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In De republica , Cicero describes his ideal statesman as a helmsman, a metaphor associated with sole rule in the rhetorical tradition. This comparison has been used to argue that Cicero saw individual authority as a solution to civic strife. When viewed in relation to his contemporary oratory, however, an alternative reading emerges. His speeches use ship-of-state symbolism to transform the helmsman into a model for collegial governance. Portraying the subordination of individual helmsmen to the senatorial helm, they reconcile exemplary statesmanship with the mixed constitution and offer an answer to what has been called "the issue of individual preeminence" in De republica. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on philosopher Lucian's declamations as awitty, insightful and truly Lucianic perversion of a major contemporary cultural phenomenon. It compares the declamations with Choricius' version of the same scenario. It refers to the whole culture associated with rhetoric in Rhetorum praeceptor.