The Philippics

Home , Brutus (Cicero), Philippic, Philippicae

CHAPTER NINE

Jon Hall

Composed between September 44 and April 43, the fourteen Philippics are the last of Cicero's extant orations. Although they address a vari• ety of political situations, they are unified by a central theme: oppo• sition to Mark Antony's attempts to seize control of the Republic following the assassination of Julius Caesar. The speeches are thus closely tied to the complex political events of the period, and a knowledge of this historical background is essential to an apprecia• tion of Cicero's rhetorical aims. The study by Frisch provides excel• lent guidance in this regard, 1 and textual matters are also well served, with a number of useful editions and linguistic commentaries on the various speeches.2 Less work, however, has been done on their rhetor• ical features. Only Wooten attempts an oratorical analysis of the col• lection as a whole, and studies of individual literary aspects are relatively few in number. 3 The following discussion presents a brief summary of the background and content of each speech, and then examines four of their most important rhetorical features: (1) Cicero's use of the 'rhetoric of crisis'; (2) his use of wit and ridicule, espe• cially in Philippics 2 and 13; (3) the rhetorical purpose of praise and honorific decrees; (4) the style of the speeches.

1 H. Frisch, Cicero's Fight far the Republic: The Historical Background ef Cicero's Philippics (Copenhagen: Glyndendal 1946). 2 See especially D. R. Shackleton Bailey, Cicero: Philippics (Chapel Hill and London 1986), whose text and translation (with some minor alterations) are followed in this discussion; and P. Fedeli, In M. Antonium Orationes Philippicae XIV (Leipzig: Teubner 1982), who provides (xix-xxvi) a survey of editions and commentaries of the vari• ous speeches up to 1982. To this list now add W. K. Lacey, Cicero: Second Philippic (Warminster: Aris & Phillips 1986). 3 C. W. Wooten, Cicero's Philippics and Their Demosthenic Model (Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press 1983). Lacey (1986) offers throughout good comments on Cicero's style. For other individual studies, see the bibliography below. 274 JON HALL

Introductory summary

Table 1 below gives the date of each speech and its audience.4

Table I

Speech Date Audience Speech Date Audience

I 2 Sept. 44 Senate 8 4 Feb. 43 Senate 2 19 Sept. 44 Senate 9 Early Feb. 43 Senate (dramatic date) End Nov. 44 Antorry departs 10 Soon after Senate far Cisalpine 4 Feb. 43 Gaul 3 20 Dec. 44 Senate 11 End Feb. 43 Senate 4 20 Dec. 44 People 12 Beg. March 43 Senate 5 1 Jan. 43 Senate 13 20 March 43 Senate 6 1 Jan. 43 People 15 April 43 Battle ef Mutina 7 Mid-:Jan. 43 Senate 14 21 April 43 Senate

The speeches divide conveniently into five groups. 5

( 1) Philippics 1 and 2 By August 44 Mark Antony had succeeded in maneuvering himself into a position of political supremacy at Rome. He had at his dis• posal an intimidating force of Caesar's veterans, while Brutus and Cassius, the leaders of the assassins, had withdrawn from the city and were soon to leave the country. Cicero too had up to this point been inclined to avoid confrontation, even going so far as to make arrangements to sail overseas (Att. 15.25; 16.6.1-2; 16. 7; cf. Phil. 1.1- 6). Philippic l, however, marks a decisive and fateful change in his approach to the political situation. Inspired in part by the lone opposition to Antony of Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus (Phil. 1.14) , and in part by a sense of duty to Brutus (Att. 16. 7), Cicero finally committed himself to taking a stand against

4 The dates are those given by Shackleton Bailey (1986). See Frisch (1946) for detailed discussion of disputed dates. 5 The following summary is based primarily on Frisch (1946) who should be con• sulted for detailed discussion of individual points.