The Real Roman World

Reading the First Catilinarian and letters of Cicero have made the uncertainty and insecurity of Rome more real for me than any of my readings of Syme, Wiseman or even Plutarch. The daily anxiety of reassessing relationships would have been almost unbearable. Reading Cicero has caused me to go back and change the section of my Master's thesis where I describe the world in which Catullus wrote.

Orie Byars

Cicero: Prone to Theatrics

As a former theatre geek, my approach to Cicero's orations against Catiline was strange. The speeches were written for the purpose of being spoken. When I read them I pictured how they were presented like I was preparing a scene. When he repeatedly used 'nihil' I heard him saying each one a little bit louder, a little bit faster. There are other moments when the same thing happened as he made lists. He was almost overly dramatic when he spoke as the fatherland. Only half of Cicero's effectiveness was in his actual words. The manner in which he spoke them was what truly did the damage. What we translate is a mere shadow of the actual speech given. It lacks the visual component that lent so much to the meaning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaqXlHfPrqM This video is of a girl performing the speech for her Latin class. There were several others from students. I found it interesting that this seems to be a common project amongst Latin classes.

Jennifer Hambacher

Cicero: Half man, Half amazing

When I first started to read the 1st Catilinarian, i rapidly began to resent Cicero, solely on the fact that I was spending my nights and very early mornings with him on a regular basis. However, when I took a step back and realized the historical significance of what he has provided for us and the volume of work that has survived for over 2000 years, i soon began to appreciate the importance of this man. His enormous contributions to Roman history and the Latin language are unrivaled to this day. As an avid historian, his contemporary accounts on the volatile Late Republic are priceless and provide a vital, although highly biased, into the daily workings in Rome

For me, the most interesting sides of Cicero that i have encountered are the ones presented in his letters. It is rather interesting to truly see how direct of a connection there was between Cicero's death and the death of the Republic. His borderline omniscient prediction of the Republic collapsing when he meets his death, was simply astonishing to see come true. It also seems like he and the Republic share a mental connection. As we progress through the letters, Cicero's mood and general disposition seem to mirror that of the climate in Rome. Although part of me is glad he is dead, as punishment for my late nights, it is a true joy to read historical facts from a true contemporary and to directly follow the decline and fall of the Republic through the man so closely attached.


Brett Collins

Cicero, Maybe He's Not That Bad

I’ve never been a fan of Cicero. To be quite honest, I agree with the removal of Cicero’s hands and head. There might have been cheering when I first learned the most important aspects of the orator were placed on the Rostra. How’s that for irony? I can safely say that a lot of this enjoyment stems from the fact that I’m imperialist and Cicero so clearly represents the republic. Cicero asserts as much in the 1st Catilinarian. When he dies, so does the republic.

So no, I wasn’t excited to be translating Cicero because of my previous thought on the man, but I must admit I enjoy his letters. Mostly those to his friend Atticus. Although they can be a challenge to translate because of their idioms, short hand, and Cicero’s fondness for omitting certain verbs, they’re oddly sobering. Here is a raw, exposed Cicero. I enjoy his jokes and sarcastic remarks to Atticus. I wish to know the other side of this running banter. Now that I’m privy to his personal letters, I’m actually looking forward to translating his treaty on Friendship. What type of friend did this man seek? What character traits where honored above others? How did somebody make a friend when the republic was collapsing? It shall prove interesting to see how Cicero handles friendship when his friendships didn’t always end pleasantly.

