Excavating Polemic? Cicero in Appian’s Civil Wars

ABSTRACT:Appian of Alexandria wrote in a time of peace long after the end of the Roman civil wars. How does he approach the polemical elements included in his sources in more fractious periods by many more partisan authors? By examining his treatment of M. Tullius Cicero (about whom everyone else had a strong opinion), this paper exposes Appian’s unwillingness to engage in polemic even while he consistently displays his preference for monarchic government and his belief that the ‘happy’ outcome for Rome was the result of divine guidance and intervention.