Cicero, Classicism, and Popular Culture

247 Pages·2006·3.538 MB·English

by  Marshall Fishwick

Cicero, Classicism,
and Popular Culture
THE HAWORTH PRESS
Other Titles by Marshall W. Fishwick
Great Awakenings: Popular Religion and Popular Culture
Popular Culture: Cavespace to Cyberspace
Popular Culturein a New Age
Probing Popular Culture: On and Off the Internet
Cicero, Classicism,
and Popular Culture
Marshall W. Fishwick, PhD, DPhil
First published by
The Haworth Press, Inc.
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Binghamton, N Y 13904-1580
This edition published 2011 by Routledge
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Cover design by Kerry E. Mack.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fishwick, Marshall William.
Cicero, classicism, and popular culture / Marshall W. Fishwick.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7890-2591-3 (case-13 : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-7890-2591-4 (case-10 : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7890-2592-0 (soft-13 : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-7890-2592-2 (soft-10 : alk. paper)
1. Cicero, Marcus Tullius—Influence. 2. Statesmen—Rome—Biography. 3. Orators—
Rome—Biography.4.Rome—Politicsandgovernment—265-30B.C.5.Rome—Intellectuallife.
6. Civilization, Modern—Roman influences I. Title.
DG260.C5F57 2007
937’.05092—dc22
[B]
2006016529
To Miss Sally Lovelace, scholar, teacher, lovely lady who taught
generations of students Latin, with special attention to Cicero and
Virgil. In thirty years at Roanoke’s Jefferson High School she not
only taught, but inspired, encouraged, and opened our eyes to the
classical world. She made Cicero our lifelong friend.
Alsotomanystudents,pastandpresent,whokeptmeyoung,ques-
tioning, and anxious in and out of class. The gods were generous
when they allowed me to teach and befriend them.
AlsotoBear,Edward,andDylan,whosebarkswarmedmyheart.
Note on Dogs:
Bear, Edward, and Dylan
Marshall loved dogs. When we married in
1995,Ibroughttwodogs(aswellastwodaugh-
ters!) to the marriage: Bear, an Akita-Labrador
mix, and Edward, a golden retriever. Marshall
adored Bear, a handsome, huge, lovable beast,
butwhenBeardiedin1999attheageofthirteen,
Edward, whom we called the happy dog, be-
came, along with Cicero, Marshall’s guide for
how to live the good life and how to age grace-
fully. Edward served as Marshall’s Philosopher
Dogfrom1999untilhisdeathattheripeoldage
of fifteen in 2005.
InSeptember2001weadoptedDylan,alarge
Bear
goldenretrieverpuppy.DylanandEdwardwere
inseparable. Both Dylan and Marshall looked to Edward for guid-
ance.EdwardwastheDaddyDogforDylan,thePhilosopherDogfor
Marshall.BothofthemtookEdward’sdeathinApril2005veryhard,
butDylansteppedintobecomeMarshall’sconstantcompanionfrom
April 2005 until Marshall’s death in May 2006. Dylan was by Mar-
shall’ssideatmeals,whileheworked,andasMarshallsatinhisfa-
voritewingchairlookingoutatthetreesandthesunsetsandcontem-
plating his life. The good life for Marshall and Dylan included
endlessroundsofFrisbee,andwhenMarshallbecametoofrailforthe
sport, he watched Dylan
play with me. When Mar-
shall passed away in the
early morning hours of
May 22, 2006, Dylan was
lying right beside his bed.
Dylan was not mature
enough to take Edward’s
place as the Philosopher
Dog, but he was Mar-
shall’s closest friend dur-
ingthelastyearofhislife. Philosopher Dog, Edward, with Dylan
Remembering Marshall
by Searching for Cicero
InJune1991MarshallgavemeamostunusualgiftasIleftforare-
searchtriptoFranceandItaly:a1970redGuideMichelinforItaly.I
wonderedwhatusethisoutdatedbookcouldpossiblyhave.Ithanked
himandputitonthebookshelf,bemusedbythemanwhowouldbe-
comemyhusbandfouryearslater.IdidnotlookatitagainuntilOcto-
ber 13, 2006, when it miraculously re-emerged while I was going
through Marshall’s books and papers with his son, Jeff, and his
grandson,Jamie.OurbelovedMarshallhaddiedMay22,2006,and
now we were retracing Marshall’s amazing life as we read through
his writings both academic and personal.
Finding the 1970 Guide Michelin was fortuitous, for I had just
agreedtowriteashortmemorialforthisbook.Tapedtothebookwas
alittlenoteonwhichMarshallhadwritten:“MyverybesttriptoIt-
