Cicero Defence Speeches

318 Pages·2009·13.01 MB·English

by  Cicero

OXFORD WORLD'S CLASSICS
DEFENCE SPEECHES
MARCUS Tuu. . IUS CICERO (106-43 Be) was the son of a Roman
eques from Arpinum, some 70 miles south-east of Rome. He
rose to prominence through his skill in speaking and his exceptional
success in the criminal courts, where he usually spoke for the
defence. Although from a family that had never produced a Roman
senator, he secured election to all the major political offices at the
earliest age permitted by law. His consulship fell in a year ( 63) in
which a dangerous insurrection occurred, the Catilinarian con
spiracy; by his persuasive oratory and his controversial execution of
five confessed conspirators, he prevented the conspiracy from
breaking out at Rome and was hailed as the father of his country.
Exiled for the executions by his enemy Clodius· in 58 but recalled
the following year, he lost his political independence as a result
of the domination of politics by the military dynasts Pompey and
Caesar. His governorship of Cilicia (sr-so) was exemplary in its
honesty and birness. Always a firm republican, he reluctantly sup
ported Pompey in the Civil War, but was pardoned by Caesar. He
was not let into the plot against Caesar, but was in a sense its inspir
ation, being seen by now as a symbol of the republic. After Caesar's
assassination (44), he supported the young Octavian (the future
emperor Augustus) and led the senate in its operations against Mark
Antony. When Octavian and Antony formed the 'second trium
virate' with Lepidus in 43, Cicero was their most prominent victim;
he met his end with great courage.
Cicero's speeches are models of eloquence and persuasion; and
together with his letters they form the chief source for the history of
the late republic. His philosophical treatises, written in periods
when he was deprived of his political freedom, are the main vehicle
by which Hellenistic philosophy was transmitted to the west. His
prose style raised the Latin language to an elegance and beauty that
was never surpassed.
D. H. BF.RRY is Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of
Edinburgh. He has published an edition of and commentary on
Cicero's Pro Sul!a (Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries,
1996) and a revision of M. L. Clarke's Rhetoric at Rome (Routledge,
1996). A companion volume to this book, Po!itiwl Speeches, is also
published in Oxford World's Classics.
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OXFORD WORLD'S CLASSICS
CICERO
Defence Speeches
Translated mitlz Introductions and Notes I~)'
D. H. BERRY
OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
OXFORD
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
I .ibrary of Congress Cataloging in PubliL"<ltion Data
Cicero, ,\farcus Tullius.
Defence speeches/Cicero; translated with introduction and notes by D. 1-L Berry.
(Oxford world's classics)
Includes bibliographical references.
l. Cicero, ~larcus Tullius---Translations into English. 2. Speeches, addresses, etc.,
Latin-Translations into English. 3. Defense (Criminal proccdurc)--··Romc~·-Sourccs. I.
Berry, 0. H. II. Title. III. o.,J(Jrd world's classics (Oxford University Press)
PA6.107.A41H7 2001 875'.01-dc21 <Kl-040632
ISBN 978-0-19-95.1790-7
3
Typeset in Ehrhardt
by RefincCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk
Printed in Great Britain by
Clays Ltd, St hes pic
To Courtenay and Sarah LatimCJ;
and to the memory ofmy mother

CONTENTS
Acknomledgements IX
Abbreviations
X
Introduction XI
Note on the Translation
XXXI
Note on the Latin Text
XXXV
Select Bibliography
XXXVIII
Chronology xliii
DEFENCE SPEECHES
Pro Roscio Amerino ('For Roscius of Ameria') 3
Pro Murena ('For Murena') 59
Pro Archia ('For Archias')
107
Pro Caelio ('For Caelius') 122
Pro Milone ('For Milo') 162
ExplanatOI:JI Notes
Glossary

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I AM grateful to Professor Jonathan Powell and two anonymous
readers for their comments on my translation of Pro Ardzia.
Special thanks to Douglas Cairns, Ian Gibson, Sunit Jilla, Paul
Knox, Elizabeth Pender, and Perry Savill for their help and friend
ship during the writing of this book. Friends, like manuscripts,
should be weighed not counted.