Stylistic features of cretic-trochaic and ditrochaic clausulae in Cicero's speeches Against Catiline

This article deals with the usage of clausulae (a rhythmic figure adding finality to colons and periods) as a stylistic means in Cicero’s prose. The attention is paid to the two most frequent rhythmic structures in the Catilinarian Orations, which encompass more than half of all the clausulae in the set of speeches. The article contains a brief description of the new methodology for describing the prose rhythm, developed by the author of the article and described in more detail in other works. The main part of the article presents a detailed study of of the cretic-trochaic [- ᵕ - - x] and ditrochaic [- ᵕ -- х] clausulae as means of pericope or text segmentation, the specific use of series of the same clausulae, and their possible connection to the stylistic figures from other language levels, such as alliteration or homeoteleuton