Diss.--Fribourg. / Bibliography: p. 155-160.

Apresenta-se tradução do Orator de Cícero precedida de estudo. Propõe-se que, quando confrontado com a maledicência dos que se dizem áticos, Cícero remete a controvérsia particular à questão acerca do gênero universal, ou thésis, tratando do gênero para responder às partes e tratando da coisa para responder aos homens. Por tratar-se de coisas, recorre-se em geral à doutrina das coisas, isto é, à filosofia, e em particular a duas de suas artes, a tópica e a dialética. Analisa-se portanto o método dialético e tópico empregado pelo autor para resolver a questão acerca do melhor gênero do discursar. Argumenta-se que Cícero compara as espécies do discurso entre si e define a forma do orador perfeito para exprimir a sua imagem, imagem que servirá de critério para julgar, conforme a maior ou menor semelhança em relação a ela, os oradores que vemos e ouvimos. / I present the reader with a translation into Portuguese of Ciceros Orator with introduction. I propose that, when confronted with the invectives of the so-called Attics, Cicero sends back this controversy to the question about the universal kind, or thésis, speaking about the genus in order to give a response to the parts, and speaking about things to give a response to men. Because Cicero speaks about things, he employs the doctrine of things, i.e. Philosophy, making use of two of its arts, Topics and Dialectics. I analyse therefore the topical and dialectical method the author applies to solve the question about the best kind of speech. I argue that Cicero applies this method to compare the species of speech and to define the form of the perfect orator so that he may express its image, a image that will be used as a criterion to judge, in proportion to their likeness to it, the orators we can see and hear.

Zugl.: Diss. Ruhr-Univ. Bochum, 2003 (umstrukturiert, gestrafft und aktualis.). / Literatur- und Abkürzungsverzeichnis: S. 405-453.

Originally presented as the author's D.Phil thesis, Corpus Christi College Oxford, 1995-1998. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [234]-245) and indexes.

As a classical scholar and prominent founding father, James Wilson was at once statesman, judge, and political thinker, who read Cicero as an example worthy of emulation and as a philosopher whose theory could be applied to his own age. Classical reception studies have focused on questions of liberty, civic virtue, and constitutionalism in the American founding, and historians have also noted Wilson’s importance in American history and thought. Wilson’s direct engagement with Cicero’s works, however, and their significance in the formulation of his own philosophy has been long overlooked. My thesis argues that Wilson’s viewpoint was largely based on his readings of Cicero and can only be properly understood within this context. In the first two chapters of my thesis I demonstrate that Wilson not only possessed a wide-ranging knowledge of the classics in general, but also that he borrowed from Cicero’s writings and directly engaged with the texts themselves. Building upon this foundation, chapters three and four examine Cicero’s perspective on popular sovereignty and civic virtue, situate Wilson’s interpretations within contemporary discussions of Roman politics, and analyse the main ways in which he adapts Cicero’s arguments to his own era. Wilson retains a broader faith in the common people than seen in Cicero’s opinions, and he abstracts from Cicero a doctrine of sovereignty as an indivisible principle that is absent in the text; nevertheless, Cicero’s conception of a legitimate state and his insistence on the role of the people provided the foundation for Wilson’s thought and ultimately for his legitimization of the American Revolution. At the same time, like Cicero, Wilson views the stability of the state as resting in the personal virtue of the individual. While his enlightenment philosophy imparts optimism to his conception of the good citizen, his definition of virtue closely follows that of Cicero. As the final chapter of my thesis concludes, their individual interpretations of these theories of popular consent and virtue were instrumental in forming Cicero’s and Wilson’s justifications of civil disobedience.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 163-170).