Review: Cicero Orations

It is difficult to get a real grip on history, on the times that have gone before us, by just reading through a modern analysis of what happened, who was involved and what, if any, the repercussions of a particular action were. Biographies of famous figures, accounts of battles, famous crimes and trials, political landmarks tend to be viewed from a distant place, from a modern point of view. To really be able to appreciate an event, often many centuries after it occurred, a reader or student needs to be able to place themselves in that time, to immerse themselves in a society which has possibly disappeared from the face of the earth. We, living in these times, can hardly visualize what it must have been like to live in a major city, a hamlet, on the seas two centuries, let alone many thousands of years ago.

Fortunately we still have many original manuscripts available to us which were written as events took place. We have opinions penned as they were formed, laws as they were legislated, events as they unfolded captured on paper – or the Internet – which show us not just the social living standards of a particular time, but also give us an insight into a different world. The orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 – 43 BCE) are an exceptional example of such works.

Photo Credit: pppspics – Creative Commons

Cicero was a Roman orator, a lawyer, politician and philosopher who lived during times of great upheaval for the Roman Empire. The empire had expanded its borders to become the most powerful nation on the known earth and imposed a form of law which survives – in somewhat altered forms – down to this day. Many of the writings and enactments from over two thousand years ago survive to this day, but few of them bring the modern reader as much insight, as much pleasure as those of Cicero. His four orations attacking Lucius Sergius Catilina (In Catilinam) and his defence of Lucius Licinius Murena (Pro Murena) are rhetorical works of almost sublime quality. The flow across the page and into the reader’s mind as if Cicero himself is speaking to us in person. His eloquence seems almost unmatched, his skills as an orator of the highest quality, his intelligence and understanding of complicated legal arguments as much as of ways to win a jury over are more than convincing. The reader is taken into the Forum, into the Senate where Cicero proclaims guilt or innocence in his arguments for and against these two men, where he belittles their defenders and prosecutors alike with subtlety alongside seemingly outrageous exaggeration.

The modern reader is taken into the depths of a corrupt, warmongering system intent upon its own survival at all costs, intent on preserving the way of life that has been built up over hundreds of years, intent on keeping its borders and the city of Rome itself free to continue along that path which we now know to have been one of eventual destruction. We learn of the infighting for power, the levels of bribery, the pride and arrogance of certain classes within the empire, within Rome, as one group jostles with another for a larger portion of power and influence. We learn how families have neared the brink of ruin, how names and reputations have been created through war or political activity, how individuals have taken up the reins of leadership for good or bad, and see in glorious detail how they succeed, how they fail. It is possible to recognize the infighting, the rivalry, jealousy and hungering after power and fame, riches and position as if it were our own, modern society.

That Cicero was a master of rhetoric is enforced by these speeches. That he was one of the foremost orators of his time, that his keen knowledge and speaking style convinced and influenced the ways of the Roman people come across in these orations as if they are being performed live on the modern stage. The collected orations in this work can only enhance the reputation of the man himself, despite the passage of time, and bring us a lasting impression of life and vitality no modern-day analysis can hope to rival.

Published by Harvard University Press (Loeb Classical Library). ISBN 978 0 674 99356 7.

• Viktoria Michaelis.

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