by Cicero
Attic orators: e.g. Demosthenes, Lysias, or Isocrates.
43: Scipio now carries on the argument. It has been agreed that justice is necessary in a state; Scipio draws the conclusion that an unjust state is no state at all, recalling his own definition of res publica as the property of the public.
we think at once of a bad king: this was the Roman reaction to the words rex and regnum: cf. above, 2. 52.
Fr. i: this fragment comes from a story of an encounter between Alexander the Great and a pirate (cf. Augustine, De Civitate Dei 4. 4. 8) and may well belong in Philus’ speech.
Err. 2–3: probably from Laelius’ speech.
Fr. 4: attributed by editors to the conversation after the end of Laelius’ speech: Laelius is elsewhere compared with Isocrates in similar terms (De Oratore 2. 10, 3. 28).
BOOK 4
Polybius: the passage is not preserved.
cadets: those undergoing the ephebeia, a two-year period of military training at Athens (for ages 18–20).
Eleans and Thebans: cf. Plato, Symposium 182b (Pausanias’ speech).
everything should be held in common: Plato, Republic 416d. In fact, the common ownership of property in Plato’s ideal state was not to apply to all the citizens, but only to the ruling Guardians and the military class.
festooned with garlands: Plato, Republic 398a. The Platonic passage in fact mentions only poets in general, not Homer by name, although there has been a good deal of criticism of Homer in what precedes.
8: this fragment presumably refers to the Athenian commanders who were put to death after the battle of Arginusae (406 BC) for failing to pick up those who were shipwrecked: Xenophon, Hellenica 1. 7. 4. This was the occasion when Socrates alone refused to support the illegal proposal to have the generals tried all together.
9: the criticism of dramatists here also recalls the third book of Plato’s Republic (cf. above, 3.5).
10: on the status of actors see Beare (3rd edn.), 166–7. Roman law deprived actors of civil rights: Digest 3. 2. 1. Section 13 below appears to argue that acting was more respectable among the Greeks, although Demosthenes treats Aeschines’ association with the stage as a slur on his character.
Naevius: there was, at any rate in later times, a persistent tradition to the effect that Naevius did in fact compose libellous verses. Gellius 3. 3.15 states that he was imprisoned for constant attacks on the nobility, and while in prison wrote two plays which brought him back into favour. A late commentat or on one of Cicero’s speeches adds a story about Naevius’ brush with the aristocratic Metelli; and Gellius (7. 8. 5–6) further reports that certain lines by Naevius were believed to have been a disguised attack on Scipio Africanus. It may be that Cicero was unaware or incredulous of these traditions, but the conflict of evidence is peculiar nevertheless. See Beare (3rd edn.), 40–1.
BOOK 5
the poet: Ennius: the reference is to Annals 156 Skutsch.
Manilius: the surviving text does not indicate the identity of the speaker here; the attribution to Manilius suits the legal subject-matter.
The aim: cf. Introd. p. xxii.
Nothing in a state: this fragment is not specifically attributed to R., but the placing here is likely.
Fr. 1: probably belongs to the discussion of which part is preserved in 5. 5 above.
BOOK 6
Gracchus: Tiberius Gracchus, father of the famous brothers, censor in 169 BC with C. Claudius Pulcher; for the context see Livy 43. 16.
this writer: Xenophanes of Colophon (fl. c.530 BC). The Greek text is preserved by Athenaeus, 12, 526a (Freeman p. 21). Xenophanes is satirizing his fellow-citizens of Colophon for adopting luxurious habits from their Lydian neighbours. The context in Cicero is not known.
Laelius’ speech: this is presumably the speech referred to in De Natura Deorum 3.
43: ‘I have gained better instruction on how to worship the immortal gods, guided by pontifical law and ancestral custom, from those miniature sacrificial bowls [capedunculis, diminutive form of the word used here], bequeathed to us by Numa and described by Laelius in his little speech which is pure gold, than from the explanations of the Stoics’ (tr. P. G. Walsh). Compare also De Natura Deorum 3. 5, Brutus 83, Laelius de Amicitia 96. Apparently (if all these passages refer to the same speech) the occasion was a proposal to open the priestly colleges to popular election, which Laelius opposed. One can only speculate about the relevance to that issue of this fragment, which seems rather to be concerned with the simplicity and inexpensiveness of the equipment needed for Roman ritual (cf. R. 2. 27).
8: the context leading up to the Dream of Scipio is given by Macrobius in his Commentary on the Dream of Scipio (for which see Stahl).
Favonius Eulogius: an orator of Carthage and pupil of St Augustine, who c. AD 390–410 wrote a ‘disputation’ on the Dream of Scipio, concerned largely with numerology and the Music of the Spheres.
