INTRODUCING CICERO

The young Cicero, reading (Vincenzo Foppa; c. 1464

1. CICERO UNPLUGGED: COLLOQUIAL STYLE

Just after Caesar has crossed the Rubicon (Jan. 25, 49 BCE), Cicero writes to his wife and other female family members:

Sī vōs valētis, nōs valēmus. Vestrum iam consilium est, nōn sōlum meum, quid sit vōbīs

faciendum.

Sī ille Rōmam modestē ventūrus est, rectē in praesentiā domī esse potestis;

sīn homo āmens dīripiendam urbem datūrus est, vereor …

(Ad Familiares 14.14)

2. TO CICERO VIA LIVY: TAKING STOCK OF LIVY’S STYLE

Tum Sabinae mulieres,

quarum ex iniuria bellum ortum erat,

crinibus passis scissaque ueste, victo malis muliebri pavore,

ausae se [sunt] inter tela volantia inferre, ex transuerso impetu facto dirimere infestas acies, dirimere iras,

hinc patres, hinc viros orantes,

ne sanguine se nefando soceri generique respergerent ne parricidio macularent partus suos, nepotum illi, hi liberum progeniem.

(Ab urbe condita 1.13)

Then the Sabine women,

from whose wronging the war had arisen,

their hair unfurled and clothing torn,their feminine fear banished by evils,

dared

to put themselves in the cross-fire,an attack made from the side,to divide the hostile battle-lines,to divide the heated emotions,

beseeching their fathers on one side, their husbands on the other,that the fathers-in-law and sons-in-law not spatter themselves with unholy blood,that they not stain with parricide their offspring,the ones their progeny of grandchildren,the others their progeny of children.

3. LIVY’S STYLE: AN ANCIENT ASSESSMENT

Neque illa Livi lactea ubertas satis docebit eum qui non speciem expositionis sed fidem quaerit.

Nor will Livy’s creamy richness give clear enough information for a judge who looks not for elegance of exposition, but for credibility. …

Nec indignetur sibi Herodotus aequari Titum Livium, cum in narrando mirae iucunditatis clarissimique candoris, tum in contionibus supra quam enarrari potest eloquentem, ita quae dicuntur omnia cum rebus tum personis accommodata sunt: adfectus quidem, praecipueque eos qui sunt dulciores, ut parcissime dicam, nemo historicorum commendavit magis.

Nor would Herodotus resent Livy’s being thought his equal. Livy has wonderful charm and brilliant transparency in narrative, while in his set speeches he is eloquent beyond description, so beautifully is everything adapted to the circumstances and the speakers. As for emotions, particularly the softer ones, the least I can say is that no historian has ever presented them more attractively.

Quintilian, An orator’s education book 10.32, 101

4. LIVY’S AUGUSTAN PROJECTAb urbe conditaBook 1 (753–509 BCE)Rome’s kings

Books 2–142 [only 2–10 and 21–45 survive] (509————————————————9 BCE)The Roman republic and beginnings of the Augustan era

“ā prīmordiō urbis rēs populī Romani perscribō.”

“sed aut mē amor negotiī susceptī fallit, aut nulla umquam rēs pūblica nec maior

nec sanctior nec bonīs exemplīs dītior fuit.”

“ut [antiquitas], miscendō humāna dīvīnīs, prīmordia

urbium augustiōra faciat”

5. AUGUSTAN CULTURE: THE ARA PACIS AUGUSTAE

6. …. AND VIRGIL’S AUGUSTAN PROJECT

Anchises speaks to Aeneas in the underworld (Aen. 6.756–93):

“Nunc age, … te tua fata docebo.…Romulus, Assaraci quem sanguinis Ilia matereducet. …

hic uir, hic est, tibi quem promitti saepius audis,Augustus Caesar, diui genus, aurea condetsaecula qui rursus …”

“Come, hear your destiny …

Romulus …through his mother a Trojan …

Here is the man so often promised you, Augustus Caesar, a god’s son, and bringer of a new age of gold …”

Augustus“Prima Porta” statue

7. A FRAGMENT FROM LIVY’S LOST BOOKS:CICERO’S LAST DAYS (43 BCE)M. Cicero,

pro certe habens, —id quod erat— non Antonio eripi se posse,

primum in Tusculanum fugit;

inde in Formianum,

ut ab Caieta navem conscensurus,

proficiscitur.

