Quint. Throughout the speech Cicero wishes to show that Archias is someone who is useful to society. Quint. In the end of the confirmatio Cicero gives another reason for his passion for Archias: Nam quas res nos in consulatu nostro vobiscum simul pro salute huius urbis atque imperii et pro vita civium proque universa re publica gessimus, attigit hic versibus atque inchoavit: quibus auditis, quod mihi magna res et iucunda visa est, hunc ad perficiendum adhortatus sum. His connections were not, however, limited to the Catuli and the Luculli. 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. After this he quickly moves on to less controversial territory. as for the part of my speech which was out of keeping with the Forum and the tradition of the courtswhen I discussed my clients talents and literary studies in generalI hope that this has been received in good part by you, gentlemen, as I know it has been by the man who is presiding over this court. 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). A typical jurorone of a panel of seventy-five20would have taken an entirely different view. 3. The Romans seem to have found it advantageous to make use of every argument at their disposal, not merely the decisive ones: this can be observed not only in oratory but also for example in Lucretius. Ciceros reasons for undertaking the defence are apparent from the speech. Lucullus must have helped to bring about Ciceros election to the consulship, and in July 63 Cicero in return had enabled Lucullus to celebrate his long-delayed triumph (Cic. All good men wish their name to live on for ever after their lives are over; and whether or not Cicero, after his death, will have any awareness of his posthumous fame, he at least derives pleasure at this moment from the thought that his achievements will be remembered. 5.8.3. He studied at his native city, and received a liberal education. 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. JavaScript is disabled for your browser. 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. The prosecutor, Grattius, is not otherwise known, but in view of the hostility between Lucullus and Pompey he is usually assumed to have been one of Pompeys supporters, and the prosecution is therefore interpreted as an attack by a supporter of Pompey on the protg of Pompeys enemy Lucullus.12 This seems plausible: it is difficult to see why anyone should otherwise have wished to call into question Archias citizenship, which had gone unchallenged for twenty-seven years. Module 4 Assignment.pdf - The Twelve Tables 1. The The work celebrates the merits of literature and art, which offers a powerful description of what makes an individual Roman. quae cum ita sint, although there seems to be nothing on esse videa(n)tur). Clearly, then, in attempting to persuade a jury that Archias deserved to be a Roman citizen, Cicero faced an uphill struggle. Arch. In 62 B.C.E., the poet Archias, Marcus Tullius Cicero's childhood tutor, faced prosecution based on the tribunal law of Gaius Papius, which expelled non-Roman citizens from Rome. While the speech itself is the legal defense of the poet Archias' claim to Roman citizenship, it also situates the debate of legal citizenship within a broader context of Roman cultural . He wisely refuses to encumber a students progression through the text (and therefore progress in Latin) with minutiae better left to more advanced readers, such as the distinction between a potentially less assertive certe scio and the less reluctant certo scio with which Cicero unreservedly concludes the speech. On the political aspect see further Gruen and Stockton (cited n. 12), the former making too much of and the latter too little of the trials political significance. Such poetry was unfamiliar to most Romans, and had not yet been widely imitated in Latin. 4. Cicero and his Italian Clients in the Forensic Speeches, The Rhetoric of Character in the Roman Courts, Audience Expectations, Invective, and Proof. (III) For when first Archias grew out of childhood, and out of the studies of those arts by which young boys are gradually trained and refined, he devoted himself to the study of writing. By Adam Reiss and Dareh Gregorian. In 1516 Cicero considers the objection that many of the great Romans of old were not themselves lovers of literature. Quas ego mihi semper in administranda re publica proponens animum et mentem meam ipsa cogitatione hominum excellentium conformabam. Archias's defense was undertaken by a former pupil of his, the previous year's Consul, Marcus Tullius Cicero. But the Asiatic Greeks (and it was the Asiatic part of the Greek world from which Archias originated) are presented in uniformly negative terms. The occasional note that relates sentence structure or vocabulary choice to larger themes both fulfills pedagogical needs and also reminds us of the tricky balancing act between simply teaching and inspiring real interest in sophisticated texts with a readership at this level: fit your line solely with technical syntactical and rhetorical terms or with explanations of subjunctive