The Dream of Scipio: the Dream is pure fiction, of a kind rare enough in classical Latin prose literature. It is modelled on the ‘myths’ of Plato’s dialogues, and especially on the Myth of Er at the end of his Republic (6i4b-62id). In that passage, Socrates told the story of Er the Pamphylian, who was found apparently dead on a battlefield, and was taken home for cremation. Er came back to life as he lay on the funeral pyre, and described his vision of the fate of the soul after death. Cicero replaces this story with a somewhat more plausible account of a dream attributed to Scipio himself, the main speaker of the dialogue. As regards content, the Dream of Scipio owes less to the Myth of Er than to two other works of Plato, the cosmological dialogue Timaeus (which Cicero himself translated at least in part, although it is not clear whether the translation was made before or after he wrote the Republic), and the Pbaedo, which narrates Socrates’ last conversation on the nature of the soul. As in the Timaeus, the abode of the blessed dead is placed not in the mythical Elysian Fields but in the actual universe, among the stars. Cicero has also added details from the accepted astronomical and geographical doctrines of his time.
The Dream has survived detached from its original context, but it should never be forgotten that it is the concluding section of the Republic and that its main rhetorical function is as an exhortation to patriotism. It may devalue worldly fame and success in comparison with the rewards of immortality, but it certainly does not devalue political activity as such, which (according to Africanus’ ghost) is the chief arena for the display of human excellence and the surest way to achieve happiness after death. For more detailed commentary and bibliography see Powell (1) and (4).
served in Africa: at the outbreak of the Third Punic War, T49 BC.
Ennius: at the beginning of his Annals (fragments 2–11 Skutsch), Ennius recounted a dream in which Homer had appeared to him.
Africanus: Scipio Africanus the elder, adoptive grandfather of the Scipio of this dialogue.
cannot remain at peace: a tendentious remark: in fact Carthage was reluctant to go to war in 149.
a very great war: Scipio was elected consul for the second time for the year 134, in order to finish the war in Spain (in which several Roman commanders had been unsuccessful: cf. R. 3. 29). This ended with the siege and capture of Numantia in 133, the year of Tiberius Gracchus’ tribunate. Scipio returned to Rome for his second triumph (‘riding in a chariot to the Capitol’) in 132.
my grandson’s: Tiberius Gracchus (son of Cornelia, daughter of Scipio the elder).
eight times seven revolutions: this portentous prophecy alludes to the fact that Scipio was 56 years old in 129 BC, the dramatic date of this dialogue and the year of his death.
to assume the dictatorship: he never did, nor is there any evidence outside this passage that it was even proposed; see note on 1. 63 above and Geiger.
unholy hands of your relatives: Cicero appears to have believed firmly that Scipio was murdered for political reasons by his own relatives, although his death may well have been natural and was announced as such at the time. Cf. Powell (1) 82–3.
&n
bsp; set out from this place: alludes to the Platonic doctrine of the preexistence of the soul: see esp. Phaedo 70c-77a and Timaeus 41d-42d; cf. Cicero, Timaeus 42–46.
15: the prohibition of suicide derives principally from Plato’s Phaedo, 6id-62c.
custody: Reproduces the ambiguity of the Latin and of Plato’s Greek: is the soul ‘on guard’ (life being envisaged as a sort of military duty) or ‘under guard’ (imprisoned in the body, perhaps as a punishment)? See Powell (1) T53–4.
smallest star: the moon; the word ‘star’ covers the planets (wandering stars) as well as the ‘fixed’ stars.
nine circles: this is the standard Platonic and Aristotelian view of the cosmos, with the earth in the centre, surrounded by the orbits of the sun, moon, and planets, and enclosed by the sphere of the fixed stars. The order of the planets given here by Cicero is the correct one (in terms of distance from the earth). This image of the cosmos persisted through the Middle Ages and Renaissance (see Lewis 23–8).
contrary motion: the sun, moon, and planets do indeed (in general) appear to move slowly round the Zodiac from west to east, the opposite direction to the apparent daily motion of the heavens caused by the rotation of the earth.
sound: the famous doctrine of the Music of the Spheres, of Pythagorean origin: see Powell (1) 159–60. Cf. Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice v. i. 54–65.
Catadoupa: one of the cataracts on the Nile. The story of the deaf tribe is not only false in itself but is not even a good analogy; we who are allegedly deafened by the Music of the Spheres can hear plenty of other things.
some people stand at a different angle: it is to be noted that the spherical shape of the earth is taken for granted. It was a prevalent ancient view that the Southern Hemisphere could nor be reached.
belts: the Greek word zone meant both literally a belt (the article of clothing) and a ‘zone’ or ‘belt’ in the geographical sense; the Latin cingulum or -us in general has only the former meaning. The theory of the five zones (two frigid, two temperate, and one torrid) approximately represents reality.
narrow from north to south: Cicero underestimates the size of Africa, following the common ancient view that it extended only as far as the branch of ‘Ocean’ which was erroneously supposed to flow all round the earth at the Equator.
year: the doctrine of the ‘Great Year’, explained here, derives from Plato, Timaeus 39d; cf. Cicero, Timaeus 33.
Romulus: cf. t. 25.
Goodness . . . by her own enticements: Cicero may have in mind the story of the Choice of Hercules, Xenophon, Memorabilia 2. 1. 21 ff.
my father: i.e. Aemilius Paulus.
A man’s true self is his mind: this idea was part of Platonic doctrine, or at any rate part of the popular view of it; it is most clearly stated in a Platonic dialogue whose authenticity has been disputed, the First Alcibiades (130b).
