''In Toga Candida'' is a speech given by

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...

during his election campaign in 64 BC for the

consulship A consul held the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC), and ancient Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum'' (an ascending sequence of public offices to which politic ...

of 63 BC. The speech was directed at his competitors,

Catilina Lucius Sergius Catilina ( 108 BC – January 62 BC), known in English as Catiline (), was a Roman politician and soldier. He is best known for instigating the Catilinarian conspiracy, a failed attempt to violently seize control of the ...

and

Antonius Antonius is a masculine given name, as well as a surname. Antonius is a Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Latin, Norwegian, and Swedish name used in Greenland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, part of the Republic of Karelia, Estonia, Belgium, Netherla ...

, who were also running for consulship for the same year. The speech no longer survives, though a commentary on it written by Asconius does survive. The speech is called ''Oratio in Toga Candida'' since candidates wore specially whitened (Latin ''candida'') togas, origin of the word

candidate A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example: * to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs. * ...

. Cicero used his election campaign speech to denounce his rivals and hint at secret powers behind

Catiline Lucius Sergius Catilina ( 108 BC – January 62 BC), known in English as Catiline (), was a Roman politician and soldier. He is best known for instigating the Catilinarian conspiracy, a failed attempt to violently seize control of the ...

. The tactics were successful and he secured the consulship.David Colin Arthur Shotter ''The Fall Of The Roman Republic'' 2005 p55 "In two places — in his own election speech (Oratio in Toga Candida) in 64 and in his Orations against Catiline in the following year — Cicero alleged that on 1 January 65, Catiline was in the Forum with a dagger ready to assassinate the ..."

References

External links

The 'First' Catilinarian Conspiracy: A further re-examination of the evidence

Catiline Orations of Cicero {{ancient-Rome-stub