The textual analysis of the concept “audacia” used by Cicero

The aim of this research is to analyse the use of the concept “audacia” and its derivatives in Cicero's works on the basis of statistical method. For Cicero “audacia” is the most serious vice which means “audacity”, “impudence” (except of the term usage in a positive sense, in a meaning “courage”). The concept is combined with the words denoting virtues and vices, therefore it has an ethical and philosophical connotation. The concept is also used by Cicero in a political and juridical discourse, especially in the court speeches for inculpatory and exculpatory evidence; that is why it takes an important place in the political and juridical conceptual apparatus of his works.