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MDS1TRW the Roman World: Myth and Empire

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MDS1TRW the Roman World: Myth and Empire MDS1TRW The Roman World: Myth and Empire Lecture 7 The Republic: Poli>cs as War Why is Cicero so important? • The bulk of textual evidence for the late republic, which is s>ll extant, comes from Cicero • So much so that you might see the late republic being referred to by some scholars as the Ciceronian period hIp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/ thumb/4/4e/Marcus_Tullius_Cicero- Vacan_Museums.jpg/450px-Marcus_Tullius_Cicero- Vacan_Museums.jpg Who was Cicero? • Marcus Tullius Cicero • 3 January 106 BCE – 7 December 53 BCE • Born in Arpinum hIp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cicero_-_Musei_Capitolini.JPG Arpinum, Italty hIp://www.skidmore.edu/classics/caesarandcicero.html Who was Cicero? • Marcus Tullius Cicero – Usually just referred to by his cognomen Cicero – Tullius is his nomen, or family name – Marcus is his praenomen, similar to a given name today • 3 January 106 BCE – 7 December 53 BCE hIp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cicero_-_Musei_Capitolini.JPG • Born in Arpinum Roman naming prac>ces • Praenomen: equivalent to a given name today • Nomen: the gens (family or clan name) • Cognomen: this began as a nickname but by the late republic were passed from father to son • Agnomen: aer the cognomen was passed from father to son, agnomina were some>mes associated with people Gaius Julius Caesar – Publius Cornelius Scipio hIp://www.denomine.com/category/historical/ Africanus Who was Cicero? • Marcus Tullius Cicero – Usually just referred to by his cognomen Cicero – Tullius is his nomen, or family name – Marcus is his praenomen, similar to a given name today • 3 January 106 BCE – 7 December 53 BCE • Born in Arpinum • Roman philosopher, poli>cian, lawyer, orator and consul hIp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cicero_-_Musei_Capitolini.JPG • From a wealthy equestrian family The Roman Equestrian Order • The lower of two aristocrac classes of ancient Rome • The equites (equestrians) were outranked by patricii (patricians) A c. 2nd-century Roman coin • Equestrians could own depic>ng Mars on side and an equestrian on the other land and were just as hIp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sg0542.jpg wealthy as patricians, but had less poli>cal power Who was Cicero? • Marcus Tullius Cicero – Usually just referred to by his cognomen Cicero – Tullius is his nomen, or family name – Marcus is his praenomen, similar to a given name today • 3 January 106 BCE – 7 December 53 BCE • Born in Arpinum • From a wealthy equestrian family • Roman philosopher, poli>cian, lawyer, orator and consul hIp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cicero_-_Musei_Capitolini.JPG • He was a novus homo What is meant by the term novus homo? • Novus homo = a new man – The opposite of a nobilis or a ‘known man’ who had a network of family and client relaonships which had been built up over generaons • They were the children of senators • A novus homo was first person in their family to be in the senate or to be elected consul – In some rare cases (M. Porcius Cato, C. Marius and Cicero) they Marcus Porcius Cato were not only the first person in hIp://kvanasscheasia.blogspot.com.au/2010/08/persistence.html their family to be both a senator and a consul • In the republic, novi homines were usually of equestrian rank – Used oratorical and military skill to reach the senate as well as good Gaius Marius connecons hIp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Marius_Glyptothek_Munich_319.jpg Novus homo, nobiles, patricii and plebeii • Novi homines: new men • Nobiles: a group of wealthy plebeians, who had become an oligarchy in the 3rd century BCE – Nobilitas: by Cicero’s life >me, the term was used to refer to a descendent of a consul or equivalent magistrate • Patricii (‘patricians’): Rome’s privileged class; status gained through birth • Plebeii (‘plebians’): the mass of Roman ci>zens Why it maers that Cicero was a new man • Personal merit and not ancestry should be the criterion of a person’s success • Being a novus homo doesn’t mean that Cicero was socially progressive – he advocated a return to the mos maiorum (‘ways of our ancestors’) • Many of Cicero’s poli>cal decisions reflect his uncertain social status hIp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:M-T-Cicero.jpg The cursus honorum: The Roman career path • Cursus honorum = course of honours • Successful elecon depended on skills and connecons • Success was achieved in holding magistracies, military command or civil and military posi>ons in Rome, Italy or the provinces hIp://www.mmdtkw.org/AU0301CursusHonorum.jpg Geng started in a poli>cal career • Prosecu>ons – Slightly risky because you could gain a reputaon for cruelty and, if you lost, could cause residual hos>lity between you and the accused • Prosecu>ons led to requests