M. Tullius Cicero, Pro Archia Poeta, ed. Albert Curtis Clark, 4

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[4] quod si mihi¹ a vobis tribui concedique sentiam, perficiam profecto ut hunc A. Licinium non modo non segregandum, cum sit civis, a numero civium verum etiam, si non esset, putetis asciscendum fuisse.

3 nam ut primum ex pueris excessit Archias atque ab eis² artibus quibus aetas puerilis ad humanitatem informari solet, se ad scribendi studium contulit, primum Antiochiae— nam ibi natus est loco nobili—celebri quondam urbe³ et copiosa atque eruditissimis hominibus liberalissimisque studiis adfluenti, celeriter antecellere omnibus ingeni gloria coepit⁴. post in ceteris Asiae partibus cunctaque Graecia⁵ sic eius adventus celebrabantur⁶ ut famam ingeni exspectatio hominis, exspectationem ipsius adventus admiratioque⁷ superaret.

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.) — 4 focus

[4] And if I feel that that indulgence is given and allowed me by you, I will soon cause you to think that this Aulus Licinius is a man who not only, now that he is a citizen, does not deserve to be expunged from the list of citizens, but that he is worthy, even if he were not one, of being now made a citizen. 3
For when first Archias grew out of childhood, and out of the studies of those arts by which young boys are gradually trained and refined, he devoted himself to the study of writing. First of all at Antioch, (for he was born there, and was of high rank there,) formerly an illustrious and wealthy city, and the seat of learned men and of liberal sciences; and there it was his lot speedily to show himself superior to all in ability and credit. Afterwards, in the other parts of Asia, and over all Greece, his arrival was so talked of wherever he came, that the anxiety with which he was expected was even greater than the fame of his genius;—but the admiration which he excited when he had arrived, exceeded even the anxiety with which he was expected.

Notes on the current edition

Pro Archia Poeta

1. mihi om. Ee

2. iis ς: his cett.

3. in urbe Rinkes

4. coepit Ernesti: contigit (-ingit e) codd.

5. cunctaeque Graeciae codd.: corr. Puteanus

6. celebrabatur ap2: celebrantur Eeb

7. admirationemque GEe

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

quaestione legitima : see note on judices, p.154, 1.

severissimos , i.e. before men of the old Roman stamp, who might not be favorably impressed by such praise of literature.

forensi sermone is not used here in its special meaning, "the language of the courts," but in its wider sense, the language of the Forum, i.e. the ordinary tone of practical affairs (the Forum being the centre of Roman business and politics).

ut ... patiamini , a purp. clause in appos. with

veniam (1.25).

hoc concursu , locat. abl. expressing the circumstances; so also

hac vestra humanitate , with men of your cultivation.

hoc praetore : Q. Cicero was himself a poet and man of critical taste.

paulo. . . liberius , with somewhat unusual freedom: § 29 1, a (93, a); B. 240,1; G. 297; H. 498 (444,1); H-B. 241,2.

otium ac studium , a quiet life of study (almost hendiadys); so

judiciis periculisque below.

M. Tullius Cicero Pro Archia Poeta 4

ed. Albert Curtis Clark

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