The Republic and The Laws (Oxford World's Classics)

by Cicero

  Plato’s wishes: see Laws 12. 955–6.

  Publius’ son: i.e., Quintus Mucius Scaevola (2).

  In the case of heirs: by heir(s) the Romans meant a person or persons who would assume the rights and duties of the deceased, which included settling debts, paying bequests, and attending to the upkeep and rites of the family tomb (see Crook 120 and x 3 5 f.). As these rites, which were performed on the deceased’s birthday as well as on the annual festivals of the dead (in February and May), involved much eating and drinking, they might cause considerable expense.

  the pontiff: Scaevola (3).

  if no deductions have been stipulated: a testator might stipulate that a deduction be made from the bequests left to legatees; in return the legatees would not be responsible for the rites. Cicero says that if no deductions have been made and the legatees have voluntarily accepted less than the sum mentioned in the will, they are absolved from performing the rites. In section 53 Cicero rightly calls this ‘a manoeuvre’.

  In the case of a gift: i.e. a gift made in the event of death (donatio mortis causa).

  Suppose … a man accepted etc.: Y accepts from X the amount of A minus B in order to evade the duty of conducting the rites. Later, Z receives from Y sum A, but then acquires in addition sum B, which Y had decided to forgo. If A + B = half or more of Y’s total estate, Z is then obliged to perform the rites himself.

  formally declare: a device to escape liability, deprecated in 53 below. By an ancient procedure known as solutio per aes et libram (‘release through bronze and balance’) a debt could be cancelled whether or not the money had been paid (Gaius 3. 173–5; Jolowicz 164–5). Here the legatee releases the heir from the obligation of paying him the legacy. Having ceased to be a legatee he is freed from the burden of the sacra. Simultaneously the heir contracts to pay him a sum equal to the former legacy. This sum is then received not as a legacy but as a fulfilment of the contract. See Bruck 7. The procedure per aes et libram for the transfer of property is described in Gaius 1. 119.

  one hundred nummi: 100 nummi or sestertii equalled 25 denarii, a sum which from Caesar’s time represented one ninth of a legionary’s annual pay.

  They always used to say: reading semper with Watt (1) 267.

  the last month of the year: the Roman year once began in March, as the names of our months September to December show. The rites in honour of the dead were performed at the end of the year. Decimus Brutus, a cultivated man and an acquaintance of Sempronius Tuditanus who had made a study of the calendar, apparently took the view that the rites should be performed in December, as that was now the last month of the year. When the change from March to January took place is uncertain. Various theories are listed in Michels, Appendix 4. She herself believes the change was carried out by the Board of Ten in 450 or 451 (1 2.7–30). But in any case the people continued to hold the festival (the Parentalia) in February.

  whose name is derived from death: Cicero’s etymology is supported by OLD, which sees de nece (piare) as the origin of the word.

  the household god: i.e. the I.ar.

  the severed bone: before cremation a piece of the body (normally a finger) was cut off and retained for burial ‘in deference to the older custom’ (Keyes). See Festus under membrum abscidi mortuo (Lindsay 135)-

  according to Xenophon: see Cyropedia 8. 7. 15.

  Ennius asserts: this, the beginning of a commemorative epigram, is usually combined with words quoted by Seneca, Epistulae 108. 33, producing the following: ‘Here lies the man to whom no one, neither fellow-citizen nor enemy, will be able to render due reward for his achievements’ (ROL i. 400).

  the pig has been slain: ‘Only when a pig had been sacrificed was a grave legally a grave’ (Toynbee 50). According to Varro (De Re Rustica 2. 4. 9), pigs were the first sacrificial victims, and Frazer’s index shows the numerous occasions on which they were killed. As a funeral sacrifice the pig formed part of the funeral feast (silicernium).

  One of the laws of the Twelve Tables: Table 10. 1.

  the risk of fire: this would explain the ban on cremation. Burial took up space and was thought unhealthy. The mass grave for paupers on the Esquiline, just outside the wall, ‘became such a nuisance that in 35 BC it was included in the gardens of Maecenas’, Reece 17. Because of this ban, tombs lined the roads leading out of the city.

  on account of their valour: see Plutarch, Quaestiones Romanae 79.

  the temple of Honour: see P-A 258.

  Do no more than this: Table 10. 2.

  Women shall not scratch their cheeks etc.: Table 10. 4.

  as the word itself suggests: it is not clear what etymology Cicero has in mind.

  Solon’s law forbids: see Plutarch, Solon 21.

