Page "Pro Caelio" Paragraph 19

Matthew Leigh ’ s " The Pro Caelio and Comedy " suggests his thesis remains centered on “ proposing a fresh approach ” to the comedy in Pro Caelio but not in directly refuting past literary scholarship, like Katherine Geffcken ’ s 1973 monograph, " Comedy in the Pro Caelio.

" According to Leigh, Geffcken identifies Cicero with “ the wiles and verbal ingenuity of the comic hero ” and in effect “ the jury becomes complicit in his successful bid to talk his young associate Caelius out of a distinctly tricky situation .” Leigh postulates that Cicero in Pro Caelio attempts to make the jury study what he claims to be the central issues in the case, as if they were watching a comedy.

Leigh suggests the focus of his thesis, remains not to identify the “ role comedy takes in the Pro Caelio as what it might mean for our understanding of rhetorical practice to state that comedy takes such a role .” Leigh further suggests that the role within his work is to answer “ what, in particular, is the relationship between comic morality and the locus as a unit of rhetorical argumentation, and what is the evidence for its historical development at Rome ?” Leigh ’ s analysis suggests that the comedic influence within Cicero ’ s defense speech remains focused on the distinction between the ill-fated young male lover ( Caelius ) and the assault generated at him by an immoral prostitute ( Clodia Pulcher ).

Leigh names Pro Caelio and other contemporary legal cases with similar constructs centered on this type of prosecution as " New Comedy.

" According to Leigh, the jury at Caelius ’ prosecution would have recognized “ both stock types familiar from the comic stage ," meaning both Caelius and Clodia.

Leigh also provides historical and literary evidence for the comic construction of the relationship between the courtesan Clodia and her young lover Caelius, by referencing Plutarch ’ s discussion of this as erotic entertainment and its use as a rhetorical device.