Self-Aggrandizement and Praise of Others in Cicero

"Ciceronian invective has received a great deal of attention; yet Cicero’s deployment of praise — of himself and others— and others’ praise of Cicero open an equally revealing window on late Roman Republican culture. This paper uses Cicero’s defense of P. Sestius (March 56 BCE) to give this aspect of Ciceronian discourse some of the attention it is due. "