Military Rhetoric in the Description of Women Behaviour. On the Basis of the Texts of Cicero and Livy
Retoryka militarna w deskrypcji zachowań kobiet. Na podstawie tekstów Cycerona i Liwiusza

Summary/Abstract: The article analyzes the original and rare Roman military phraseology found in preserved works of literature, inscribed in the convention of invectives against women. As it is testified by the preserved fragments of the Law of the Twelve Tables the Roman civilization divided the space of men’s activities (politics and war) from the space of women’s activities (home and family) quite early. Literature imbued with didacticism supported this division by creating archetypal figures of ideal representatives of both the genders. In the course of development it worked out a stereotyped phraseology that served describing virtutes feminae and, separately, men’s virtues, corresponding to the spaces ascribed to them. Any breaking with the order established by tradition (mores maiorum) and law encountered severe reprimands, which, however, remained in the rhetoric convention of vituperatio. The two texts by outstanding rhetors: Livy – Cato the Elder’s speech against the repeal of the Oppian law (AUC 34, 2-4) and Marcus Tullius Cicero’s speech Pro Caelio that are analyzed here supply examples of the use of military phraseology, that is phraseology usually used for describing typically men’s activities, in descriptions of women’s behavior. In the case of Marcus Porcius Cato’s speech vocabulary belonging to the sphere of military science (agmen, expugnare, obsidere, coniuratio, seditio) serves inducing fear in the men listening to him. In this way, by using the threat of seizing power in the republic by women, the consul motivated patres familias to act and not to yield to women. In the case of Cicero’s speech military rhetoric was used to ridicule and embarrass Clodia Metelli as a credible witness for the prosecution in the trial of Marcus Caelius Rufus. Aggressive, and at times obscene humor was supposed to divert the listeners’ attention from the defense’s lack of arguments concerning the substance of the trial. The original military phraseology used by both the authors serves definite practical aims. What is more, its artistic dimension is decidedly pushed into the background. Cicero’s and Livy’s surprising idea allows, on the one hand, to appreciate their ingeniousness in the field of rhetoric, their conscious rejection of conventions, and on the other, helps the contemporary reader of ancient texts realize the fact that men of the period of the Republic found it difficult to keep women within the limits imposed by tradition. They were forced to reach for sophisticated verbal argumentation in order to convince the judges and politicians (in both these groups patres familias prevailed) about a real threat posed by the ones in their charge.

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