M. Tullius Cicero, Pro Archia Poeta, Charles Duke Yonge (Translator), 18

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[18] How often have I seen this man. Archias, O judges,—(for I will take advantage of your kindness, since you listen to me so attentively while speaking in this unusual manner,)—how often have I seen him, when he had not written a single word, repeat extempore a great number of admirable verses on the very events which were passing at the moment! How often have I seen him go back, and describe the same thing over again with an entire change of language and ideas! And what he wrote with care and with much thought that I have seen admired to such a degree, as to equal the credit of even the writings of the ancients. Should not I, then, love this man? should I not admire him? should not I think it my duty to defend him in every possible way? And, indeed, we have constantly heard from men of the greatest eminence and learning, that the study of other sciences was made up of learning, and rules, and regular method; but that a poet was such by the unassisted work of nature, and was moved by the vigour of his own mind, and was inspired, as it were, by some divine wrath. Wherefore rightly does our own great Ennius call poets holy; because they seem to be recommended to us by some especial gift, as it were, and liberality of the gods.

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.) — 18 focus

[18] quotiens ego hunc Archiam vidi, iudices,—utar enim vestra benignitate, quoniam me in hoc novo genere dicendi tam diligenter attenditis—quotiens ego hunc vidi, cum litteram scripsisset nullam, magnum numerum optimorum versuum de eis¹ ipsis rebus quae tum agerentur² dicere ex tempore, quotiens³ revocatum eandem rem dicere commutatis verbis atque sententiis! quae vero accurate cogitateque scripsisset, ea sic vidi probari ut ad veterum scriptorum laudem perveniret⁴. hunc ego non diligam, non admirer, non omni ratione defendendum putem? atque⁵ sic a summis hominibus eruditissimisque accepimus, ceterarum rerum studia ex⁶ doctrina et praeceptis et arte constare, poetam natura ipsa valere et mentis viribus excitari et quasi divino quodam spiritu inflari⁷. qua re suo iure noster ille Ennius sanctos appellat poetas, quod quasi deorum aliquo dono atque munere commendati⁸ nobis esse videantur⁹.

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

novo genere : such praise of letters was, of course, an innovation on the formal proceedings of a Roman court.

quotiens , etc.: given as a remarkable instance of the poetical improvisation illustrating the

celeritas mentioned in § 17 .

revocatum [ hunc], subject of

dicere . The encore was a common Roman practice, as with us.

sic , this (referring to the indir. disc. that follows).

Ennius : the father of Latin poetry. He was born at Rudiae in Magna Graecia ( B.C. 239), but wrote in Latin. His principal work was the Annales, an epic poem upon Roman history, lost except for a few fragments.

M. Tullius Cicero Pro Archia Poeta 18

Charles Duke Yonge (Translator)

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