in defense of archias summary

However, it also provides an invaluable insight into the early stages of Ciceros senior statesman persona. In Pro Archia Poeta, Cicero implied that Archias, a resident of Heraclea, might have qualified for citizenship under the Lex Julia and Lex Plautia W. M. Porter divides it into three parts, 1216 covering the benefits afforded by the study of poetry, 1719 covering the intrinsic virtues of poets, and 2030 covering the relationship of the poet and his poetry to the state. He trained my voice, which I have used to save people on trial. )28 is cited in support of this view; at 31 Cicero will go further and claim thateveryone (apud omnis) has always held poets to be sacred. It is perhaps most likely that Grattius was acting on his own initiative to avenge an imagined slight to his patron (who was still away in Asia)the slight being simply that Archias had given Lucullus extravagant praise in his poem on the Mithridatic War. 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? He asks the court to indulge him with a novum genus dicendi "new manner of speaking", similar to the style of a poet. Latin Paleography, Editing, and the Transmission of Classi Maritime Archaeology of the Ancient Mediterranean, Philosophy, Dialectic in Ancient Greek and Roman. He starts with his trademark periodic sentence by depicting his strengths of natural talent, experience, and strategy while appearing humble and inferior to the qualities of his client. For other forms of mental relaxation are in no way suited to every time, age, and place. Great stress is laid, for example, on ita, sic, or tam preceding a result clause, or on the use of demonstrative pronouns to anticipate relative clauses, as in section 4: ab eis artibus quibus aetas puerilis ad humanitatem informari solet. Pointing out such features crucially nudges students beyond the beginners tendency to atomize Latin into discrete, unconnected units and instead gets them to read longer sentences as coherent structures. Being Economical with the Truth: What Really Happened at Lampsacus? At the same time the names confer legitimacy and respectability not only on Archias, but on the world of intelligent culture to which he belongs. Beyond this, the speech also offers readers a glimpse at the complicated procedures involved in spreading Roman citizenship throughout the Italian peninsula. There is an exordium ( 14a), then a narratio ( 4b7) outlining Archias career and the process by which he became a Roman citizen. 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. The Pro Archia, then, is an oration with a complex network of layered meaning with broad cultural implications both for Cicero's audience and for readers today. 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 continues ( 14): Sed pleni omnes sunt libri, plenae sapientium voces, plena exemplorum vetustas; quae iacerent in tenebris omnia, nisi litterarum lumen accederet. Some time later, Archias accompanied M. Lucullus on a visit to Sicily, and on their return journey Lucullus arranged for him to be granted honorary citizenship at Heraclea in Lucania. 5.2), has to contend. 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. The Twelve Tables allegedly were written by 10 commissioners (decemvirs) at the insistence of the plebeians, who felt their legal rights were hampered by the fact that court judgments were rendered according to unwritten custom preserved only within a small group of learned patricians. [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 . If Archias was Ciceros grammatikos, he would have taught him to recite Homer and other Greek poets, and the vocal training that this involved may genuinely have helped him on his way to becoming a great orator. The passage on literature in general ends with 17. In that speech Cicero is able to characterize the Greeks as clever talkers, certainly, but also deceitful, dishonest, fickle, and brazen, and motivated by a hatred of the Romans. 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. Stripped to its essentials, the argument runs as follows:If I have any talent, experience in speaking, or technical skill in oratory derived from training in the liberal arts, then Archias has a strong claim on it. 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? defense of Archias. There were examples of this in our fathers time, the younger Africanus, a godlike man, and C. Laelius and L. Furius, men of the greatest moderation and self-control, also the elder M. Cato, a most valiant man and the most learned of his day. While the speech itself is the legal defense of . The 6-foot-4, 251-pounder with a 79-inch wingspan and 4.63 speed had 3 1/2 sacks and nine tackles for loss last season with the Tigers. In Pro Archia, then, we are not spectators of one of the great oratorical clashes which signalled the imminent fall of the Republic; instead, the case is a more small-scale affair, involving a defendant who was, by himself of no political or social importance whatsoever. 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). 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. In 14 he introduces a new idea, that literature inspires men to perform acts of self-sacrifice for the state. 32), I hope that my departure from the practice and the conventions of the courts, and my digression upon the subject of my clients genius, and, in general terms, upon the art which he follows, has been welcomed by you in as generous a spirit as I am assured it has been welcomed by him who presides over this tribunal. OLD locus 17 and TLL VII, 1588, 38 ff. Students will miss a definition of dubitare plus infinitive as to hesitate (to do to have second thoughts (about doing X). Ciceros main point here is that Archias poem honours not just Lucullus but the Roman people as well: this is meant to show that Archias is useful to the Roman people, and so ought to be cherished by them. 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. 