PREFACE. It is thought that the speeches in this volume may form a good introduction to the study of Cicero's Orations. Each of them is fairly easy in itself, and they illustrate very different phases of Cicero's career. In the action against Verres he appears in the character, very rare with him, of a public prosecutor, and he argues his case with the close reasoning of a man who has a strong position, combined with the reserve which is forced upon him, not by any considerations of mercy for the defendant, but by the necessity for economizing time. In the defence of Archias, on the contrary, he indulges not only in personal panegyric, but in general discussions which bear but little on the matter in hand. Though his case is put clearly enough, its technical merits contribute but a small portion to the subject of the speech, which is therefore interesting rather from a literary than a legal point of view. The speech de Imperio Gnaei Pompeii was the first political harangue which Cicero delivered from the Rostra, and it raised him at once to a high position among the statesmen of the day. His estimate of Pompey's character and capacity, if somewhat biassed and intensified by party feeling, is powerfully placed before his audience, and it is little wonder that a speech so skilfully arranged and so eloquently expressed should always have been a general favourite. The Ninth Philippic Oration, on the other hand, delivered within a few months of Cicero's death, is comparatively little known. It is hoped that the insight which it gives us into the warmth of Cicero's feelings for his personal friends, and the simple unaffected eulogy on Sulpicius which it contains, will justify its place in this selection. The text of the Orations is mainly taken from the edition of Cicero's works by Baiter and Kayser. It has not been thought desirable in an edition of this kind to dwell much on varieties of reading, and the notes are devoted mainly to explanation and illustration. Grammatical references are made exclusively to Madvig's Latin Grammar. Much help has been obtained for the notes on the Orations de Imperio Cn. Pompeii and pro Archia from the German editions of Richter and Halm, and in the case of the former from those of Benecke and Gossrau. OXFORD, PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF B.C. CICERO. 106. Birth of Cicero at Arpinum, Jan. 3. 91. Cicero assumed the 'toga virilis.' 81. Cicero delivered his first oration, pro P. Quinctio. 79. Cicero went to study philosophy and rhetoric at Athens. 77. Marriage of Cicero to Terentia. 75. Cicero quaestor in Sicily. 70. Action against Gaius Verres. 69. Cicero aedile. 66. Cicero praetor. Speech de Imperio Cn. Pompeii. 64. Marriage of Tullia to C. Piso. 63. Cicero consul. Catiline conspiracy. 61. Trial of A. Licinius Archias. 58. Cicero exiled. 57. His recall from exile. 56. Second marriage of Tullia, to Furius Crassipes. 53. Cicero elected augur. 51. Cicero proconsul in Cilicia. 50. Supplicatio in honour of Cicero. Third marriage of Tullia to P. Cornelius Dolabella. 49. Cicero returned to Rome, but retired to Greece when Caesar crossed the Rubicon. 47. Cicero was reconciled to Caesar, and returned to Rome. 45. Marriage of Cicero to Publilia, and their divorce. Death of Tullia. 44. Death of Caesar. Cicero delivered the First, Third, and Fourth Philippic Orations, and published the Second. 43. The remaining Philippic Orations. Cicero murdered at Formiae, Dec. 7. |