Eloquence under the Triumvirs

Abstract

This paper explores oratory at Rome after the death of Caesar. It examines the three main sources for the period, Plutarch, Appian, and Dio, who suggest that an outspoken oratory on affairs of state was no longer possible, and then less familiar sources, which reveal that speeches still were made, sometimes concerning affairs of state. Though it was difficult to criticize the triumvirs (as the few known efforts at protest show), aspiring orators managed to showcase talent and display doctrina and diligentia, if not libertas. Oratory did not so much decline in the triumviral period as adapt to new circumstances.