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. Cicero in fact knew well how to serve one side without offending the other: he had done it before in Pro Lege Manilia (66 bc), in which praise for Pompey is combined with a generous appreciation of Lucullus achievements. P. MacKendrick on the other hand, divides it into four parts, 1217a, 17b22, 237, and 2830.24 Without wishing to dispute either of these schemes, I prefer myself to divide the passage into just two basic parts. The arguments that follow continue the close connection of poetry with military affairs. Archias was acquitted, as he surely deserved to be: of Ciceros clients, Archias is one of those of whom we can say with most certainty that he was innocent of the crime with which he was charged.15 We hear of him again in 61, presumably still living in Rome, and contemplating writing a poem for the Metelli (Att. Abstract. Phil. A show of stylistic brilliance on Ciceros part will therefore reflect creditably on the man who taught him. Such language does not occur often in Ciceros speeches, at least after the earlier ones:27 as we have already observed, the style of this speech is pitched at a higher level than normal. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide, This PDF is available to Subscribers Only. Licinius Archias was born in Antioch around 120 BC and arrived in Rome in 102 BC. The argument itself is feeble (if rhetorically neat) and requires no further comment. 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. The text which Cicero later published as his Pro Archia attracts most scholarly attention for the so-called Encomium of Literature that Cicero delivers to convince the jury that Archias has contributed more than enough to the Republic to earn his citizenship. Several more arguments follow, but they are of little practical value since Cicero has already proved his case. 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. A number of epigrams in the Greek Anthology appear under the name of Archias. 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. 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 . D. 1.79).7 The other consul, Marius, though reputedly uninterested in Greek culture, approved of Archias poem on Marius own defeat of the Cimbri in 101 ( 19). In 2 Cicero decides to meet head-on the objection that Archias is not a rhetor: Ac ne quis a nobis hoc ita dici forte miretur, quod alia quaedam in hoc facultas sit ingeni neque haec dicendi ratio aut disciplina, ne nos quidem huic uni studio penitus umquam dediti fuimus. Life of Archias. 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. 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. After this he quickly moves on to less controversial territory. Quaeres a nobis, Grati, cur tanto opere hoc homine delectemur. The argument here runs as follows: (i) even if we are not interested in literature, we should admire those who have literary talent; we admired the talent of the actor Q. Roscius Gallus; (and equally we should admire that of Archias); (ii) we loved Roscius merely because of the movements of his body; we should therefore respond to the movements of (Archias) mind. 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. The two examples he mentions here are Alexander the Great and Pompey the Great ( 24); the comparison is highly complimentary to the latter. If they condemn Archias, then they will also be rejecting this flattering picture of themselves. 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. Without praise, he explains, men would have no incentive to perform great deeds (the point is repeated from 23). In a possible reminiscence of this passage, Sallust tells us that Q. Fabius Maximus Verrucosus and the elder Scipio were said to have been spurred on to virtuous deeds by contemplating the masks of their ancestors (Jug. Inst. Persuasion of a different kind occurs in the next section ( 6): Erat temporibus illis iucundus Q. Metello illi Numidico et eius Pio filio, audiebatur a M. Aemilio, vivebat cum Q. Catulo et patre et filio, a L. Crasso colebatur, Lucullos vero et Drusum et Octavios et Catonem et totam Hortensiorum domum devinctam consuetudine cum teneret, adficiebatur summo honore , Back in those days Archias was regarded with affection by the famous Q. Metellus Numidicus and his son Pius; his recitations were attended by M. Aemilius; he was constantly in the company of Q. Catulus and his son; his friendship was cultivated by L. Crassus; and as for the Luculli, Drusus, the Octavii, Cato, and the entire family of the Hortensii, he was on the closest terms with all of them and was treated by them with the greatest respect . 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. The narratio concludes with the vital facts relating to Archias acquisition of the citizenship. Archias career is recounted up as far as his arrival in Rome in 102; Cicero impressively manages to connect him with both the consuls of that year, Marius and Catulus. 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. Sat. In Pro Archia, then, it is partly in order to minimize the political element that Cicero places so much emphasis on literary questions. For a short speech defending a man of relatively little importance on a charge of no great gravity, the reader of Ciceros Pro Archia is well-served with a broad range of Latin texts, English translations, and commentaries approaching the speech from a variety of angles (literary, historical, legal, and philological). 37.6). Macrob. I am grateful to Professor A. J. Woodman for drawing my attention to the Sallust passage. Callim. Cicero now moves on to the confirmatio, which, because of the simplicity of the case, is almost as brief as the narratio. But the poem on Ciceros consulship seems never to have been written, a strange omission on Archias part, since he had a clear duty to provide it. 3. Cicero is not, however, attempting to predate Archias acquisition of the citizenship: he is simply encouraging the jury to think of Archias in terms appropriate to a Roman citizen. He starts with two chiastic structures identifying his witnesses, Lucius Lucullus and the embassy, and then ridicules the prosecution with a tricolon crescendo. 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. After a brief hit at philosophers for their hypocrisy in writing their names on the books they have written, we are back with Roman generals once again: D. Junius Brutus Callaicus inscribed his monuments with poems by Accius, and M. Fulvius Nobilior dedicated his spoils of war to the Muses ( 26b27). (2010) Language and Artistry in Ciceros , Panoussi, V. (2009) Roman Cultural Identity in Ciceros, This page was last edited on 23 December 2022, at 13:40. Expand or collapse the "in this article" section, Expand or collapse the "related articles" section, Expand or collapse the "forthcoming articles" section, Art and Archaeology, Research Resources for Classical, Bilingualism and Multilingualism in the Roman World, Bronze Age Aegean, Death and Burial in the. 1.16.15), and will obviously have stopped short of Pompeys appointment. In 65 BC, the Roman Senate passed the Lex Papia de Peregrinis, which challenged false claims of citizenship and expelled foreigners from Rome. If he can somehow imply that Archias trains advocates, then that will give a much more favourable impression than saying that he merely provides instruction in Greek poetry. 