23. Qua re, etiam si quem habetis qui conlatis signis exercitus regios superare posse videatur, tamen nisi erit idem, qui se a pecuniis sociorum, qui ab eorum coniugibus ac liberis, qui ab ornamentis fanorum atque oppidorum, qui ab 67 auro gazaque regia manus, oculos, animum cohibere possit, 5 non erit idoneus qui ad bellum Asiaticum regiumque mittatur. Ecquam putatis civitatem pacatam fuisse quae locuples sit? Ecquam esse locupletem quae istis pacata esse videatur? Ora maritima, Quirites, Cn. Pompeium non solum propter rei militaris gloriam, sed etiam propter animi continentiam 10 requisivit. Videbat enim praetores locupletari quot annis pecunia publica praeter paucos, neque eos quicquam aliud adsequi classium nomine nisi ut detrimentis accipiendis maiore adfici turpitudine videremur. Nunc qua cupiditate homines in provincias, quibus iacturis et quibus condicionibus 15 proficiscantur ignorant videlicet isti, qui ad unum deferenda omnia esse non arbitrantur? Quasi vero Cn. Pompeium non cum suis virtutibus tum etiam alienis vitiis magnum esse 68 videamus. Qua re nolite dubitare quin huic uni credatis omnia, qui inter tot annos unus inventus sit quem socii in 20 urbes suas cum exercitu venisse gaudeant.

Quod si auctoritatibus hanc causam, Quirites, confirmandam putatis, est vobis auctor vir bellorum omnium maximarumque rerum peritissimus, P. Servilius, cuius tantae res gestae terra marique exstiterunt, ut cum de bello deliberetis, 25 auctor vobis gravior nemo esse debeat; est C. Curio, summis vestris beneficiis maximisque rebus gestis, summo ingenio et prudentia praeditus; est Cn. Lentulus, in quo omnes pro amplissimis vestris honoribus summum consilium, summam gravitatem esse cognovistis; est C. Cassius, integritate, 30. virtute, constantia singulari. Qua re videte ut horum auctoritatibus illorum orationi, qui dissentiunt, respondere posse videamur.

24. Quae cum ita sint, C. Manili, primum istam tuam et 69 legem et voluntatem et sententiam laudo vehementissimeque comprobo; deinde te hortor, ut auctore populo Romano maneas in sententia neve cuiusquam vim aut minas per5 timescas. Primum in te satis esse animi perseverantiaeque arbitror; deinde cum tantam multitudinem cum tanto studio adesse videamus, quantam iterum nunc in eodem homine praeficiendo videmus, quid est quod aut de re aut de perficiendi facultate dubitemus? Ego autem quicquid est in 10 me studii, consilii, laboris, ingenii, quicquid hoc beneficio populi Romani atque hac potestate praetoria, quicquid auctoritate, fide, constantia possum, id omne ad hanc rem conficiendam tibi et populo Romano polliceor ac defero; testorque omnes deos et eos maxime, qui huic loco temploque 70 15 praesident, qui omnium mentes eorum, qui ad rem publicam adeunt, maxime perspiciunt, me hoc neque rogatu facere cuiusquam neque quo Cn. Pompeii gratiam mihi per hanc causam conciliari putem neque quo mihi ex cuiusquam amplitudine aut praesidia periculis aut adiumenta honoribus ao quaeram, propterea quod pericula facile, ut hominem praestare oportet, innocentia tecti repellemus, honorem autem neque ab uno neque ex hoc loco, sed eadem illa nostra laboriosissima ratione vitae, si vestra voluntas feret, consequemur. Quam ob rem quicquid in hac causa mihi 71 15 susceptum est, Quirites, id ego omne me rei publicae causa suscepisse confirmo, tantumque abest, ut aliquam mihi bonam gratiam quaesisse videar, ut multas me etiam simultates partim obscuras, partim apertas intellegam mihi non necessarias, vobis non inutiles suscepisse. Sed ego me hoc 30 honore praeditum, tantis vestris beneficiis adfectum statui, Quirites, vestram voluntatem et rei publicae dignitatem et salutem provinciarum atque sociorum meis omnibus commodis et rationibus praeferre oportere.

INTRODUCTION

TO THE

ORATION ON BEHALF OF AULUS LICINIUS ARCHIAS.

