The Orations by Cicero

First transcribed:Orationes, 81-43 b.c.e. (English translation, 1741-1743)

Type of work: Politics and rhetoric

The Work:

Thoughts of the greatness of Rome, and especially of its government, are likely to bring to mind the name of Cicero. Whereas a figure such as Julius Caesar may symbolize the military greatness of imperial Rome, the figure of Cicero is a symbol of Roman justice and law, of the Roman senate and its traditions, and of landmark strides in philosophy and literature. Cicero is important in literature primarily for his orations and his many writings about oratory and rhetoric. Through his writings Cicero set a pattern in public speaking that is still alive in Western culture. Moreover, on the bases of what he wrote and said and of the viewpoints he held and defended to the point of dying for them, Cicero became historically one of the great advocates of culture and conservatism.

Cicero took ten years to prepare himself as a lawyer before he appeared on behalf of a client in public. He believed that a thorough education is necessary for success in any activity. Some exponents of oratory have averred that manner is everything; Cicero disagreed, believing that matter is as inescapably a factor in oratorical success as manner. In the Orator (46 b.c.e.; English translation, 1776), one of his most mature pieces of writing on the art of oratory, Cicero wrote that his own success, like that of any orator, was more to be credited to his study of the philosophers than to his study of earlier rhetoricians, and that no one can express wide views, or speak fluently on many and various subjects, without philosophy. Although Cicero tried to make a science of rhetoric and saw profit in his own attempts at its systematization, he also realized that no simple set of formulas could ever make a great orator. As he put it, an eloquent person should be able to speak “of small things in a lowly manner, of moderate things in a temperate manner, and of great things with dignity.”

In Cicero’s time, one prevalent style in oratory was the Asian style. In the Asian type, Cicero himself discerned two subtypes, one epigrammatic and euphuistic, dependent on artful structure rather than on importance of content, and the other characterized by a swift and passionate flow of speech in which choice of words for precise and elegant effect was a dominant factor. Cicero found both styles wanting in some degree and built his own style on an eclectic combination of the two.

Fifty-eight speeches by Cicero are still extant, although not all are complete. The number of his speeches is unknown, but more than forty are known to have been lost. Not all the speeches Cicero wrote were delivered; sometimes he wrote them for occasions that did not occur. His second Philippic (44-43 b.c.e.; English translation, 1868) is an example of such a speech. Marc Antony (Marcus Antonius) had been so enraged by Cicero’s first speech against him after the death of Julius Caesar that Cicero’s friends persuaded the orator to leave the city of Rome temporarily. While absent from Rome, living at a villa near Naples, Cicero wrote the second Philippic, which was not spoken in the senate or even published immediately. A copy was, however, sent to Marcus Junius Brutus and Cassius, who enjoyed its invective against their enemy.

Not all of Cicero’s speeches are of equal interest to later readers. His earliest extant oration, containing relatively little of interest, was delivered in a law court on behalf of Publius Quinctius. Cicero appeared for the defense, as he usually did, and spoke against Quintus Hortensius, the greatest lawyer in Rome at the time. Cicero won his case, but it may be difficult to retain interest in a case decided more than two thousand years ago when the stuff of the argument is largely points of law. This speech, however, along with other early efforts, provided Cicero the opportunity to prove himself. He made such a reputation that he was chosen to prosecute Gaius Verres, who had been accused of tyranny and maladministration in Sicily. Once again the famous Hortensius was Cicero’s legal opponent. In the second oration he made against Verres, Cicero managed to produce such overwhelming evidence against the defendant that he went voluntarily into banishment. The evidence included chicanery designed to prevent the case from coming to trial, and even Hortensius could find little to say for the defendant.

Although Cicero had no occasion to deliver five additional speeches he had written for the trial, scholars have judged that they are among Cicero’s best and have found them excellent sources for material about Sicilian government, history, and art. Another of Cicero’s noteworthy speeches is the one given in defense of Aulus Cluentius, who was tried and acquitted on a charge of having poisoned his father-in-law, who had in turn tried a few years earlier to poison Cluentius.

