Non est porro tuum uno sensu solum oculorum moueri: consolatio and visibility in Ciceroʹs letters to Marcellus

Abstract

This article seeks to show how Cicero strategically used the consolatory letter in order to gain visibility and save his face during a critical period of his political life. As Marcellus reluctance to accept Caesar’s clementia places this strategy in jeopardy, Cicero will activate the exhortative dimension of consolatory discourse in order to negotiate his own social image and his course of action in comparison with his addressee’s.