Cicero makes a final emotional appeal to the jury. That generation will be fortunate to begin reading the Pro Archia with this edition. We ask that comments be substantive in content and civil in tone and those that do not adhere to these guidelines will not be published. This is a fair parallel, since Homer and Archias were both Greek poets who produced poems narrating the exploits of military leaders. Your email address will not be published. At its most basic, the speech itself constitutes the However, it also provides an invaluable insight into the early stages of Ciceros senior statesman persona. Cicero's client is not, as so often, a prominent Roman aristocrat accused of violence, bribery, or extortion, but a Syrian poet whose claim to Roman citizenship was disputed. Aulus Licinius Archias - Wikipedia 13.1.4).13 Secondly, Cicero had high hopes that Archias would immortalize his suppression of the Catilinarian conspiracy in Greek verse ( 28, 31), just as he had immortalized the achievements of Lucullus. Consequently this passage, though it might formally be termed digressio, is, like other digressions in Ciceros speeches, central to the case. 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. Aulus Licinius Archias | Greek poet | Britannica Lucullus command proved to be highly successful in the early stages of the war, but after pursuing Mithridates into Armenia in 69 he began to lose the support of his troops; when his subordinate C. Valerius Triarius was heavily defeated in 67, he was relieved of his command, and Pompey was appointed the following year to bring the war to a successful conclusion. 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. 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. Bryn Mawr PA 19010. The Speech for Aulus Licinius Archias, the Poet - Forum Romanum 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. 5.7 (April 62 bc) shows him seeking to form closer ties with Pompey. 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. Readability remains the aim of the text offered to the student. 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. For all branches of culture are linked by a sort of common bond and have a certain kinship with one another. I am grateful to Professor A. J. Woodman for drawing my attention to the Sallust passage. The 2023 NFL Draft is officially in the books. The Luculli straight away received Archias into their house, although even at this time he was still of the age when the toga of boyhood is worn. In one sentence Cicero mentions ten consuls, the entire political establishment of the previous generation: this is name-dropping on the grandest scale imaginable. Although technically delivered in a court of law, the speech possesses the unique characteristics of a more ornamental realm of oratory, epideictic, which includes speeches such as funeral orations, or laudatio funebris. Porter (cited n. 14) 140 f.; MacKendrick (cited n. 16) 110 f. Cf. The argument reaches a climax at the beginning of 19: Sit igitur, iudices, sanctum apud vos, humanissimos homines, hoc poetae nomen quod nulla umquam barbaria violavit. His aim is to draw attention to Archias' profession and appeal to his value in Roman culture. But the study of literature sharpens youth and delights old age; it enhances prosperity and provides a refuge and comfort in adversity; it gives enjoyment at home without being a hindrance in the wider world; at night, and when travelling, and on country visits, it is an unfailing companion. 1.25; Quint. Catulus was an enthusiast for Greek culture, and admitted Archias to his circle. And Purpose Of The Law - JSTOR Quam multas nobis imagines non solum ad intuendum verum etiam ad imitandum fortissimorum virorum expressas scriptores et Graeci et Latini reliquerunt! I therefore have a duty to save him ( 1). Cat. 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. 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. 1.79). Finally, the digressio performs an important function in diverting attention from the political aspect of the trial. 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. Cic. After the Social War, citizenship was granted to the allies by the lex Iulia in 90, and this was followed in 89 by a further measure, the lex Plautia Papiria, which among other provisions extended the citizenship to honorary citizens of federate states not resident in those states but nevertheless resident in Italy, provided that they reported to one of the praetors at Rome within sixty days.10 As an honorary citizen of Heraclea, which had been allied to Rome since 278, and being long resident in Rome, Archias duly reported to the praetor Metellus Pius within the specified period. There are two pieces of misrepresentation in this sentence. 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. The link was not copied. The notes are clear throughout and fruitfully employ the glossary explanations of key rhetorical features, such as chiasmus, hyperbaton, and hendiadys. 9.2.612). It was no doubt publicly performed at Lucullus triumph in 63.11. Si quid est in me ingeni, iudices, quod sentio quam sit exiguum, aut si qua exercitatio dicendi, in qua me non infitior mediocriter esse versatum, aut si huiusce rei ratio aliqua ab optimarum artium studiis ac disciplina profecta, a qua ego nullum confiteor aetatis meae tempus abhoruisse, earum rerum omnium vel in primis hic A. Licinius fructum a me repetere prope suo iure debet. II 4.5; cf. The Biden . It is one of the best. How many finely executed portraits of the most valiant men have the Greek and Latin writers left us, and not only for our contemplation but for our emulation! He reinforces that proposition through the alliteration of Mars, manubiae, and the Muses: the language demonstrates the idea. D. 1.79), wrote a poem on Roscius (Div. Thereafter, Archias was set up with a permanent residence in Rome in preparation for achieving full Roman citizenship. Literature tells and celebrates achievements. Cicero. Pro Archia Poeta Oratio. Introduction, Text, Vocabulary, and He uses dramatic rhetoric to discredit the case of his opponent, Grattius,[3] whom he here names. This was a suitable house for a member of the nobility, as Cicero now was, and it would, incidentally, have been one of the ones frequented by Archias in the 90s, having been the residence then of M. Drusus (Vell. A brief discussion of content would also be useful at this crucial moment in the speech. The poet was originally Greek but had been living in Rome for an extended period of time. Macrob. The next paragraph takes us from the war against the Cimbri to the Third Mithridatic War, about which Archias had also written (and at much greater length). Archias's defense was undertaken by a former pupil of his, the previous year's Consul, Marcus Tullius Cicero. Were it not for his study of literature, he says, he would never have stood up to Catiline. He starts with two chiastic structures identifying his witnesses, Lucius Lucullus and the embassy, and then ridicules the prosecution with a tricolon crescendo.