Ancient Rome: An Introductory History (42 page)

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Rome was not ready for the rule of one man who was above the law or outside it. Another decade of ruinous civil wars made the Romans and Italians more receptive to one-man rule.

Latin Literature of the Late Republic

In addition to his military and other achievements, Caesar was one of the great authors of the late republic. His
Gallic Wars
has already been discussed. We also have his
Civil Wars
, the account of his campaigns in Spain, Greece, Africa, and Asia. His other works, which have not survived, included a treatise concerning linguistics,
De analogia
(which he dedicated to Cicero); a poem,
Iter
, and, in response to an encomium on the martyred Cato by Cicero, an attack on Cato,
Anticato
, which served only to further canonize Cato. Caesar's styleclear, simple, and elegantwas praised by no less demanding a critic than Cicero.

Lucretius (94-?55
B.C.
) wrote a poem in epic style on the philosophy of Epicureanism, entitled
De rerum natura
(On the Nature of Things). His grand and majestic poetry reflects how passionately he felt for his subject. We are told that he was driven insane by a love potion that his wife had given him, after which he committed suicide. Since only fragments of early Latin epic survive, Lucretius' poem also provides examples of the archaizing and grandiloquent speech of early Latin epic; later Latin epic poetry falls under the sway of Alexandrianism.

The poetry of Catullus (84-?54
B.C.
) is very different from Lucretius' grand epic. Like many other young poets of the age (called
novi poetae
, "new poets," also "neoterics"), Catullus avoided writing long poems about heroes and their deeds or about Roman history, another favorite topic for early Latin epic. Instead, Catullus and the
novi poetae
chose for their models the poetry of the Alexandrian scholars, especially Callimachus, with his emphasis on smaller poems featuring charm, cleverness, polish, and learned and literary allusions. Other Alexandrians popular among the Romans were Aratus, Apollonius of Rhodes (author of the
Argo-nautica
), and Theocritus. Catullus' poetry, much of it written in lyric meters, usually concerns the poet's own feelings: his passionate love (and hatred) for ''Lesbia," who may have been Clodia,

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the sister of the tribune Clodius; his feelings for his friends, ranging from affection to betrayal and rejection; his literary tastes and disputes; his grief at the death of his brother; his humor and simple joy in life. Most Romans saw little use for such personal poetry, as it did not glorify Rome and its great men or instruct people for moral improvement; consequently Catullus refers to his poetry as
nugae
(trifles) or
versiculi
(little verses). His
nugae
, however, exercised a profound influence not only on later Latin poets, but also on European poetry.

The historian Sallust (86-35
B.C.
) wrote two monographs that have survived:
Bellum Catilinae
, about the conspiracy of Catiline, and
Bellum Iugurthinum
, about Rome's war with Jugurtha. Briefly a partisan of Caesar, Sallust revealed his bias against the nobles in his
Bellum Iugurthinum
in particular. He also wrote
Histories
, a lost work. He may have been the author of
Invectiva in Ciceronem
(an attack on Cicero) and
Epistulae ad Caesarem senem
(letters of political advice to the dictator). Sallust rejected the oratorical style of the day, instead modeling his style on the great Greek historian Thucydides; he was a major influence on the historian Tacitus.

With the murder of Cicero in the political strife following Caesar's assassination, Rome lost one who is arguably its greatest literary figure, and one of the greatest literary figures in Western literature. His greatest contributions were in oratory, for it was by his ability to give a good speech and sway an audience that he overcame his origins as a novus homo and rose in Roman politics. He is regarded as the greatest orator of ancient Rome. Fifty-eight of Cicero's speeches survive, some only in part, and forty-eight more have been lost; without a doubt, he delivered still more that were never recorded for posterity. His most famous speeches are
In Catilinam, Pro Caelio, In Verrem, Philippicae, Pro Archia, Pro Cluentio
, and
Pro Sestio
. Any student wanting to learn how to write a good speech should study Cicero's use of the periodic style, phrasing, diction, rhythm, manipulation of the audience's emotions, treatment of the subject at hand, and humor (Cicero was famous among the ancient Romans for his quick wit and sharp tongue). He also wrote books on rhetoric and the art of giving a good speech, including
Brutus, De oratore, Orator
, and
De inventione

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Cicero also wrote philosophy. Although not a particularly original thinker, he did write works with significance for ethics and life's situations. These include
De officiis
(Concerning Duties),
De amicitia
(Concerning Friendship),
De senectute
(Concerning Old Age),
De republica
(Concerning the Republic), and
Tusculanae quaestiones
(Tusculan Disputations). Cicero also wrote some poetry, fragments of which survive. He even wrote an epic poem about his consulship (
De consulatu
), and he is derided for the infamous line, "O fortunatam natam me consule Romam" (O Rome that became lucky when I was consul!). Cicero's reputation for poetry suffers because he is judged by those who followed him, such figures as Vergil, Horace, Propertius, Ovid, and Tibullus; it is a rare poet who does not suffer in such company. Cicero had the ability to manipulate the Latin language, but his special talent lay in prose, not poetry. Cicero's last contribution to literature was unintentional, for eight volumes of his letters to friends, family members, and other persons have survived. Cicero did not know that many of his letters would be published someday, and thus he showed both his more private side and his true opinions of many important Romans of his time. For the student of the Latin language, Cicero's letters also give an example of how educated Romans of the day talked, for many of the letters are informal, chatty, and gossipythe exact opposite of most Latin poetry and oratory.

