All-Things-Cicero

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Comment by Steve Perkins on April 24, 2008 at 1:48pm

First of all, I love Cicero's writing, both its style and its content. I will never forget the time when, as a college freshman, I first encountered sentence of his well over 300 words long in the Pro Milone, beginning in XXVII.72 with "Occidi, occidi Sp. Maelium" and ending in XXVII.75 with "omni aditu et limine." I was and remain amazed at the incredible complexity of subordination. And I am a huge fan of the rhetorical pyrotechnics in the Catilinarians. The lines are just so much fun to say!

As for content, I have cited endlessly the concluding lines of the Pro Roscio Amerino for their painful, contemporary relevance: "Hanc tollite ex civitate, iudices, hanc pati nolite diutius in hac re publica versari; quae non modo id habet in se mali quod tot civis atrocissime sustulit verum etiam hominibus lenissimis ademit misericordiam consuetudine incommodorum. Nam cum omnibus horis aliquid atrociter fieri videmus aut audimus, etiam qui natura mitissimi sumus adsiduitate molestiarum sensum omnem humanitatis ex animis amittimus."

I also find these words from the Pro Archia to be foundational for why we pursue Classics with students: "ceteros pudeat, si qui se ita litteris abdiderunt ut nihil possint ex eis neque ad communem adferre fructum, neque in aspectum lucemque proferre."

And as for wicked wit, I find this from the Pro Caelio to rank among the most deliciously acid barbs from my favorite of English poets, Alexander Pope: "Quod quidem facerem vehementius, nisi intercederent mihi inimicitiae cum istius mulieris viro—fratre volui dicere."

Comment by Matthew Moore on April 1, 2008 at 2:17pm

One thing I tell my students is, if they choose to go into politics (God help them), I hope that they will bring a little Cicero with them. It would be nice to see our political discourse that has some erudition to it.

But I wonder -- would Cicero survive as a poltician today?