Marcus tullius the philosopher

Marcus tullius the philosopher

Marcus Tullius Cicero was a great orator, an academic philosopher from Rome who wrote widely on politics and philosophy. He was very stylistic in how he wrote and narrated his speeches. He lived between 3 January 106 BC and 7 December 43 BC. One of his statements on “The secrets of Persuasive Oratory” shows the use of ethos, pathos, and logos, and rhetorical modes that are used in writing. Below is an outline of the speech, how some of those modes have been used as well as examples of ethos pathos and logos.

Pathos.

This is the act of convincing an audience by swaying their emotions. It can include inflicting fear or arousing anger or fury or any other passion. Cicero uses pathos widely as a way of convincing people against his opponents. He used the corpse of Ceaser as a statue with all his injuries, which in turn aroused anger among the people.

He once held a man’s baby, which in turn made people have sympathy. He once used older adults to convince the judge to have mercy on them.

Cicero uses images like fire and destruction to inflict fear and threatens to destroy anyone that would support his opponent Cataline

Logos

It involves persuading the audience by giving facts and stating actual figures together with explanations. It mostly depends on logic.

Cicero would appeal to God(s) and religion in his speech. For example, he said, “ Innumerable clear omens from the immortal gods themselves have guided all my actions and thoughts, the gods are protecting us right here in person defending their temples in our houses with their divine powers pray to them citizens, appeal to them, beg them to shelter us and to protect this their city from the unplayable evil of traitorous citizens.”

He would make inanimate objects to become witnesses. For instance, he used walls and the house to show that they witnessed him being there with his opponent.

Ethos

This involves convincing listeners that whatever you are saying is true through describing your experience or about ethics.

Through the art of exaggeration, Cicero would apply ethos. For example, “There was no crime or wickedness, planned or ever imagined, that Catiline was not behind. In all these years, what murder has been committed that he did not direct? What act of repellent lewdness does not bear the mark his guiding hand?” Cicero 2nd oration Against Caitlin 4

Through the art of labeling, Cicero would build images by describing the situation to get the audience to understand him better.

He would make someone guilty by association. This would mostly involve ethics.

The introduction starts when the professor gives a brief history of Rome and the common orators like Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony. He provides a brief history of who Cicero was and why he is focusing on him.

The problem statement is when he says how he took the losing side in political struggles and how Cicero managed to survive in ancient Rome at that time.

He divides his speech into points and gives proof by quoting ancient philosophers connected to Cicero as well as Cicero himself.

The conclusion comes when he gives the importance of delivery as well as gestures when giving a speech and pauses a question for his audience to go and think about it. The problem is whether the audience feels that Cicero should indeed be given the title of being the greatest orator of his time. He also relates Cicero Oratory styles with modern-day speaking, primarily in the public arena.

The two rhetorical modes used in Cicero speech are persuasion and contrast.

Description; this is creating a picture in a listener’s mind through words. Through the use of props, then the listeners could get the information well. For instance, he used the corpse of Caesar as a statue.

In contrast, this involves showing the differences between parties or things. Through mudslinging, Cicero would explain the difference between him and his opponent.