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Cicero against catiline 1
Marcus tullius cicero essay
Marcus tullius cicero essay
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First Oration Against Catiline; From Concerning Old Age
The author of the From the Orations, more specifically, the First Oration Against Catiline, is Marcus Tullius Cicero. Cicero was a Roman lawyer, writer, and statesman. Born in 106 BCE, in Arpinium, Italy to a wealthy family, he was educated in both Rome and Greece. Known as a judicial officer with great power, he won his election as chief magistrate, by cause of the people fearing his rival Catiline’s revolutionary ideas. This particular piece is addressed to both the senate and to Catiline. Cicero is responding to an attempt on his life by Catiline and is wanting to expose him for his appalling intendments against himself and members of the Senate.
Cicero’s goal in writing the First Oration
“Whatever distinction a Roman Equestrian can possess—and it can undoubtedly be very great—has always been judged as belonging to Marcus Caelius in the fullest measure, and is still so judged today” (Pro Caelio 3, pg 130). This quote is taken from the early parts of the defense speech and is used by Cicero to build a foundation surrounding the character of Cicero. Cicero states himself that “he must sway the hearts of the audience” that is exactly what he is doing with this statement about the character of Caelius. He is first refuting the assertion made by the prosecution that Caelius is a vagabond of types who does not obtain the traits of a Proper Roman because of his Equestrian ancestry. Cicero utterly deny’s that and instead demonstrates that Caelius is a man above reproach who comes from an esteemed line of Roman Equestrians and that the Equestrian class is not a class to be looked down on. “Being the son of a Roman Equestrian is something that the prosecution should never have used as a slur before these jurors, or before myself as an advocate.” (Pro Caelio 4, pg 130). There is quite a bit of irony in this statement, Cicero is to an affect reprimanding the prosecution for utilizing slander in order to tear down Caelius. This is something that Cicero himself will do later in his speech when he attacks the
Mark Antony’s speech, whose aim is to counter Brutus’ speech, enlightens the crowd on the unjust murder of Caesar. Though he never directly communicates to the crowd of his feeling towards the conspirators, Antony was able to effectively convey to the crowd, through the use of verbal irony and other stylistic devices/techniques in his speech, his true views of the assassination. Moreover, Antony was able to shrewdly emphasize his belief of the undeserved assassination of Caesar through the wide use of epiphoral and anaphoral structure in his speech. Antony emphasizes the wrongdoings of Brutus and Cassius through the ingenious use of the epistrophe along with verbal irony as he notes that “I should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong” (III, ii, 125). Moreover, he stresses the importance of punishi...
Plutarch. "The Assassination of Julius Caesar, from Marcus Brutus (excerpts)." Translated by John Dryden. Reproduced by Internet Ancient History Sourcebook. August 2000. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/plutarch-caesar.asp (accessed 26 January 2014).
Both the histories of Sallust and the orations of Cicero can be considered literary works, to a degree. The War With Catiline, by Sallust and The First Speech Against Lucius Sergius Catilina, by Cicero, both contain excellent examples of writings from the age of the great Roman Empire. Although both are fantastic pieces depicting a time of tragedy, the Catiline Conspiracy against Rome, and they both think Catiline as evil, the two are also different.
Riggsby, A. M. (n.d.). Cicero Texts. Retrieved March 13, 2011, from University of Texas Classics Department: http://www.utexas.edu/depts/classics/documents/Cic.html
Catullus 2 gives insight to how the senate was viewed,” all the talk of crabbed old men .” What this quote explores is that these men were negatively affecting people. They were disconnected with the people of Rome. The people of Rome did not feel connected to the Senate and when they do not feel connected to the senate they do not listen to the senate. The Senate in turn then tries to regulate more and control more in Rome, like they did with the prostitutes. The Senate had less control over the public, thus they needed to take control away from another power, a prostitute. It appears that the government was also disconnected from the people at this point. Laws being changed suggest that these ideas were true. This poem also shows that if the senate was disconnected from the people new ideas would not have been accepted, or the idea that a man discussed this with a prostitute. The senate also would not have been open to an adulterous relationship, which is seen in the laws that the senate was
...s statement was made by Antony, in reference to Caesar, after the conspirators murdered him. The interesting idea behind this statement is that Antony’s opinion is later altered into believing that Brutus is the noblest Roman, instead of Caesar. It took the valiant sacrifice of Brutus’ life, which was made in attempt to save Rome, to persuade Antony, but it was then that he understood why Brutus murdered Caesar. Antony’s revulsion toward Brutus was simply blinded by anger and remorse for his dead friend, Caesar, for him to realize that what Brutus was doing was actually best for Rome.
But he, as loving his own pride and purposes, Evades them, with a bumbast circumstance Horribly stuff'd with epithets of war, And, in conclusion, Nonsuits my mediators; for, "Certes," says he, "I have already chosen my officer." And what was he? Forsooth, a great arithmetician, One Michael Cassio, a Florentine (A fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife) That never set a squadron in the field, Nor the division of a battle knows More than a spinster; unless the bookish theoric, Wherein the toged consuls can propose As masterly as he. Mere prattle without practice is all his soldiership. But he, sir, had the election;
...r Reference to The Merchant of Venice, Macbeth, Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra." Http://uzspace.uzulu.ac.za/. University of Zululand. Sept. 2009. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.
Tessa G. Leesen – Gaius Meets Cicero: Law and Rhetoric in the School Controversies, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers (2010)
Bloom, Harold. William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Chelsea House Publisher; Connecticut, New York, & Pennsylvania. 1988, Pg. #33 - 36
In the novel by Steven Lukes, “The Curious enlightenment of Professor Caritat”, Professor Nicholas Caritat travels to different societies in order to find an ideal political society. Every society that he encounters has a different set of values on how to govern. Throughout his quest, Caritat steps upon four different societies: Utilitarian, Communitaria, Proletaria, and Libertarian. Each society has a set of principles that either benefits or damages how the society functions. In Communitaria, everything is about being part of a certain group and religion. However, what happens when the ideal group that you correspond does not satisfy your individual needs? When you no longer feel “secure in your identity, your personality, your selfhood” because it has all been
As the game structure of the text’s second-person narration has already been parodied in the metafictional mode, this passage’s commentary on the second-person address is an explicit second-order commentary in the meta-metafictional mode. The sly reference to the “hypocrite I” as the “brother and double” of the “general male you” lends a heavy note of irony to this passage, as it distances itself from the text’s prior use of second-person narration to refer to the male Reader. The second-degree commentary of this passage implies that the male Reader—the “general male you”—is but another aspect of the secretive “I”, the omniscient yet personally invested narrator (or implied author) of the novel (Calvino, Traveller 141).
Heller, Agnes. "Julius Caesar." The Time Is Out of Joint: Shakespeare as Philosopher of History. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2002. 311-335. Rpt. in Shakespearean Criticism. Vol. 115. Detroit: Gale, 2009. Literature Resource Center. Web. 16 Dec. 2010.
In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, the story revolves around the various individuals who would vie for control of the Roman Empire. All of these individuals exhibit various attributes, values, and techniques in order to facilitate this goal, from Cassius’ intelligence, Brutus’ charm and honor, to Antony’s gift to drive a crowd. And although all three desire to become the new strongman leader of Rome, it is Antony who succeeds gaining the most control through his own specific talents, most specifically noted at Caesar’s funeral. At the funeral scene, Antony exhibits several qualities beneficial to a Roman leader, such as oratory and appeasement skills. The dialogue depicted in Act III, scene ii provides a valuable and insightful perspective on how these values were desirable for leadership in the late Roman Republic.