X in subordinate clause Y and students are less likely to take the bait. The jury must be persuaded both that Archias is a Roman citizen and that he deserves to be one. In Pro Lege Manilia, admittedly a speech to the people, he pretends to be only vaguely aware that Athens was once a great sea power (Leg. There he said that he intended to prove first that Archias is a Roman citizen, and secondly that, were he not a citizen, he ought to be one. Were it not for his study of literature, he says, he would never have stood up to Catiline. Let us turn now to the digressio itself The structure of this passage is difficult to analyse. But Ciceros technique is not simply one of flattery. Macrob. So let the name of poet, gentlemen, which no barbarian race has ever treated with disrespect, be a sacred name among you, the most enlightened of men. In this section, Cicero discredits the four points raised against his client. "Pro Archia is a delightful speech delivered by Cicero in defense of A. Licinius Archias, a Greek poet whose eligibility for Roman citizenship was challenged in 62 bce. He applied the three techniques that were expected of ancient oratory: pathos (emotional persuasion), ethos (credibility persuasion), and logos (logical persuasion). 37.6). This second part can be subdivided in several ways (MacKendrick identifies the decisive breaks), but for the most part the transitions are gradual and one point merges into the next. In his argument, Cicero discusses the benefits of literature, the intrinsic dignity or virtue of poets and the relationship of the poet to the state. There is an exordium ( 14a), then a narratio ( 4b7) outlining Archias career and the process by which he became a Roman citizen. The accusation is believed to have been a political move against Lucullus through Archias. 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). Quaeres a nobis, Grati, cur tanto opere hoc homine delectemur. Cic. I am grateful to Professor A. J. Woodman for drawing my attention to the Sallust passage. Abstract. 3). Theophanes is, nevertheless, a good example for Cicero to cite, not only because he was a Greek who was given the citizenship, but because he was given it by Pompey. 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. The effect on the jury of this roll-call of aristocratic names must have been considerable: it would make it abundantly clear that Archias, even allowing for some exaggeration on Ciceros part, enjoyed the patronage and favour of Romes leading families. Archias did not appear on the Roman census because he was away on campaign with Lucullus at each time they were taken. For other forms of mental relaxation are in no way suited to every time, age, and place. Cokun notes that the second part of Cicero's pleading is integral to the defense and should not be regarded as an indication that Archias' legal case was weak. 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. It is the encomium of literature, however, for which Pro Archia is read and remembered, and which makes this speech a particular favourite among readers for whom the cut and thrust of late Republican politics is not a primary concern. A distinction is then made between those like Cicero who study literature and apply it to a useful end, such as defending people in court, and those who study it but make no practical use of it; the latter category, Cicero says, should be ashamed of themselves. Literature, he says, provides him with material for his speeches: it is therefore useful (this argument incidentally helps to reinforce the impression, given in the exordium, that Archias has in some way played a part in Ciceros rhetorical training). I should like therefore to pause at this point and consider what are Ciceros reasons for including this digression, and for allowing it so to dominate the speech. It is therefore impossible that Quintus should have assured Cicero in advance that an epideictic style would be well received or that Archias would be acquitted. The tone of the passage is philosophical; but it is popular philosophy of a straightforward nature, designed to reassure rather than intimidate the jury. Rome Donald Trump's defense attorney on Monday wrapped up his cross-examination of writer E. Jean Carroll in the trial over her rape allegation against the former . Porter (cited n. 14) 140 f.; MacKendrick (cited n. 16) 110 f. Cf. The brief introduction (Section B) includes the background of the trial, defense strategy, date, outcome (probably acquittal), and an outline of the speech. 