Commentariolum Petitionis - Linguistic Arguments

Linguistic Arguments

Three key points can be identified, particularly from the works of Eussner and Hendrickson, which summarise the linguistic arguments:

1. The vocabulary of the Commentariolum is not what was generally being used at the time Cicero was running for the office of consul. The use of suffragatorius in the Commentariolum is a hapax legomenon. There is some strange phrasing such as 'cur ut' and 'fac ut'.
2. The style of the Commentariolum does not match the style of Quintus. (Hendrickson also claims that the dry style shows that it is a school exercise.)
3. In the Commentariolum there are a number of linguistic structures, metaphors, and phrases corresponding to the later works of Cicero: In Toga Candida (64 BC), Pro Murena (62 BC), and Oratio de Haruspicum Responsis (56 BC).

The first two arguments have been largely refuted. Tyrell-Purser show that at least one other hapax occurs in Quintus, and that some phrases questioned by Eussner have been found in the works of Cicero and Plautus. They further argue that, with only four of Quintus' letters extant, and those fragmentary, it is difficult to gauge his style. The laudations of M. Cicero for his younger brother's style may also have been a matter of brotherly hyperbole.

The third argument cannot be refuted. Though some similarities in the Pro Murena could be due to similar subject matter, the correlations between the extant fragments of In Toga Candida and the Commentariolum are too strong to be ignored. These correlations can be (and are) argued in the opposite direction as well, however; the similarities between the Commentariolum and M. Cicero's later works may be the result of M. Cicero being influenced by the letter from his brother.