College Honors Program

Date of Creation

4-23-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Classics

First Advisor

Timothy Joseph

Abstract

This thesis explores the power of persuasion in two major eras: in the 1st century BCE in Rome and the 21st-century United States. Marcus Tullius Cicero was a prolific orator, lawyer, and statesman in the late Roman Republic. His orations have been studied for his expertise in rhetorical prowess. This thesis considers his approach to persuading his audience, an all-male jury, and how he effectively uses pathos, or the appeal to the emotions, to target gendered expectations of his male listeners. I explore Cicero’s characterization of two women in two speeches: Sassia in the Pro Cluentio (66 BCE) and Clodia in the Pro Caelio (56 BCE). His argument in both speeches is similar: to gain support for his cases, Cicero perverts the collective expectations of his audience to describe two women who are harmful to his male clients. For Sassia, he draws on expectations of motherhood, ultimately defining her as an “unnatural mother.” For Clodia, he distorts the beliefs of a proper Roman woman to present her as a threat to the Roman patriarchy as Rome’s very own Palatine Medea. I argue that Cicero’s frequent play of female stereotypes and castigation of their characters stems from a fear of women overtaking the established patriarchy in ancient Rome. In my third chapter, I test my analysis of Ciceronian rhetoric to President Trump’s approach to his female political opponents through his treatment of Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris in the 2016 and 2024 electoral campaigns, respectively. I turn to political psychological theories on fragile masculinity and gender stereotypes to draw valuable connections between these prominent male political figures.

Comments

Readers: Professor Ellen Perry, Department of Classics and Professor SoRelle Wyckoff Gaynor, Department of Political Science.

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