aly—je pense—was in 1970. I couldn’t find the English edition of
Michelin when we went SEARCHINGFORCICERO—one of the great
adventuresofmylife—sowetookthisone,theFrench.”Hecontin-
ued—andthesewords now ringoutloudandclear—“Perhapsyears
hence—onceyouhaveseenmyashespickedupintheDustBuster—
you will take theSAMEadventure—using the very same book.”
I have just embarked upon the Cicero adventure, but not the way
Marshall did, by spending many summers in Italy, as well as a
Fulbright year, but by taking as my guide this long-awaited Cicero
book. Not only Cicero—but also Marshall— comes alive in these
pages, for the book is as much about Marshall as it is about Cicero.
Indeed, on a Fulbright in Italy in 1980, Marshall wrote many com-
mentsinhisdiaryaboutsearchingforCicero,butherealizedthathis
search for Cicero was also a search for himself. He noted “Such a
simple insight: I didn’t come to ‘discover Italy’—but instead MWF
[his initials]!” (April 5 entry) and “SURPRISE! Only superficially is
the ‘search’forCIC—it’s forMWF!” (April 25 entry).
MarshallconcludedtheGuideMichelin’sinscriptiontome:“THIS
ISANHEIRLOOM.TREASUREIT.”AtthetimeIthought,Ishekidding?
It turns out that his words were prophetic, but this book—not the
Guide Michelin—is the heirloom. In so many ways Cicero, Classi-
cism,andPopularCultureisapersonalmemoirintheformofajour-
ney with the author as our guide. Marshall tried to write his mem-
oirs—atmyurging—butnevercompletedthem.Thegenredidn’tsuit
him.Buthedidleaveusthisbook,andIshalltreasureit,aswillhis
family, friends, and colleagues.
IreferredtoMarshall’sdiarytoseewhathehadwrittenaboutthe
summerof1970.Curiously,therewasnothingaboutCicero,butwhat
wasclearwashisloveforbothRomeandItaly.Hewrote:“Andyes,I
DOloveRome...itsspirit,laughter,sweat,andsmells....”Hecon-
tinued:
England bred me—
America trained me—BUT
Rome redeemed me!
So, gentle reader, please join Marshall’s family, friends, and col-
leaguesonanadventureaswejoinMarshallinsearchingforCicero.
And as we read and search, we will remember Marshall.
Ann La Berge Fishwick
October 21, 2006
Blacksburg, Virginia
Marshall: De Amicitia
I first met Marshall in the spring of 1970 when I was in graduate
school.HavingfalleninlovewithMarshall’sdaughter,Susan(Iwas
the TA in one of her classes), I seized every opportunity to be with
her. One day Susan asked me if I would help her dad move some
books.AtthetimeIhadnoideawhoMarshallwasor,moresignifi-
cantly, how many books he had. But if Susan was going to be there
andIwasgoingtomeetherdad,itdidn’tmatter.Ihadalreadymade
upmymindtomarrySusansomeetingherdadandhelpinghimwas
a double stroke of luck. I also quickly learned how much Marshall
loved his children. If you were lucky enough to have been part of
Marshall’slifeyouhaveanideaastotheliftingandhaulingIdidthat
Saturday afternoon. By sundown the structural supports in the stor-
age space over the garage heaved, quivered, and creaked from the
weight.WitheveryboxMarshassuredme,“Justafewmore,Jimbo,
and we’ll be done.” I would respond “the sun’s gettin’low,” and he
would break out inOld Man Rivercomplete with sound effects.
Itwasanunusualandexcitingdayonmanylevels.Movingbooks
was the least of it. I was with Susan. But conversing with Marshall
(nonstop) on topics such as—whether North Carolina was “really”
more Southern than Virginia, sourcing the etymology of the term
“dirt farmer,” the failure of Democratic politics, religion versus the
churchversustheology,therevivalinSouthernhistory,theroleofthe
“newnovel”inAmerica,oldSouthernschools,whyTVismoreim-
portantthanthepress,theinfluenceofpopularmusiconart,theperils
ofgovernmentfundedacademia,RobertE.Lee,whyaPhDwouldbe
betterthanalawdegree,whyregionalstudiesarecriticalforhistori-
ans,theplaceoffastfoodinourculture,whymenneeddogs,theevil-
ness of the Vietnam war, whether the civil rights movement would
survivewoman’s lib,andthenatureoffriendship—woremeout.At
theendof thedayI rememberthinkingtomyself:Whatan interest-
inglycomplexguythisFishwickisandwhatalovelydaughterhehas.
Booksbeganmythirty-sixyearfriendshipwithMarshallandthis,
hislast,helpsbringittoaclose.MyfriendshipwithMarshallwasas
full and rich as any man could ever have asked for. I don’t recall