M. Tullius Cicero, Pro Archia Poeta, ed. Albert Curtis Clark, 30

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[30] 12 an vero tam parvi¹ animi videamur esse² omnes qui in re publica atque in his vitae periculis laboribusque versamur ut, cum usque ad extremum spatium nullum tranquillum atque otiosum spiritum duxerimus, nobiscum simul moritura omnia arbitremur? an³ statuas et imagines, non animorum simulacra, sed corporum, studiose multi summi homines reliquerunt⁴; consiliorum relinquere ac virtutum nostrarum effigiem nonne⁵ multo malle debemus summis ingeniis expressam et politam? ego vero omnia quae gerebam iam tum in gerendo spargere me ac disseminare arbitrabar in orbis terrae memoriam sempiternam. haec vero sive⁶ a meo sensu post mortem afutura⁷ est⁸, sive, ut sapientissimi homines putaverunt, ad aliquam animi⁹ mei partem pertinebit¹⁰, nunc quidem certe cogitatione quadam speque delector.

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

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Funding provided by National Endowment For The Humanities (NEH).

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.) — 30 focus

[30]
Do we all who are occupied in the affairs of the state, and who are surrounded by such perils and dangers in life, appear to be so narrow-minded, as, though to the last moment of our lives we have never passed one tranquil or easy moment, to think that everything will perish at the same time as ourselves? Ought we not, when many most illustrious men have with great care collected and left behind them statues and images, representations not of their minds but of their bodies, much more to desire to leave behind us a copy of our counsels and of our virtues, wrought and elaborated by the greatest genius? I thought, at the very moment of performing them, that I was scattering and disseminating all the deeds which I was performing, all over the world for the eternal recollection of nations. And whether that delight is to be denied to my soul after death, or whether, as the wisest men have thought, it will affect some portion of my spirit, at all events, I am at present delighted with some such idea and hope.

Notes on the current edition

Pro Archia Poeta

1. pravi Ee

2. esse om. E

3. an an cum b2 χ

4. reliquerint Manutius

5. nonne non Lambinus

6. sive om. GEea

7. afut. G: abfut. (affut. Ee) cett.

8. est GEea: sunt cett.

9. animi om. cod. Vrsini

10. pertinebunt bp2 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

ubi ( locum ubi)

. . . reficiatur , rel. clause of purpose.

suppetere has for subject the suppressed antecedent of

quod .

posse (with a fut. force), should be able.

contentionem , strain.

ego (emphat.), etc., for my part I admit etc. We should remember that the more old-fashioned of Cicero's contemporaries were still inclined to regard literary and artistic pursuits as frivolous in comparison with the more "truly Roman" professions of war and politics (cf. Aeneid, 6. 847 ff.). Hence it was important for Cicero to show that literature was of practical value to the man of affairs.

his studiis , the study of letters in general, including all varieties of literature, poetry as well as prose.

nullius tempore , etc., the necessities or interests of no one (i.e. as a client).

M. Tullius Cicero Pro Archia Poeta 30

ed. Albert Curtis Clark

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