to defend, which was a much more effec>ve way to gain poli>cal support • Through a reputaon as a good orator, you could garner connec>ons that would help shore up votes in elecons • Gaining poli>cal offices led to more opportuni>es to speak and thus more opportuni>es for power and higher office • Oratory, alongside a military career, was THE way to climb the cursus st honorum 1 -century-BCE statue of a Roman orator hIp://www.the-romans.co.uk/educaon.htm#Oratory Cicero’s career • Received an educaon in philosophy and rhetoric in both Rome and later Greece • 90/89: Military service under Gn. Pompeius Strabo (Pompey’s father) • 75: Quaestor in Sicily • 66: Praetor • 63: Consul (Caline Conspiracy) • 58: Exiled • 57: Returns from exile • 43: Civil Wars break out again. Cicero’s delivers Philippics against Antony. Cicero proscribed and killed (December 7, 43) hIp://8170.pbworks.com/w/page/52174811/Decorum The Caline Conspiracy • A supposed aempt by Lucius Sergius Calina to overthrow the republic and in par>cular the power of the senate • Cicero discovers the plot and argues in the senate that Caline must leave Rome • Caline leaves Rome, but con>nues to plot while away • 5 other conspirators remain in Rome but are found out • Cicero presents the evidence Cicero Denounces Caline of their conspiracy to the Cesare Maccari, 1889 hIp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maccari-Cicero.jpg senate, and they are condemned to death without a trial – because of Cicero’s role in this he is exiled in 58 Cicero and other key republican figures • Caesar – Cicero was oaen in awe of Caesar but also distrusted him • Mark Antony – Cicero wanted the Senate to declare Antony an enemy of the state, because of this Cicero was eventually proscribed (i.e. condemned to death) by the Second Triumvirate (Mark Antony, Lepidus and Octavian) • Pompey – Cicero was at core a supporter of Pompey and during the Civil War he overtly supported him • Octavian – Cicero made sure that the terms of Caesar’s will, which declared Octavian his adopted son, were carried out Cicero: op;mates and populares • Cicero was mainly aligned with Pompey (as opposed to Caesar) • Op;mates: wished to limit the power of the popular assembly and the tribune and were against land reforms that would give the plebs beIer poli>cal representaon • Populares: members of the elite who relied on the support of the people, the popular assembly and the tribunate to acquire poli>cal power – The Gracchi – Marius – Caesar – Clodius – Caline • The terms don’t refer to co-ordinated par>es as much as two different means for achieving poli>cal aims Cicero’s works Poems hIp://www.bloomsbury.com/(X(1)S(afgec5yjppnvoa55ayuu2m45))/us/the-poems-of-cicero-9781853995293/ Speeches hIp://careers.theguardian.com/university-clearing-2012-perspec>ve Rhetorical Theory hIp://openlibrary.org/works/OL15733516W/De_oratore Philosophy hIp://www.library.usyd.edu.au/libraries/rare/philosophy/cicero.html Literature and Poli>cs: Cicero’s speeches • 48 speeches survive either in full or par>ally • Speeches either in support of or against fellow poli>cians • Person’s ability as an orator >ed to character: a bonus vir (a good man) was thus bound to be a good speaker Cicero’s choice of who to • In Verrem (70 BCE) defend and who to – Prosecuted Verres who was prosecute is a catalogue of defended by Q. Hortensius his polical alliances/ Hortalus enemies – The prosecuon of Verres enabled Cicero to defeat Hortalus, whom he replaced as a leading figure at the bar • Pro Caelio (56 BCE) – Although it is defence speech of Marcus Caelius Rufus, Cicero uses the case to get back at Publius Clodius Pulcher who had been instrumental in his exile • In Pisonem (55 BCE) – Consul at the >me of Cicero’s exile – Cicero felt that Piso hadn’t done Lucius Calpurnius Piso enough to stop his exile hIp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ File:L_Calpurnius_Piso_Pon>fex_MAN_Napoli_Inv5601.jpg Literature and Poli>cs: Cicero’s Leers • Collecons – Ad familiares – Ad Acum – Ad Quintum fratrem – Ad Brutum • Content – Some include official dispatches and are semi-public outlining maers of poli>cal importance – Others are more personal, such as those in which he talks about the grief he feels at the death of his daughter Major philosophical schools in the 1st century BCE • Academic Skepcism – An ancient variant of Platonism that claimed knowledge of truth was impossible • Stoics – They thought that a happy life would come by being virtuous – They renounced all passions and aimed for a state of apathy • Epicureans – They argued that ataraxia could be achieved by following 4 basic precepts • Don’t fear the gods • Don’t fear death • What is good is easy to obtain • What is painful is easy to endure • Peripate>cism – Followers of Aristotle • Neopythagoreanism – The concept of the soul and communion central to this school of philosophy – Derived from the doctrines of Pythagoras • Cynics – They regarded poverty
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