Genus e nomen in Cic. Verr. 2,4,1: una rilettura in chiave retorica del binomio πρᾶγμα/ὄνομα di Plat. eaet. 177e?

In Verr. 2,4,1 Cicero says that he doesn’t want to suggest a de nition (nomen) for Verre’s activity in Sicily. On the other hand, he decides to present the facts in their objectivity (genus), in order to allow the audience to judge them on their own; at that point, it will be possible to suggest a nomen, and, by doing so, to arrive to a verdict. In relation to the demonstratio, the importance of the genus may be the result of a gnoseological position of Socratic and Platonic origin, the same that in uenced Athenian rhetoric production of 4th Century B.C. (e.g. Olynth. 1,2; Phil. 3; Aeschin. In Ctes. 142, 253), long before Cicero himself.