M. Tullius Cicero, Pro Archia Poeta, Charles Duke Yonge (Translator), 1

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[1]
If there is any natural ability in me, O judges,—and I know how slight that is; or if I have any practice as a speaker,—and in that line I do not deny that I have some experience; or if I have any method in my oratory, drawn from my study of the liberal sciences, and from that careful training to which I admit that at no part of my life have I ever been disinclined; certainly, of all those qualities, this Aulus Licinius is entitled to be among the first to claim the benefit from me as his peculiar right. For as far as ever my mind can look back upon the space of time that is past, and recall the memory of its earliest youth, tracing my life from that starting-point, I see that Archias was the principal cause of my undertaking, and the principal means of my mastering, those studies. And if this voice of mine, formed by his encouragement and his precepts, has at times been the instrument of safety to others, undoubtedly we ought, as far as lies in our power, to help and save the very man from whom we have received that gift which has enabled us to bring help to many and salvation to some.

Pro Archia Poeta. M. Tullius Cicero. Charles Duke Yonge (Translator). London. 1856.

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Current edition Perseus

For A.L. Archias (English) (Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Volume 2. Yonge, Charles Duke, translator. London: Bell, 1856.)

Editions (1)

Pro Archia Poeta Perseus (Cicero. M. Tulli Ciceronis Orationes, Volume 6. Clark, Albert Curtis, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1911.) — 1 focus

[1] 1 si quid est in me ingeni, iudices, quod¹ sentio quam sit exiguum, aut si qua exercitatio dicendi, in qua me non infitior mediocriter esse versatum, aut si huiusce² rei ratio aliqua ab optimarum artium studiis ac disciplina profecta, a qua ego nullum confiteor aetatis meae tempus abhorruisse, earum rerum omnium vel in primis hic A. Licinius³ fructum a me repetere⁴ prope suo iure debet. nam quoad longissime potest mens mea respicere spatium praeteriti temporis et pueritiae memoriam recordari ultimam, inde usque repetens hunc video mihi principem et ad suscipiendam et ad ingrediendam rationem horum studiorum exstitisse. quod si haec vox huius hortatu praeceptisque conformata non nullis aliquando saluti fuit, a quo id accepimus quo ceteris opitulari et alios servare possemus⁵, huic profecto ipsi, quantum est situm in nobis, et opem et salutem ferre debemus.

Commentary

Commentary on Oration For Archias (Select Orations of Cicero (Allen and Greenough's Edition). Greenough, James Bradstreet; Kittredge, George Lyman, editors. Boston, London: Ginn & Company, 1897.) focus

judices , i.e. the members of a special court ( quaestio) established by the Lex Papia (see Introd. to the oration, p.154) to inquire into cases arising under that law.

versatum : cf. the date of the defence of Roscius and the opening passage of that oration.

hujusce rei , i.e. dicendi.

ratio , knowledge, i.e. theoretic acquaintance, contrasted with

exercitatio , practice.

A. Licinius : following the custom of naturalized foreigners, as well as freedmen, Archias had taken the gentile name of his noble friends and patrons, the Luculli. Cicero's motive in always speaking of him by his Roman name is obvious.

inde usque , from as far back as that I say.

principem , master.

rationem , course. For the connection of the meanings of this word, see Vocab.

a quo relates to

huic , which is dat. after

ferre ;

quo relates to

id : surely, to the man himself from whom I have received that whereby, etc.

ceteris , all the rest [of my fellow-citizens], i.e. other than Archias.

alios , some of them.

opem corresponds to

opitulari ;

salutem , to

servare .

M. Tullius Cicero Pro Archia Poeta 1

Charles Duke Yonge (Translator)

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