Now Plotius was not a poet but a rhetorician, and if he praised Marius he would have done so in a Latin speech, not a Greek poem. We know that Archias wrote, in Greek, a historical poem in several books on the Mithridatic War ( 21). Cicero says, "he furnishes me with the means to refresh my mind after the noise of the Forum" (Document 5.4: Cicero, In Defense of Archias (62 B.C.E.). Sat. A show of stylistic brilliance on Ciceros part will therefore reflect creditably on the man who taught him. He therefore declared himself before his friend the praetor Q. Metellus Pius and obtained Roman citizenship. Although there is no direct evidence that this speech was a success, a later letter to Atticus suggests that Archias was indeed acquitted and remained a part of life at Rome. 37.6). By now Cicero may or may not have persuaded the jury of Archias legal claim. Cicero now moves on to the confirmatio, which, because of the simplicity of the case, is almost as brief as the narratio. 41.36). 10.7.19, based on this passage) and to produce written compositions. 3.15.6), and we have from Plutarch the attractive story of how Pompey and Cicero invited themselves round to Lucullus house for dinner, and how he tricked them into thinking that he dined on the most lavish scale even when eating alone (Luc. Pro Archia has been described asundoubtedly the least typical speech of the Ciceronian corpus.1 Ciceros client is not, as so often, a prominent Roman aristocrat accused of violence, bribery, or extortion, but a Syrian poet whose claim to Roman citizenship was disputed. Cicero and his Italian Clients in the Forensic Speeches, The Rhetoric of Character in the Roman Courts, Audience Expectations, Invective, and Proof. A large part of Archias output, and his entire output before he attracted Roman patronage, would doubtless have consisted of poems on typical Hellenistic themes (the epigrams in the Greek Anthology which may be his include erotic poems, dedications to a god, epitaphs, and poems on a work of art). In the second part, 1830, he turns from literature to poetry and brings Archias into the discussion (Archias is not referred to at all in 1317), arguing that poetry, and a fortiori Archias, is useful to society. In his speech defending Archias-the Pro Archia-Cicero argues that Archias was a Roman citizen. If Archias had not already possessed Roman citizenship, Cicero says, he could easily have obtained it as a favour from some general such as Sulla, or from his friend Metellus Pius ( 2526a). quae cum ita sint, although there seems to be nothing on esse videa(n)tur). I beg of you that you will grant me an indulgence in this trial which is appropriate to this defendant here, and, I trust, not disagreeable to youthat you will allow me, speaking as I am on behalf of an eminent poet and a most learned man and before this crowd of highly educated people, this civilized jury, and such a praetor as is now presiding, to speak rather more freely on cultural and literary matters, and, as befits the character of a man who because of his life of seclusion and study has had very little to do with the hazards of the courts, to employ a somewhat novel and unconventional manner of speaking. The reason for this, Cicero continues, is that there is no one who is unwilling to have his own deeds immortalized in verse (this was indeed true in his own case, as he will later reveal). Poets (at least good ones) were of course highly esteemed by cultured Romans such as the Catuli, the Luculli, and Cicero himself, but such men were a minority. Archias had become eligible for Roman citizenship under the Lex Iulia de Civitate Latinis Danda, passed in 90 BC, and the Lex Plautia Papiria de Civitate Sociis Danda, passed in 89 BC. The first point to bear in mind, then, is that this passage is, formally at least, the second stage of Ciceros argument as announced at 4a. As for his declaration before the praetor Metellus, Cicero produces the citizen lists which Metellus compiled, argues for their accuracy, and points to the name of A. Licinius. But the study of literature sharpens youth and delights old age; it enhances prosperity and provides a refuge and comfort in adversity; it gives enjoyment at home without being a hindrance in the wider world; at night, and when travelling, and on country visits, it is an unfailing companion. Gotoff (cited n. 1) 81; Porter (cited n. 14) 144 f. This seems to have been the usual number: see, On the hostility of the late-Republican Roman ruling class to Greek philosophy (and to the Greek language) see. (Cic. This paper examines Cicero's Pro Archia Poeta Oratio and the author's implicit and explicit views on how Roman cultural identity is constructed. It ends with a curious reference to the praetor in charge of the court ( 32): quae a foro aliena iudicialique consuetudine et de hominis ingenio et communiter de ipso studio locutus sum, ea, iudices, a vobis spero esse in bonam partem accepta, ab eo qui iudicium exercet certo scio. Cicero's client is not, as so often, a prominent Roman aristocrat accused of violence, bribery, or extortion, but a Syrian poet whose claim to Roman citizenship was disputed. He gracefully concedes the point, but then goes on to instance some outstanding Romans who did study literature ( 16): Ex hoc esse hunc numero quem patres nostri viderunt, divinum hominem, Africanum, ex hoc C. Laelium, L. Furium, moderatissimos homines et continentissimos, ex hoc fortissimum virum et illis temporibus doctissimum, M. Catonem illum senem; qui profecto si nihil ad percipiendam colendamque virtutem litteris adiuvarentur, numquam se ad earum studium contulissent. Being Economical with the Truth: What Really Happened at Lampsacus? You could not be signed in, please check and try again. Finally, the digressio performs an important function in diverting