Cicero Lines 1-10 - Analysis

◇ = Analysis of Latin || ✪ = Context

Cleomenes left the port in a quadrireme¹ from Centuripae;

✪1: quadriremi: a ship with four banks of oars and the Roman equivalent of a modern battleship.

Cleomenes left the port in a quadrireme from Centuripae²;

✪2: Centuripina: Centuripae was one of eight towns in Sicily which were liberae et immunes (free and exempt from taxation). The fact that people from Tauromenium (modern Taormina), another of the eight towns, were excused from supplying a ship indicates that Cleomenes had illegally commandeered this ship from the Centuripans.

Cleomenes left³ the port in a quadrireme from Centuripae; a ship followed³ from Segesta,

◇3: egreditur … sequitur: both historic present tenses. They are used by Cicero to make readers/listeners visualise the scene more vividly. The setting is also enhanced because he put both verbs at the beginning of their respective sentences.

Cleomenes left the port in a quadrireme from Centuripae; a ship followed from Segesta⁴,

✪4: Segestana: Segesta was another of the eight towns exempt from taxation, but it seems to have been forced to supply a ship.

a ship followed from Segesta, then a ship from Tyndaris, Herbita, Heraclia, Apollonia and Haluntium⁵,

◇5: Segestana navis, Tyndaritana, Herbitensis, Heracliensis, Apolloniensis, Haluntina: the way Cicero has strung out this list of ships is deliberate to show the shambolic way the ships follow Cleomenes.

a fleet outstanding⁶ in appearance,

◇6: praeclara: this word is placed emphatically in front of the noun, rather than in its normal position which should be afterwards. Cicero’s positioning of the description reveals his sarcasm and to contrast what should have been the fleet’s splendour in relation to the descriptions that follow.

a fleet outstanding in appearance⁷, but helpless⁷ and powerless⁷ on account of the dismissal of the marines and rowers.

◇7: in speciem .. inops et infirma: the weakness of the fleet is emphasised by the assonance of in- and is used in contrast to its leading description praeclara (see note 6)

a fleet outstanding in appearance, but helpless and powerless on account of the dismissal⁸ of the marines and rowers.

✪8: dimissionem: this would be a very lucrative source of illegal gain for Verres, as he would be keeping the money sent from Rome to pay for those who should be serving in the navy, but also accepting the bribes from those he is threatening to recruit into the navy (although they should be exempt by treaty) unless they paid him otherwise.

a fleet outstanding in appearance, but helpless and powerless on account⁹ of the dismissal of the marines⁹ and rowers.

◇9: propter … propugnatorum: deliberate assonace to draw attention

In the course of his power that careful¹⁰ praetor only saw his fleet for as long as it took to sail past his most scandalous banquet;

◇10: diligens: sarcasm

In the course of his power that¹¹ careful praetor¹¹ only saw his fleet for as long as it took to sail past his most scandalous banquet;

◇11: iste praetor: the inclusion of the demonstrative pronoun iste is derogatory, especially in a law court. The insertion of praetor is to indicate without any possibility of confusion that Cicero is referring to Verres.

In the course of his power that careful praetor only saw his fleet for as long as it took to sail past his most scandalous¹² banquet;

◇12: flagitiosissimum: the use of the superlative, containing the triple sibilance of ‘s’ and the assonance of the four short ‘i’s, emphasise the scandalous nature of the banquet.