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| Cicero |
It is extraordinary that some speeches
have been recorded and retained. How reliable the history is another matter;
however, the 5th of December 63 BC is
the day on which Marcus Tullius Cicero delivered that last of his four orations
known as the Catiline Orations.
The Catiline Orations or Catilinarian
Orations were speeches given 2075 years ago in 63 BC by Marcus Tullius Cicero, the consul of Rome, exposing to the Roman Senate the plot
of Lucius Sergius Catilina
and his allies to overthrow the Roman government.
Catiline, who was running for the consulship a second time
after having lost the first time around, tried to ensure his victory by
resorting to outlandish, blatant bribery.
Cicero, in indignation, issued a law prohibiting machinations of this kind. It
was obvious to all that the law was directed specifically at Catiline.
Catiline, in turn, conspired with some of his minions to murder Cicero and the
key men of the Senate on the day of the election. Cicero discovered the plan
and postponed the election to give the Senate time to discuss the attempted coup d'état.
The day after the election
was supposed to be held, Cicero addressed the Senate on the matter and
Catiline's reaction was immediate and violent. In response to Catiline's behaviour,
the Senate issued a senatus
consultum ultimum, a kind of declaration of martial law invoked
whenever the Senate and the Roman Republic were in
imminent danger from treason or sedition. Ordinary law was suspended and
Cicero, as consul, was invested with absolute power.
When the election was
finally held, Catiline lost again. Anticipating the bad news, the conspirators
had already begun to assemble an army, made up mostly of Sulla's
veteran soldiers. The nucleus of conspirators was also joined by senators whose
profligate tastes left them perennially without funds. The plan was to initiate
an insurrection in all of Italy, put Rome to the
torch and to kill as many senators as they could.
Through his own investigations, Cicero
knew exactly what was being planned. On 8th November, Cicero called
for a meeting of the Senate in the Temple of Jupiter Stator near the forum,
which was used for this purpose only when great danger was imminent. Catiline
attended as well. It was in this context that Cicero delivered one of his most
famous orations.
As political orations go,
this was relatively short—some 3,400 words—and to the point. The opening
remarks are still widely remembered and used after 2,000 years:
Quo usque tandem abutere,
Catilina, patientia nostra? Quam diu etiam furor iste tuus nos eludet? Quem ad
finem sese effrenata iactabit audacia?
How long, O Catiline, will you abuse
our patience? And for how long will that madness of yours mock us? To what end
will your unbridled audacity hurl itself?
Also remembered is the
famous exasperated exclamation, O tempora, O
mores! (Oh the times! Oh the customs!)
Catiline was present when this speech
was delivered. When he arrived at the Temple of
Jupiter Stator and took his seat, however, the other senators moved
away from him leaving him alone in his bench. Catiline tried to reply after the
speech, but senators repeatedly interrupted him, calling him a traitor. He ran
from the temple, hurling threats at the Senate. Later he left the city and,
though he claimed that he was placing himself in self-imposed exile at
Marseilles, he in fact went to the camp of Manlius, who was in charge of the
army of rebels. The next morning Cicero assembled the people, and gave a
further oration,which he followed up with two more orations.
In his fourth and final
argument, which took place in the Temple of Concordia, Cicero establishes a
basis for other orators (primarily Cato) to argue for the execution of the
conspirators. As consul,
Cicero was formally not allowed to voice any opinion in the matter, but he
circumvented the rule with subtle oratory. Although very little is known about
the actual debate (except for Cicero's argument, which has probably been
altered from its original), the Senate majority probably opposed the death
sentence for various reasons, one of which was the nobility of the accused. For
example, Gaius Julius
Caesar argued that exile
and disenfranchisement would be sufficient punishment for the conspirators.
However, after the combined efforts of Cicero and Cato, the vote shifted in
favour of execution.
While most historians agree that
Cicero's actions, and in particular the final speeches before the Senate, saved
the republic, they
also reflect his self-aggrandisement—and to a certain extent envy—probably born
out of the fact that he was considered a novus homo, a Roman
citizen without noble or ancient lineage. His opening remarks on the day were:
I
see, O conscript fathers, that the looks and eyes of you all are turned towards
me; I see that you are anxious not only for your own danger and that of the
republic, but even, if that be removed, for mine. Your good-will is delightful
to one amid evils, and pleasing amid grief; but I entreat you, in the name of
the immortal gods, lay it aside now, and, forgetting my safety, think of
yourselves and of your children. If indeed, this condition of the consulship
has been allotted to me, that I should bear all bitterness, all pains and
tortures, I will bear them not only bravely but even cheerfully, provided that
by my toils dignity and safety are procured for you and for the Roman people.
This speech was spoken, and the criminals
executed, on the 5th of December 63 BC.
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