A History of Roman Literature

riods of his literary activity-His works-The or

ro. The cooler and more critical judgment of our northern natures and later age may find his eloquence too exuberant, and our scholars, trained in the study of the Greek philosophers, may deny him the title of an original thinker, but no one can fail to

the aged M. Accius and the Greek poet Archias. Since legal knowledge was a necessary part of an orator's education, he studied with the jurist Q. Sc?vola (p. 44), and the Augur of the same name. He also paid attention to philosophy, studying with the Epicurean Ph?drus, the Academic philosopher Philo, who was a pupil of Clitomachus, and the Stoic Diodotus. His teacher of rhetoric was Molo, of Rhodes, and he also received instruction from the rhetorician M. Antonius Gnipho and the actors Roscius and ?sopus. He acquired a great reputation as an advocate by several speeches, especially by his defense of Quinctius (81 B. C.) and Ro

63 B. C. he was chosen consul, with Antonius as his colleague, and truthfully claimed that, although he was a novus homo, a man who had no family influence or prestige to aid him, he had obtained each of the important offices of the state at the earliest legally admissible age. The conspiracy of Catiline. In his consulship the conspiracy of Catiline occurred, which Cicero suppressed

ed into a plebeian family and been elected tribune of the people, to propose a bill that any one who had put a Roman citizen to death without due process of law be banished. Cicero, finding that he could

ey to Epirus, but was not present at the battle of Pharsalus. After Pompey's defeat he waited at Brundusium until C?sar allowed him to return to Rome in 47 B. C. Here he lived in retirement, devoting himself to literary pursuits. In 46 B. C. he divorced his wife, Terentia, and married his young ward, Publilia, from whom he parted the following year. The year 45 B. C. was saddened by the death of his only daughter, Tullia. The death of C?sar, in 44 B. C., recalled Cicero for a short time to public life, but he seems to have left the city in April and to have spent some months at his various villas. In July he decided to visit Athens, where his son was studying, but after he had reached Sicily he

to the beginning of his career as a political orator (81-66 B. C.); the period of his greatest power, lasting until just before his banishment (66-59

ase. Cicero had prepared all the evidence and summoned the witnesses, and instead of giving the defence an opportunity for delay, brought forward his overwhelming evidence at the beginning, after a mere introduction. Hortensius, Verres' advocate, gave up the defence after hearing the evidence, and Verres was banished. The five remaining orations, called the Actio Secunda in Verrem, were published by Cicero in order that the facts might be universally known, but were never delivered in court. They show not only that Cicero was at this time a consumm

year belongs the witty and able speech For Mur?na, in which Cicero defends Mur?na against a charge of bribery. The delightful speech For the Poet Archias was delivered in 62 B. C. in support of the poet's claim to the Roman citizenship. Throughout this period Cicero's time and energy were so fully occupied with affairs of state and with the suits in which he was en

Marcus Antonius, discuss the proper qualities of an orator. The dialogue is supposed to have taken place shortly before the death of Crassus (91 B. C.). The lesser parts are taken by some of the younger statesmen of the day, and in the beginning Cicero's teacher, the augur Sc?vola, appears. This is one of the most attractive of Cicero's works. The technical discussions are enlivened by anecdotes and conversation, and the whole dialogue has a grace and sprightliness not often found in Latin prose. The dialogue On

he second of September, 44 B. C., and the twenty-second of April, 43 B. C. In these Cicero shows his old energy and fire, but not quite his earlier power. The name Philippics was given to these speeches almost from the very first, and was in fact authorized by Cicero himself, who welcomed the parallel between himself, arousing and encouraging the Romans against Antony, and Demosthenes urging the Athenians to oppose Philip. But these orations were the work of a few months; by far the greater part of the years after 50 B. C. was occupied with other things. Rhetorical and philosophical works. In the three years 46-44 B. C. appeared the rhetorical writings Brutus

hical treatises, including those On the State and On Laws, and about eight hundred and sixty letters, among which are ninety ad

ltivation. Cicero as an orator. He studied the orators of earlier times, especially the great masters of Greek eloquence, made many translations from the Greek for the sake of perfect

in my opinion, an orator worthy of this great name, who can speak wisely, in an orderly and polished manner, from

ag

orator not only his own dignity, but the welfare of very m

ng, and at the same time a man of the highest character. This was the ideal he set before himself and strove throughout

, incisive, and full of force; in his appeals to the feelings of his hearers he is vivid, quick and powerful, sometimes, according to the demands of the occasion, violent or pathetic. Irony. The elaborate periodic structure of his sentences is varied by many short questions or exclamations, and the habitual digni