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. The comparison with Ennius is a useful one for Cicero, since Ennius was Romes great national poet and would have been fully acceptable to the jury. In his speech defending Archias-the Pro Archia-Cicero argues that Archias was a Roman citizen. It is one of the best. You could not be signed in, please check and try again. At its most basic, the speech itself constitutes the It is not a passage that could not be included were it not for the presence of a sympathetic praetor. Cf. Themistocles is cited as an example, but then we have the surprising sentence ( 20):It was for the same reason that Marius was so fond of L. Plotius: he thought that his achievements could be made famous by Plotius talent (Itaque ille Marius item eximie L. Plotium dilexit, cuius ingenio putabat ea quae gesserat posse celebrari). Perhaps the project was opposed by one of Archias noble patrons; or one could speculate that this may have been a commission made impossible by the enthusiasm of the client. Law of the Twelve Tables | Roman law | Britannica Comments are moderated. Thereafter, Archias was set up with a permanent residence in Rome in preparation for achieving full Roman citizenship. By the end of 63, it was already clear that Cicero would be open to attack for his execution of the conspirators, and it was therefore useful to him to remain closely allied with the conservative elements in the Senate, who would (at least until the formation of theFirst Triumvirate) be in a position to protect him. The head of the family, L. Licinius Lucullus, went into exile, probably in 102, after being convicted of misconduct in Sicily the previous year, but he had two teenage sons at home, Lucius and Marcus, and Archias no doubt assisted with their education. Roscius and Archias were artists of quite a different kind: Roscius was a Roman eques, now dead, who had acted in plays before large audiences; Archias was a Syrian immigrant who wrote poetry in Greek for a small number of aristocratic families. Aulus Licinius Archias, (born c. 120 bc, Antioch, Syria [now Antakya, Turkey]), ancient Greek poet who came to Rome, where he was charged in 62 bc with having illegally assumed the rights of a Roman citizen. The oration was rediscovered in Lige by Petrarch in 1333.[2]. The digressio concludes ( 2830) with Ciceros admission that he too wishes to be immortalized in verse; as he has demonstrated, there are many honourable precedents for this. If Archias accuser is indeed connected with Pompey, as seems likely, then the reference has added point: in seeking to deprive Lucullus man of his citizenship, Grattius is ignoring the precedent set by his own patron. This type of poetry, he says, provides patterns of excellence for men to imitate, while the prospect of being immortalized in verse spurs men on to perform heroic deeds in the service of the state. Historical Background of Cicero's Oration, "The Citizenship of Archias Here again we find the elevated and lyrical style used earlier at 16; the opinion of some scholars29 that this passage isturgid is refuted by Quintilian, who cites it, sometimes with explicit approval, no fewer than six times (Inst. But more fundamentally, Ciceros words convey the impression that Archias was already a Roman citizen. 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. Readability remains the aim of the text offered to the student. The commentary likewise alerts students to some hallmarks of Ciceros Latin (e.g. Cicero does not bother to mention the further censuses of 65 and 64, since the jury would be aware that they too had been abandoned. this page. Yet beyond its simultaneous appeal both as and for belles-lettres the recent attention paid to this work as part of Ciceronian self-fashioning can lend sophistication and new direction to classroom discussions about the place of the Pro Archia in Ciceros public career and in Roman culture more generally.4 C. economically yet sufficiently highlights the works social and historical contexts. Pal. The introductory material places the Pro Archia among Ciceros most aesthetically powerful orations and stresses the speechs championing of humanistic principles. Rome should therefore be grateful that Archias already belongs to her (the argument concludes in the same way as the argument from Homer at 19). This, then, is the attitude with which Cicero, himself derided as awee Greek (Graeculus) by his detractors (Dio 46.18.1; cf. 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. After the rebuttal Cicero presents his case for Archias citizenship. 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. (2001) How to Make (and Break) a Cicero: Epideixis, Textuality, and Self-fashioning in the, Nesholm, E.J. BMCR provides the opportunity to comment on reviews in order to enhance scholarly communication. He does so by presenting poetry in a particular way likely to appeal to his audience. Quam multas nobis imagines non solum ad intuendum verum etiam ad imitandum fortissimorum virorum expressas scriptores et Graeci et Latini reliquerunt! Archias poetry, according to Cicero, is serious historical poetry, written to celebrate the glorious exploits of Romes generals and statesmen and make them known throughout the worlda large part of which, he adds, speaks only Greek. In 13 he contrasts his own study of literature with the frivolous amusements of others: if others devote their spare time to the games, to parties, and dice, why should he not devote his to a pursuit which, he repeats, enables him to defend people in court? Scholars all give the date as 62, citing our passage; but our passage is