Scholarship

• Scullard, Cicero's connections


  Cicero depended too much on the goodwill of the Optimates because he was a novus homo and had not been an army commander.
• Cadoux, associations


  Crassus associated with neither the reformers or the conservatives. He relied on the power of wealth to obtain subordinates with imperium.
• Cadoux, power


  Crassus' goal was to be the single most powerful man in Rome.
• Cadoux, goal


  Crassus' primary goal was power, and his secondary goal was wealth.
• Scullard, Optimates and Cicero


  They accepted him with reluctance.
• Beard, 63BC


  This year was Cicero's turning point. Things were never again so good for him.
• Tempest, Cicero and Caesar


  Cicero did not hate Caesar as man, but he did hate that he had no desire to restore the Republic.
• Tempest, Cicero's pragmatism


  From 43BC he believed that war was the only way to save Rome from Antony. He did not care if the law was broken to do so.
• Morello, Cicero's letters


  They are an interactive genre, one half of a dialogue.
• Morello, Cicero's letter style


  Focuses on the addressee's persona.
• Stowers, letters


  It is not right to divide Cicero's letters into public and private categories.
• Vasaly, Cicero's ideal oratory


  A means by which the best statesman achieved an ethically virtuous end.
• Vasaly, the point of rhetoric


  Oratory is a tool to manipulate an audience by making them respond to words in a way predetermined by the orator.
• Beard, Verres case


  It launched Cicero's career.
• Beard, Verres speech


  Cicero circulated all of his Verres speeches so as not to waste his work.
• Beard, Verres' behaviour


  The hallmark of Verres' behaviour in Sicily for Cicero was a grotesque combination of cruelty, greed, and lust.
• Beard, judging cases


  It is impossible when only one side of the arguments survive.
• Beard, Cicero's exaggeration


  Cicero certainly exaggerated Verres' wickedness, and there are many cracks in his arguments which are easily exploited.
• Beard, Verres' departure


  Suggests he was indeed guilty.
• Beard, Cicero's rhetoric


  She calls it 'showy' in comparison to the laws Verres was prosecuted under.
• Scullard, Verres trial


  It made Cicero Rome's foremost advocate but also paved the way for further reform.
• Scullard, Cicero's character assassination


  One of the most damning indictments of Roman maladministration is when Cicero deliberately paints a dark picture of Verres.
• Mitchell, Cicero's persuasion


  He valued his provincial connections and was eager to cement them, so he took the case.
• Mitchell, Verres case


  It gave Cicero a good opportunity to exploit the political benefits of such a prosecution.
• Mitchell, Cicero and Verres


  He was not allying himself to any political movement, leader, or faction.
• Warner, Plutarch


  The most insidious feature of the work is the assumption that Caesar had planned from the outset of his career to overthrow the republic.
• Scullard, responsibility


  The civil war was desired neither by Caesar, nor by Pompey, nor by the majority of senators, nor by the bulk of Italy's population. A small optimate clique forced the war.
• Shotter, Caesar's remark


  He remarked that 'the republic is a mere name, without form or substance.' This can be taken to mean that he felt free to do whatever he wanted. It cpuld also mean that he thought there was nothing sacred about the way the government had been carried out.
• Shotter, the conspirators


  Of the twenty known names, 9 had fought with Pompey and 7 with Caesar. This reflects Caesar's problem of trying to satisfy a variety of interests between 48 and 44.
• Beard, Caesar and Pompey


  They had become rivals for autocratic power. They had flouted Republican principles, they had opened up the prospect of one-man rule.
• Beard, civil war


  It was really a war to choose between rival emperors.
• Brunt, Cato


  In his day he was one of the foremost leaders of the nobility.
• Brunt, Cato and the optimates


  He was the most influential leader of the optimates because of his resolution and high birth.
• Brunt, maintaining order


  To maintain order, a concession had to be made. This took the form of Cato, as tribune, extending the grain dole.
• Marin, Cato's integrity


  While the people may have applauded Cato for his moral integrity, this did not translate to votes for his consulship.
• Scullard, Cato's suicide

  His death symbolised the death of the republic.
• Beard, Cato


  He was one of Caesar's most uncompromising enemies.
• Syme, Stoicism


  The Stoic teaching was nothing more than a corroboration and theoretical defence of certain traditional values of the governing class in the Republic.
• Scullard, corruption


  Clodius may have sent Cato to Cyprus because he hoped he would line his pockets through corruption and then be susceptible to prosecution.
• Marin, Clodius and Cato


  Clodius may not have had a grudge against Cato. His gangs did not target him.