Date of Award

6-1926

Degree Type

Bachelors Essay

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Department

Communication

First Advisor

Allan P. Farrell

Second Advisor

John Danihy

Abstract

It was Pica del Mirandula, one of the Renaissance scholars who first called Lucius Caelius Firmianus Lactantius the "Cicero of the Christians".(1) True it is, however, that the resemblance between the famous old Pagan orator and philosopher and the Christian apologist was remarked long before the age of Mirandula. Saint Jerome at the close of the fourth century said (2) that one would find in the writings of Lactantius an abridgement, so to speak, of the philosophical dialogues of Cicero. But the similarity once noted has never been completely shown; strangely enough too, for a comparison and contrast of two champions of such diverse philosophies of life could not but interest and inspire. Cicero was a man of influence in his day as was Lactantius in his. Between these two men there passed a period of almost 300 years. These centuries saw the rise and fall of many things and chief among them was language. Cicero stands out as the father of Latin Classical Prose. In Cicero, Rome reached her apex in the field of oratory. It was Cicero who formed the prose for Rome’s Augustan Period. Language was undergoing a gradual change, the vernacular languages were already arising. Although the precise style of Cicero’s orations and philosophical treatises was the model for written work, it was not followed out in conversation and letter writing. Cicero himself often falls into less formal grammatical usage in his letters. However, it was the grand style that Cicero built up to be the expression of literature. He tried to make Latin convey the Greek thoughts and philosophy and the result was a perfect institution for the expression of human thought which has never since then been equaled.

Comments

A Thesis Submitted to Fulfill the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts, College of Journalism, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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