Speech on Behalf of Publius Sestius

Speech on Behalf of Publius Sestius PDF Author: Marcus Tullius Cicero
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780199283033
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 532

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Book Description
"Cicero defended Publius Sestius against a charge of public violence in early March, 56 B.C.E., intending to discharge the obligation he owed for Sestius's efforts as tribune the previous year to win his restoration from exile. Because Cicero based his defence on an ample account of recent Roman political history and a 'survey' of the commonwealth's current condition, it is among the longest of his extant speeches. It is also arguably the most important of his political speeches that survive from the nearly two decades separating the Speeches against Catiline and the Second Philippic." "Though Cicero of course did not know it at the time, it was to be his last significant public performance as an independent political agent before the upheaval that followed Caesar's murder; in little more than a month Caesar and Pompey would meet at Luca, and Cicero would be kept on a short leash until the outbreak of civil war. The speech's account of recent history and of the men who made it provides any student of Rome with a full and fascinating way into the period. Because so much of the account concerns public meetings, demonstrations, and outbursts of violence, it is highly pertinent to the current debate on the place of the crowd in Rome in the late Republic'; more generally, the speech - with its energy, drama, and broad scope - is among the best introductions we have to traditional Republican values and ethics in action. This new translation and commentary make this important text accessible to a new generation of readers."--BOOK JACKET.

Speech on Behalf of Publius Sestius

Speech on Behalf of Publius Sestius PDF Author: Marcus Tullius Cicero
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780199283033
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 532

Get Book Here

Book Description
"Cicero defended Publius Sestius against a charge of public violence in early March, 56 B.C.E., intending to discharge the obligation he owed for Sestius's efforts as tribune the previous year to win his restoration from exile. Because Cicero based his defence on an ample account of recent Roman political history and a 'survey' of the commonwealth's current condition, it is among the longest of his extant speeches. It is also arguably the most important of his political speeches that survive from the nearly two decades separating the Speeches against Catiline and the Second Philippic." "Though Cicero of course did not know it at the time, it was to be his last significant public performance as an independent political agent before the upheaval that followed Caesar's murder; in little more than a month Caesar and Pompey would meet at Luca, and Cicero would be kept on a short leash until the outbreak of civil war. The speech's account of recent history and of the men who made it provides any student of Rome with a full and fascinating way into the period. Because so much of the account concerns public meetings, demonstrations, and outbursts of violence, it is highly pertinent to the current debate on the place of the crowd in Rome in the late Republic'; more generally, the speech - with its energy, drama, and broad scope - is among the best introductions we have to traditional Republican values and ethics in action. This new translation and commentary make this important text accessible to a new generation of readers."--BOOK JACKET.

The War for Gaul

The War for Gaul PDF Author: Julius Caesar
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 069121669X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
"Imagine a book about an unnecessary war written by the ruthless general of an occupying army - a vivid and dramatic propaganda piece that forces the reader to identify with the conquerors and that is designed, like the war itself, to fuel the limitless political ambitions of the author. Could such a campaign autobiography ever be a great work of literature - perhaps even one of the greatest? It would be easy to think not, but such a book exists -and it helped transform Julius Caesar from a politician on the make into the Caesar of legend. This remarkable new translation of Caesar's famous but underappreciated War for Gaul captures, like never before in English, the gripping and powerfully concise style of the future emperor's dispatches from the front lines in what are today France, Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland. While letting Caesar tell his battle stories in his own way, distinguished classicist James O'Donnell also fills in the rest of the story in a substantial introduction and notes that together explain why Gaul is the "best bad man's book ever written"--A great book in which a genuinely bad person offers a bald-faced, amoral description of just how bad he has been. Complete with a chronology, a map of Gaul, suggestions for further reading, and an index, this feature-rich edition captures the forceful austerity of a troubling yet magnificent classic - a book that, as O'Donnell says, 'gets war exactly right and morals exactly wrong.'" -- Front jacket flap

