Is Cicero’s De Oratore an Imitation of Plato’s Dialogue?

This paper seeks to describe the imitation of Platonic dialogues in the aspect of their literary form recognized in Cicero’s De oratore. It requires a presentation of selected polemical interpretations regarding distinct traits of Platonic dialogue as well as taking sides in the matter. The first part of the paper presents G. Zoll’s interpretation of the Platonic dialogue, who in his dissertation on literary form of Ciceronian dialogues labels De oratore the ‘most Platonic’ of his dialogues. In his interpretation, he follows Cicero's way of understanding the features of Plato's masterpieces. Cicero considered the Platonic dialogue to be, first of all, a written tribute paid to the late master by his thankful disciple and, secondly, a text, whose aim is to present a pedagogic situation and to guide its readers. In the second part of the paper an analysis on the double pedagogic situation of De oratore is carried out. In the pedagogic situation presented in the dialogue the role of the master is played by Crassus, while Sulpicius and Cotta are placed on the position of his disciples. This ‘inner’ situation is reflected by the ‘outer’ one, which is evoked on the level of the narrator-author and implied reader. Special attention is paid to various means of building the master’s authority and of enhancing narrator’s importance. The third part of the paper presents briefly opinions of L. Edelstein and P. Plass, who consider Plato’s anonymity to be the most meaningful trait of his works. These commentators stress the presence of aversion towards sophists and speakers of poetical tradition, who usurp the role of the master. This aversion was vividly displayed in many dialogues. According to the mentioned scholars, pedagogy of the Platonic dialogue is different from the ancient model pedagogy, and therefore qualitatively different from Cicero’s pedagogy expressed in De oratore. This confrontation of contagious interpretations of Platonic dialogue facilitates the reevaluation of Cicero’s imitation of Plato’s dialogues

K^hα_1,2 X-ray hypersatellite line broadening as a signature of K-shell double photoionization followed by outer-shell ionization and excitation

We propose a novel approach for the theoretical analysis of the photoinduced high-resolution Khα1,2 x-ray hypersatellite spectra, which allows us to obtain reliable values of lifetimes of the doubly K-shell ionized states and fundamental information about the relative role of K-shell double photoionization (DPI) mechanisms. It is demonstrated for the first time that the Khα1,2 hypersatellite natural line broadening observed for selected metal atoms with 20≤Z≤30 can be well reproduced quantitatively by taking into account the influences of the open-shell valence configuration (adopted from predictions of the band-structure method) and the outer-shell ionization and excitation following the DPI process

Thiourea derivatives of 4-azatricyclo[5.2.2.02,6]undec-8-ene-3,5-dione - Synthesis and biological activity

A series of halogeno derivatives of thiourea bearing a polycyclic imide core has been efficiently synthesized and evaluated for antimicrobial activity. The structures of the compounds were established by 1H and 13C NMR and MS methods. The molecular structure of 4Clc was determined by an X-ray crystallography. Compounds containing 3-chloro-4-fluorophenyl substituent (3Cl4Fb, 3Cl4Fd) were found to be the most promising against Gram-positive bacteria (MIC values ranged from 8 to 32 μg/mL for standard and 32-64 μg/mL for hospital strains). The in vitro cytotoxicity against MT-4 cells of all compounds was evaluated