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. This paper examines Cicero's Pro Archia Poeta Oratio and the author's implicit and explicit views on how Roman cultural identity is constructed. Then these people seek out a foreigner even now after his death because he was a poet: Will we reject this man alive who is ours by both his will and laws when Archias has for so long applied all of his studies and genius entire towards honoring the glory in praise of the Roman people? First we have Alexander at Sigeum, desiderating a Homer who could write of his achievements. Treating the jury as intellectuals also serves to reduce the apparent cultural distance separating them and Archias: during the trial, Cicero, Archias, and the jury will all be literary men together. 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. 1.16.15). Just as in the exordium he makes clear that this was an unusual speech compared to the tradition of trials. As an honorary citizen of Heraclea, Archias satisfied condition (a), and as a long-standing resident of Rome he satisfied condition (b). Consequently this passage, though it might formally be termed digressio, is, like other digressions in Ciceros speeches, central to the case. 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. In this chapter I shall briefly review the historical circumstances of Archias trial, and then discuss the speech itself and some of the issues it raises, especially that of why the encomium of literature is included, and how it contributes to the defence. 31.7). He continued, however, to live in Rome. The 2023 NFL Draft is officially in the books. There are two pieces of misrepresentation in this sentence. 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). Among the numerous classical influences in the works of W. E. B. But more fundamentally, Ciceros words convey the impression that Archias was already a Roman citizen. 115; Tusc. 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. The work celebrates the merits of literature and art, which offers a powerful description of what makes an individual Roman. It is only in Pro Archia, however, that the style is made to play an active part in the process ( 3): quaeso a vobis ut in hac causa mihi detis hanc veniam accommodatam huic reo, vobis, quem ad modum spero, non molestam, ut me pro summo poeta atque eruditissimo homine dicentem hoc concursu hominum litteratissimorum, hac vestra humanitate, hoc denique praetore exercente iudicium, patiamini de studiis humanitatis ac litterarum paulo loqui liberius, et in eius modi persona quae propter otium ac studium minime in iudiciis periculisque tractata est uti prope novo quodam et inusitato genere dicendi. But all books, all the words of the wise and all history are full of examples which teach this lessonexamples which would all be lying in obscurity, had not the light of the written word been brought to them. The conclusio ( 312) recapitulates the main points of the case, and contains no emotional appeal. But in case anyone is surprised to hear me say this, given that my clients talents lie not in the theory and practice of oratory but in another direction, I should point out that I have never devoted myself exclusively to this one art. Abstract. 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. Clark, Albert Curtis: in Oxford Classical Texts, Dugan, J. Cicero's defense of Archias follows a two-pronged argument. First of all at Antioch, (for he was born there, and was of high rank there,) formerly an illustrious and wealthy city, and the seat of learned men and of . Instead of a conclusio, however, we now have a digressio which accounts for significantly more than half the speech ( 1230). Anth. You could not be signed in, please check and try again. Bryn Mawr PA 19010. At its most basic, the speech itself constitutes the Archias does not appear on the Roman census rolls taken during the period in which he claimed to have lived there. But while the Roman people are honoured, Lucullus too is given a full share of the glory ( 21): Nostra semper feretur et praedicabitur L. Lucullo dimicante, cum interfectis ducibus depressa hostium classis est, incredibilis apud Tenedum pugna illa navalis, nostra sunt tropaea, nostra monumenta, nostri triumphi. Poetry, Latin: From the Beginnings through the End of the Roman Italy, 4th Century bce to 3rd Century ce, Theoderic the Great and Ostrogothic Italy, Transmission of Greek and Latin Literature. There could therefore be as many as six Archiases, and we have no way of knowing for certain which of the epigrams in the Greek Anthology are the work of our poet.5 Cicero tells us that Archias travelled to southern Italy (he was probably doing a round of festivals),6 and was granted honorary citizenship by some of the cities he visited. 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. 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. Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. 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. He does, it is true, make an exception for the Greeks of Achaea, who could point to a more distinguished, if remote, past, and lived closer to Rome. 12.73); Cic. The oration was rediscovered in Lige by Petrarch in 1333.[2]. 1. When Cicero states Primum Antiochaenam ibi natus est loco nobilicelebri quondam urbe (section 4), he slips in the detail loco nobili not in praise of Antioch, but rather in order to designate Archias social standing: he was born there into a good/noble family (cf. In Pro Murena and Pro Caelio, for example, this is done with humour. 41.3, 42.4), and in politics they shared the same conservative outlook. 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. 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. Again, in outlining the content of Platos Phaedo in Pro Scauro, he implies that he has not read the work, and adds, for the jurys benefit, that Plato was a great philosopher (Scaur.

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