Between Truth and Fiction: the Doctrine of insinuatio from Cicero's De inventione to the Latin Middle Ages

Authors

  • Giuseppe La Bua Sapienza Università di Roma

Abstract

This article reflects anew on the controversial issue of the relationship between morality and rhetoric in Roman oratory. It does so by focusing on the theory and practice of insinuatio in rhetorical treatises and commentaries from Cicero’s De inventione to the Middle Ages. The aim is to demonstrate that the “indirect opening”, the manipulatory exordium, triggers a complex network of ethical and rhetorical mechanisms affecting the emotions of the audience, which is drawn into the orator’s entrancing play on truth and fiction. By revisiting insinuatio, the article seeks to shed new light on the moralistic approach to Cicero’s art of “speaking well” in rhetorical treatises and exercises as well as in pseudepigraphic texts in the educational system.

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Author Biography

Giuseppe La Bua, Sapienza Università di Roma

Giuseppe La Bua insegna Lingua e Letteratura Latina presso la Sapienza Università di Roma. I suoi interessi scientifici si concentrano in particolare sul rapporto fra religione e letteratura e sulla retorica ciceroniana (nel 2019 ha pubblicato il volume Cicero and Roman Education. The Reception of the Speeches and Ancient Scholarship, Cambridge University Press). Ha pubblicato numerosi studi su Apuleio, la satira, le declamazioni, i Panegyrici Latini, la poesia latina di età augustea (Ovidio e il Corpus Tibullianum), Plinio il Giovane. Attualmente si occupa di testi pseudepigrafici e falsi letterari, con particolare attenzione ai testi spuri ciceroniani in età medievale, umanistica e rinascimentale.

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Published

2025-06-30

How to Cite

La Bua, G. (2025). Between Truth and Fiction: the Doctrine of insinuatio from Cicero’s De inventione to the Latin Middle Ages. Ciceroniana On Line, 9(1), 71–90. Retrieved from https://ojsunito33.archicoop.it/index.php/COL/article/view/12432

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 1 (2025): CICERONIANA ON LINE 2025 IX, 1

Section

Papers

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