THE RHETOR’S WINK, OR: TOO CLEVER FOR SALLUST ( INV. CIC. 5, AD CAES. SEN. 2.9.2, SALL. CAT. 14.2)

Abstract The denigration of Cicero at Inu. Cic . 5 is not just indebted to Rutilius Lupus’ translation of a fragment of Lycurgus ( Rhet. Lat. Min . page 11 Halm); it also modifies a second model, Sall. Cat . 14.2, in a way that cleverly puns on that modification. This is an additional argument for a date of composition after Bellum Catilinae (and thus against its authenticity), while offering further evidence of its polysemous play; and the comparison with the second epistula further suggests the latter’s dependence upon the invective, while missing its subtler point.