  One shall not gather etc.: Table 10. 5.

  drinking bout: the word circumpotatio shows that the cup was passed round.

  festoons: the Latin is longae coronae. As a corona was a chaplet (i.e. a wreath or garland worn on the head), a longa corona was presumably a chaplet with flowers and greenery hanging down the back and sides.

  a chaplet earned by courage: six types of corona are described and illustrated in Maxfield, ch. 4.

  fastened by gold: i.e. by gold wire.

  mournful songs in Greece: the word nenia is not recorded in Greek.

  the cost of tombs: for extravagance in later times see Friedlander ii. 2to-18. Cicero himself was fully aware that dead bodies were devoid of sensation; but he thought that, in regard to burial rites, ‘a concession should be made to custom and traditional belief (Tusculan Disputations 1. 109).

  their first king: reading ab illo primo rege with Muller.

  it had to be true: presumably suggestio falsi was forbidden but suppressio veri was condoned.

  the man of Phalerum: Demetrius.

  The clause about the three veils: see section 59 above.

  herms: a herm was ‘a quadrangular pillar, surmounted by a bust of Hermes, or, later, of other gods’, OLD.

  Plato … says this: see Laws 12. 958d-e.

  heroic lines: i.e. hexameters.

  between one and five minae: this was the equivalent of between 100 and 500 drachmas. At the height of her power Athens paid her oarsmen 1 drachma a day. (This information, and that given in the note on 53 above, was kindly supplied by Prof. Michael Crawford.)

  in one summer day: Plato says ‘The present day … is in fact pretty well the longest day of summer’, Laws 3. 683c (Penguin translation).

  BOOK 3

  our friends: the Epicureans. Cicero mischievously makes Atticus criticize the narrow-mindedness of his own school.

  a speaking law: Simonides (c.556–468) had said that painting was silent poetry and poetry speaking painting (Plutarch, Moralia 346f, Loeb edn. iv. 500).

  six earlier books: the Republic, where the best constitution was said to be a mixture of monarchy, oligarchy, and democracy (R. 1. 45, 69).

  Magistrates: see Appendix.

  Plato: Plato, Laws 3. 701c.

  before the people: Cicero has in mind the earlier public trials (indicia populi) rather than the jury courts which had come to replace them. Although by Cicero’s time the juries were no longer monopolized by the Senate, he may have been dissatisfied with them because they were cumbersome, time-wasting, and open to bribery (so Jones 3 and 25). In the old system, as revived by Cicero, trials involving the defendant’s life or citizen’s rights (caput) would have been held before the Assembly of Centuries; non-capital cases would have come before the Council of the Plebs.

  no appeal: apparently appeals had been granted in the first half of the second century.

  watch over public funds: as quaestors.

  ensure the security of prisoners, punish capital offences: Cicero is referring to the Board of Three appointed to supervise prisons and carry out executions (tresviri capitales).

  coin bronze etc.: the Board of Three which managed the mint (tresviri monetales).

  judge cases: the Board of Ten for Judging Cases (Decemviri stlitibus iudican
dis) decided whether a person was free or a slave.

  the first step on the ladder: Cicero, it seems, intended that the quaestorship should no longer provide automatic entry to the Senate, as it had done since the time of Sulla. Perhaps he had in mind the state of affairs described by Plutarch, Cato the younger 16, where the civil servants in the treasury had become corrupt and incompetent owing to the ‘minister’s’ uncertain grasp of financial matters.

  The censors: whereas Sulla had reduced the censors’ powers, Cicero revives and increases them. Instead of resigning after 18 months, they are to hold office for 5 years; and then they are to be succeeded without a break. The supervision of temples, streets, etc. seems to represent extra responsibilities, as does the enforcement of marriage, which foreshadows the Augustan legislation of 18 BC. MOREOVER, IN SECTION 47 below we hear that they are to take on the duties of the Greek Guardians of the Laws (nomophylakes), and to prepare retrospective reports on the performance of magistrates.

  two with royal power: i.e. the consuls. Originally, in their military capacity, they were called praetors (Leaders); but this title soon passed to the legal officials. The consuls retained the right to exercise jurisdiction, ‘but they had a great deal else to do, and so seldom appear in this role in the late Republic’ (Crook 68). The etymology of the word ‘consul’ is disputed.

  the year-law: redrafting the Lex Villia Annalis of t 8O, SULLA ENACTED THAT NO ONE SHOULD BECOME QUAESTOR BEFORE THE AGE OF 30, praetor before 39, and consul before 42.

  one man: the dictator, whom Cicero calls ‘Master of the People’ (magister populi). The office, which was originally a military one (populus representing the people under arms, especially the infantry), had been obsolete since 216. (Sulla’s position was very different.) Cicero reintroduces it, perhaps because he regarded the emergency decree of the Senate (the senatus consultum ultimum) as unsatisfactory (so Jones 2). Cicero implies that the dictator is to be appointed by the Senate, not, as previously, by the consuls.

  an officer to command the cavalry: the dictator’s lieutenant was called ‘Master of the Cavalry’ (magister equitum).

  the legal official: i.e. the praetor.

  a member with the power etc.: an interrex was appointed for 5 days to perform this function.

  with … imperium: the right to command—a power possessed by the higher magistrates. For details see OCD.

  just wars in a just manner: see note on L. 2. 34 above.

  no one shall be appointed ambassador: a reference to ‘free embassies’ (see note on L. 1. to above). Cicero complains about the practice in section 18 below. Cf. De Lege Agraria (Contra Rullum) T. 8.

  tribunes: see the discussion in section r9 below.

