Me autem nomine appellabat: avoidance of Cicero's name in his dialogues

Abstract

© 1997 The Classical AssociationCicero's dialogue De Finibus depicts three conversations between the author and his friends. In the course of these conversations Cicero depicts himself as addressing his interlocutors directly, using the vocative case, on 45 occasions; the other characters, however, never address Cicero at all. What is the reason for this imbalance