SUMMARY

Cicero counts the uses of memoria in the work of orator. Heir to a science which regards it as one of the five parts of rhetoric, he gives however more importance to it than his predecessors and goes beyond this strictly technical conception. Indeed, memoria has its share in ciceronian anthropology : when individual, it is, ontologically, a mark of the immortality of soul and takes part in the definition of humanitas. Impressed by this idea, Cicero fights against philosophical schools — epicureanism and stoicism — which play down the ethical effects of this faculty.

Besides, the examination of speeches reveals that memoria, at the root of ciceronian historical conceptions, can also be found in the political doctrine of the author : when collective, it helps him to define the involved parties, ensures a cohesion within the group which he wants to constitute to support his action by the consensus throughout his career and contributes especially to the success of the concordia. By this process, he expels immemores from this community and renovates the republican tradition.