Cicero’s autobiography: narratives of success in the pre-consular orations

Cicero’s writings should be interpreted as a single narrative, which teleologically records the progress of his public life from its outset. Close attention to his pre-consular speeches shows the extent to which he edited his actions in an attempt to show his unimpeded rise up the cursus honorum and the importance of the Verrines in re-energising his career at a point at which -despite his best textual efforts -it was flagging. Interpretation of Cicero’s speeches and other writings within an autobiographical framework also throws light on the relationship between spoken and written in the conduct of Roman political life.