Study of the metric metalanguage in Cicero's Orator

Abstract

The following project strives to investigate certain terms referring to ancient poetry, conceptually and taxonomically employed to deal with Latin metrics and prosody. In this case, such terms can be found in Cicero's Orator and are related to what metric might represent as a contribution, whether directly or indirectly, to the elaboration of oratory speeches that constitute the scope of the text. By defining the best orator, Cicero (106-43 a.C.) expresses, in Latin, his conceptions towards the shape of poetry and oratory, sharpening its differences and similarities. By doing so, he practices a metalanguage that deals with rhythm, metrics, verse, contents, prose, poet, and poem. The task of this research is to build a corpus, made of context-tokens that contain such terms taken from Orator, which shall be later translated and discussed. Besides the specific interest in the research of the nomenclature and the metric conceptualization of ancient Rome, it is important to observe that the translation of classic texts increases the access to Ancient Literature, and the study of its definitions, about what was believed to be a literary work to the readers of ancient times, might contribute to bring new perspectives to a poetics that is only known by its fragments. It must be considered that Antiquity didn't legate to the following generations any unquestionable concepts about this matter and, in fact, when the issue is considered, the fundamental works are constrained to Aristoteles, Longino and Horatio. Specific studies on the theme, then, over classic writers like Cicero, can contribute to increase the possible comprehension about the classic Latin metrics. (AU)