Writing Imperial History

Writing Imperial History PDF Author: Bram ten Berge
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 0472221248
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 425

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Book Description
The late first- and early second-century Roman senator and historian Cornelius Tacitus, whom Edward Gibbon described as “the first of the historians who applied the science of philosophy to the study of facts,” shaped the development of the modern understanding of history as a crucial vehicle for social analysis. The breadth of his thinking is fully revealed only through analysis of how the political, geographical, and rhetorical theories expounded in his early works influenced his later narrative of the evolution of the Roman monarchy. Tacitus, who was one of the oratorical luminaries of his time, produced a collection of works widely recognized as offering the most authoritative account of Rome’s early imperial history. His oeuvre traditionally is divided into the so-called minor and major works. Writing Imperial History offers the first comprehensive analysis of Tacitus’ five texts and their interconnections and serves to confront longstanding assumptions that have led to a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature and development of his oeuvre and historical thinking. Tracing many of the enduring themes and concerns that Tacitus explores across his works, the book shows how the vision articulated in his earlier texts persists in his later ones and how he used the former as sources for the latter.

Cicero and the Rise of Deification at Rome

Cicero and the Rise of Deification at Rome PDF Author: Spencer Cole
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107656354
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
This book tells a part of the back-story to major religious transformations emerging from the tumult of the late Republic. It considers the dynamic interplay of Cicero's approximations of mortals and immortals with a range of artifacts and activities that were collectively closing the divide between humans and gods. A guiding principle is that a major cultural player like Cicero had a normative function in religious dialogues that could legitimize incipient ideas like deification. Applying contemporary metaphor theory, it analyzes the strategies and priorities configuring Cicero's divinizing encomia of Roman dynasts like Pompey, Caesar and Octavian. It also examines Cicero's explorations of apotheosis and immortality in the De re publica and Tusculan Disputations as well as his attempts to deify his daughter Tullia. In this book, Professor Cole transforms our understanding not only of the backgrounds to ruler worship but also of changing conceptions of death and the afterlife.

The Invention and Gendering of Epicurus

The Invention and Gendering of Epicurus PDF Author: Pamela Gordon
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 0472118080
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
How a study of anti-Epicurian discourse can lead us to a better understanding of the cultural history of Epicurianism

Pompey, Cato, and the Governance of the Roman Empire

Pompey, Cato, and the Governance of the Roman Empire PDF Author: Kit Morrell
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191071250
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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Book Description
Provincial governance under the Roman republic has long been notorious for its corrupt officials and greedy tax-farmers, though this is far from being the whole story. This book challenges the traditional picture, contending that leading late republican citizens were more concerned about the problems of their empire than is generally recognized, and took effective steps to address them. Attempts to improve provincial governance over the period 70-50 BC are examined in depth, with a particular focus on the contributions of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey) and the younger Marcus Porcius Cato. These efforts ranged well beyond the sanctions of the extortion law, encompassing show trials and model governors, and drawing on principles of moral philosophy. In 52-50 BC they culminated in a coordinated reform programme which combined far-sighted administrative change with a concerted attempt to transform the ethos of provincial governance: the union of what Cicero called 'Cato's policy' of ethical governance with Pompey's lex de provinciis, a law which transformed the very nature of provincial command. Though more familiar as political opponents, Pompey and Cato were united in their interest in good governance and were capable of working alongside each other to effect positive change. This book demonstrates that it was their eventual collaboration, in the late 50s BC, that produced the republic's most significant programme of provincial reform. In the process, it offers a new perspective on these two key figures as well as an enriched understanding of provincial governance in the late Roman republic.

