Oratoria política y comunicación: en torno al discurso Pro Lege Manilia

Abstract

M. T. Cicero’s Pro Lege Manilia speech, its political and institutional settings, and its particular position within Latin rhetoric theory are used as a template to raise questions concerning a wider scope of political communication. With deliberate exception of the argumentatio, Cicero’s persuasive strategies are analyzed in detail, which allows us to figure out political monologues as the centre of a «wheel» whose radiuses can be intrepreted on their turn as communication axes linking alternatively the different personae of the speaker with a complex range of audiences both real and symbolic, on the spot or absent. Aproper reading of the speech by the analyst depends on his or her right understanding of that rich vectorial interplay.