Toward the end of the Republic, Cicero was not alone in planning to collect his own letters for publication. Most likely, Caesar and Varro, among others, intended to do the same, and Cicero had access to letters by the Elder Cato and Cornelia. But it was not only authors or recipients who assembled and circulated letters. In December 59, Cicero wrote to his brother Quintus, who was concluding his mandate as governor of Asia, and encouraged him to leave behind a (...) positive image of himself. In particular, Cicero did not hide his concern at some carelessness Quintus displayed in sending out certain letters : of those, Quintus should destroy the ones he was able to find, while nothing could be done about some collections which had already been circulated and criticized. In other words, both the authors and their ill-wishers selected, assembled and circulated letters. Who chose which letters mattered enormously, since collections had the power to enhance or damage a person's public image. (shrink)

Abstract:In the prologue to the Rhetorica ad Herennium Book 4, the author boldly departs from tradition and explains that he will create his own examples, rather than drawing from poets and orators. This methodological discussion portrays itself as an exemplum and hence carries a meta-literary and mimetic dimension. In particular, this prologue anticipates and illustrates the precept propounded in Book 4; its fine style and rhythm amount to a defense of rhetoric itself; and this defense must be considered in the (...) political and cultural context of the time. (shrink)

Apuleius tells us of his own popularity as a writer, and yet both the literary and the material records are silent about his works for almost one hundred and fifty years after his death. Various attempts to identify allusions to his works before Lactantius and other fourth-century authors have proven unconvincing. This article suggests that there is a clear allusion to theMetamorphosesin Tertullian's treatiseAduersus Valentinianos(beginning of the third century). Tertullian uses Apuleius to denigrate the Valentinians and to assimilate the name (...) of one of their gods to the braying of an ass. (shrink)