CHAPTER 7 SELF-FASHIONING IN POLITICAL TURMOIL POWER, TRUTH, AND RHETORIC IN CICERO

ABSTRACT. The central argument of this paper is that power within the context of Ciceronian rhetoric is misrepresentative and that the regime of power is not always truly represented in its deployment by the subject. For Foucault, power is possessed by the social individual. More specifically, Foucault’s position sits very well with Cicero’s rhetorical practice in affirming that power is everywhere and that through a nexus of relationships, hegemony is gradually produced. Throughout history, managing political crises is one prime requirement in politics that has accounted for the success or failure of most of the acclaimed public figures. Political opposition helps in ascertaining the political stature of political figures, because the situation provides a basis for comparison, and in the present context, makes possible a critical evaluation of the oratorical hegemony. Oratorical hegemony is simply the ascendancy and functioning of a political institution through the performance of rhetoric. The main thrust of the argument in this paper is that power, in Ciceronian rhetoric, is misrepresentative, and that the regime of power is not always truly represented in its deployment by the subject (i.e. the orator)