  The details shall be disclosed to the aristocracy: Cicero attempts to justify this proposal in sections 38–9 below.

  the power to overrule: he shall have the power to overrule the decision of the assembly.

  more than one question at a time: they shall not put composite bills to the vote. This practice had been forbidden by the Lex Caecilia Didia of 98.

  laws directed at private individuals: see section 44 below.

  a citizen’s life: a citizen could lose his caput by being executed or

  deprived of his citizen’s rights.

  the chief assembly: the Assembly of Centuries.

  They shall not accept gifts: bribery was endemic in the system, as it was in that of Walpole’s England.

  Depart etc.: a formula pronounced by the magistrate when dismissing a popular assembly.

  such a man: an ingenious piece of self-praise on Cicero’s part.

  a monarch’s: a reference to Tarquinius Superbus. The objection to monarchy, of course, is that the faults of one man can wreck the entire system.

  ephors: annually elected Spartan magistrates, five in number by the fifth century. They had far-reaching powers, including that of controlling the actions of the kings.

  what had happened before: the confrontation between patricians and plebeians. See section 19 below.

  an irresponsible tribune: unidentified.

  a time of sedition: in 494 the plebeians seceded and set up their own organization, which included two tribunes, on the Sacred Mount (or on the Aventine). For the struggle of the orders see Cornell, chs. to and 13, and the essays collected by Raaflaub.

  It was quickly put to death: allegedly by the Board of Ten; see R. 2. 62.

  hideously deformed children: Table 4. T. DIONYSIUS OF HALICARNASSUS ATTRIBUTES THIS PRACTICE TO ROMULUS (Antiquitates Romanae 2. 15. 2), cf. Seneca, De Ira 1. 15. 2.

  Publius Scipio: Scipio (5) in the Index of Names.

  Saturninus: see Apuleius in the Index of Names.

  ourselves … our position: it sounds like Marcus’ own voice here.

  cause confusion among the clans: in March 59 Clodius had himself transferred to the plebs so that he might become a tribune. This was done through the good offices of the pontifex maximus, Julius Caesar.

  destructive power: i.e. the tribunes’ veto. They were still allowed to intervene on behalf of plebeians in trouble with the law.

  a colleague who was blocking: i.e. the tribune Marcus Octavius. See Gracchus, Tiberius in the Index of Names.

  that power: the power of veto.

  ten tribunes: by the middle of the fifth century the number had risen to ten.

  The plebs were not incited: perhaps not directly, but in January 58 Clodius won their support by obtaining free distributions of grain.

  slaves were stirred up: Clodius had a recent law against clubs repealed. He then organized armed gangs, which included slaves as well as freedmen. These were employed to intimidate voters in the assemblies.

  For gangs in Rome see Lintott (1) ch. 6. And, for Clodius’ conduct, E. Rawson (3) 113–16, T. N. Mitchell 134–8.

  Had I not given way: some scholars, reading si without a negative, take the passage as referring to the revolt of Catiline.

  what I did for the safety of the country: Cicero represents his departure as an act undertaken in the public interest.

  eminent men: e.g. Aristides and Themistocles. Cf. R. 1. 5. A lofty interpretation of their state of mind.

  As for Pompey: Pompey’s attitude to Clodius soon changed from acquiescence, or even support, to opposition. He began to work for Cicero’s recall and eventually persuaded Caesar to agree (T. N. Mitchell i5off.). Hence Cicero’s mildness.

  a cause … not intrinsically disastrous: the restoration of the tribunate.

  justifiable postponements: if the auspices were pronounced unfavourable, the meeting could not continue.

  Often the gods have used the auspices: one would like to think that this sentence carried a hint of irony.

  this law may well exhaust: one of the censor’s duties was to watch over the conduct of senators.

  no one with any blemishes will even get into that order: wishful thinking, of course.

  education and training: these are not described in what survives of the work.

  those men beget a host of imitators: the point is repeated seven times in what follows. Such variations were practised in the rhetorical practised in the rhetorical schools.