not so specific. Archias was a Greek poet, a native of Antioch, who came to Rome in the train of Lucullus, when Cicero was a child. Key facts about Americans and guns | Pew Research Center 21): we are told by Memnon, a second-century ad historian of Heraclea Pontica, that the naval battle off Tenedos was in fact won not by Lucullus himself but by his subordinate Triarius (FGrH III B, 361 (33.1)). Cicero mentions three benefits of literature: literature provides refreshment for the spirit and repose for the senses; it provides Cicero with inspiration for his daily speeches and therefore strengthens his oratorical powers; and it contains moral lessons and provides examples to contemplate and to emulate. Max. Undoubtedly such virtues partly account for its enduring value and apparent comeback in college curricula in competition with the Catiline orations or the defense of Caelius. C. also promotes invaluable reading strategies along the way. ), and Cicero had set aside time during it to defend a relation of Lucullus (Att. What is interesting, however, is the way Cicero brings in a popular celebrity who has little or nothing to do with Archias and blatantly capitalizes on his star status and the affection in which he was held. 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. The Speech for Aulus Licinius Archias, the Poet - Forum Romanum When he does choose to discuss an intellectual subject at length, in Pro Murena, he begins, as we have seen, by flattering the jury on their erudition, and then proceeds to describe the Stoic school of philosophy in a way which first of all assumes no prior knowledge whatsoever, not even the name of the founder, and secondly serves merely to reinforce, for his own ends, the jurys anti-intellectual prejudices.21 Cicero was to admit, many years later, that the jury that heard Murenas case were an ignorant lot (Fin. This argument, understood literally, does in fact have some validity. 61): Et quoniam non est nobis haec oratio habenda aut in imperita multitudine aut in aliquo conventu agrestium, audacius paulo de studiis humanitatis quae et mihi et vobis nota et iucunda sunt disputabo. Du Bois, the influence of Cicero's Pro Archia Poeta on The Souls of Black Folk is one of the most important. 1.25; Quint. 1.13.6) by purchasing from Crassus a grand house on the Palatine overlooking the Forum. Russia's Top Diplomat Hints at a Prisoner Swap for Detained Reporter Whether this reason or his desire to protect his old teacher weighed more heavily with him it would be foolish to speculate.14 A third reason not explicitly mentioned in the speech but quite clear from it is that Cicero wished to oblige the Luculli. Please subscribe or login. 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. Instead of beginning with cum ("since") as what would be expected, Cicero suspends it to the end of the phrase to bring attention to the gravity of the names he states. Indeed, I myself when serving as a magistrate, have always kept these men before my eyes, and have modelled myself on them, heart and mind, by meditating on their excellences. In 65 the tribune C. Papius had carried a law expelling from Rome all non-citizens who did not have a fixed residence in Italy: residents of Rome, therefore, who could not prove themselves Roman citizens, were liable to be prosecuted under the law and expelled from the city. 31.7). As M. L. Clarke has pointed out, Archias was not the only one of Ciceros boyhood teachers whom he went out of his way to help: he had Diodotus to live in his house after he had become old and blind (Brut. NFL Draft 2023 winners and losers: Eagles, Seahawks get stronger [Kuhlmann, 1976]). Bringing these considerations to class can also help teachers win over the next generation of students, given the practical pressures that equate getting students into the classroom with getting resources into the department. Archias's Roman citizenship has been called into question, and through an artful display of oratory and rhetoric, Cicero reconstructs the reality of Archias's life and contributions to provide proof of his worth as a citizen. 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. He was defended by Cicero in the speech known as Pro Archia, but the issue of the trial is unknown. Examples of hendiadys abound, and C. carefully explains and smoothly translates these tricky bits of Ciceronian fullness, as in section 3, where tanto conventu hominum ac frequentia is both translated literally and then rendered as with so numerous a throng of men. Students are taught to distinguish the literal meaning from Ciceros meaning. C. has introduced some modifications to the commentary to meet the perceived needs of high-school students reading the Pro Archia as part of the Advanced Placement Latin Literature curriculum. He starts by saying that Archias enables him to unwind after a busy day in the courts (the jury will sympathize), but he then immediately broadens the discussion from poetry to literature in general, and he will stick firmly to literature in general until 18. 