I baci alla scientia iuris e l’osculum della madre. Connotazioni della comunicazione gestuale nella Pro Murena di Cicerone

Cicero’s description of the emblematic gesture of the accuser Servius Sulpicius Rufus, who kisses the scientia iuris as if it were a daughter (par. 23), is not an isolated witticism in the Pro Murena, but rather creates a system with another gesture, the osculum, with which the mother greets the accused at the happy moment of his election (par. 88). The gestural diptych, which is to be studied in light of the Roman communicative code, is employed within a deliberate persuasive strategy by Cicero, who condenses the distinctive traits of the involved parties within their attitudes, by means of enargeia, and then etches them in the memories of the judges in a synthetic brush stroke capable of portraying the unbridgeable gap between the adversaries.