exact origins of the theory of argument used by Cicero and explain how it works. Moreover, since Cicero's suggestions for a reform of Roman civil law have parallels in similar efforts within the legal profession, Tobias Reinhardt considers how much common ground there is between Cicero and the jurists.

Ars Topica is the first full-length study of the nature and development of topoi, the conceptual ancestors of modern argument schemes, between Aristotle and Cicero. Aristotle and Cicero configured topoi in a way that influenced the subsequent tradition. Their work on the topos-system grew out of an interest in creating a theory of argumentation which could stand between the rigour of formal logic and the emotive potential of rhetoric. This system went through a series of developments and transformations resulting from the interplay between the separate aims of gaining rhetorical effectiveness and of maintaining dialectical standards. Ars Topica presents a comprehensive treatment of Aristotle’s and Cicero’s methods of topoi and, by exploring their relationship, it illuminates an area of ancient rhetoric and logic which has been obscured for more than two thousand years. Through an interpretation which is philologically rooted in the historical context of topoi, the book lays the ground for evaluating the relevance of the classical approaches to modern research on arguments, and at the same time provides an introduction to Greek and Roman theory of argumentation focussed on its most important theoretical achievements.

Gaius Meets Cicero. Law and Rhetoric in the School Controversies sheds new light on a much debated issue in the field of Roman law, i.e. the so-called 'school controversies' between the Sabinians and the Proculians. Tessa Leesen rejects the general assumption in modern literature that the two schools each adhered to a fundamentally different theoretical conception of law. She argues that the 'school controversies' as described in Gaius' Institutiones arose in legal practice when the heads of the two schools were consulted by two conflicting parties and each gave opposing advice. In order to make their opinions persuasive, the jurists were in need of adequate arguments. For this purpose, they made use of rhetoric and of the argumentative theory of topoi as described in Cicero's Topica.

This volume is intended as a companion to the study of Cicero's oratory and rhetoric for both students and experts in the field: for the neophyte, it provides a starting point; for the veteran Ciceronian scholar, a place for renewing the dialogue about issues concerning Ciceronian oratory and rhetoric; for all, a site of engagement at various levels with Ciceronian scholarship and bibliography. The book is arranged along roughly chronological lines and covers most aspects of Cicero's oratory and rhetoric. The particular strength of this companion resides in the individual, often very original approach to sundry topics by an array of impressive contributors, all of whom have spent large portions of their careers concentrating upon the oratorical and rhetorical oeuvre of Cicero. A bibliography of relevant items from the past 25 years, keyed to specific Ciceronian works, completes the volume. Brill's Companion to Cicero will become the standard reference work on Cicero for many years.

In Ciceronis Topica and De topicis differentiis are Boethius's two treatises on Topics (loci). Together these two works present Boethius's theory of the art of discovering arguments, a theory that was highly influential in the history of medieval logic. Eleonore Stump here presents the first English language translation of In Ciceronis Topica, Boethius's extended commentary on Cicero's Topica. To supplement her translation, Professor Stump has provided an introduction that supplies essential information about In Ciceronis Topica, Boethius's life, and the tradition of dialectic; her detailed notes explore the many philosophical problems in Boethius's text. A significant contribution to the history of Western intellectual life in its own right, Boethius's ''In Ciceronis Topica" makes an excellent companion to Professor Stump's earlier work, Boethius's "De topicis differentiis" (also available from Cornell).

Less than two years before his murder, Cicero created a catalogue of his philosophical writings that included dialogues he had written years before, numerous recently completed works, and even one he had not yet begun to write, all arranged in the order he intended them to be read, beginning with the introductory Hortensius, rather than in accordance with order of composition. Following the order of the De divinatione catalogue, William H. F. Altman considers each of Cicero’s late works as part of a coherent philosophical project determined throughout by its author’s Platonism. Locating the parallel between Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and Cicero’s “Dream of Scipio” at the center of Cicero’s life and thought as both philosopher and orator, Altman argues that Cicero is not only “Plato’s rival” (it was Quintilian who called him Platonis aemulus) but also a peerless guide to what it means to be a Platonist, especially since Plato’s legacy was as hotly debated in his own time as it still is in ours. Distinctive of Cicero’s late dialogues is the invention of a character named “Cicero,” an amiable if incompetent adherent of the New Academy whose primary concern is only with what is truth-like (veri simile); following Augustine’s lead, Altman shows the deliberate inadequacy of this pose, and that Cicero himself, the writer of dialogues who used “Cicero” as one of many philosophical personae, must always be sought elsewhere: in direct dialogue with the dialogues of Plato, the teacher he revered and whose Platonism he revived.

Cicero is best known for his political speeches. His Catilinarian orations are regularly studied in third or fourth year Latin; his self-proclaimed role as savior of the Republic is much discussed in courses on Roman history. But, however fascinating such material may be, there is another side to Cicero which is equally important and only now receiving the attention it deserves. This is Cicero's interest in Hellenistic thought. As a young man he studied philosophy in Greece; throughout his life he maintained a keen interest in intellectual history; and during periods of political inactivity - especially in his last years as the Republic collapsed - he wrote treatises that today are invaluable sources for our knowledge of Hellenistic philosophy, including the School of Aristotle. The essays collected in this volume deal with these treatises and in particular with Cicero's knowledge of Peripatetic philosophy. They ask such questions as: Did Cicero-know Aristotle first hand, or was the corpus Aristotelicum unavailable to him and his contemporaries? Did Cicero have access to the writings of Theophrastus, and in general did he know the post-Aristotelians whose works are all but lost to us? When Cicero reports the views of early philosophers, is he a reliable witness, and is he conveying important information? These and other fundamental questions are asked with special reference to traditional areas of Greek thought: logic and rhetoric, politics and ethics, physics, psychology, and theology. The answers are various, but the overall impression is clear: Cicero himself was a highly intelligent, well educated Roman, whose treatises contain significant material. Scholars working on Peripatetic thought and on the Hellenistic period as a whole cannot afford to ignore them. This fourth volume in the Rutgers University Studies in Classic Humanities series deals with Cicero, orator and writer of the late Roman Republic. Interest in Cicero arose out of Project Theophrastus, an international undertaking based at Rutgers dedicated to collecting, editing, and translating the fragments of Theophrastus. This collection will be of value to philologists, classicists, philosophers, as well as those interested in the history of science.

This volume brings together an international team of scholars to debate Cicero's role in the narrative of Roman law in the late Republic - a role that has been minimised or overlooked in previous scholarship. This reflects current research that opens a larger and more complex debate about the nature of law and of the legal profession in the last century of the Roman Republic.