Cicero’s intent was to move his hearers, and his devices to ensure victory in court were not always above reproach, as his speech in defense of Lucius Flaccus indicates. That defendant had been accused of extortion while he was an administrator in Asia, and apparently Cicero could find little to say in his client’s defense beyond impugning the Jews and Greeks who were witnesses against him, members of groups not much in favor in Rome. Also of great interest is Cicero’s defense of Aulus Licinius Archias, a poet of Greek descent whose status as a Roman citizen had been questioned. In this oration Cicero developed a long passage in praise of literature, saying that literature and its creators are of paramount interest to a nation because they afford excellent material for speeches, because they make great deeds immortal by preserving them in writing, and because they give readers a useful and refreshing pastime.

Not all of Cicero’s speeches were intended for courtroom presentation. Some were written for delivery in the senate and some with a view to Cicero’s own benefit. In 58 b.c.e., Cicero was exiled temporarily as a result of his activities in crushing the conspiracy of Catiline. When Pompey recalled him to Rome a year later, he thanked the Roman senate in one speech for his recall, in another he thanked the Roman people generally, and in a third he made a request to the senate for the return of his home, which had been taken over by Clodius for the state.

The most famous of Cicero’s speeches are those he wrote against Marc Antony after the death of Julius Caesar. Cicero, a conservative, had not been favorable to the autocracy of Caesar, and he rejoiced when Caesar was assassinated. During an eight-month period in 44-43 b.c.e., when Marc Antony presumed to try to succeed Caesar, Cicero directed fourteen orations against him. These orations, passionate and sincere, are called the Philippicae (Philippics) for the famous speeches of Demosthenes against Philip, the father of Alexander the Great. In his first speech Cicero spoke with some moderation, referring only to Antony’s public life and appealing to his sense of patriotism. In later speeches, especially the second Philippic, he made various attacks on Antony’s private life, accusing him of almost every conceivable type of immorality. Eventually Antony had his revenge: When he, Lepidus, and Octavianus formed their triumvirate, Cicero was put to death.

Bibliography

Dorey, Thomas Alan, ed. Cicero. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1965. Collection of essays is valuable for its breadth and degree of detail concerning Cicero’s speeches. Topics addressed include Roman politics; Cicero’s political career, speeches, poetry, philosophy, and character; and evaluation of Cicero’s style and form in oration and the oratorical devices he used.

Fantham, Elaine. The Roman World of Cicero’s “De oratore.” New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Presents analysis of Cicero’s dialogue On Oratory (55 b.c.e.; English translation, 1742), in which he discusses his ideas about the ideal orator-statesman. Provides information about Cicero’s return from exile, his response to Plato’s ideas about rhetoric, and his contributions to the development of rhetoric and public education in Rome.

Martyn, John, ed. Cicero and Virgil: Studies in Honour of Harold Hunt. Amsterdam: Adolf M. Hakkert, 1972. Contains six informative, detailed essays on the style, techniques, influence, and philosophy of Cicero’s writings and speeches. An important resource for those pursuing in-depth study of Cicero’s work.

Petersson, Torsten. Cicero: A Biography. 1920. Reprint. New York: Biblo and Tannen, 1963. Remains one of the best general biographies of Cicero available, offering a comprehensive and detailed analysis of the orator’s life, career, orations, and treatises. Includes a thorough and insightful discussion of Cicero’s philosophy and speeches.

Richards, George Chatterton. Cicero: A Study. 1935. Reprint. Whitefish, Mont.: Kessinger, 2008. Brief work provides an accessible introduction to Cicero’s orations. Includes two chapters devoted to his speeches and rhetorical treatises. Discusses the character and technique of the speeches in a concise survey.

Steel, C. E. W. Cicero, Rhetoric, and Empire. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. Examination of Cicero’s political oratory focuses on his ideas about empire. Places Cicero’s attitudes within the context of the debate about Roman imperialism that occurred in the late Roman Republic.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Reading Cicero: Genre and Performance in Late Republican Rome. London: Duckworth, 2005. Analyzes the relationship between Cicero’s writing and his position as a major political figure, arguing that his works are best read within the context of Roman politics.