Introduction

Christoph Pieper and Bram vander Velden Introduction Caesar’sdeath: anew beginning of history? The Ides of March 44 bce marked adefinite break in Cicero’sperception of con- temporary history.After more thanfifteen years in which Caesar had considera- blydominatedRoman politics and five years after the outbreak of the Civil War had brought the Republicanconstitution to its near collapse,¹ the chance of a fresh start of Republican politics and of his owncareer seemed within his grasp. It was time to reconsider his public role and to enter the stageofpolitics again. At least,this is the story² he wanted to conveyinpublic alreadyinspring 44,when he was finalizing his De diuinatione. The prefaceofBook 2might be one of his first public utterances after Caesar’sdeath, if for amoment we disregard his lost amnesty speech, which he held on 17 March.³ Ciceroframes the preface as an end to his years of political inactivity,for which his frenzied philosophical output of the years 46–44 is defined as asubstitution.⁴ First,Cicerogives achro- nological and thematicoverviewofhis works so far,thus trying to canonize their reception as acoherent philosophical corpus (Diu.2.1– 4). In asecond step, he again defends his philosophical activities of the past and announces his return to active political life: Ac mihi quidem explicandae philosophiae causam attulit casus grauis ciuitatis,cum in armis ciuilibus nec tueri meo more rem publicam nec nihil agere poteram, nec quid potius, Cf. Cicero’sfirst published textafter the Civil War, the preface to his Brutus,esp. Brut. 4–6, where he famouslystagesakind of funeral oration for the lost Republican constitution by refer- ring to the mourningfor the state (lugere[…]rem publicam,4)and the forum which is deprived of its best public speakers, Hortensius and himself (forum populi Romani […]spoliatum atque orbatum,6). Cf. Dugan 2005,218–219and 234–237. Cf. Steel2005,140 about how Cicero wanted his Philippics to be seen: “It is temptingtosee these speechesasthe glorious culmination of Cicero’spublic career […]. This is an excellent story”.(emphasisours). On this speech in Cassius Dio’sversion, see La Bua in this volume and recentlyBurden- Strevens 2015,150 –156;onthe reception of the speech in earlymodern commentaries of the Philippics,see Pieper in this volume. Cf. Eph. Tull. s.v. De pace in senatu for further secondary literatureonthis speech. Butler 2002,110 –111 argues that Cicero might have worked on finalizing De diuinatione in the weeks immediatelyfollowingCaesar’sassassination. Cf. also the treatment of the prefaceby Baraz 2012,188–194,and Steel 2005,138: “it is possible that Cicero wanted to dramatise the breakingnews of Caesar’sdeath and his hopes that it would transform life at Rome”. OpenAccess. ©2020Christoph Pieper and Bram van der Velden, published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the Creative CommonsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License. https:// doi.org/10.1515/9783110716313-003 2 Christoph Pieper and Bramvan der Velden quod quidem me dignum esset,ageremreperiebam. Dabunt igitur mihi ueniam mei ciues, uel gratiam potius habebunt,quod, cum esset in unius potestate respublica,neque egome abdidi neque deserui neque adflixi neque ita gessi quasi homini auttemporibus iratus, neque porroita autadulatus autadmiratus fortunam sum alterius, ut me meae paeniteret. Id enim ipsum aPlatone philosophiaque didiceram, naturales esse quasdam conuersiones rerumpublicarum, ut eae tum aprincipibus tenerentur,tum apopulis,aliquando asingu- lis.Quod cum accidisset nostrae rei publicae, tum pristinis orbati muneribus haec studia renouare coepimus,utetanimus molestiis hac potissimum re leuaretur et prodessemus ciuibus nostris qua re cumque possemus.Inlibris enim sententiam dicebamus, contionabamur, philosophiam nobis prorei publicae procuratione substitutam putabamus. Nunc quoniam de re publica consuli coepti sumus, tribuenda est operarei publicae,uel omnis potius in ea cogitatio et cura ponenda; tantum huic studio relinquendum, quantum uacabit apublico officio et munere.⁵ The cause of my becominganexpounder of philosophysprang from the grave condition of the Stateduringthe period of the Civil War, when, beingunable to protect the Republic, as had been my custom,and findingitimpossible to remain inactive,Icould find nothingelse that Ipreferred to do that was worthyofme. Thereforemycountrymen will pardon me— rather they will thank me—because, when the Statewas in the power of one man, Irefused to hide myself, to quit my place, or to be cast down; Idid not bear myself likeone enraged at the man or at the times; and, further,Ineither so fawned upon nor admired another’s fortune as to repentmeofmyown. Forone thinginparticular Ihad learned from Platoand from philosophy, that certain