attention from the political aspect of the trial. Expressions of thanks or praise should be sent directly to the reviewer, using the email address in the review. But for Cicero, the opportunity to make play with Marius name a third time was too tempting to pass up. He says that he was yet only sixteen or seventeen years old, wearing the striped toga or praetextatus, when he began his studies in the arts and gained the attention of some of Rome's most influential citizens. Such silences are thoughtful exclusions rather than negligent omissions and should be considered among the editions cardinal virtues. This second edition by Steven M. Cerutti (hereafter C.) of Ciceros speech in defense of the poet Archias delivers an introduction, text, commentary, vocabulary, and two appendices covering (respectively) proper or place names and rhetorical or political terminology. The prosecution of Archias was probably undertaken, as we have seen, by a supporter of Pompey, and was directed not so much against Archias as against his patron L. Lucullus. Cicero claims that this covered the warin its entirety (Mithridaticum vero bellum totum ab hoc expressum est, 21), but in view of the great hostility which had arisen between Lucullus and Pompey this must be an exaggeration: the poem was a commission from the Luculli (Att. It argues that Pro Archia is an exercise in persuasion. In Pro Archia Poeta, Cicero implied that Archias, a resident of Heraclea, might have qualified for citizenship under the Lex Julia and Lex Plautia There is then a confirmatio ( 811), which consists of arguments based on the facts as given in the narratio. While naming the law under which Archias was granted citizenship at Heraclea, Cicero begins with the verb to emphasize that citizenship was indeed granted (Data est). 4.5);25 Ciceros claim here is that works of literature, whether Greek or Latin, have the same salutary effect. In Tacitus Dialogus de Oratoribus, one of the speakers, Maternus, is made to remark,It is not, I take it, the speeches which Demosthenes composed against his guardians that make him famous, nor is it Ciceros defences of P. Quinctius or Licinius Archias that make him a great orator: it was Catiline and Milo and Verres and Antony who covered him with glory (Non, opinor, Demosthenen orationes inlustrant quas adversus tutores suos composuit, nec Ciceronem magnum oratorem P. Quinctius defensus aut Licinius Archias faciuntCatilina et Milo et Verres et Antonius hanc illi famam circumdederunt, Dial. The authority of these great Romans (all were consuls and two were also censor) wins Cicero his point after all; the technique is the same as that used at 6. If I have any natural talent, members of the juryand I am aware how limited it is; or if I have any experience in public speakingin which I do not deny that I am moderately well practised; or if there is any technical skill in my oratory which has been derived from application and training in the liberal artsand I admit that I have never at any period of my life been averse to such training: if I do have any of these capabilities, then A. Licinius here is entitled almost as of right to be among the very first to claim from me the benefits which they may bring. Here Cicero was confronted by a marked xenophobic and anti-intellectual prejudice, one with which he and his brother had no sympathy, but which was prevalent among the jury. But the Asiatic Greeks (and it was the Asiatic part of the Greek world from which Archias originated) are presented in uniformly negative terms. From the persuasive point of view, it is the second of these questions that is the more difficult, and therefore the more interesting. But the connection brought social advantages too. The important point is then made that Archias poetry celebrates the military glory of the Roman people: his poem on the war against the Cimbri actually won the approval of Marius. Ciceros defense of Archias follows a two-pronged argument. But Ciceros technique is not simply one of flattery. His method of dealing with this prejudice is to include a lengthy passage on literature which presents Archias and his poetry in terms which the jurors will find unobjectionable, and perhaps even praiseworthy. Both poets were befriended by a leading family at Rome (Ennius by the Fulvii Nobiliores), taken on campaign by them, and granted citizenship through their influence; unlike Archias, however, Ennius was from Italy and wrote in Latin. The Pro Archia, or, to give it its full (and translated) name, the Speech on Behalf of Aulus Licinius Archias the Poet, is a speech given by the Roman orator Cicero, in defence of Archias on the charge of falsely claiming to be a Roman citizen. Let us turn now to the digressio itself The structure of this passage is difficult to analyse. Some features of this site may not work without it. The work celebrates the merits of literature and art, which offers a powerful description of what makes an individual Roman. Archias allows Cicero to remember and maintain the fact that literature is important. Metellus, we learn, was anxious for his deeds to be immortalized in verse, and this leads Cicero back to a theme he has touched on earlier (at 20), the desire of all great men to be praised. Now since I am not making this speech before an ignorant rabble or before some gathering of rustics I shall be a little more bold in discussing those cultural studies with which you and I are so familiar, and which we find so agreeable. Rome The legal argument now being triumphantly concluded, it might be assumed that Ciceros defence is over. Even if we had not been informed by the scholia (175 Stangl), we would, I think, have been able to tell that the praetor in question is Ciceros brother Quintus. At 18 Cicero moves to the second part of the digressio. The comparison with