The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Roman Empire (29 page)

Cicero came to prominence in his successful prosecution of the governor of Sicily, Verres, in 70
B
.
C
.
E
. His oratory won him acclaim, and in 63
B
.
C
.
E
., he was elected consul, the first
novus homo
since Marius. That year he foiled an attempted coup d'etat by a group of desperate nobles under the leadership of Lucius Catiline and executed the conspirators. The senate voted him the title
pater patriae,
although this acclaim was colored by the political maneuvering among the nobles of the day.

Cicero championed the idea of the
concordia ordinum
(concord of the orders), which (in his mind) was a cooperative partnership of
optimates, populares,
and equites for the good of the state. This didn't last, but Cicero remained an influential voice in Roman politics until he was proscribed and executed by Antony. His severed head and hands were nailed for display on the Rostra, from which he had delivered so many influential orations, as a lesson to others.

 
When in Rome
Here's some Ciceronian vocabulary:

Pater Patriae
means “the Father of his country,” the title Cicero (and later Augustus) was given by the senate.

The
concordia ordinum
(“the harmony of the orders”) was Cicero's phrase for the ideal cooperation between political and economic orders (nobles, equites, and so on) for the good of the state.

The
Rostra
was the speaker's platform in the forum from which orators such as Cicero delivered orations (public addresses). It was named for the Carthaginian ramming prows or “beaks” (
rostrae
) put on display there after the First Punic War (264–241
B
.
C
.
E
.).

Besides his famous orations, Cicero published works of political science, practical philosophy, and literary criticism. He was also the first figure whose personal correspondence became a literary publication: Over 1,000 of his letters to and from friends and associates survive, collected and published by his publisher and friend, Atticus. These letters make Cicero and his period the best-documented figure and era in Roman history, sometimes giving us a day-by-day account of the final years of the Republic.

Cicero's orations are among the world's finest oratory, and his flowing and balanced “
periodic
”
style
became a statement in and of itself of Ciceronian ideals. Many of the speeches were written but not delivered, and all were spruced up for publication. Some of Cicero's most famous orations include . . .

• In Verrem
  [Against Verres],
  Actio 1–2
  (70
  B
  .
  C
  .
  E
  .): These cases make up the prosecution of Verres that brought Cicero to acclaim. Only the first was actually delivered. Cicero surprised the defense and brought forth such a vigorous prosecution that Verres went into exile before the trial was concluded. Cicero then published the second case as a prosecution of Roman abuse of power in the provinces.
  
• In Catalinam
  [Against Catiline],
  1–4
  (63
  B
  .
  C
  .
  E
  .): These are Cicero's best-known speeches, delivered at various stages of the debates surrounding the conspiracy of Catiline. In the first speech, he confronted Catiline in the senate, after which Catiline fled the city. Conspirators remained, however, and in the second and third speeches, Cicero lay out to the people the situation and how he came to discover and arrest the conspirators. The fourth speech was delivered in the senate on the question of executing the conspirators; Cicero and Cato prevailed against the moderating voice of Caesar. This action haunted Cicero: Caesar's political mob boss and tribune, Clodius, was able to exile Cicero for executing Roman citizens without trial.
  
• Pro Archia
  [For the Poet Archias]
  (62
  B
  .
  C
  .
  E
  .): Cicero was called upon to defend the citizenship of the poet Aulus Lucinius Archias. The
  Pro Archia
  is an eloquent defense of the practical benefits of liberal education and the power of literature to an audience still deeply skeptical of both.
  
• Pro Caelio
  [For Caelius]
  (56
  B
  .
  C
  .
  E
  .): After Cicero's return from exile, he became intensely involved in politics again, in particular against Clodius. Caelius was up on a charge of poisoning by Clodius's infamous sister, Clodia (the “Lesbia” to whom Catullus writes). Cicero's speech is half defense, half scathing attack on both Clodius and Clodia. Clodius was killed in a mob street battle in 52
  B
  .
  C
  .
  E
  .
  
• Philippica
  [The Philippics]
  1–14
  (44/43
  B
  .
  C
  .
  E
  .): Cicero became highly influential after the death of Caesar. He tried to undermine Antony's authority and support Octavian as a counterbalance, but in an effort to steer the state back toward his Republican ideas. In the chaos before the second triumvirate (see Chapter 7, “Let's Conquer . . . Ourselves! The Roman Revolution and the End of the Republic”), he delivered and published speeches and political tracts in which he explained his policy and attacked Antony.
  

