oa Cicero als epische held

At several instances in Pro Sexto Roscio Amerino, Cicero refers to literary texts his audience must have been familiar with: the Iliad, Aeschylus’ Oresteia, Ennian tragedy, a comedy by Caecilius and traditional stories about the Roman past. As Cicero published the speech to be read as a book, he clearly intended his readers to assess his client’s misery and his own fearlessness in the context of great literature. The result is a stunning and heartbreaking story about a helpless victim of criminal institutions and his intrepid lawyer.