Metaphors Cicero lived by : The Role of Metaphor and Simile in De senectute

Abstract

This dissertation examines the function of metaphor and simile in Cicero’s dialogue De senectute. For this purpose, it employs Lakoff-Johnsonian metaphor theory and compares the metaphorical concepts that the scholars of that tradition have found in English with the metaphors found in Cicero’s text. Many languages are being investigated today by scholars who use this theory, and differences and similarities are being explored. This thesis intends to establish a method for applying Lakoff-Johnsonian research to classical Latin. In the first main chapter, the metaphorical source domains and their connections to different target domains are listed and analyzed. The study tries to ascertain why the connections look the way they do. The second main chapter shows that the metaphorical target domains are often linked to a large number of source domains. The general role of metaphors and similes in Cicero’s reasoning is scrutinized, and the author argues that Cicero’s account of the ideas in the dialogue cannot be separated from the metaphors that are employed to express these ideas. The survey also ties clusters of metaphors together into coherent systems, and a large number of metaphors are traced back to authors earlier than Cicero.