Shannon Ness

Cicero and the Forum

Few people actually take the time to think of the origins of their interests. For me, I do find it hard to plot the epicenter of when I fell in love with Latin and the Romans; maybe it was when I met my fiancee Sarah in Rome during a Summer 2006 UF Study Abroad Program, or maybe it was when I took the chance during the Spring of 2006 at UCF in my Roman History course that led me to Rome. I have always loved history, language, and art, but when I first met Cicero's writing/speaking style, I knew I had found a beautiful harmony of all three. My plunge into the Latin language began in the Summer of 2007. In the Fall of 2007 at UCF, I took an intense Latin language course and that course began with a phrase "Vixerunt." "They have lived." The intense, religious, and formal way of saying that someone has just died/been killed. I became familiarized with Cicero's biting wit right then and there, and his ingenuity in getting his point across, and I knew I wanted to learn more about this deeply complex man. Fast-forwarding through quite a bit of my own history, we come to the Spring 2009 at USF, where I've finally enrolled in a strict, focused course on Cicero. It has been such a challenge for me, who was bombarded with so much information so fast during my acquisition of the language, to plunge myself into a daily exercise of an ancient language, and to constantly test myself and my grasp of Latin grammar. This was after almost a year off from institutional Latin. History is all about finding application in the present. Knowing Cicero and his style--especially how he created a sense of space--has given me a greater appreciation for speaking intelligently (and also learning a bit of misdirection!) Anyway, before I actually write an Epic here, I wanted to simply say that being in the Roman Forum for me personally, even though I had not yet been formally introduced to Latin or even Cicero himself, has made me now realize how Cicero's choice of verbs and nouns involving movement, action, and misdirection can re-create the (often) turbulent events he lived through. The busy and bustling Forum is represented beautifully in Cicero's oratory. Applying my knowledge about Cicero and Latin now back to nearly three years ago when I was in Rome only reaffirms my determination to "master" Latin and continue to pursue my passion for history and its application in our own turbulent and changing time. If only we could go back to see how Cicero's booming and majestic voice would have projected in the Senate House--or in the sprawling and bustling Forum; for now, we'll have to settle for the imagery he conjures with his words.

Cicero-1, Catiline-0

I translated Cicero during Latin IV in Spring 2008 and I have to admit: I did not like him. However, I can honestly say that I thoroughly enjoyed translating the First Catilinarian and as a result, I have a greater appreciation for Cicero's sentence construction and I am finally beginning to understand not only his style, but rhetoric.

While we were translating the First Catilinarian, I was required to read selections from Gregory Aldrete's, "Gestures and Acclamations in Ancient Rome" for another class. The first two chapters of this book are amazing because they illustrate the hand gestures that would have been employed by orators and the significance behind them. While translating Cicero's powerful invective, I constantly referenced Aldrete to see what Cicero may have been utilizing. It was nice to visualize the interconnection between gesture and rhetoric first hand...no pun intended!

I highly recommend Aldrete's book and as for Cicero: My fondness for him is growing.

Anne Leon

What Has Cicero Done for me Lately?

While I have found Cicero's letters to arduous at times, I have also found it very interesting to see the personality of the man is exposed in his more personal letters to Quintus and Atticus. At the end of the day, Cicero is a person just as the rest of us with his owns fears, worries, and personal interests. He is trying to survive in very difficult circumstances and that is something with which I am very much able to understand.

As with the letters from Seneca we translated last year, Cicero addresses themes about the human condition that are relevant regardless of time and space. As with the rest of us, he is trying to understand how to get the most out of his life and do things which not only make him happy, but also allow him to leave a legacy for those around him.

Chris Copley

The Struggles of Learning the Language

We as Latinists are forever conscientious about grammar and syntax when we are doing our translations. In our particular field the misplacement of a pronoun, mistranslation of a verb's tense, or the misuse of a participle can (and has in my instance) turned the wonderful diction of a Ciceronian law speech into an incomprehensible mess that surely would not have bode well for his client. When I read this article shortly after Barack Obama's inauguration I laughed at how sometimes, we who might sometimes strive to be too literal, can also be petty. At the same time this also illustrates the symbolic nature that language takes on, and that at times the only way to truly understand the significance of a particular nuance in say Cicero is by as literal a translation as possible. Nevertheless you ought to find this interesting and humorous as I did.
Asa A. Cabbage

the link is http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/opinion/22pinker.html?_r=1&scp=4&sq=john+roberts&st=nyt