Topic One (1.1): Oratory and Cicero
Objectives for this topic
In this topic you will be focusing on one of the most famous orators and politicians of the Roman empire, Marcus Tullius Cicero, and through him you will learn about the cursus honorum, the career path that politicians followed.
Introduction
In Topic 1.1 you will meet Marcus Tullius Cicero. He came from a reasonably wealthy, though not an aristocratic, family who lived in the town of Arpinum, not far from Rome. He was educated in Rome and Rhodes where he pursued the usual curriculum for an ambitious middle-class young man, literature and oratory (public speaking), but he had not come from a patrician (nobilis or aristocratic family) and he always felt slightly overlooked. A man like him from a non-aristocratic family was known as a novus homo (a new man) and was looked down on by the members of older families. Cicero was elected consul for 63 BCE and towards the end of his office he uncovered a plot by Lucius Sergius Catilina and drove him from the city; however his actions in executing some of the alleged co-conspirators under a senatus consultum ultimum were considered to be unlawful and he was later exiled. On his return he never enjoyed the same status but continued to reflect on his past glory days. After the assassination of Julius Caesar he made several (14) speeches against Caesar’s friend and co -consul, Mark Antony, and for his trouble was assassinated himself on the 7th December 43 BCE.
Working through your coursebook
You will start off with the cursus honorum. This is the career path that every aspiring politician had to follow. There were age limits to certain roles and a strict order in which you took on office.
Oratory, or public speaking, was a key part of the aspiring politician’s armoury of skills. The art of persuasive speaking was key in the ancient world and it is something that is a key skill for a politician at any time. Cicero was a skilled speaker and lawyer and politicians still study his speeches for hints and tips on how to speak.
In your textbook, De Romanis Book 2, look at Sources 8.1 (p.45) and 8.2 (p.46): the first demonstrates the idea that freedom of speech took place on the rostra in the Forum (the rostra was the place where public speeches were made). Speeches were theatrical performances and the gestures the speaker made were carefully orchestrated. One of Cicero’s master-strokes was to include humour in his speeches, though Mark Antony might not have thought some of the comments at his expense were very funny …
Fun fact: the rostra was so-called because the beaks (rostra) or prows of warships captured in battle were pinned to it as trophies.
Read pages 40 – 44 of your textbook, where you will learn about Cicero, this amazing orator.
Cicero was not perfect, and we know this well from the numerous letters that he wrote to his friend, Atticus, and he did have a chip on his shoulder because of his supposed humble beginnings; he was not from a humble family but the Roman system was geared towards the old, established families as you saw in Year 8 Module 6 and he had to fight extra hard to gain the support necessary to reach high office. One of the reasons we know so much about Cicero is because these letters were preserved along with his other numerous writings on philosophy, politics and literature, but Cicero’s finest hour, in his view, was his series of four speeches against Catiline. There is a version of the same story by the historian Sallust, but our main source is Cicero. The speeches are full of vitriol (anger and even abuse) and have become some of the most quoted lines in history.
Although Cicero was awarded the title of pater patriae (father of the country) after his consulship he refused to join in with Julius Caesar, Gaius Pompeius Magnus and Marcus Licinius Crassus* when they formed what was later known as the First Triumvirate. Cicero’s Republican leanings did not fit with the mood of the time and later, he was exiled by the machinations of the tribune, Clodius, who bore a grudge against Cicero for not providing him with an alibi in a court case, amongst other reasons. Cicero’s house on the Palatine Hill was demolished and the site was consecrated, by Clodius, to the goddess, Liberty. What an irony for a man who had dedicated his life to liberty for Roman citizens! After his return from exile, Cicero did not have the same influence, but he did not stand idly by. He was not a fan of Julius Caesar and wrote to Atticus that he was annoyed he had not been invited to take part in the assassination. He threw in his lot with Octavian, the future emperor Augustus, but misunderstood the ambition and ruthlessness of the young man and his fourteen speeches against Mark Antony sealed his fate.
Look at Source 8.3 (p.47) which gives you a flavour of the sort of thing Cicero wrote and delivered as speeches in the Senate.
Look at Source 8.4 (p.48) – Cicero the real man is seen in his letters to Atticus.
Cicero’s second speech against Mark Antony in September 44 BCE (Philippic II, named after a series of speeches made by the Greek orator, Demosthenes against Philip of Macedon in the 4th century BCE) was not delivered but was published as a pamphlet. In this he hurled abuse at Antony for his lifestyle past and present but the closing section (the peroration) was a heartfelt appeal to change his ways in which Cicero said he had always fought against the enemies of Rome and would happily die to preserve her liberty. He did. Mark Antony’s henchmen found and killed him on 7th December 43 BCE and his head and hands were exhibited on the rostra in the Forum Romanum.
Fun Fact: Crassus died while fighting the Parthians in the east of the empire in 53 BCE. It is said that he was killed by having molten gold poured into his mouth: a symbol of his thirst for wealth.
Support activity for this topic
When you have read pages 40 to 44, complete the following worksheet. The pink boxes in the worksheet refer to the images in these pages. Figure 8.1 is on page 41, Figure 8.3 is on page 42 and Figure 8.5 is on page 44.
COMPLETE – Oratory and Cicero Download COMPLETE – Oratory and Cicero
Here is an article about Cicero you might like to read:
READ- Brutal Beheading of Cicero (nationalgeographic.co.uk) Links to an external site.
Fun Fact: One historian writes that Cicero’s head and hands were cut off by his assassins. This was because Antony wanted to display on the rostra the hands that had written the speeches against him. It is also said that Antony’s wife, Fulvia, whose first husband Cicero had also written a speech against, speared Cicero’s dead tongue with a hairpin as revenge for those speeches.
Extension activity for this topic
The poet, Ovid, wrote about how he did not want to follow the accepted career path (cursus honorum) for someone of his social class. He wanted to be a poet. You can read his poem about this in translation here:
READ – Ovid Amores 1.15 Download READ – Ovid Amores 1.15
If you want to find out more about Cicero, there is an excellent series of novels by Steven Saylor which deal with his more dramatic speeches. Catilina’s Riddle is the one about the Catilinarian Conspiracy.
Review
Go back over the information on Cicero in this chapter and make sure you know details such as the offices that you had to take in the cursus honorum and what oratory was. Why do we know so much about Cicero and was he a good example of a Roman republican politician? He was very much against Julius Caesar taking on extra powers such as dictator and did not hide his feelings which, along with angering Octavian (the future Augustus), Julius Caesar’s adopted son and heir, ultimately caused his death.