Cicero’s List of Aristotelian Loci

The subject of Chapter 3 was De Inventione, where it was shown that Cicero neither shows awareness of the fact that Aristotle dealt with topoi nor recognises that those loci that are of a more abstract nature are of a special utility. In the current chapter the focus will shift to De Oratore and Topica, where by contrast Cicero highlights the importance of two lists of loci he attributes to Aristotle, and explains them. The two lists are essentially identical, but they appear in different contexts. Having first presented the lists in their contexts (4.1), and underlined the difficulties of interpretation among scholars (4.2), the analysis will then focus on the nature and provenance of the loci which Cicero traces back to Aristotle (4.3 and 4.4).