Cicero

• Beard: 63BC was the turning point of his career, things were never so good for him again.

• Beard: His career ended in failure.

• Scullard: He relied too much on the goodwill of the Optimates, who accepted him reluctantly

• Tempest: From January 43 onwards Cicero translated his philosophical musings into political pragmatism: war was the only way to save Rome from Antony.

Speeches and letters

• Vasaly: oratory is used to manipulate an audience by playing on their emotions and respond as such

• Stowers: the distinction between private, friendly letters and impersonal letters is misleading

Political Principles

• Tatum: The relationship between Cicero’s public image and his personal principles is complex to say the least, his dignitas explains his efforts to protect and his inclination to glorify his reputation, but it doesn’t mean to disregard his genuine commitment to senatus auctoritas. He has a fairly flexible career.

• Tempest: Cicero did not hate Caesar as a man, he hated the lack of a desire to restore the Republic post-Civil War.

• Morstein-Marx: Caesar’s agrarian reform was an opportunity for the senate to adopt a symbolic leadership and demonstrate its solicitude for the interests of the People - Cicero insists that the senate and leading men of the Republic should always do so

Exile

• Tempest: Cicero hated being away from Rome, and death would have been preferable to exile. But he did leave Rome prior to the passing of the bill.

• Seager: Pompeius had finally decided to sacrifice Cicero.

Post Caesar’s Assassination

• Tempest: Cicero died with his neck out-stretched in defence of liberty and the republic.

• Rawson: The first half of 43BC was Cicero’s heroic period

• Southern: Either Cicero fatally misjudged Octavian, or Octavian put on an incredibly convincing performance. There was never any genuine friendship between the two men.

Verres

• Beard: The case launched Cicero’s career.

• Beard: (For Cicero) Verres’ behaviour was a “grotesque combination of cruelty, greed and lust”

• Beard: Judging a two thousand year old case is impossible

• Scullard: It was an indictment of senatorial government in the provinces, and Cicero became Rome’s foremost advocate but paved the way for further reform.

• Mitchell: Cicero was eager to cement his provincial connections.

Catiline

• Mouritsen: Catiline is the classic example of an indebted aristocrat driven to desperate actions, but an extreme manifestation of wider structural problems in the Republic.

• Parenti: Cicero’s strategy was to demonise and isolate Catiline. He could then by restoring order win the gratitude of the inner circle of senators.

Caesar

Consulship

• Tatum: He had reached this position through “boldness and conventionality”.

• Billows: He could not fail to pass land reforms is he was determined, a trait he never lacked.

• Goldsworthy: The violence was tightly controlled by Caesar and his allies.

• Chrissanthos: violence in front of the temple of Castor and Pollux in the forum in 59BC transformed Rome from a Republic to a monarchy.

Principles and Ambition

• Morstein-Marx: Caesar was first noticed not as a politician, but as a patrician warrior.

• Parenti: If Caesar had been driven primarily by ambition and a lust for power, he would have accepted the chance to be Sulla’s protege by divorcing Cornelia.

• Rawson: Caesar was a great man who stood above the prejudices of his time, but put his own advantage above the ‘safety and honour of his country’.

Clemency and Dictatorship

• Shotter: Caesar felt free to do what he wished, or that there was nothing ‘sacred’ about the tradition of government.

• Scullard: Caesar’s mind may have been moving towards monarchy but an outraged group pf nobles prevented him.

• Parenti: Caesar’s concern was not to lord over the people but to outdo a deeply entrenched oligarchy.

• Morstein-Marx: Caesar’s leniency greatly reduced the benefits to his position, it was a dangerous risk.

Assassination

• Tatum: Caesar’s assassination was in line with traditional political impulses, Caesar had violated the fundamental code of the oligarchy by winning what was meant to be a perpetual contest.

• Shotter: the mixed nature of those involved in the conspiracy reflects Caesar’s problem trying to satisfy a variety of interests in this period.

• Parenti: Caesar was killed because he was a popular leader who threatened their privileged interests.

• Morstein-Marx: Caesar’s assassination was the key moment that would end the republic.

Cato

• Tatum: Cato was a moral force within the Senate.

• Drogula: Cato popularised the idea that he was the most conservative and traditional man in the state.

• Scullard: Cato’s death represented the death of the Republic.

• Goldsworthy: It is not exaggeration to suggest that Cato hated Caesar.

• Parenti: Cato treated the obstacle-ridden procedures of the un-written constitution as chiseled in stone. Cato was capable of infinite flexibility, treating the constitution as expendable.

• Beard: Cato resisted clemency because it was symbolic of monarchy.

Pompey

• Leach: In 56, Pompey was much more concerned with building his own power.

• Seager: Pompey’s best policy was in preserving his relationship with Caesar and Crassus.

• Bradley: Pompey’s career was everything that the oligarchy opposed, yet they were directly responsible for it.

The Outbreak of Civil War

• Seager: Pompey had positioned himself so that he could lead both parties, the optimates looked to him to preserve the order and the eventual removal of Caesar.

• Scullard: Although the technical responsibility of the war was on Caesar, it was neither desired by him or Pompey but a small optimate clique.

• Morstein-Marx: Caesar could see his enemies were offering him a choice between war and humiliation rather than the honour he could reasonably expect.

Amicitia

• Tatum: A ponderous connection, a debt or obligation that matters. Favours often became oppressive. Cicero’s debt to Pompey was infinitely greater, owing him his restoration from exile.

• Steel: Amicitia was a concept with a strong emotional charge.

• Brunt: Cicero’s duty to Pompey and Caesar as friends clouded his view of his public duty.

The First Triumvirate

• Scullard: a turning point in the history of the Republic and the origin of the Civil War.

• Tatum: They each had their own agendas, but none included toppling the state.

• Goldsworthy: Cato had blocked and embittered the two greatest men in Rome and created the opportunity for the triumvirate to form.

• Billows: The triumvirate as a political alliance had been a traditional part of Roman politics.

Politics as a whole

• Morstein-Marx: Populares were not opposed to the Republic.

• Morstein-Marx: The Civil War was competitive politics by other means.

• Mouritsen: The senates role was partly practical and partly symbolic, a unanimous response demonstrated the unity of the elite.