Origines
Origines (
Contents
According to Cato's biographer
When Cato wrote, there had been four major works devoted to
I do not care to copy out what is on the High Priest's tablet: how many times grain became dear, how many times the sun or moon were obscured or eclipsed.[4]
In his books on the Italian cities, Cato apparently treated each individually and drew upon their own local traditions.[5]
The latter books include at least two of Cato's political orations verbatim, something thought to have been unique in ancient historiography.
History
The Origins is a lost work, with no complete text surviving to the modern day. Its fragments in other works[6] have been collected and translated.
Influence
Ancient authors considered the Origins to have influenced the style of Sallust.[7] Quintilian cites an anonymous epigram that calls him the "great thief of the words of old Cato".[8] Festus felt that the last four books on Rome's rising power "outweighed the rest",[9] but later Roman historians largely disregarded the Origins because it eschewed consular dating[10] and highlighted his own political career so heavily. Though Livy pointedly remarked that Cato was "not the man to minimize his own achievements",[11] his near contemporary Dionysius of Halicarnassus cites Cato's first three books in his history, calling Cato among the "most learned of the Roman historians".[12]
In the present day, the Origins is considered to be the beginning of proper historiography in Latin[2] and considered to have been an important work in the development of Latin literature.
References
Notes
- ^ a b c Cornelius Nepos, Life of Cato, §3.
- ^ a b c d Briscoe (2010).
- ^ Dalby (1998), pp. 14–15.
- ^ Chassignet (1986), Fragment 4.1.
- ^ Cornell (1972).
- ^ Cornell (1988), p. 211.
- JSTOR 1558942.
- ^ Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria. pp. 8.3.29.
- ^ Festus, On the Meanings of Words, p. 198 M.
- ^ Frier (1979), p. 260.
- ^ Livy, History of Rome, XXXIV, xv, 9.
- ^ Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, 1.11.1.
Bibliography
- Badian, Ernst (1966), "The early historians", in T. A. Dorey (ed.), Latin Historians, London
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Briscoe, John (2010), "The Fragments of Cato's Origines", Colloquial and Literary Latin, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 154–160.
- Chassignet, M. (1986), Caton: Les Origines. Fragments, Paris: Collection Budé, Les Belles Lettres
- Cornell, T. J. (1972), The Origines of Cato and the non-Roman historical tradition about ancient Italy. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of London
- Cornell, T.J. (1988). "Rev. of Chassignet, Les Origines (Fragments)". S2CID 163957266.
- Dalby, Andrew (1998), Cato: On Farming, Totnes: Prospect Books, ISBN 0-907325-80-7
- Frier, Bruce W. (1979), Libri Annales Pontificum Maximorum: The Origins of the Annalistic Tradition, Rome: American Academy, ISBN 0472109154.