QVID Enim Svm? o Lugar do exilado na epistolografia ciceroniana

Abstract

We propose to analyze the way that Marco Túlio Cicero (106 BC-43 BC) appropriated his status as an exile to establish discursive strategies in the thirty-four epistles he wrote while outside from the Roman Republic. Through these strategies, Cicero created the idea of affiliation with a certain aristocratic identity. In said context, his status as a member of an elite was in check, since he was prevented from occupying a privileged space in which he previously inhabited. Predicting a possible threat against him, Cicero left Rome and sought ways to participate in the political game to restore both his social position and the assets that had been taken from him under the laws passed, which he only could have done after his return to Vrbs in 57. These political conflicts are the theme of our first chapter, in which we identify the groups involved in Cicero`s exile and disrupt the actions taken by them. However, to carry out the analysis, it is necessary to go beyond a historical context and present properly the theory and methodology concepts appropriate to the theme, which we did in the second chapter. In this one, we present the voluntary nature of the mechanisms of exile in Rome and how this influenced the maintenance of the Concordian ideal, since it proposed a less violent way of dealing with crimes. However, the fact that it is considered criminal by itself could already lead to problems for a member of an elite established through ethos, that is, the image constructed in the discourse. We consider exile an event resulting from the dissonance between the ethos of the one who suffers and the expected ethos by the local aristocracy from which the individual is banned and that leads us to think of Cicero's writing conditioned by its banishment a fundamental element for our analysis. Following the precepts of Discourse Analysis, which points out that all text is determined by its production conditions, we apply the concept of paratopia (MAINGUENEAU, 1983) to reflect on the situation of Cicero`s non-belonging to Rome; also, Woodward`s concept of identity (WOODWARD, 2000) helped us demarcate the ways in which Cicero represented his allies and enemies, so we could observe how he associates and disassociates himself with certain identity constructions. These observations became more evident in the third chapter, in which we analyze the texts, letter by letter. Finally, we realize that one of its main persuasive strategies was the use of pathos to legitimize its social status and delegitimize the decision to exile him