Political Speeches (Oxford World's Classics)

388 Pages·2006·1.34 MB·English

oxford world’s classics
POLITICAL SPEECHES
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 bc) 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 conspiracy; 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 gover-
norship of Cilicia (51–50) was exemplary in its honesty and fairness.
Always a firm republican, he reluctantly supported 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 inspiration, 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 triumvirate’ 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. Berry is Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of
Leeds. He has published an edition of and commentary on Cicero’s
Pro Sulla (Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries, 1996) and
a translation Cicero: Defence Speeches (Oxford World’s Classics,
2000), to which this book is a companion volume. He lives in Leeds
and the Scottish Borders.
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OXFORD WORLD’S CLASSICS
CICERO
Political Speeches
Translated with Introductions and Notes by
D. H. BERRY
1
3
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© D. H. Berry 2006
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Cicero, Marcus Tullius.
[Speeches. Selections. English]
Political speeches/Cicero; translated with introductions and notes by D. H. Berry.
p. cm.––(Oxford world’s classics)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ).
1. Cicero, Marcus Tullius––Translations into English. 2. Speeches,
addresses, etc., Latin––Translations into English. 3. Rome––Politics
and government––265–30 B.C.––Sources. I. Berry, D. H. II. Title.
III. Series: Oxford world’s classics (Oxford University Press)
PA6307.A4B474 2006 875′.01––dc22 2005020919
Typeset in Ehrhardt
by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk
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ISBN 0–19–283266–2 978–0–19–283266–5
1
To my father
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ix
Abbreviations x
Introduction xi
Note on the Translation xxvi
Note on the Latin Text xxxi
Select Bibliography xxxiv
Chronology xxxix
Maps xli
POLITICAL SPEECHES 1
In Verrem (‘Against Verres’) I 3
In Verrem (‘Against Verres’) II.5 30
De imperio Cn. Pompei (‘On the command of Gnaeus
Pompeius’) 102
In Catilinam (‘Against Catiline’) I 134
In Catilinam (‘Against Catiline’) II 170
In Catilinam (‘Against Catiline’) III 181
In Catilinam (‘Against Catiline’) IV 193
Pro Marcello (‘For Marcellus’) 204
Philippic II 222
Explanatory Notes 271
Glossary 340
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book has long been overdue to my patient publisher. That I
have finally had time to write it, and with the care that it required, is
due entirely to the generosity of two bodies: the University of Leeds,
which granted me a University Study Leave Award in the Human-
ities from September 2003 to January 2004, and the Arts and
Humanities Research Board, which granted me a Research Leave
Award from February to May 2004. I am deeply grateful to both of
them for effectively giving me the year I needed to bring this project
to completion.
I am also grateful to Professor Andrew R. Dyck for letting me
see his list of textual readings and his appendix on the date of In
Catilinam I from his forthcoming Cambridge edition of the Catili-
narians. It should perhaps be pointed out that I have not seen his
edition and he has not seen this book; readers who use both works
together will no doubt discover important differences of opinion
between us. On the subject of editions, I should mention that I have
profited enormously from those of W. K. Lacey, D. R. Shackleton
Bailey, and, especially, J. T. Ramsey on the Second Philippic. If works
of this quality were available for Cicero’s other speeches, my task
would have been much easier––though also perhaps less necessary.
I have often thought while writing this book how lucky I am to be
able to read Cicero in Latin, and to have studied Latin continuously
since the age of 9. It was my father who paid for my education, and it
is therefore fitting that I dedicate this book to him, with love.