Usi storiografici di uno schema retorico: la disputatio in utramque partem

Abstract

The idea that effective oratorical and reasoning skills were best developed when agonistically practiced was deep-rooted in the Roman world, where the dialectic ability of arguing both sides of a case (in utramque partem disserere) represented an essential aim of the elite’s educational curriculum. Interestingly, this technique was fruitfully employed by ancient historians as well, who often reproduced political debates resorting precisely to pairs of contrasting speeches. Accordingly, this essay will deal with the use of so-called disputatio in utramque partem in Latin historiography: by examining its occurrences in Sallust, Livy and Tacitus, this paper will argue that the device served much more than literary purposes, bearing substantial implications also from an epistemological, ethical and pedagogical perspective.