'Caesar's Commentaries are worthy of all praise; they are unadorned, straightforward, and elegant, every ornament being stripped off as if it were a garment.' --CICERO.
MARCUS PORCIUS CATO, 234-149 B.C.
1. Life.
[Sidenote: CATO.]
For his military and political career, his Consulship (195 B.C.), his famous Censorship (184 B.C.), and his social reforms, see some good history, e.g. Mommsen, vol, iii.
2. Works.
His chief works are:--
(1) His treatise +De Re Rustica+ or +De Agri Cultura+ (his only extant work).--A series of terse and pointed directions following one on another, somewhat in the manner of Hesiod, and interesting 'as showing the practical Latin style, and as giving the prose groundwork of Vergil's stately and beautiful embroidery in the _Georgics_.' --Mackail.
(2) +The Origines.+--'The oldest historical work written in Latin, and the first important prose work in Roman literature.' --Mommsen. Nepos, _Cato_, 3, summarises the contents of the seven books.
Cato struggled all his life against Greek influence in literature and in manners, which he felt would be fatal to his ideal of a Roman citizen.
In a letter to his son Marcus he says _Quandoque ista gens suas litteras dabit, omnia corrumpet_. He was famous for his homely wisdom, which gained him the title of _Sapiens_, e.g. _Rem tene: verba sequentur_--'Take care of the sense: the words will take care of themselves.'
GAIUS VALERIUS CATULLUS, circ. 84-54 B.C.
1. Life.
[Sidenote: CATULLUS.]
Born at Verona, of a family of wealth and position, as is seen from his having estates at Sirmio:--
_Salve, O venusta Sirmio, atque ero gaude_ (C. 31)
and near Tibur: _O funde noster seu Sabine seu Tiburs_ (C. 44). His father was an intimate friend of Caesar. He went to Rome early, where he spent the greater part of his short life,
_Romae vivimus: illa domus, Illa mihi sedes, illic mea carpitur aetas_ (C. 68),
with the exception of an official journey to Bithynia, 57 B.C. to better his fortunes: cf. _Iam ver egelidos refert tepores ... Linquantur Phrygii, Catulle, campi_ (C. 46). After a life of poetic culture and free social enjoyment he died at the early age of thirty, 'the young Catullus,' _hedera iuvenilia tempora cinctus_ (Ovid, _Am._ III. ix. 61).
2. Works.
116 poems written in various metres and on various subjects, Lyric, Elegiac, Epic.
'The event which first revealed the full power of his genius, and which made both the supreme happiness and supreme misery of his life, was his love for Lesbia (Clodia).'--Sellar.
'Catullus is one of the great poets of the world, not so much through vividness of imagination as through his singleness of nature, his vivid impressibility, and his keen perception. He received the gifts of the passing hour so happily that to produce pure and lasting poetry it was enough for him to utter in natural words something of the fulness of his heart. He says on every occasion exactly what he wanted to say, in clear, forcible, spontaneous language.' --Sellar.
'The most attractive feature in the character of Catullus is the warmth of his affection. If to love warmly, constantly, and unselfishly be the best title to the love of others, few poets in any age or country deserve a kindlier place in the hearts of men than "the young Catullus."'--Sellar.
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO, 106-43 B.C.
1. Important Events in Cicero's Life, and chief Works.
[Sidenote: CICERO.]
B.C. 106. Born at Arpinum. Birth of Pompeius.
102. Birth of Quintus Cicero, and of Caesar.
91. Assumes the _toga virilis_. Q. Mucius Scaevola the augur becomes his tutor in civil law. Writes an heroic poem in praise of Marius.
89. Serves his first and only campaign under Pompeius Strabo.
87. Studies Rhetoric at Rome under Apollonius Molo of Rhodes.
81. Delivers his first speech (_causa privata_) +Pro P. Quinctio+.
80. Delivers his first speech (_causa publica_) +Pro S. Roscio Amerino+.
79-7. Studies at Athens and Rhodes. Marries Terentia.
75-4. Quaestor at Lilybaeum in Sicily.
70. The six speeches +In C. Verrem+.
69. Curule Aedile. The +Pro Caecina+.
68. Date of the earliest extant letter.
67. Praetor. The Lex Gabinia.
66. The De Imperio Cn. Pompeii (+Pro Lege Manilia+).
64. Birth of his son Marcus. Marriage of Tullia to C. Piso Frugi.
63. Consul. The four speeches +In Catilinam+. The +Pro Murena+.
62. Cicero hailed 'pater patriae.' The +Pro Sulla+ and +Pro Archia+.
60. Poem 'De consulatu meo.'
59. The First Triumvirate (Caesar, Pompeius, and Crassus). The +Pro Valerio Flacco+.
58-7. Cicero in Exile. The four speeches +Post Reditum+.
56. The +Pro Sestio+ and +De Provinciis Consularibus+ (his recantation).
55. The +De Oratore+ and +De temporibus meis+.
52. The +Pro Milone+. The +De Legibus+: the +De Republica+.
51-50. Proconsul of Cilicia. Is granted a _supplicatio_.
49. Joins Pompeius at Dyrrachium.
47. Becomes reconciled to Caesar.
46. The +Brutus+ and +Orator+.
45. Death of Tullia. The +De Finibus+ and +Academics+.
44. The +Tusculanae Disputationes+: the +De Natura Deorum+: +De Divinatione+: +De Amicitia+: +De Senectute+: +De Officiis+.
+Philippics i-iv.+ 43. +Philippics v-xiv.+ The Second Triumvirate (Antonius, Octavianus, and Lepidus). Murder of Cicero.
2. Works.
(1) +Speeches.+--We possess 57 speeches, and fragments of about 20 more, and we know of 33 others delivered by Cicero.
'As a speaker and orator Cicero succeeded in gaining a place beside Demosthenes. His strongest point is his style; there he is clear, concise and apt, perspicuous, elegant and brilliant. He commands all moods, from playful jest to tragic pathos, but is most successful in the imitation of conviction and feeling, to which he gave increased impression by his fiery delivery.' --Teuffel. Quintilian says of him that his eloquence combined the power of Demosthenes, the copiousness of Plato, and the sweetness of Isocrates.
(2) +Philosophical Works.+--The chief are the _De Republica_ (closed by the _Sommium Sciponis_): the _De Legibus_: the _De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum_: the _Academics_: _Tusculan Disputations_ with the _De Divinatione_: the _De Senectute_ and _De Amicitia_: _De natura Deorum_, and the _De Officiis_.
As a philosopher Cicero had no pretensions to originality. He found the materials for most of these works in the writings of the Greek philosophers. 'I have to supply little but the words,' he writes, 'and for these I am never at a loss.' It was however no small achievement to mould the Latin tongue to be a vehicle for Greek philosophic thought, and thus to render the conclusions of Greek thinkers accessible to his own countrymen.
(3) +Rhetorical treatises.+--The chief are the _De Oratore_ (in 3 Books), perhaps the most finished example of the Ciceronian style: the _Brutus_ or _De Claris Oratoribus_, and the _Orator_ (or _De optime Genere Dicendi_).
(4) +Letters.+--Besides 774 letters written by Cicero, we have 90 addressed to him by friends. The two largest collections of his Letters are the _Epistulae ad Atticum_ (68-43 B.C.) and the _Epistulae ad Familiares_ (62-43 B.C.).