Whatever is in constant motion . . . : this paragraph is translated verbatim from a passage of Plato’s Phaedrus, 245C-C An acknowledgement of the source would clearly have been inappropriate here: Africanus’ ghost must know these things at first hand.
I awoke from sleep: probably the end of the dialogue. What more could Laelius and the rest have said after this?
Fr. 2: the quotation is from an epigram of Ennius in which these words were put in the mouth of Scipio Africanus (see Warmington, ROL i. 400).
THE LAWS
BOOK 1
this oak: according to Cicero’s poem, Marius, which was probably written about 57 BC in honour of his fellow-townsman, Marius saw an eagle rise from an oak tree, fight a serpent, and then fly off to the east—an omen of military success. The relevant passage is quoted in Cicero, De Divinatione 1. 106.
to solicit support for yourself: Quintus was also a poet; he had written a number of tragedies.
Scaevola: probably Scaevola (4) in the Index of Names. The phrase is a pentameter, and no doubt belongs to an epigram of the kind represented by Catullus 95.
the olive tree: Athena competed with Poseidon for control over Athens. She gave the city an olive tree; he gave it a salt-water spring (Herodotus 8. 55).
Ulysses: in Odyssey 6. 162 ff. Odysseus addresses Nausicaa, saying that the only sight of comparable perfection he has seen is ‘the fresh young palm tree shooting up by the altar of Apollo on the island of Delos’.
‘acorn-laden oak’. . . ‘tawny messenger . . .’: quotations from Marius.
not far from your house: in Rome Atticus lived on the Quirinal Hill; he also had a house in Athens.
Aquilo . . . Orithyia: in Plato, Phaedrus 229b Socrates is asked whether he believes the story of the north wind carrying off Orithyia.
the standard of truth: elsewhere Cicero calls history ‘the witness of the times, the light of truth, the life of memory, the teacher of life, the messenger from the past’ (De Oratore 2. 36). See Brunt (2). On occasions, however, he was prepared to condone a degree of embroidery; cf. Fam. 5. 12.
so closely akin to oratory: several pupils of the orator Isocrates (436–338) became historians, e.g. Ephorus and Theopompus. Cicero held that history should supply instances (exempla) which could be used by orators, and that rhetoric (especially the rhetoric of display) could show historians how to compose vivid descriptions. Cf. De Oratore z. 62–4; Orator 38 f., 66.
the Annals of the Pontifex Maximus: the Chief Priest displayed a board each year with information about public (including religious) events. About T30, the surviving material of this kind was published in eighty volumes, thus laying the foundations for the Roman genre of annalistic historiography. Such chronicles had no stylistic pretensions. The early historians, like Cato, Fabius Pictor, and Calpurnius Piso, left bare records of dates, names, and events; they did not grasp, we are told, how style could be embellished, and thought that brevity and intelligibility were all that mattered; cf. De Oratore 2. 52–3. This judgement would seem to be over-harsh. Cato, certainly, was capable of stylistic embellishment; see Aulus Gellius, 13. 25. 12–15.
Gellius: a conjectural emendation for the corrupt belli.
Latin hacks: these were teachers of rhetoric in Latin. Cicero speaks of them as intellectually superficial; politically they were suspected of fostering populist ideas. Lucius Crassus and his colleague in the censorship closed the school in 92. In De Oratore 3. 94 Crassus refers to it as ‘a school of impertinence’.
a good deal. . . lack of propriety: reading multa sed inepta elatio, summa impudentia with Mommsen.
those who have not yet published their work: one such writer may have been Julius Caesar, whose Commentaries are mentioned in Cic. Brutus 262.
the glorious and unforgettable year: 63 BC.
a diplomatic mission: as Atticus hints, a so-called ‘free mission’, for which senatorial permission was needed, entailed no official duties; it was, in effect, a period of leave abroad. In L. 3. 9 and 18 Cicero disapproves of the custom.
the sung passages: there were three formal elements in Roman comedy: spoken verse, recitative, and lyric. Cicero is probably referring to the last two, which were accompanied by the pipe and called for greater vocal effort.
calm philosophical discourse: the style which Cicero has in mind is described at greater length in Orator 64.
Scaevola’s consultations: Atticus and Cicero attended the consultations of Scaevola (2), the Augur. See also Nepos, Atticus 1.4. On Scaevola’s death in 87, Cicero studied with Scaevola (3), the Pontifex (De Amicitia 1. 1).
party walls: a neighbour might not demolish a party wall.
gutters: rain-water might be directed on to a neighbour’s land.
as he describes it: Plato, Laws 625 (Penguin trans, p. 46).
so clearly: reading tarn manifesto with Watt (1) 265.
the praetor’s edict: Each year, when the chief legal magistrate took office, he published an edict, setting out the principles on which he intended to administer justice. His successor would take over the edict, making whatever changes and additions were necessary. Thus a body of law grew up, supportin
g or complementing the code of civil law.
the Twelve Tables: c.450 a Committee of Ten had codified Roman civil and criminal law in the Twelve Tables. See ROL iv; Crawford, 555–721.
