Cicero and the Language of Friendship

Abstract

The following thesis is a study of the vocabulary of friendship that is used by Cicero in his writings between the years of 54 and 50 BC. In Section A, we look at the different Latin terms that Cicero used to refer to someone as a friend or associate, that is, amicus, familiaris, the possessive pronoun, necessarius, and coniunctus. In this section, the theorised meanings of these different terms are discussed, and then each individual who is referred to by this term is listed with a short biography in alphabetical order. In Section B we look at the effect of genre on the vocabulary that Cicero uses and the topics that he discusses, and how this affects Cicero's depictions of his friendships. Each genre type that Cicero wrote in between 54 and 50 BC, that is, the oratorical, philosophical, and epistolary genres, is looked at individually, and general conclusions are made as to the impact genre had on Cicero's discussing of his friends and associates. Finally, in the conclusion, we draw together the findings from Sections A and B, and make a number of different observations about the different terms that Cicero used to denote friendship, and the implications of these terms.