M. Tullius Cicero, Pro Archia Poeta, ed. Albert Curtis Clark, 14

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[14] nam nisi multorum praeceptis multisque litteris mihi ab adulescentia suasissem nihil esse in vita magno opere expetendum nisi laudem atque honestatem, in ea autem persequenda omnis cruciatus corporis, omnia pericula mortis atque exsili¹ parvi esse ducenda, numquam me pro salute vestra in tot ac tantas dimicationes atque in hos profligatorum hominum cotidianos impetus obiecissem². sed pleni omnes sunt³ libri, plenae sapientium voces, plena exemplorum vetustas; quae iacerent in tenebris omnia, nisi litterarum lumen accederet⁴. quam multas nobis imagines non solum ad intuendum verum etiam ad imitandum fortissimorum virorum expressas scriptores et Graeci et Latini reliquerunt! quas ego mihi semper in administranda re publica proponens animum et mentem meam ipsa cogitatione hominum excellentium conformabam.

Pro Archia Poeta. M. Tullius Cicero. ed. Albert Curtis Clark. Oxford. 1911.

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Current edition Perseus

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

Translations (1)

For A.L. Archias Perseus (Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Volume 2. Yonge, Charles Duke, translator. London: Bell, 1856.) — 14 focus

[14] For if I had not persuaded myself from my youth upwards, both by the precepts of many masters and by much reading, that there is nothing in life greatly to be desired, except praise and honour, and that while pursuing those things all tortures of the body, all dangers of death and banishment are to be considered but of small importance, I should never have exposed myself, in defence of your safety, to such numerous and arduous contests, and to these daily attacks of profligate men. But all books are full of such precepts, and all the sayings of philosophers, and all antiquity is full of precedents teaching the same lesson; but all these things would lie buried in darkness, if the light of literature and learning were not applied to them. How many images of the bravest men, carefully elaborated, have both the Greek and Latin writers bequeathed to us, not merely for us to look at and gaze upon, but also for our imitation! And I, always keeping them before my eyes as examples for my own public conduct, have endeavoured to model my mind and views by continually thinking of those excellent men.

Notes on the current edition

Pro Archia Poeta

1. exilia GEe

2. coniecissem Halm

3. sunt omnes Ee χ sapientium Gep: sapientum cett.

4. accenderet Ee χς

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

multorum , i.e. great minds whose thoughts have found expression in literature.

multis litteris , wide reading .

nihil esse , etc., these doctrines had been the commonplaces of philosophy and letters for hundreds of years before Cicero wrote, and to the cultivated Roman they took the place which with us belongs to the ethical teachings of sacred literature.

parvi , of slight account: § 417 (252, a); B. 169,4; G. 379, 380, 1; H. 448 (404); H.-B. 356, 1.

exemplorum , i.e. examples of heroism and virtue recorded in literature. The moral education of the ancients consisted largely in the study of the lives of eminent men of past ages.

accederet , were thrown upon them..

M. Tullius Cicero Pro Archia Poeta 14

ed. Albert Curtis Clark

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