Essay Question (from Part 5 of Pro Archia):
For Cicero, proving the citizenship of Archias was mare than citing documents. Using Latin (with English translation/paraphrase) to support your answer, write an essay describing how, in this section, Cicero emphasizes the connection of the poet to Italy and Rome. How well did he fit in? What factors affected his status in the cultural and social life of the city? Provide specific examples. Include at least one figure of speech in your essay and discuss how it enhances the passage.
5 comments:
Well, Cicero starts off this section by telling everyone about how the Greek Arts (Graecarum artium) were not only present, but of great importance, throughout Italy. Then he gets on to the point: Archias was granted citizenship in Tarentum, Rhegium, and Neoapolis (in ITALY) by people who "were able to judge something about genius" (poterant iudicare de ingeniis). So basically, these smart people recognized the smart and accomplished Archias, and readily accepted him into their little smart people cities. Need I say that Archias fit in just fine...
Moving along...Because of Archias' amazing reputation and what not, he was known even to those people who he had never met, and apparently, the consuls of Rome (Marius and Catulus) became extremely fond of his (Archias') poetry, lending him the best writing materials (ad res scribendum) and even their ears (auris...not literally though). So basically everyone liked him and his talent. Then furthermore, this guy Lucullus accepted Archias into his house at the time where he was wearing a kid's toga (praetextus, meaning that he was younger than 16 or 17 years old). Cicero ends this section by saying that Archias' character is of the finest quality, because this Lucullus ended up being a close friend to Archias in his old age. So everyone started out liking Archias, and continued to think he was pretty awesome throughout his time in Italy.
One figure of speech used by Cicero is the zeugma in 62-64. The pairing of "studium" and "auris" as objects of "adhibere" creates this zeugma, in which one verb governs more than 1 object in different ways. The translation of this situation is: "...the other was able to lend not only his achievements, but also his support and his ears." (thank you side notes).
Go Hillary!!!
look, i'm even posting this journal on time!
At the beginning of 5, Cicero is describing the artistic situation that was going on in Italy. He begins by saying that there were many Greek Arts and disciplines (Graecarum atrium ac disciplinarum) in Italy.
Accordenly, being that Archius was an artist, he was givin the gift of citizenship (donarunt praemiis civitate), in four different Italian providences (Tarentini et Locrenses et Regini et Neapolitani). This shows to the judge, that four other Italian cities had granted Archius citizenship, and that if he is good enough for those four places, he should be good enough for this place.
He then goes on to talk about how people in rome, people he had never met, celebrated him even when he was not there. Archius then went to Rome during the consulship of Marcus and Catulus. At the same time, the Luculli family, when Archius was still wearing the purple toga of boyhood, received him into their house. This friendship ended up lasting for a long time, and he is still welcome in their house even during his old age (senectus).
All these things show that Archius was a very well liked individual. Four different Italian provendences offered him citizenship, he was famous to people who had never met him, and he was even welcomed into a family of strangers, all these things show that Archius was a wonderful individual, and that mostlikly, he would make a great citizen anywhere.
I’m not sure if this is actually a figure of speech, but as I was reading the side notes on this passage, I noticed that they talked about the ordering of “Mario consule et Catulo.” The notes were saying that by altering the constuction of the phrasing (which would normally be “Mario et Catulo consulibus”) Cicero is implying that Marius was more powerful than Catulus. Interesting stuff…
Cicero Journal #4
At the beginning of part five, Cicero tells the court that Italy, at the time, was filled with Greek arts that were very important in society. Archias, being an intelligent guy, received citizenship in Tarentum, Rhegium, and Neoapolis. Archias fit into the sophisticated cities well, because he also had some skillz of his own in the arts.
Men that were wise enough to judge on intelligence -qui aliquid de ingeniis poterant- thought he was deserving of their acquaintances and hospitality. He climbed up the social ladder because his work caught the attention of people he doesn't even know. Archias became so successful that the Roman consuls, Marius and Catalus, were interested enough to give him writing tools and their attention- scribendum and auris (auris signifying the consul's attention, not ear). Archias was also accepted into Lucullus' home at a young age, became good friends with Lucullus, and continues to live in his home.
That's the end of part five, but Cicero continues to give names of great men who Archias had gained the admiration of through his life.
Cicero uses anticipation in this passage. In anticipation, he uses certain words or phrases to raise the audience's expectation of particular grammatical constructions, dependent clauses, etc.
In line 61-62:
"consules eos quorum alter...alter"
The demonstrative pronoun follows its noun for emphasis while also anticipating the relative clause-
"those consuls, of whom the one (Marius)...the other (Catalus)"
Annie Alexandrian
3/3/08
Cicero Journal #5
Cicero emphasizes the connection of Archias to Italy, by saying how Italy was full Greek art (Graecam atrium) and Latin at the time when he came. Archias, is in fact Greek, so this draws a connection to him, because he has a great understanding of the art and studies Italy was interested in. He also mentions the towns of Trantum, Regini, Lorcrenses. And Neapolis, all citities in Italy, that gave him gift (praemium) and citizenship because they found him worthy of being a citizen. So, they saw something in him that made him just as deserving as them to be an Italian citizen. I feel they saw how gifted a poet he was, and they wanted him to be considered one of them, since they would look even better to have such an accomplished man considered a citizen of their town.
This caused him to be so well-known (famae-famous) in Rome before he even came there. When he got there it was in the consulship of Marius and Catallus, who gave him ideas to write about and would offer their advice and listened to him. This is a great connection, because listened to two Romans when he wanted inspiration to write. Thus, he was writing about things that are known and important to Romans. He also lived in Lucullus’s house since he was a young man and still does. Basically, Cicero fits in with any type of people quite well, whether if he would be in parts of Asia or Greece or even Rome. He had a natural ability and virtue about him that attracted people. People respected him and so they would give him citizenship and welcome him to their land.
I am not sure if this is actually an example of a figure of speech, but I might as well try.
Litotes are the affirmation of something by the denial of its opposite. I think the part where he says “dedit etiam hoc non solum lumen ingeni ac litterarum, verum etiam naturae atque virtuitis ut domus.. “ is an example. Because the “non solum lumen , litterarum” is basically that it was not only his genius and learning that gave him all these opportunities, but it was his natural ability and virtue that opened so many doors for him.
Sorry this is so late... it's not my best journal ever... but then again, I didn't care too much for this prompt...
Cicero Journal
3/2/08
“And everyone who was able to judge something about genius said that he (Archias) was worthy of recognition and hospitality. Because (hac) of this great renown of his fame (celebritate famae), he was known even to those not there (absentibus), he went to Rome (Romam venit) during the consulship of Marius and Catulus.”
From this statement it is clear to the reader that Archias was held in high regard by the people living in Rome at the time. He was known by people who were not even living in Rome which means that people must have been talking about him a lot, and very smart people said that he was worthy of citizenship.
“While he was in Rome he became familiar with the consuls and they provided him with the best materials for writing (scribendum). And even though he was wearing the toga of a child (toga praetexta) they invited him into their house.”
It seems that Archias fit in very well to Roman society. He was widely accepted and talked about and people knew that he was a good person. Archias was accepted into the houses of the consuls where they encouraged him to become a writer. This shows that he was widely received by the influential people of Rome, and demonstrates the strong admiration that the people of the time had for him. If this does not convince the judges that Archias is a good person, nothing will. By showing how admired Archias was by the people of Rome, Cicero continues to strengthen his argument.
One figure of speech from this section is the zeugma in line 63. The word adhibere has two objects which are studium and auris. A zeugma is when a single verb governs two or more objects in different ways.
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