Throughout the speech Cicero wishes to show that Archias is someone who is useful to society. He says that he was yet only sixteen or seventeen years old, wearing the striped toga or praetextatus, when he began his studies in the arts and gained the attention of some of Rome's most influential citizens. In Pro Archia, then, it is partly in order to minimize the political element that Cicero places so much emphasis on literary questions. It is perhaps most likely that Grattius was acting on his own initiative to avenge an imagined slight to his patron (who was still away in Asia)the slight being simply that Archias had given Lucullus extravagant praise in his poem on the Mithridatic War. It is not a passage that could not be included were it not for the presence of a sympathetic praetor. Cicero seeks to maximize Lucullus glory, since Lucullus authority is an important factor in Archias defence.30 He has, however, taken some liberty in this regard (as also at Leg. In 65 BC, the Roman Senate passed the Lex Papia de Peregrinis, which challenged false claims of citizenship and expelled foreigners from Rome. Archias must indeed be a teacher of genius, the jury will conclude, if he taught Cicero to speak like this. 61, already quoted). And Purpose Of The Law - JSTOR Cicero was always aware of the importance of entertaining and amusing his audiences, and he won them over partly by providing them with passages they would derive pleasure from listening to. Luc. The poet was originally Greek but had been living in Rome for an extended period of time. When he does choose to discuss an intellectual subject at length, in Pro Murena, he begins, as we have seen, by flattering the jury on their erudition, and then proceeds to describe the Stoic school of philosophy in a way which first of all assumes no prior knowledge whatsoever, not even the name of the founder, and secondly serves merely to reinforce, for his own ends, the jurys anti-intellectual prejudices.21 Cicero was to admit, many years later, that the jury that heard Murenas case were an ignorant lot (Fin. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in 2017 found similar patterns in firearm owners' stated reasons for owning a gun.. Around half of Americans (48%) see gun violence as a very big problem in the country today, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in April 2021. At this point there is nothing further that Cicero can say that is directly relevant to the legal issue, and so the digressio ( 1230), consisting of the encomium of literature, intervenes. Cic. The digressio, then, is not simply an instrument of persuasion, it is also an elegant essay that would have been as appealing to its original audience as it has been to readers down the ages. The testimony of Ennius (which can hardly be considered impartial! Cicero says, "he furnishes me with the means to refresh my mind after the noise of the Forum" (Document 5.4: Cicero, In Defense of Archias (62 B.C.E.). It is the encomium of literature, however, for which Pro Archia is read and remembered, and which makes this speech a particular favourite among readers for whom the cut and thrust of late Republican politics is not a primary concern. The Biden . But while the Roman people are honoured, Lucullus too is given a full share of the glory ( 21): Nostra semper feretur et praedicabitur L. Lucullo dimicante, cum interfectis ducibus depressa hostium classis est, incredibilis apud Tenedum pugna illa navalis, nostra sunt tropaea, nostra monumenta, nostri triumphi. Cicero immediately takes us into a world of intelligent culture in which he and Archias play a part, and in which the jury are flattered into fancying that they also belong. His method of dealing with this prejudice is to include a lengthy passage on literature which presents Archias and his poetry in terms which the jurors will find unobjectionable, and perhaps even praiseworthy. 10.7.19, based on this passage) and to produce written compositions. Archias, who first arrived in Rome in 102 BCE, had, since the conclusion of the Social War in 89 BCE, been living as a Roman citizen and enjoying all of its attendant privileges. The idea that poets who honour great men honour the Roman people at the same time is continued in 22, but with Ennius as the example: Ennius praised the elder Scipio, the elder Cato, Q. Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, M. Claudius Marcellus, and M. Fulvius Nobilior, and was rewarded with Roman citizenship.
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