 
When in Rome
Periodic style
refers to a style of composing complex sentences to contain clauses and subordinate constructions within the structure of the main sentence. These sentences have a form that goes somewhat like
A-b-c-c*-b*-A*
(if a letter indicates the beginning of a grammatical construction and the letter* indicates its completion). For example: “Periodic sentences are, for students who study Latin, the language of Cicero, or any language, very tedious to read.”

These speeches range from careful outlines of policy to some of the best mudslinging you have ever read (
Philippic II
). Like what? Dear reader, why should I be forced to mention Antony's reported sexual perversions, heinous crimes, and other titillating tidbits? Who would want to read an extended catalogue detailing such unspeakable things? And so, let us leave them unmentioned. (In any case, once you read the speeches you'll better understand why Antony wanted Cicero's head.)

A single author, even a great one, doesn't make a Golden Age. Latin literature was finding many voices during Cicero's time. In prose and poetry, Roman writers were breaking new ground and laying down the foundation for Latin literature's florescence under Augustus. Like Cicero, many of these writers were as active in the politics of the day as they were in the literature of their time. Others were beginning to take the position that writing, in and of itself, was a “Roman” thing to do. The following are five influential writers of the Ciceronian Period.

Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27
B
.
C
.
E
.) was widely educated and a prolific writer. He is said to have written around 500 books on about 50 different subjects, including works on the Latin language, farm management, satires, and poetry.

Titus Lucretius Carus (99–55
B
.
C
.
E
.) was an Epicurean poet (Epicureanism was fairly popular in the turbulent last century
B
.
C
.
E
.). He wrote six books of florid verse called
de Rerum Natura
(“On the Nature of Things”) in which he explains and argues for Epicurean philosophy. It's really interesting to read his approaches to the development of human civilization and language and to the place of religion in culture.

Gaius Julius Caesar (100–44
B
.
C
.
E
.) was more than a great general: he was also a fine speaker and writer. He wrote six books of dispatches from his conquest of Gaul and three books about the civil war. The clear prose of these works, meant for public consumption, has often been used as Latin school texts.

Gaius Sallustius Crispus (86–34
B
.
C
.
E
.) was from central Italy. He was an ally of Caesar who became a historian after a forced retirement from the senate. He is best known for two short historical monographs about pivotal events in Roman history. The
Bellum Jugurthinum
(Jurgurthine War) identifies Marius and Sulla's campaigns in Africa against the rebel Jugurtha as the time in which the ambitions of the nobility, corrupted by greed and power, turned against Rome. The
Bellum Catalinae
(Conspiracy of Catiline) shows the depths to which these ambitions had brought the state. Sallust's style and ideas were influenced by the Greek historian Thucydides; both sought to identify the human motivations and causes behind historical events. Sallust's writings were influential on the philosopher and writer Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900).

 
Great Caesar's Ghost!
Epicureans claimed that everything was composed of arrangements of tiny indestructible bits of matter, which they called atoms (un-cut-ables). Death was only the destruction of the arrangements and included the soul. Religion was an uneducated response to fear of the unknown, and institutional religion controlled people through fear with threats of eternal punishment. Epicurean ideas were influential on Karl Marx (1818–1883).

Gaius Valerius Catullus (84–54
B
.
C
.
E
.) was from Verona. Catullus was among a group of
poetae novi
(new poets, or neoteric) who came to prominence in the first century
B
.
C
.
E
. They adapted Greek lyric forms and wrote about the personal here and now: conversations, dinner, current events, and love. This direct approach to subjects and language was radical in that it exposed and elevated the personal over the philosophic, public, and civic. The neoteric writers also advanced the idea that being a writer
was
a worthwhile Roman thing to do. Catullus wrote poems of many kinds on many subjects, but he is most famous for his “Lesbia” poems, which describe the thrill and chill of love and betrayal with his mistress. “Lesbia” was a code name for Clodia, the powerful, educated, and infamous sister of Clodius, Cicero's potent enemy and Caesarian political mob boss.