1. OCCASION AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF DELIVERY.

The poet Archias was a Greek by nationality, born at Antioch, then the chief city of Syria, about 119 B. C. He received

what was considered a liberal education, and early developed a remarkable facility in poetic composition. He was especially gifted as an improviser, being able to compose and recite verses off hand with great skill. As the unsettled state of affairs in his native city gave little encouragement to the arts, while yet a youth he started out to visit the Greek towns in Asia Minor and Greece. Everywhere his talents received enthusiastic recognition. After a time he crossed over to Southern Italy, where public honors were conferred upon him by the citizens of Tarentum, Regium, Neapolis, and perhaps Locri.

In 102 B. C. Archias came to Rome. Here he was soon on terms of intimacy with many prominent men; for the educated Romans of this period as a rule cultivated a taste for Greek literature. But his chief patrons were the Luculli.1 After he had been at Rome for some time he accompanied M. Lucullus on a journey to Sicily; on the way back he was honored with the citizenship of Heraclea. In 89 B. C. a law (Lex Plautia Papiria) was passed which conferred Roman citizenship on the citizens of such Italian towns as possessed formal treaty relations with Rome. In order to become Roman citizens under this act, the inhabitants of the favored cities must be able to fulfil two conditions: they must possess a settled place of residence in Italy, and within sixty days must give their names to one of the Roman praetors holding office at the time. Archias complied with these conditions, and for twenty-seven years his standing as a Roman citizen was unquestioned.

At this time a common way of annoying public men was to attack their friends. Lucius Lucullus, who had taken Archias with him on his Asiatic campaigns, was still a man of influence, It was apparently rather to vex him 1 See Vocab.

but had bitter enemies.

than to disturb Archias that in 62 B. C. a man named Gratius attempted to invalidate the poet's claim of Roman citizenship. Cicero undertook the defence of the case partly no doubt to accommodate Lucullus, partly to discharge an obligation he felt under to Archias. At the trial Quintus Cicero, the orator's brother, presided, being praetor. The case for the prosecution was extremely weak. It rested mainly on the assumption that the poet's citizenship of Heraclea could not be estab lished, because the records of that city had perished; and on the fact that his name did not appear on the lists of the Roman census, where it would naturally be registered. But the orator brought forward witnesses whose testimony took the place of the missing records of Heraclea, and easily explained the omission of the poet's name from the census lists. The argument for the defence was irrefutable.

As a piece of legal argument, the speech for Archias is less to the point than would be tolerated in a plea before a modern court. Very likely when Cicero wrote it out for publication he cut down the technical portion, dealing with the facts, eliminating such details as would detract from the interest of the reader, but did not reduce the more attractive matter of the latter part, concerning the relation of literary pursuits to the public welfare, and the services of Archias in extending the glory of Rome. A Roman court allowed the presentation of a wider range of matter in sustaining a point than would now be considered in place; and certainly the orator strengthened his case by showing that the interests of his client were in a measure the interests of the State, whose duty it should always be to favor those who promote literature. The singular charm of this oration lies in its expression of universal sentiment regarding literature, particularly poetry, in a well-nigh faultless style, which at times approaches the manner of the essay. Its genuineness has been attacked, but without success; nothing could be more Ciceronian.

Exordium.

Partitio.

Narratio.

2. OUTLINE of the ORATION FOR ARCHIAS.

INTRODUCTION.

Obligation of the orator to undertake the defence of Archias. The character of the case, requiring treatment out of the ordinary. CHAP. I. ; II., first part.

It will be proved that Archias is a Roman citizen; that if he were not, he ought to be. II., end.

Birth, fame, travels of Archias; his reception at Rome; his enrolment as a citizen at Heraclea, then at Rome. III.; IV., first part.

Confirmatio.

nesses.

DISCUSSION.

A. Proof that Archias is a Roman citizen.

IV.,

1. Proof of enrolment as a citizen at Heraclea by witmiddle.

2. Proof of residence and registration at Rome by the concentration of his interests there, by the presence of his name on a praetor's register, and by the recognition of his standing as a citi zen in various transactions. IV., end; v.

B. Proof that Archias ought in any case to be a Roman citizen. 1. The promotion of literature a matter of general interest: a. Indebtedness of the orator to literature for both ideals and

inspiration. VI.

Refutatio. b. Refutation of the objection that there have been great men who were not versed in letters. VII., first part.

c. Universal appreciation of literature.

first part.

VII., latter part; VIII.,

2. The special claims of Archias as a poet :

a. Veneration due to poetic genius. VIII., latter part.

b. His treatment of national themes. IX., first part.

c. Precedents from the cases of Ennius and Theophanes. IX.,

end; x.

d. Fame an incentive and reward of deeds; future services of Archias in magnifying the Roman name. XI.; XII., first part.

CONCLUSION.

Conclusio. a. Summary of evidence. XII., middle.

b. Appeal for a sympathetic consideration of the case. XII.,

latter part.

v. THE ADDRESS OF THANKS FOR THE PARDON OF MARCELLUS.

I. OCCASION AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF DELIVERY.

Marcus Claudius Marcellus belonged to the most distinguished of the plebeian branches of the great Claudian gens. Nothing is known of his early life except that from boyhood he was a warm friend of Cicero. He was curule aedile in 56 B. C., and consul in 51. During his consulship, being an ardent partisan of Pompey, he manifested the most bitter hatred toward Caesar. The latter had recently settled a colony at Comum, in Cisalpine Gaul, conferring special privileges upon the inhabitants; Marcellus caused a prominent native of the place to be publicly flogged at Rome, simply in order to bring Caesar's authority into contempt. As the relations between Pompey and Caesar became more and more strained, Marcellus was less vehement, and tried to delay the inevitable outbreak of hostilities; failing in this attempt, he lent a halfhearted support to the side of Pompey, whom he joined in Epirus. After the battle of Pharsalus he retired to Mytilene and devoted himself to his favorite studies, oratory and philosophy, remaining there in voluntary exile.

After Caesar had gained the supreme power, his leniency toward his former enemies was a matter of surprise to all. In accordance with his usual policy he paid no attention to Marcellus, who resisted the urgent advice of Cicero to ask the dictator's pardon. Meanwhile Marcellus's friends were active in his behalf. At length in the summer of 46, at a meeting of the Senate, Gaius Marcellus, a brother of Marcus, threw himself at Caesar's feet and implored the forgiveness of the exile, being joined in his supplication by many of the senators. Caesar, having commented on the hatred Marcellus had borne him, and on the danger to himself in freely allowing his ene