Marcus Tullius Cicero, Philippicae Orationes [Philippics]

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“Philippics” (or Latin

Philippica

) is the label given to fourteen speeches composed by the Roman politician and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero between September 44 and April 43 BCE, during a period of constitutional crisis in Late Republican Rome. All the speeches contain some degree of personal attack upon Mark Antony, who was attempting to establish himself as the dominant political figure following Caesar’s assassination in March 44. This confrontational aspect of the speeches, as well as their political context, led Cicero to compare them with the fiery orations of the same name delivered by Demosthenes, the fourth century BCE Athenian statesman who denounced the ambitions of Philip of Macedon (see Cicero

Letters to Brutus

2.3.4). Cicero’s

Second Philippic

is the most vitriolic…

524 words

Citation: Hall, Jonathan C. R. . "Philippicae Orationes". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 August 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=20503, accessed 19 March 2024.]

20503 Philippicae Orationes 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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