The Year of Julius and Caesar

The Year of Julius and Caesar PDF Author: Stefan G. Chrissanthos
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421429713
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 201

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Book Description
How Caesar's attack on Bibulus marked the beginning of the end of the Roman free state and the descent of the Republic into violence and civil war. The year 59 BC—when Gaius Julius Caesar and Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus served as joint consuls—marked a major turning point in the history of the Roman Republic. It was a dramatic and momentous time of political intrigue, bloodshed, and murder, one that boasted some of the most famous personalities ever to grace the Roman historical stage. Arguing that this pivotal year demands extended study, Stefan G. Chrissanthos's The Year of Julius and Caesar is the first focused investigation of the period. Chrissanthos uses a single event as his centerpiece: the violent attack orchestrated by Caesar and the "First Triumvirate" on Bibulus and his followers in the Forum on April 4. Before that day, he reveals, 59 had been a typical year, one that provides valuable insight into Roman government and political gamesmanship. But the assault on Bibulus changed everything: the consul retired to his house for the rest of the year, allowing Caesar and his allies to pass legislation that eventually enabled Caesar to take complete control of the Roman state. This detailed reconstruction draws on archeological and literary evidence to describe a watershed year in the history of the late Roman Republic, establish an accurate chronology, and answer many of the important historical questions surrounding the year 59. Written in an engaging and accessible style, The Year of Julius and Caesar will appeal to undergraduates and scholars alike and to anyone interested in contemporary politics, owing to the parallels between the Roman and American Republics.

Community and Communication

Community and Communication PDF Author: Catherine Steel
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191636568
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
Community and Communication: Oratory and Politics in Republican Rome brings together nineteen international contributions which rethink the role of public speech in the Roman Republic. Speech was an integral part of decision-making in Republican Rome, and oratory was part of the education of every member of the elite. Yet no complete speech from the period by anyone other than Cicero survives, and as a result the debate on oratory, and political practice more widely, is liable to be distorted by the distinctive features of Cicero's oratorical practice. With careful attention to a wide range of ancient evidence, this volume shines a light on orators other than Cicero, and considers the oratory of diplomatic exchanges and impromptu heckling and repartee alongside the more familiar genres of forensic and political speech. In doing so, it challenges the idea that Cicero was a normative figure, and highlights the variety of career choices and speech strategies open to Roman politicians. The essays in the volume also demonstrate how unpredictable the outcomes of oratory were: politicians could try to control events by cherry-picking their audience and using tried methods of persuasion, but incompetence, bad luck, or hostile listeners were constant threats.

Written Space in the Latin West, 200 BC to AD 300

Written Space in the Latin West, 200 BC to AD 300 PDF Author: Gareth Sears
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1441161627
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
This volume explores the creation of 'written spaces' through the accretion of monumental inscriptions and non-official graffiti in the Latin-speaking West between c.200 BC and AD 300. The shift to an epigraphic culture demonstrates new mentalities regarding the use of language, the relationship between local elites and the population, and between local elites and the imperial power. The creation of both official and non-official inscriptions is one of the most recognisable facets of the Roman city. The chapters of this book consider why urban populations created these written spaces and how these spaces in turn affected those urban civilisations. They also examine how these inscriptions interacted to create written spaces that could inculcate a sense of 'Roman-ness' into urban populations whilst also acting as a means of differentiating communities from each other. The volume includes new approaches to the study of political entities, social institutions, graffiti and painting, and the differing trajectories of written spaces in the cities of Roman Africa, Italy, Spain and Gaul.

Brill's Companion to Roman Tragedy

Brill's Companion to Roman Tragedy PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004284788
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 472

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Book Description
Until the Renaissance the centrality of Roman tragedy in Western society and culture was unchallenged. Studies on Roman Republican tragedy and on Imperial Roman tragedy by the contributors have been directing the gaze of scholarship back to Roman tragedy. This volume has two goals: first, to demonstrate that Republican tragedy had a far more central role in shaping Imperial tragedy than is currently thought, and quite possibly more important than Classical Greek tragedy. Second, the influence of other Roman literary genres on Roman tragedy is greater than has formerly been credited. Studies on von Kleist and Shelley, Eliot and Claus help reconstruct the ancient Roman stage by showing how moderns had thought to change it for contemporary aesthetics.