The First Oration Against Cataline - A Figurative Reading

In The First Oration Against Cataline, Cicero conveys a deep mistrust of Cataline, as well as demonstrates a politically charged philosophical position; namely that an apolitical life is not a life worth living.  Furthermore, through the mobilization of speech itself, his audience is given a glimpse of the necessary role that rhetoric and oratory play in this theoretical standpoint. He begins establishing this philosophy in a train of rhetorical questions aimed at delegitimizing Cataline’s existence as a member of Roman civilization. He then delineates the exact nature of this civic philosophy with an extended metaphor of domesticity and familial life that equates himself to the “Pater Patriae,” or father of the fatherland, and the citizens of the republic as his children and dependents. Additionally, he personifies the republic as the mother. Through these rhetorical techniques and figures of speech, he associates the private sphere of familial interaction with the public domain of civic engagement, and analogizes the two to express similarity in duty, obligation and action. By reflecting on these particular choices Cicero makes, it becomes clear that he is providing a supplemental response to the Socratic vision of a fully realized human experience by adding an emphasis on proper civic engagement in the public domain that is influenced by traditional nuclear family values.

            Cicero embeds his criticism of Cataline’s character in the form of a stream of rhetorical questioning that dominates the scheme of the oration. In doing so, he exemplifies Cataline as the antithetical example of what a realized human and citizen of the Roman republic should be. Cicero begins by prodding Cataline and wondering how he could enjoy any of the “pleasure[s] in the city” when so many people fear and hate him for his “domestic baseness” (12). He continues by asking how anyone could enjoy the “light of this life” and the “breath of this atmosphere” when they have committed acts as atrocious and uncivilized as those allegedly committed by Cataline (14). Within this set of questions is the implication that the necessary components that make up a civilized life are the wide open and sunlit occupied spheres of public contestation and engagement, as well as the individual interactions in which everyone appeared together with their openness and differences. In addition to arguing that Cataline has violated the very ethos of Roman ideals, and thus stripping him of qualifications for citizenship, Cicero is also combining philosophical pleasures afforded by a virtuous existence with public engagement.

            Cicero expands on the nuances of the stance his rhetorical questioning of Cataline implied via an extended metaphor that illustrates the qualities of a realized citizen. Cicero compares Cataline’s familial reputation with his reputation in saying that if Catalines’ parents “feared and hated him” the way that the multitude of people in the Roman republic do as a result of his alleged malevolent behavior, then Cataline would be obligated to “flee from their sight”, and ultimately, the city. Cicero elaborates on this metaphor in the next line, saying that the country “is the common parent” to all of its citizens (15). By doing so, he is providing commentary on the proper way to live and exercise civic engagement, which is by treating public and political relationships in the same manner that one would treat their own immediate family with. He is imbuing the cultural ethos with the domestic values of respect for parents and elders, discipline and moral awareness.

            A further dimension of the metaphorical comparison utilized by Cicero is his use of personification to animate the republic as a feminine entity, which serves two purposes. The first is that it does pragmatic and political work, in the sense that it invokes the dynamics of familial relations to provide Cicero with authoritative power in the political sphere.   He personifies the republic as a feminine figure that “plead[s]” with and “silently speak[s]” to Cataline, and addresses Cicero to adjudicate the justified sentence for Cataline (16). This use of the personification in combination with the extended metaphor trope is meant to invoke the image of a domestic household, and Cicero is the patriarchal authority enforcing values on behalf of the mother (the Roman republic) with the goal of banishing their son, Cataline, for violating the values of the cultural ethos.   

The second use of the personification trope is that it incorporates the necessity of rhetoric and proper oratory as a foundational pillar of Cicero’s proposed philosophical position. Familial relations lend to the idea that fathers are the exemplars of the household, and their actions are to be emulated and admired. The very fact that his oration is implying this while he is in front of a wide audience in the temple of Zeus engaged in political adjudication meant to be a testament to his virtuous and exemplary nature as orator and authoritative figure. Philosophically, this lends to the idea that the only way for aspiring humans and citizens to realize themselves and their potentials fully is by respecting the judgments and opinions of experts of the civic sphere, namely rhetoricians, while striving to be emulate their behavior. 

By showing up to this trial and orating his position, Cicero is clearly implementing within and mobilizing from his speech a set of assumptions that are a direct expansion of the Socratic vision of philosophical fulfillment.  His view on how people should live their lives emphasizes fulfilling their civic duty by engaging the public sphere openly and embedding within their interactions the qualities of mutual respect, obedience to rhetoricians and true philosophers, and familial kindness.