, a man of excellent character, trusting, perhaps, in his friendship with you, has dared to confess that it is true. Therefore I know not where to turn. For I had come prep

his opponents seem ridiculous, Cicero appeals to C?sar'

eeling is evident in nearly all his orations. References to the Roman people, the majesty of the Roman people, the Roman empire, the dignity of the senate, the customs or institutions of the ancestors, are found on almost every page

t of all Greece, be blotted out; will you let that king go unpunished who has slain an ex-consul and envoy of the Roman people, after subjecting him to imprisonment, and scourging, and all kinds of torture? They did not endure it when the liberty of Roman citizens was curtailed; will you be negligent when their lives have been taken?

epublic, whose greatness is brought home to their minds by the references to the deeds of th

involving the life of the accused or Cicero's own character. Gentler and more graceful style. In speeches dealing with less urgent matters the tone is more gentle and the effect more graceful. Quotations from the poets are numerous, and the rhythmical structure of the sentences is more marked than in the stirring and exci

and solace in adversity, gladden us at home, are no hindrance abroad, spend the

by the career of the politician or the orator, and who, in spite of political successes and d

e. Direct address. In these passages, which vary in length from a brief exclamation to an elaborate invective, the stinging words shoot forth with quick and passionate directne

der the headsman's axe men who were said to be Roman citizens, who were known as such by many; you dared to take pirates to your house, and to bring the pirate captain to the court from your own dwelling; you, in that splendid province, in the sight of our most faithful allies, of most honorable Roman citizens, lay for days together on the shore at festive banquets at a time when the province was in fear and danger; during those days no one could find you at your house, no one could see you in the forum; you brought to those banquets the wives of allies and friends; among women of that sort you placed your youthful son, my grandson, that his father's life might offer him examples of wickedness at the age which is especially unsteady and lacking in fixed principles; you, the pr?tor, were seen in the province in a tunic and purple cloak; you, for the gratification of your passion and lust, took away the command of the ships from a

favored the Asian style, with its wealth of rhetorical adornment, while the younger men, the Atticists, as they called themselves, aimed at extreme simplicity, taking Lysias as their model. Cicero perceived that a middle course was best. His natural tendency was toward exuberance, but h

was to be useful to his fellow citizens by making them acquainted

le, that I might never cease to care for the welfare of the republic, nothing greater occurred

He lays no claim to great originality of thought, but only to independence of judgment. In general, he regards himself as a disciple of the Academic school, which did not claim to establish absolute truth, but to show what was most probable. He uses, however, the works of Stoic and even of Epicurean philosophers, whenever they express views in accordance with his own, as well as wh

their influence upon later ages was so great that no one who is interested in the progress of human thought can disregard them. St. Augustine, and many other writers of the early Christian Church, acknowledge their indebtedness to them; they are the foundation of the speculative thought of the middle ages; and it is in great measure due to their influence that the Latin language has remained, almost to our own day, th

the feelings of the man as he disclosed them to his intimate friends, they make us acquainted with the personal relations between the prominent Romans of the time, and shed many rays of light upon the dark pages of contemporary history. The first of the extant letters is dated in 68 B. C., the last July 28, 43 B. C. The collection was made by Cicero's friends, and edited probably by his fre

others on matters that pertain to the history of the world. Variety of contents. The style and language vary with the contents of the letters, but are in general less careful than in any of Cicero's other writings. The language is evidently that of common speech rather than of literary composition. In the letters written during his exile Cicero betrays unmanly discouragement, and breaks out into pitiful lamentation, just as in many of his orations he betrays great vanity, and extols overmuch his own courage and pa

you. For if you are at Rome, it is now too late for me to reach you; but if you are on the road, we shall discuss together all that needs to be discussed when you have overtaken me. All I ask you i

46 B. C., among the troubles of the civil war,

me to tell you that, since my arrival in the city, I have effected a reconciliation with my old friends-I mean my books; though the truth is that I had not abandoned their society because I had fallen out with them, but because I was half ashamed to look them in the face. For I thought, when I plunged into the maelstrom of civil strife, with allies whom I had the worst possible reason for trusting, that I had not shown proper respect for their precepts. They pardon me; they recall me to our old intim

a time when its usefulness had passed away. He could not sympathize thoroughly with Pompey and his party, still less with the revolutionary policy of C?sar. The result was indecision and apparent fickleness, but his indecision was not so much that of weakness as of the inability to choose between what he must have regarded as two evils. When he saw his duty clearly before him, as in the year of his consulship, he did not flinch, and again, wh

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