1. THE date of this Oration is only determined with precision by the statement of the Scholiast, that the case of Archias was tried before Cicero's brother Quintus, who was praetor in B.C. 62; but this date is sufficiently borne out by Cicero's own declaration that he hoped to find in Archias the panegyrist of his consulship, which was in the preceding year.

2. Of Archias, in spite of the high eulogy passed by Cicero on his talents, we know nothing except what we gather from this speech. He was a native of Antioch in Syria, and was born about B.C. 120. He appears to have come to Italy at an early age, and, after winning some fame as a poet and improvisatore in the southern towns, he came to Rome in B.C. 102. There he soon gained powerful friends, especially in the family of the Luculli. After a probable sojourn of some ten years in Rome, he made a tour in Sicily with Lucius Lucullus, and on his way home he stopped at Heraclea in Lucania, where he was admitted to the franchise. This entitled him to the benefits of the Lex Plautia Papiria, passed by the tribunes M. Plautius Silvanus and C. Papirius Carbo in B.C. 89. By this law any person enrolled as a citizen in an allied city, (foederata civitas), might claim to be a Roman citizen, provided that at the time when the law was passed he had a domicile in Italy, and that within sixty days he gave in his name to one of the praetors. There seems to be no doubt that Archias had complied with all the requirements,

but the evidence was defective in some points, and this gave a colour to the present suit. In it Archias was charged by one Gratius, who is otherwise unknown, with having illegally claimed the rights of a Roman citizen. If found guilty, he was liable under the Lex Papia, passed in B.C. 65, to summary expulsion from the city.

3. The prosecutor had on his side the facts that no documentary evidence existed of his enrolment as a citizen of Heraclea; and that his name did not appear on the Roman burgess-rolls at any subsequent census. Cicero replies that the archives of Heraclea had been burnt in the Social war, but that their missing testimony was abundantly made good by the evidence of credible and official witnesses. The omission of his client's name from the burgess-rolls of Rome followed necessarily from his absence from the city on each of the three occasions when the census was taken, so that from this fact no conclusion could be drawn. On the other hand, there was the strongest presumption in favour of his claim, partly from the presence of his name in the official list of claimants made by Q. Metellus, the most accurate of praetors, partly from his repeated and unquestioned exercise of many privileges belonging only to a Roman citizen.

4. As the mere question of law gave little scope for eloquence, Cicero devotes the greater part of his speech to a disquisition on the humanizing effects of literary culture, together with a glowing eulogy on his client's genius.

5. Short and light in character, the oration hardly realises the expectations raised by the solemn and elaborate nature of its exordium, and probably it owes its general popularity to the chapters which set forth the advantages of a liberal education.

6. Of the issue of the trial, and the subsequent career of Archias we know nothing. We may reasonably suppose that Cicero's pleading was successful: and from his silence on the subject it is probable the poet's gratitude did not produce a successful epic on the Catiline conspiracy.

M. TULLII CICERONIS

PRO A. LICINIO ARCHIA POETA

ORATIO.

1

1. Si quid est in me ingenii, iudices, quod sentio quam sit exiguum, aut si qua exercitatio dicendi, in qua me non infitior mediocriter esse versatum, aut si huiusce rei ratio aliqua ab optimarum artium studiis ac disciplina profecta, a qua ego nullum confiteor aetatis meae tempus abhorruisse, earum rerum 5 omnium vel in primis hic A. Licinius fructum a me repetere prope suo iure debet; nam quoad longissime potest mens mea respicere spatium praeteriti temporis et pueritiae memoriam recordari ultimam, inde usque repetens hunc video mihi principem et ad suscipiendam et ad ingrediendam 10 rationem horum studiorum exstitisse. Quod si haec vox, huius hortatu praeceptisque conformata, non nullis aliquando saluti fuit, a quo id accepimus quo ceteris opitulari et alios servare possemus, huic profecto ipsi, quantum est situm in 2 nobis, et opem et salutem ferre debemus. Ac ne quis a 15 nobis hoc ita diçi forte miretur, quod alia quaedam in hoc facultas sit ingenii neque haec dicendi ratio aut disciplina, ne nos quidem huic uni studio penitus umquam dediti fuimus ! etenim omnes artes, quae ad humanitatem pertinent, habent quoddam commune vinculum et quasi cognatione quadam 20 inter se continentur.

3

2. Sed ne cui vestrum mirum esse videatur me in quaes