rev- olutions in government aretobeexpected; so that states arenow under amonarchy, now under ademocracy,and now under atyranny. When the last-named fatehad befallen my country,and Ihad been debarredfrommyformer activities,Ibegan to cultivateanew these present studies that by their means,rather than by anyother,Imight relievemymind of its worries and at the same time servemyfellow-countrymen as best Icould under the circumstances. Accordingly,itwas in my books that Imade my senatorial speechesand my foren- sic harangues; for Ithought that Ihad permanentlyexchangedpolitics for philosophy. Now, however,sinceIhavebegun to be consulted again about public affairs,mytime must be devoted to the State, or,rather,myundivided thought and caremust be fixed upon it; and onlysomuch time can be giventophilosophyaswill not be needed in the discharge of my duty to the commonwealth. The passageclearlymarks the historical break with the sharp ‘then/now’-dichot- omy(attulit as perfect tense vs. nunc with present tense tribuenda est towardsthe end of the quotation). The period of the Civil War(in armis ciuilibus), which ac- cording to this passagelasted until Caesar’sdeath and thus until the end of his sole reign (in unius potestate res publica), has finally been replacedbyanew phase of publicengagement (publicum officium et munus)for Cicero. It is obvi- Cic. Diu. 2.6–7. Transl. Falconer 1923. Introduction 3 ouslyofanother quality than the time devoted to his previous philosophical studies. These, however,Ciceroframesbypolitical connotations as well:⁶ his fellow citizens are presented as the judgesofCicero’sphilosophicalengagement (dabunt[…]ueniam mei ciues), which they should condone because it has been use- ful for them (prodessemus ciuibus nostris). So even if he expresses aturning point in his biographyaspolitician and philosopher in April 44,his former trea- tises are nonetheless described as an (albeit alternative)way of giving his political vote (sententiam dicebamus)and of speakinginfront of the assemblyofthe people (contionabamur)—in short: he “considered philosophyasasubstitute for administering the state” (pro rei publicae procuratione substitutam). The political changeinRome means no ontological changeofcharacter for Cicero, but one of gradation or better,ofintensification: the new political circumstances give rise to amoreimmediate political engagement,which relegates philosophytothe realms of dignified otium again.⁷ In the words of Jonathan Zarecki, philosophical works after Caesar’sdeath “provide insight into Cicero’sdecision to cast off the guise of retired elder statesman”.⁸ It is telling,however,that Ciceroprobablydid not write this prefaceinRome, the place whereaccordingtohis own conviction Roman politics should be con- ducted,⁹ but in one of his villas wherehehad been living most of the time since mid-April 44.The situation in Rome was not as glorious as the prefacetoDe diuinatione 2suggests. Caesar was dead, but manyRomans, instead of rejoicingand taking the chance to throw off the yoke of his dominatus,wantedhim backand gladlywelcomed Antony’sattempts to continue Caesar’spolitics.Caesarwas not onlypresent in everyone’smind, but in acertain waystill exercised his power.¹⁰ Cf. Butler 2002,110–111 on the political languageused in this passage. Cf. Baraz 2012,194:Cicero again is apolitical persona with philosophical interests,whereas beforeCaesar’sdeath, he has been aphilosophical persona with political interests (cf. ibid., 191). On Cicero’smanipulative use of otium in his rhetorical and philosophical works in the late50s,see Steel 2005,63–82. Fox2007, 231–232argues differently: accordingtohim, the multi- plicity of Ciceronian personae,which could be condensed in the philosophical works, is what reallyinterested Cicero. Zarecki 2014,136 (emphasis ours). Cf. Cicero’sfamous anecdote in Planc. 66 about the Romans not takingnoticeofhis Sicilian quaestorship,which he concludeswith the remark feci ut postea cotidie praesentem me uiderent, habitaui in oculis,pressi forum (“Isaw to it that afterwardsthey sawmepersonallyonadaily basis;Ilived in front of their eyes, Iwas glued to the forum.”); cf. also Q. Cicero (?), Comment. pet.2(the invitation to repeat as amantra: nouus sum, consulatum peto,Roma est). The letters to Atticus from 7and 8April (Att. 14.1 and 2) show the fixation of parts of the Roman upper class on Caesar,who, although dead, still serves as akind of political legitimation. 4 Christoph Pieper and Bramvan der Velden It seemed to Cicerothat while the Romans had killed adictator,the tyranny(exercised by Antony in tandem with the decrees of the deceased Caesar)was still powerfullypresent.¹¹ This led to ahugerestlessness on Cicero’spart,who not onlyseems to have changed his locationalmostdaily(Att.

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