(fr. 50 = Oxford Latin Reader p. 54)So-called Tomba di Cicerone, Formia

8. LATE REPUBLICAN AND AUGUSTAN AUTHORSLate republican (–31 BCE) Augustan (31 BCE–14 CE)

prose C. Julius CAESAR (100–44 BCE)•commentarii (historical notes)

M. Tullius CICERO (106–43 BCE)•letters •speeches • dialogues

SALLUST (historian)CORNELIUS NEPOS (biographer)

VARRO (scholar)

Titus Livius (LIVY, 59 BCE–17 CE)• Ab urbe condita (history)

poetry C. Valerius CATULLUS (84–54?)•carmina (poetry in multiple genres)

LUCRETIUS (philosophical epic)

P. Virgilius Maro (VIRGIL) (70–19 BCE)

•Eclogues (pastoral) •Georgics (didactic)•Aeneid (epic)

HORACE (multiple genres)TIBULLUS, PROPERTIUS (love

elegy)

P. Ovidius Naso (OVID) (43 BCE–17/18 CE)

•Amores (love elegy)•Tristia (exile poetry)•Metamorphoses (mythical epic)

A fuller timeline:http://prezi.com/lg2ryxvudqzw/timeline-of-latin-authors-and-roman-history/

SPEECHES (ORATIONES

)• political (e.g. In Catilinam)

• forensic (e.g. Pro Caelio)

DIALOGUES (DIALOGI)

• rhetorical (e.g. De oratore)

•philosophical (e.g. Tusculanae disputationes)

LIFE (VITA)63 BCE consul58–57 in exile49–48 civil war

45 death of daughter Tullia

43 dies

LETTERS (EPISTULAE)• Ad Familiares• Ad Atticum

POEMS (CARMINA)

•autobiographic (De consulatu suo)

• scientific (Aratea)

9. CICERO’S LIFE OF LETTERS

10. CICERO’S STYLE: AN ANCIENT ASSESSMENT

Oratores vero vel praecipue Latinam eloquentiam parem facere Graecae possunt: nam Ciceronem cuicumque eorum fortiter opposuerim.

It is our orators above all who enable us to put Roman eloquence on equal terms with Greek. I would happily pit Ciero against any of the Greeks.

Quare non inmerito ab hominibus aetatis suae regnare in iudiciis dictus est, apud posteros vero id consecutus ut Cicero iam non hominis nomen sed eloquentiae habeatur.

hunc igitur spectemus, hoc propositum nobis sit exemplum, ille se profecisse sciat cui Cicero valde placebit.

It was not without reason that his contemporaries said [Cicero] was “king” of the courts, and that for posterity Cicero has become not so much the name of a man as a synonym for eloquence itself.

Let us fix our eyes on him, let him be the model we set before ourselves; if a student comes to love Cicero, let him assure himself that he has made progress.

xxx

Quintilian, An orator’s education 10.105, 112

11. CICERO’S STYLE: THREE GOALS OF SPEAKING

Ita omnis ratio dicendi tribus ad persuadendum rebus est nixa:

1. ut probemus vera esse, quae defendimus;

2. ut conciliemus eos nobis, qui audiunt;

3. ut animos eorum, ad quemcumque causa postulabit motum, vocemus.

DOCĒRE

DELECTĀRE

MOVĒRE

NB—This sentence is itself a good example of the “Ciceronian period”

(peri-odos, “circuitous path”).Note especially the “rising tricolon”

and deferral of the final verb.

12. CICERO’S STYLE:THREE “CICERONIAN PERIODS” REFERRING TO ROMULUS

1. An vero tibi Romulus ille

aut pastores et convenas congregasse

aut Sabinorum conubia coniunxisse

aut finitimorum vim repressisse

eloquentiā videtur,

non consiliō et sapientiā singularī? (De oratore 1.37)

Or indeed does the famous Romulus seem to you

either to have brought together shepherds and refugees

or to have arranged marriages with the Sabines

or to have suppressed the force of neighbors

by eloquence,

and not by judgment and wisdom?

13. CICERO’S STYLE:THREE “CICERONIAN PERIODS” REFERRING TO ROMULUS

2. Romulus … igitur, ut natus sit, cum Remo fratre dicitur ab Amulio, rege Albano, ob labefactandi regni timorem ad Tiberim exponi iussus esse;

quo in loco cum esset silvestris beluae sustentatus uberibus pastoresque eum sustulissent et in agresti cultu laboreque aluissent,

perhibetur, ut adoleverit, et corporis viribus et animi ferocitate tantum ceteris praestitisse,

ut omnes, qui tum eos agros, ubi hodie est haec urbs, incolebant, aequo animo illi libenterque parerent.

