The accusation is believed to have been a political move against Lucullus through Archias. In this regard C.s correct but unconnected observation on Ciceros avoidance of strict parallelism at the end of section 27 (sentence 2 on the note to togati iudices) strikes me as awkwardly formalistic (one wonders if Gotoffs analysis lurks in the background).3 Yet the immediately preceding comment (sentence 1) on Ciceros attempt to insert Archias into an esteemed line of Roman exempla both hits the mark and gives students food for thought. Thus he became a Roman citizen, calling himself in the Roman fashion, A. Licinius Archias, the nomen Licinius being adopted out of respect for his patrons the Luculli. 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. 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 assumed the names of Aulus and Licinius, the last out of compliment to the Luculli, and Cicero had been for some time a pupil of his, and had retained a great regard for him. 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. There is also a further consideration. First some nuts and bolts. In one sentence Cicero mentions ten consuls, the entire political establishment of the previous generation: this is name-dropping on the grandest scale imaginable. The prosecution laid out four accusations in its case against Archias: Because of Archias' close association with Lucullus, the case was probably a political attack directed at the politician by one of his many enemies. After this he quickly moves on to less controversial territory. 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.). 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 his account of Archias' life and travels through Asia and Greece during the poet's early career before his first arrival in Rome. Clearly Cicero would not have jeopardized his relationship with such a family by refusing to defend their poet. 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. Clark, Albert Curtis: in Oxford Classical Texts, Dugan, J. 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. 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). At Rome, Archias was accepted into the household of the Luculli. 2.26; Val. This paper examines Cicero's Pro Archia Poeta Oratio and the author's implicit and explicit views on how Roman cultural identity is constructed. In some cases, however, the ascriptions read not justArchias butArchias the grammatikos,Archias of Macedon,Archias of Byzantium,Archias of Mytilene, and Archias the younger. The digressio, then, is not simply an instrument of persuasion, it is also an elegant essay that would have been as appealing to its original audience as it has been to readers down the ages. 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 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. Expressions of thanks or praise should be sent directly to the reviewer, using the email address in the review. 5.113), and it was partly for Phaedrus sake that he intervened with C. Memmius to prevent him from demolishing Epicurus house in Athens (Fam. 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? After the rebuttal Cicero presents his case for Archias citizenship. C. also promotes invaluable reading strategies along the way. 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. There are two pieces of misrepresentation in this sentence. Cicero and his Italian Clients in the Forensic Speeches, The Rhetoric of Character in the Roman Courts, Audience Expectations, Invective, and Proof. The Biden . 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. 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. The fact that the encomium of literature is flagged in the exordium in this way helps to bind it more tightly into the overall structure of the speech. Callim. PDF Pro Archia Poeta - UGA ), and Cicero had set aside time during it to defend a relation of Lucullus (Att. Manil. He thereby helps us to read and to teach it in light of Ciceros careful staging of his public face(s) and against the background of the Late Republics whirlwind years. 1.16.15), and will obviously have stopped short of Pompeys appointment. Cicero. Pro Archia Poeta Oratio. Introduction, Text, Vocabulary, and H. C. Gotoff asserts that the reference iseither jocular or tasteless, and adds:Perhaps the best way to understand the reference to his brother is to take it together with Ciceros decision to speak in a style more epideictic than usually deemed effective in the law courts, and to assume that the orator had reason to be confident from the start in the outcome of the trial.32 This suggestion cannot be accepted, because a praetor in charge of a court had no means of determining or influencing a jurys verdict; this is why in his speeches Cicero addresses himself to the jury, and generally ignores the praetor. The poet was originally Greek but had been living in Rome for an extended period of time. 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. Abstract. Secondly, the digressio is an enjoyable diversion for the jurors (and also an intellectually undemanding one, despite Ciceros flattery). (Watts translation[4]). 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 . A typical jurorone of a panel of seventy-five20would have taken an entirely different view. This, then, is the attitude with which Cicero, himself derided as awee Greek (Graeculus) by his detractors (Dio 46.18.1; cf. In 1, Cicero claims that he owes his skill in speaking to Archias. A show of stylistic brilliance on Ciceros part will therefore reflect creditably on the man who taught him. In both speeches Cicero encourages the jury to feel that they possess the cultural knowledge which will entitle them to pronounce on intellectual questions (and in both speeches he is extremely careful to place only minimal demands on that supposed cultural knowledge). Cat. 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. But there are other reasons too which should be mentioned. [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 . 31.7). In 14 he introduces a new idea, that literature inspires men to perform acts of self-sacrifice for the state. Macrob. 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. 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. Cicero now moves on to the confirmatio, which, because of the simplicity of the case, is almost as brief as the narratio. Cicero's oration Pro Archia Poeta ("On Behalf of Archias the Poet") is the published literary form of his defense of Aulus Licinius Archias, a poet accused of not being a Roman citizen. Cicero und das rmische Brgerrecht: die Verteidigung des Dichters Gotoff (cited n. 1) 211, 21213 (cf. Cicero's Pro Archia - Classics - Oxford Bibliographies - obo Without praise, he explains, men would have no incentive to perform great deeds (the point is repeated from 23). The Lex Iulia granted Roman citizenship to all citizens of municipia on the Italic peninsula, provided they had not fought against Rome in the Social War. 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. Gotoff, H. C. Ciceros Elegant Style: An Analysis of the Pro Archia, Urbana, Illinois (1979). This is understandable in view of the higher social status of the Metelli. 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). The style marks the speech as being a self-consciously literary product, and thus cleverly reinforces Ciceros contention that literature can be directed towards useful, practical ends, and is therefore something of value to society. This is a convenient idea for Cicero because it will allow him, later in the speech, to widen his discussion to include other disciplines of more obvious practicality or value. 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. It was Metellus Pius who had enrolled him as a citizen and whose careful records provided the documentary evidence that he needed to establish his claim to citizenship. Quas ego mihi semper in administranda re publica proponens animum et mentem meam ipsa cogitatione hominum excellentium conformabam. 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. 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? For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here. Now that I have become a famous advocate, I feel that I have a duty to defend him. But this would of course be much less neat rhetorically, and would also make Ciceros obligation appear much less pressing.