Ennius at last brings Cicero to answer the objection that Archias writes in Greek ( 23). Archiass defense was undertaken by a former pupil of his, the previous years Consul, Marcus Tullius Cicero. It has been conjectured that it was Archias who first brought Meleagers Garland to Rome and thus introduced the Romans to Greek epigram: we have two Latin epigrams by Catulus, one of which is a translation of an epigram of Callimachus in the Greek Anthology, and the Garland appears also to have been imitated by other contemporary Roman poets (Gel. C. also promotes invaluable reading strategies along the way. The next example, however, is that of Pompey giving Roman citizenship to Theophanes of Mytilene.31 This parallel is less valid since Theophanes was not a poet but a prose historian (scriptorem,writer, is the ambiguous word Cicero uses). Porter (cited n. 14) 140 f.; MacKendrick (cited n. 16) 110 f. Cf. For the argument to be effective, Cicero has to imply that it was Archias who made him the great orator he has become; this then demands an element of vagueness as to precisely what Archias contribution was. But Roscius was a figure who was familiar to the jury and entirely acceptable to them (partly, perhaps, on account of his high social status, unusual for an actor): Cicero now hopes that he can lay claim to that acceptance for Archias too. So the necessity to present Archias and his poetry in a favourable light is Ciceros main reason for including a lengthy digressio in his speech. What he does, in fact, is to base his defence upon a positive, robust view of literature (as we shall see below), and in this strategy the style of his speech, as displayed initially in the exordium, plays an integral part. It is for that reason that many noble Romans had a poet to write for them. The brief introduction (Section B) includes the background of the trial, defense strategy, date, outcome (probably acquittal), and an outline of the speech. The technique is similar to that employed the previous year in Pro Murena (Mur. At the same time he is also alluding to the uniquely Roman custom whereby nobles kept wax masks (imagines) of their ancestors who had held curule office within the atria of their houses. In Pro Murena and Pro Caelio, for example, this is done with humour. Rocks and deserts respond to the poets voice; ferocious wild animals are often turned aside by singing and stopped in their tracks: shall we, then, who have been brought up to all that is best, remain unmoved by the voice of a poet? Archias was not the sort of person that a Roman juror would necessarily have considered desirable as a member of the Roman citizen body. The third reason for the high stylistic level may be stated more briefly. First, then, let us review 1217. Catulus was an enthusiast for Greek culture, and admitted Archias to his circle. Mr. Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, was detained minutes after he was handed a USB stick by a Russian acquaintance that Russia maintains contained a classified list of its security agents. [3] Due to political unrest, Archias, while yet a mere youth, left Antioch and travelled around the major cities of Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy, in each of . Archias, who first arrived in Rome in 102 BCE, had, since the conclusion of the Social War in 89 BCE, been living as a Roman citizen and enjoying all of its attendant privileges. Cicero begins by explaining to the jury why he is obliged to defend Archias (or A. Licinius, as he prefers to call him at important moments in the speech). Catiline would presumably not have made such a remark unless he expected it at least to carry some weight with some of the senators. If this argument too is put another way, its weakness will be apparent:You may be surprised to hear me attributing my success in the courts to a poet rather than a rhetorician, but rhetoric is not the only subject I have studied, and in any case rhetoric and poetry are really the same sort of thing. The main value of this argument, however, is that it introduces the idea of thecommon bond (commune vinclum) by which Cicero claims all branches of culture are linked. Mur. His connections were not, however, limited to the Catuli and the Luculli. In 1, Cicero claims that he owes his skill in speaking to Archias. In 65 BC, the Roman Senate passed the Lex Papia de Peregrinis, which challenged false claims of citizenship and expelled foreigners from Rome. Cicero's Defense of Archias, Political Motives in, 62-70 Cognate Accusative Relative Clauses in Greek, 281-288 College (The) of Quindecim-viri (Sacris Faciundis) in 17 B. C., 289-294 Constitution (The) of the Five Thousand, 189-198 COPLEY, FRANK O. Catullus 55, 9-14, 295-297 Covenant, Hannibal's, 1-2 PAGE Cretan Heroic Poetry and Homer: A Study . These great men would surely never have taken up the study of literature had it not been of help to them in attaining and practicing excellence. He asks the court to indulge him with a novum genus dicendi "new manner of speaking", similar to the style of a poet. But if Cicero had written a treatise on literature for an educated readership outside the courtroom, we can be certain it would have had little resemblance to the version which was offered to Archias jury. 1. He was born in Antioch, Syria (modern Antakya, Turkey ). In Pro Archia Poeta, Cicero implied that Archias, a resident of Heraclea, might have qualified for citizenship under the Lex Julia and Lex Plautia Papiria, 1 but chose instead to base his defense on Archias' status as a heralded Roman poet. It could even be read as a sort of laudatio funebris for Archias, Cicero, and liberal learning.

Arrowe Park Hospital Department Map, Sandeep Bhatia Gautami Wedding, Sawyer County Roster, Selling Inherited Property In Mexico, Crime Times Buckingham, Va, Articles I