Quintus Tullius Cicero, Commentariolum Petitionis [Little handbook on electioneering]

François Prost (Université de Paris IV Sorbonne)

Ed. by Sophia Papaioannou, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.1.2: Ancient Roman Writing and Culture (Republic and Empire), -750-476.
Vol. editors: William John Dominik (University of Otago), Giacomo Fedeli (University of Exeter), Thomas Habinek (University of Southern California), Emily Kneebone (University of Nottingham), Elodie Paillard (University of Sydney), Sophia Papaioannou (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), Jula Wildberger (The American University of Paris)

Dates

First circulation or publication c. -65 - -64

Places

Ancient Rome (Republic & Empire) (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction
- Essay / Lecture (literary)
- Letter(s)

Resources

Title and form, genre and content

The text is referred to as ‘Commentariolum Petitionis’ according to the closing words of its author: “for I want this handbook of electioneering to be perfect in every way” (§58). Yet this text is not formally a treatise, but a letter, hence it has no original title. It is transmitted as written by Quintus Tullius Cicero to his elder brother, Marcus the orator, who was then (in 64) canvassing for the election to the consulship of 63. However, on account of its length (20 pages in the Loeb and Oxford editions), its specific aim and focus, as well as its tone and substance, it may belong equally to two complementary sub-genres: first, that of the didactic letter, in which …

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

2758 words

Citation: Prost, François. "Commentariolum Petitionis". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 December 2012 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=32842, accessed 22 November 2024.]

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here