Cicero's influence on Latin and Western literature was enormous. Generations of orators and writers in Europe have turned to Cicero for models of good speaking and writing. He set the standard for eloquence.

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Chapter 22
Renewed Civil War and the Rise of Octavian

Caesar had predicted that the republic would be plunged into civil war upon his death, and he was right, for the conspirators had made no plans for changing Roman government so that future generals would not seize power. Without a fundamental change in Roman government, one could expect only a repeat of the previous sixty years of government, the only change being in the generals' names.

Their hands smeared with Caesar's blood, the conspirators left the terrified Senate and went to the Capitol, showing the frightened citizens their daggers and informing them that liberty had been restored. Many citizens were not pleased, however, and even threatened the conspirators, who then barricaded themselves on the Capitol. The conspirators feared also the Caesarians Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony), who was consul, and Marcus Lepidus, who was outside the city but in possession of an army and who had been Caesar's master of the horse. Hearing of Caesar's murder, Lepidus returned that night and filled the Forum with his soldiers; Antonius, meanwhile, had received Caesar's cash along with state papers and documents from his widow Calpurnia.

When assurances had been given by Antonius and Lepidus that they would not kill the assassins, and by the assassins that Caesar was their sole target, Antonius convened the Senate in the Temple of Tellus. Heeding Cicero's calls for peace, the two sides reached an agreement: Amnesty was granted to Caesar's assassins, but Caesar's actsincluding those he had merely planned, which were recorded in his state papersreceived blanket ratification. The ratification of Caesar's acts was crucial, for they granted land to

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Coin issued by Brutus after the assassination of Caesar. The Latin EID
MAR means "the Ides of March"; the cap between the daggers is a
pileus, worn by former slaves after being set free. (Courtesy of the
American Numismatic Society)

Caesar's veterans, thousands of whom were present in Rome; the Senate did not want to further antagonize them after the unavenged murder of their beloved general. Antonius further passed a law that abolished the dictatorship. Caesar's acts also allotted provinces for the year 43: Macedonia to Antonius, Cyrene to Cassius, Crete to M. Brutus, Syria to Dolabella, Asia to Trebonius, and Gaul to Decimus Brutus. After reaching that agreement, Antonius and the conspirators even had dinner together. M. Brutus then made a big mistake: He allowed Antonius to plan Caesar's funeral. Here is what happened at the funeral, where the contents of his will were announced:

In his will Caesar had given 75 drachmas to each Roman man, and had left to the people his gardens across the river, where the Temple of Fortune now stands. Then an amazing feeling of goodwill and longing for him took hold of the citizens. Then, when Caesar's body was brought into the Forum, Antonius gave the funeral speech, as is the custom in Rome, listing in full all of Caesar's accomplishments. As he noticed that his speech was touching the hearts of the crowd, he changed his tone to pity; he grabbed Caesar's clothes and showed them, stained with blood, to the crowd, while pointing out the gashes and great number of wounds. One could see then that there was not going to be order any longer: Some

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people shouted to kill the murderers, while others brought up benches and tables from the workshops into the Forum and, as happened to Clodius the demagogue years earlier, made a huge funeral pyre and set fire to it. They set the corpse on it, in the middle of the temples, shrines, and sacred places. As the fire blazed, some brought forth half-burned torches and scattered in all directions to burn down the houses of Caesar's murderers. (Plutarch,
Brutus
XX.2)

"A Great and Beautiful Deed, But Incomplete"

Fearing the violence of the mob, which went out in search of the conspirators, Brutus and the others fled for their lives. They were right to be afraid, for one man named Cinna, who had had nothing to do with the assassination, was mistaken for a Cinna who had been a conspirator and was torn to pieces by the mob. Caesar's veterans were said to be plotting to kill Brutus. As
praetor urbanus
, Brutus was supposed to remain in the city, but the consul Antonius, probably happy to remove any future obstruction to his own ambitions, allowed him to leave. He and Cassius left Rome, ostensibly for their provinces, Crete and Cyrene, long before their terms were to begin.

As consul, Antonius had possession of Caesar's will, which had received blanket ratification by the Senate. Antonius saw this as a blank check and proceeded to insert his own wishes among Caesar's decrees. Thus he sold exemptions from taxes, freed communities from tribute, and recalled exiles, all in the name of Caesar, benefiting others and enriching himself. He is said also to have stolen a prodigious amount of money from the Temple of Ops.

Nor did Antonius stop with satisfying his tremendous greed, which paid for his parties with actresses, mimes, and jugglers (not polite company for the Roman aristocracy and middle class). He surrounded himself with an armed guard of six thousand men, which was illegal inside the pomerium. He kept armed soldiers inside the Forum and Temple of Concord, and passed laws in disregard of the auspices and through the use of violence. At one point he summoned the Senate to a meeting, with the warning that he would consider those not in attendance to be plotting against him. He then forced a law to be passed that, contrary to Caesar's

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