Ciceronianus

Ciceronianus ("The Ciceronian") is a treatise written by Desiderius Erasmus and published in 1528.^[1] It attacks Ciceronianism, a style of scholarly Latin that closely imitated Cicero's style and voice. Many Ciceronians even refused to use specific words, even specific verb forms, if Cicero's writings did not include them verbatim. The Ciceronians validated this dogmatic approach by insisting that Cicero's style was the best style of Latin. In the 16th century, this style was popular among Renaissance humanists who wanted to recover Classical Latin.^[2] Erasmus also sought to defend medieval Latinists whose allegedly barbarous style the Ciceronians had ridiculed.

While Erasmus published many works on literary topics, some scholars view Ciceronianus as his greatest contribution to literary criticism.^[3]

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