the maturity of her power. He traces oratory from figures such as Peisistratos, Solon, Pericles, and mentions how figures like Socrates challenged them. He continues by saying that oratory was only limited to Athens and was not ubiquitous in Greece. It was from here that oratory spread through parts of Asia and the world. Cicero then begins to trace the origins of oratory in Rome. He mentions figures like Manius Curius Dentatus, M. Popilius, Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio Nasica and even discusses how Cato the Elder and Lysias the Athenian resemble each other in their elegance, character, and brevity. Cicero mentions the idea that Cato is overshadowed by other figures, but is still noteworthy. After Cato, new orators appeared in Rome such as Severius Galba. He also provides an example of how Galba was able to win over the court with an amazing, eloquent speech and that his people (in a court case) were freed from all charges. Criticism Cicero's work is typically seen as a list of orators and the development of oratory in Rome. While the purpose of the Brutus is to record the history of oratory and confirm that it has failed to exist, some scholars believe that Cicero fails in his task. This is a problem because Cicero fails to include a reliable list of Roman oratory by purposely omitting figures like Gaius Marius, Sulla, Catiline, and Publius Clodius Pulcher. Scholars also argue that the Brutus is not a complete list because Cicero fails to include himself in his list. Another criticism of the Brutus is that it lacks minuscule scene details. The work only thoroughly describes the garden and the statue of Plato where the three men plan to discuss oratory, but other than that, the work is devoid of other details. Whereas the scenery lacks details, the conversation does not. References Further reading G. V. Sumner (1973) The Orators in Cicero's Brutus: Prosopography and Chronology Edward A. Robinson, The Date of Cicero's Brutus, Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Vol. 60, (1951), pp. 137–146 Hall, Jon. "Cicero's Brutus and the Criticism of Oratorical Performance." The Classical Journal 110.1 (2014). 43–59. JSTOR. External links English translation at attalus.org Latin text at thelatinlibrary Text at Gutenberg Rhetoric Works by Cicero on oratory