Cicero’s Economy of Praise

Abstract

This paper argues that the rhetorical uses of praise are at least as culturally interesting as the use of invective, which has received much more scholarly attention. After brief comments on “Cicero's conceit” — the title of Walter Allen‟s classic article on the subject, which held (correctly, I believe) that Cicero's self-regard did not exceed the generous bounds allowed by his contemporaries — the paper uses Cicero's defense of Publius Sestius (Pro Sestio, March 56 BCE) to demonstrate the variety and tactical precision with which Cicero used both praise of himself and — perhaps more interestingly — praise of others to advance his and his client‟s interests. The paper concludes by suggesting some of the ways in which further study of the “economy of praise” — the ways in which praise circulated as a form of currency among members of the Roman elite — could further illuminate late Republican culture and society.