Alas! Conlethians Cede the Rostrum

Cicero, the greatest orator of the Late Roman Republic, and perhaps of any age, tested the limits of the power of rhetoric, and he found them a bit closer than he expected: his incendiary verbal condemnation of the supporters of the rebel Catiline wowed his fellow senators, Gallic emissaries and generations of Latin and ‘Speech and Drama’ students…. but failed to prevent his own exile for stretching the laws of Rome. And so, two Conlethian debating teams, Coleman Hegarty & Turlough Dineen and Lochlan Flynn & Finley O’Dea, similarly met their match at the Leinster Schools Senior Debating Finals, and they, too, retreated with dignity and heads held high. It was a great run, one to rival the many great forays in Conlethian debating history, but it ended in honourable defeat to a dynamic duo from the Institute of Education. One thing is certain: these talented and brave young men will not suffer the fate of Cicero, who ill-timed his return to the rostrum with tragic consequences. (Let’s just say that his timing was not… ‘handy’). However, Debating Dictator Rory O’Sullivan now has an enthusiastic and loyal praetor at his side in Sixth Year Coleman, eager to help nurture the next generation of Conlethian debaters, and Fifth Years Turlough and Lochlan, and Transition Year Finley, are back for another campaign next year!

by Charles Latvis