Consul popularis : autoridad discursiva y preceptos republicanos

Abstract

Resumen: en De Lege Agraria de Cicerón, el orator se postula en contra de la ley agraria propuesta por Publio Servio Rulo a través de tres discursos, el primero de ellos pronunciado en el Senado y, los dos restantes, ante el pueblo. La segunda oratio presenta a un orador que se reconoce como homo novus y que debe persuadir al pueblo de no otorgarle el visto bueno a dicha ley. Para ello, inclina sus argumentos a favor del orden social en el que se inscribe su auditorio y utiliza su condición de homo novus para construirse a sí mismo como una figura cercana al populus. Teniendo esto en cuenta, demostraremos que, para lograr su objetivo, el orator se postula como consul popularis y, de este modo, construye su autoridad discursiva al encarnar los ideales republicanos.

Abstract: In Cicero’s De Lege Agraria, the orator manifests himself, in his three discourses, against the law proposed by Publio Servio Rulo. The first of them was delivered at the Senate; and, the other two, were performed at the people. In the second oratio he constructs himself as an orator who is also an homo novus, in order to persuade the audience of refusing the aims of such a law. Thus, he turns his logical arguments to manifest that he tends to benefit the social condition to which the audience belongs. So, he constructs his own identity as an homo novus to become a figure who is closer to the populus. The aim of this paper is to proove that, to achieve his purpose, the orator postulates himself as a consul popularis and, by so doing, he builds his auctoritas by embodying the republican ideals.