Catilina - Cicero

3/16/12   Lucius  Sergius  Ca2lina   -­‐  patrician  (but  poor  &  unscrupulous)     -­‐  unsuccessful  run  for  consul  for  63  BC   Marcus  Tullius  Cicero   •  Equestrian  from  Arpinum   •  Defeats  Ca2line  for  consulship  of  63  BC   -­‐  novus  homo   •  Commentariolum  Pe22onis   -­‐  “LiHle  Handbook  on  GeMng  Elected”   -­‐  “Every  day  or  so,  as  you  go  down  to  the  Forum  ,   you  must  repeat  to  yourself  ‘I  am  a  new  man;  I   seek  the  consulship;  this  is  Rome.’”     -­‐  Cicero  lucky  both  opponents  =  scoundrels   (though  nobiles)   Accusa2ons  ag.  Ca2line’s  character:   “Born  in  his  father’s  beggary,  raised  debauching  his  sister,   grown  up  in  civil  slaughter,  his  entry  into  public  life  was   a  massacre  of  Roman  knights.    He  killed  with  his  own   hands  his  sister’s  husband…Marius  Gra2dianus…  Before   our  eyes,  he  drove  him  to  the  tomb  of  Catulus,   mangled  him  there  with  every  torture,  and,  with  a   sword  in  his  right  hand,  holding  the  man’s  hair  in  his   le],  he  severed  the  man’s  neck  as  he  stood  there  alive,   while  rills  of  blood  flowed  between  his  fingers!      Then  he  lived  with  actors  &  gladiators  as  accomplices,   the  former  in  lust,  the  laHer  in  crime  …  He  has  such   impudence,  such  wickedness,  such  skill  &  efficiency  in   lust  that  he  has  raped  children  almost  at  their  parents’   knees.”     OPTIMATES   POPULARES   Cicero  (Equestrian)   Ca2line  (Noble)   Novus  homo   (starts  as  Sullan,  but   soon  turns  populist)     Conserva2ve:   Uphold  power  of   senatorial  elite   Wants  “Concord  of  the   Orders”  (Noble  &  Eq.):   Promises  to  fight  for   agrarian  reform  &  debt   cancella2on   A  would-­‐be  tyrant  using   the  people  for  support  or   a  real  reformer?       We’ll  never  know.   i.e.:  Senate  backed  up   by  leading  equites   1   3/16/12   Ca2line’s  trouble  with  the  law…   • Ini2ally  works  for  Sulla  (inv.  in  proscrip2ons)   – Prosecuted  later  for  torture  &  murder  of  brother-­‐ in-­‐law  Marius  Gra2dianus  during  proscrip2ons   • Prosecuted  for  murder  of  his  own  wife  &  son   • Prosecuted  for  sleeping  with  Vestal  Virgin!   • Prosecuted  for  abuses  while  gov.  of  Africa   AcquiHed:   • Rumor  of  bribery:  “Ca2line  le]  the  court  as   poor  as  some  of  his  judges  had  been  before   the  trial.”     Cicero  (consul)  uncovers  conspiracy   and  denounces  Ca2line  in  the  senate   Ca2linarian  Conspiracy   • 64-­‐63  BC:  Disappointed  Ca2line  plans  a  revolt   • Promises  grain,  land,  money,  and  freedom   from  oppression  of  Senatorial  oligarchy   • Raises  army  outside  of  Rome  &  plans  murder   of  opponents  (incl.  Consul  Cicero)  and  arson  at   Rome  itself   • Who  joined  Ca2line?       Plebs,  Sulla’s  veterans,  and  dishonored  elite  who   had  been  removed  from  Senate   •  Ca2line  flees  to  join  army  outside  Rome   •  Conspirators  le]  behind  are  arrested   •  Sen.  debates  punishment  for  the  captured   -­‐Cicero  (consul  with  SCU)  suggests  death  penalty   -­‐Caesar  argues  against  execu2on    (now  seen  as  revolu2onary  popularis)   -­‐Cato  argues  for  death  penalty     (aligns  self  as  conserva2ve  op2mate)   Cesare  Maccari  (1888):  Cicero  Denounces  Ca2line   2   3/16/12   First  Ca2linarian  (delivered  63,  published  60  BC)     Shame  on  this  age  and  on  its  principles!  The  senate   is  aware  of  these  things;  the  consul  sees  them;   and  yet  this  man  lives.  Lives!  Yes,  he  comes  even   into  the  senate!  He  takes  a  part  in  the  public   delibera2ons;  he  is  watching  &  marking  down  &   checking  off  for  slaughter  every  individual  among   us.  And  we,  gallant  men  that  we  are,  think  that   we  are  doing  our  duty  to  the  Republic  if  only  we   keep  out  of  the  way  of  his  frenzied  aHacks?   You  ought,  O  Ca2line,  long  ago  to  have  been  led  to   execu2on  by  command  of  the  consul.  That   destruc2on  which  you  have  been  long  ploMng   against  us  ought  to  have  already  fallen  on  your   own  head.   What?  Did  not  that  most  illustrious  man,  Publius   Scipio,  in  his  capacity  of  a  private  ci2zen,  put  to   death  Tiberius  Gracchus,  though  Gracchus  was  but   slightly  undermining  the  cons2tu2on?     And  shall  we,  who  are  the  consuls,  tolerate  Ca2line,   openly  desirous  to  destroy  the  whole  world  with   fire  and  slaughter?    There  was—there  was,  I  say—   once  such  virtue  in  this  Republic,  that  brave  men   would  repress  mischievous  ci2zens  with  more   severe  measures  than  they  would  use  against  the   most  biHer  enemy.  We  have  a  resolu2on  of  the   senate,  a  formidable  and  authorita2ve  decree   against  you,  O  Ca2line;  the  wisdom  of  the  Republic   is  not  at  fault,  nor  the  dignity  of  this  senatorial   body.  We,  we  alone—I  say  it  openly—  we,  the   consuls,  are  wan2ng  in  our  duty.   Conspirators  are  Executed,  and…   • Enmity  between  Caesar  and  Cato  is  born   • Ca2line  dies  in  baHle  (a  hero?)   •  Cicero  =  pater  patriae              (father  of  fatherland)   “O  fortunatam  natam  me  consule  Romam!”   “O  Roman  state  most  fortunate  to  be  born   under  my  consulate”   But  Cicero  exiled  in  58  BC…   3