Romulus, then, is said,when he was born,along with his brother Remus, is said to have been exposed on the banks of the Tiber by Amulius, the Alban king, on account of fear of the overthrowing of the kingdom;

in that placewhen he had been suckled by the breasts of a woodland beastand the shepherds had lifted him upand nourished him in rustic upbringing and labor,

he is said,when he grew up,both in his physical strengthand in the fierceness of his mindto have surpassed the others so much,

that allwho at that time inhabited those fields where this city is today,with calm mind and willingly obeyed that man.

(De republica 2.1)

14. CICERO’S STYLE:THREE “CICERONIAN PERIODS” REFERRING TO ROMULUS

3. Ac Romulus

cum septem et triginta regnavisset annos et haec egregia duo firmamenta rei publicae peperisset, auspicia et senatum,

tantum est consecutus,

ut,

cum subito sole obscurato non conparuisset, deorum in numero conlocatus putaretur;

—quam opinionem nemo umquam mortalis adsequi potuit sine eximia virtutis gloria. (De republica 2.17)

And Romulus,

when he had reigned for thirty-seven years and laid those two admirable foundation-stones of the state,

namely the auspices and the Senate,

attained so much

that

when,the sun suddenly eclipsed,he failed to reappear,he was thought to have been placed in the rank of the gods

—an idea which could never have gained currency for any human being

who had not posssessed an outstanding reputation for valor and integrity.

15. CICERO’S FOCUS ON SELF-IMAGECicero’s plea to the historian L. Lucceius (Ad familiares

5.12):Ardeo cupiditate incredibilineque, ut ego arbitror, reprehendenda,

nomen ut nostrum scriptis illustretur et celebretur tuis.

…

[cupio] quam celerrime res nostras monumentis commendari tuis.

I burn with an unbelievable desire,one not, in my view, to be frowned upon,

that my namebe illuminated and celebrated in your writings.

I desireas quickly as possiblefor my historyto be commended to your monuments.

ō fortūnātam nātam mē consule Rōmam!(De consulatu suo)

16. CICERO’S LETTERS:HISTORIA CONTEXTA

LETTERS (EPISTULAE)• Ad Familiares

• Ad Atticum

… undecim volumina epistularum ab consulatu eius usque ad extremum tempus ad Atticum missarum; quae qui legat, non multum desideret historiam contextam eorum temporum.

Sic enim omnia de studiis principum, vitiis ducum, mutationibus rei publicae perscripta sunt, ut nihil in his non appareat et facile existimari possit prudentiam quodam modo esse divinationem.

Non enim Cicero ea solum, quae vivo se acciderunt, futura praedixit, sed etiam, quae nunc usu veniunt, cecinit ut vates.

… eleven volumes of letters sent to Atticus, from the time of his consulship [63 BCE] to the end [43 BCE]. If anyone reads these, he will not need much more for a continuous history of those times.

For so much is written up there about the inclinations of the leaders, the weaknesses of the generals, the fluctuations of the republic, that nothing does not appear in these letters and his foresight can be judged to be a kind of divination.

For Cicero did not only predict those things that happened in his lifetime, but also, like a seer, he sang those which are now the case.

Cornelius Nepos on Cicero and Atticus’ correspondence (Atticus 16.3–4):

17. CICERO’S LETTERS:THREE DIFFERENT TYPES OF EPISTULA

Cicero to Curio, greetings. You are well aware that there are many types of letter, but one that is the principal type, and the reason why letter-writing itself was invented: to inform (ut certiores faceremus) those who are absent if there is anything that it is in our interest, or their interest, for them to know. You clearly are not expecting letters of this kind from me. .. There remain two other kinds of letter, which I greatly enjoy: one familiar and witty (familiare et iocosum), the other stern and serious (severum et grave). I don’t know which of these is less fitting for me (at present). Anyone who can laugh in these times does not deserve the name of citizen. … (And) what is there that could be written from Cicero to Curio that is serious, except about the (poor) republic …?

Cicero, Ad Familiares 2.4.1 (to his friend Curio, in the last days of the end of the republic):

DOCĒRE

DELECTĀRE

MOVĒRE