I was wondering how important it was to be able to give a speech within Late Republican Rome; there seems to always be a speech involved somewhere or other.. Was it something everyone could do or only a select few? Is there any scenes in which someone's speech giving skill changed a decision or such?
The second question, there is actually a fragment in Plutarch biography of Cicero, when he is about to accuse a friend of Caesar whose name escapes me now, Caesar shrugs it as >we already know he is a scoundrel and our enemy and thus guilty< (that was a period with rather intense internal conflicts so law often came second to interests...), then Cicero gives a defense speech, and Caesar is so moved by it that the man was pardoned.
So, yes, the ability to give speech, and do it well, was very important in Rome in that period. In practice it was not done by just abot anyone, but by people active in politics (but not leaders only), and in law.