politics of the late republic secondary lit

Scullard on In Verrem

Cicero deliberately paints a dark picture of Verres

Beard on significance of In Verrem

Verres’ trial launched Cicero’s career, as he spectacularly defeated the line-up of established lawyers and orators.

Beard on presentation of Verres

For Cicero, the hallmark of Verres’ behaviour was a grotesque combination of cruelty, greed, and lust; for cash, women, and artwork.

Stowers on register of Cicero’s letters

to divide Cicero’s letters into “warm, personal, spontaneous, artless, common-private-friendly letters and impersonal, conventional, artificial, literary letters is extremely misleading.

Morello on recurring ideas in Cicero’s letters

the intense and recurring focus on the addressee’s persona gives them both the epistolary quality and their artistic complexity alike.

Morello on style of Cicero’s letters

they anticipate and answer and maintain an apparent realism and seek to minimise the sense of geographical separation between writer and addressee

Brunt on Cato as an Optimate

Cato was one of the foremost leaders of the nobility

Scullard on Cato’s ideals

Cato’s death symbolised the death of the republic

Beard on relationship with Caesar

Cato was one of Caesar's most uncompromising enemies

Beard on Cato’s idealism

Cicero once said of Cato, ‘he talks as if he were in the republic of plato when in fact he is in the crap of Romulus’

Syme on stoicism

Roman stoicism was just a theoretical defence of the Roman Aristiocracy’s traditional values.

Marin on Cato’s idealism

Although people admired Cato for his morality, this didn’t translate into votes.

Scullard on Concordia Ordinem

Caesar hit the nail on the head when, seeing the Optimate dead, he exclaimed, ‘They wanted this’. It was the Optimates who forced the war to start; neither Caesar nor Pompey nor the Senate nor the people wanted civil war.

Tempest on cum dignitae otium

Cicero placed great focus on war as the only way to save the Republic from Antony

Scullard on Cicero

He depended too much on the goodwill of the Optimates

Tempest on Cicero and Caesar

he did not hate the dictator as a man. But he did hate the fact that Caesar had no desire to restore the Republic.

Vasaly on Cicero’s oratory

Cicero saw oratory as a means by which an ethically virtuous end, the preservation of the concordia ordinum, could be achieved.

Vasaly on Cicero’s oratory

Oratory is a tool for manipulating the audience’s emotions, to make them respond in the way the orator wants.

Beard on the first triumverate

It was not such a complete takeover … there were all types of strains, disagreements and rivalries between them.

Tempest on Caesar as a reformist

Caesar had completely parted from the path of tradition.

Warner on Caesar

It would be wrong to suggest that Caesar set out to overthrow the Republic. His social and financial circumstances meant he had to be daring and ambitious if he was going to have a career.

Brunt on Caesar

Caesar was driven by ambition and avarice, which was the cause of the Republic’s downfall.

Beard on Caesar and Pompey

Pompey and Caesar had become rivals for autocratic power, flouting republican principles and opening up the prospect of one-man rule

Beard on opposition to Caesar

There was no unified affront to Caesar; rather, there was a group of individuals who disliked him for one reason or another

Paterson on Caesar

Caesar crossed the Rubicon to save himself and restore his dignitas, not to save the Republic.

Scullard on the first triumvirate

The first triumvirate was the ultimate cause of civil war in 49BC.

Paterson on politics

Personality, not policy, counted most in late Republic politics

Brunt on optimates vs populares

There was an optimate party only when there was a popular threat to senatorial control. Populares came forward only at intervals, generally to carry some particular measure

Scullard on optimates vs populares

There was an optimate party only when there was a popular threat to senatorial control. Populares came forward only at intervals, generally to carry some particular measure