Herodotus and Thucydides
Herodotus and Thucydides are two famous historians whom Cicero is referencing on the subject of oratorical composition. Part of his identification of their place in the pantheon involves a metaphor connecting them both to each other:
“one of them flows on like a tranquil river, without any attempts at facetiousness; the other is borne on in a more impetuous course, and relates warlike deeds in a warlike spirit.”
Gaul
In his attacks upon Marcus Antonius, Cicero approaches viciousness in his vituperative attacks upon many different things. Metaphorically speaking, perhaps nothing related to ancient Rome comes off quite as well as the region of Gaul:
“Nor is it possible to pass over in silence the virtue and the firmness and the dignity of the province of Gaul. For that is the flower of Italy, that is the bulwark of the empire of the Roman people, that is the chief ornament of our dignity.”
Wickedness
Evil actions—or at the very least those actions which Cicero has undertaken at the time for the purposes of putting his oratorical skills on display—are often the subject lying beneath the actual topic. The topic being that which earns the title for the particular oratory. One of his directives toward the writing of oration is the efficient use of metaphor, figurative imagery which lends substance to the piece, but does not overwhelm it:
“For because it is the common cause of all men, the common danger of all men, such wickedness like a conflagration must be put out by the common endeavors of all men.”
Publius Servillus Rullus
Much of Cicero’s orations were directed toward exposing politicians and their schemes. One such person was Publius Servillus Rullus. The why and what is less important here than a metaphorical overlay which applies to many of his works and, in fact, becomes a kind philosophical expression:
“Wherefore, when I perceive that nearly the whole of this law is made ready, as if it were an engine, for the object of overthrowing his power, I will both resist the designs of the men who have contrived it, and I will enable you not only to perceive, but to be entire masters of the whole plot which I now see in preparation.”
A Man of Lust
In describing a lusty man whose life is obsessed with the seeking of self-gratification, Cicero rises to the occasion with his gift for metaphorical imagery. Such is the sublimity of his semantics one might also think he were subconsciously projecting an image of himself:
“He was not like a frontdoor, open for the reception of legitimate pleasures, but rather a postern for all sorts of secret gratification. And when he began to devote himself to literature, and, beastly glutton that he was, to learn philosophy with the Greeks, then he became an Epicurean, not because he was really much devoted to that sect, such as it is, but because he was caught by that one expression about pleasure.”