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. By this line of argument, Archias, though Greek, is turned into someone who helps to promote Roman values and bolsters Roman authority and tradition.22 He therefore has an important part to play in Roman society, and hence deserves his place within it as a Roman citizen. He is represented as a genius, and as equalling theancient writers (veterum scriptorum)a phrase which leaves it conveniently vague whether we are to think of Greeks (Homer) or Romans (Ennius). 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. Aulus Licinius Archias | Greek poet | Britannica That astonishing naval battle off Tenedos, when L. Lucullus killed the enemy commanders and sank their fleet, will always be spoken of and proclaimed as ours: ours are the trophies, ours the monuments, ours the triumphs. The transition is made by mentioning Archias (not referred to since 12, or named since 9) and marvelling at his ability both to improvise (cf. To begin with, he was a Syrian by birth, a Greek-speaker from the eastern edge of the Empire. The greater part of the speech contains finely crafted rhetoric and an increased frequency of such poetical devices as hendiadys, chiasmus, and the golden line. Archiass defense was undertaken by a former pupil of his, the previous years Consul, Marcus Tullius Cicero. Pro Archia Poeta - Wikipedia Then ( 5): Statim Luculli, cum praetextatus etiam tum Archias esset, eum domum suam receperunt. Bryn Mawr PA 19010. Several more arguments follow, but they are of little practical value since Cicero has already proved his case. But the connection brought social advantages too. They are also well matched to the introductions brief yet informative discussion, which itself divides into three parts: Ciceros political and forensic activities (mostly covering events through 62 BCE); Archias and the legal background of the case; and an outline and summary of the speech following the traditional five-part schema: exordium, narratio, refutatio, confirmatio, peroratio. Cicero came to his former teacher's defense at his trial in 62 BC, only months after delivering the famous Catiline Orations. Cicero emphasizes the stature of those who gave patronage to Archias by altering the usual word order. Mur. 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. Phil. 4.5);25 Ciceros claim here is that works of literature, whether Greek or Latin, have the same salutary effect. It was, in short, beneath the consideration of a Roman. A show of stylistic brilliance on Ciceros part will therefore reflect creditably on the man who taught him. [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 . In 1, Cicero claims that he owes his skill in speaking to Archias. Saxa atque solitudines voci respondent, bestiae saepe immanes cantu flectuntur atque consistunt; nos instituti rebus optimis non poetarum voce moveamur? The legal argument, that Archias is a Roman citizen, is divided into two roughly equal halves, the narratio ( 4b7) and the confirmatio ( 811). Cicero also wants to see that Archias is firmly set within the serious, masculine, and Roman context of warfare, rather than in the frivolous and self-regarding world of Greek poetry. After this, Cicero goes on to declare that poets are divinely inspired, and hence sacred. Cat. 41.36). 1.16.15), and will obviously have stopped short of Pompeys appointment. He was born at Antioch in Syria probably in the mid-120s, and at an early age became famous throughout the East as a professional poet.4 It is likely that at around this time some of his poems were anthologized by Meleager for his Garland, and the Greek Anthology contains thirty-seven epigrams attributed to a poet with the nameArchias. Later, in 89, the lex Plautia Papiria was passed, and Cicero quotes the clause which covered Archias case: persons would be granted Roman citizenship if (a) they had previously been enrolled as a citizen of a federate state, (b) they had had a fixed residence in Italy at the time when the law was passed, and (c) they declared themselves before a praetor within sixty days ( 7). Your email address will not be published. Go fishing with the idea that Cicero (and classical authors tout court) keenly considered and combined form and content in a manner that was meaningful and not simply mechanical, and at least some students will bite.2 C. astutely notes how Cicero, while describing Archias attempts to obtain citizenship (section 7), imitates the language of the law he has just cited in order to suggest Archias compliance with it. 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. Ciceros defense of Archias follows a two-pronged argument. In Pro Murena and Pro Caelio, for example, this is done with humour. Cicero says that he attracted the attention of the Metelli Numidicus and Pius, M. Aemilius Scaurus, and L. Crassus, and also that he was on close terms with M. Livius Drusus (the tribune of 91), the Octavii, Cato (the father of Uticensis), and the Hortensii ( 6).8 During this period the young Cicero also received instruction from Archias ( 1): Archias was presumably his Greek grammatikos.9.