Philippicae

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about Cicero's Philippics. For the general concept, see Philippic.
Cicero's Philippics, 15th-century manuscript, British Library

The Philippics (

Philippics. Cicero's Second Philippic is styled after Demosthenes' On the Crown
.

The speeches were delivered in the aftermath of the assassination of Julius Caesar, during a power struggle between Caesar's supporters and his assassins. Although Cicero was not involved in the assassination, he agreed with it and felt that Antony should also have been eliminated. In the Philippics, Cicero attempted to rally the Senate against Antony, whom he denounced as a threat to the Roman Republic.

The Philippics convinced the Senate to declare Antony an

proscribe
Cicero in revenge for the Philippics. Cicero was hunted down and killed soon after.

Political climate

Cicero was taken by surprise when

Trebonius, one of the conspirators, began, "How I wish that you had invited me to that most glorious banquet on the Ides of March!"[3]

Caesar had used his dominant position simply to appoint his supporters to

Roman constitution
and left Caesar's supporters, known as the Caesarian faction, vulnerable to their appointments being declared illegal by the Senate. Following the assassination, the Caesarians sought to legitimise their positions and to take revenge on the assassins.

With the Caesarians and supporters of the assassins deadlocked in the Senate, Cicero brokered a compromise: he arranged for the Senate to confirm Caesar's appointees in their posts and in exchange issue an amnesty for the assassins. This brought an uneasy peace between the factions, though it would last less than a year.

Cicero became a popular leader during the subsequent months of instability. He was opposed by

will
. Cicero made it clear that he felt Antony was misrepresenting Caesar's wishes and intentions for his own gain.

Octavian, Caesar's adopted son and heir, arrived in Italy in April and visited Cicero at his villa before heading to Rome. Sensing an opportunity, Cicero encouraged Octavian to oppose Antony.[4] In September Cicero began attacking Antony in a series of speeches that he called the Philippics in honour of his inspiration, Demosthenes' speeches denouncing Philip II of Macedon
. Cicero lavished praise on Octavian, calling him a "god-sent child", claiming that the young man desired only honour and would not make the same mistakes as Caesar had.

During the period of the Phillippics Cicero's popularity as a public figure was unrivalled. He was appointed

plebeian to hold the position. Cicero's attacks rallied the Senate to firmly oppose Antony, whom he called a "sheep". According to the historian Appian, for a few months Cicero "had the [most] power any popular leader could possibly have".[4]

Speeches

The fourteen speeches were:

Analysis

The first two speeches mark the outbreak of the enmity between Mark Antony and Cicero. It is possible that Cicero wanted to invoke the memory of his successful denunciation of the

Catiline conspiracy
; at any rate, he compares Mark Antony with his own worst political opponents, Catiline and Clodius, in a clever rhetorical manner.

In the 3rd and 4th speeches, of 20 December 44, he tried to establish a military alliance with Octavian; the primary objective was the annihilation of Mark Antony and the restoration of the res publica libera – the free republic; to reach this goal, he favoured military means unambiguously.

As the Senate decided to send a peace delegation, in the 5, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th speeches, he argued against the idea of an embassy and tried to mobilise the Senate and the Roman People to war.

In the 10th and 11th, he supports a military strengthening of the republicans Brutus and Cassius, but he was successful only in the case of the first one.

In the 12th, 13th and 14th, he wanted to wipe out any doubt against his own war policy. After the victory over Mark Antony, in the last speech he still warns against a too prompt eagerness for peace.

Consequence

Cicero’s attacks on Antony were only partially successful and were overtaken by events on the battlefield. The Senate agreed with most (but not all) of Cicero's proposals, including declaring Antony an

second triumvirate
, in opposition to Caesar's assassins. With the triumvirate controlling almost all of the military forces, Cicero and the Senate were left defenceless.

Immediately after legislating their alliance into official existence (for a five-year term with consular imperium), the triumvirate began proscribing their enemies and potential rivals. Cicero was proscribed, as was his younger brother Quintus Tullius Cicero (formerly one of Caesar's legati), and all of their supporters.[citation needed] They included a tribune named Salvius, who had sided with Antony before switching his support to Cicero. Octavian reportedly argued for two days against Cicero being added to the proscription list, but the triumvirs eventually agreed to each sacrifice one close associate (Cicero being Octavian's).[7]

Most of the proscribed senators sought to flee to the East, particularly to Macedonia where two more of Caesar's assassins,

Formiae in a litter heading for the coast, from where he hoped to embark on a ship to Macedonia.[8] He submitted to a soldier, baring his neck to him, suffering death and beheading. Antony requested that the hands that wrote the Philippics also be removed. His head and hands were publicly displayed in the Roman Forum to discourage any who would oppose the new Triumvirate
of Octavian, Mark Antony, and Lepidus.

References

  1. ^ Cicero, Ad Atticus, 2.1.3
  2. ^ Cicero, Second Philippic Against Antony
  3. ^ Cicero, Ad Familiares 10.28
  4. ^ a b Appian, Civil Wars 4.19
  5. ^ cf. Cicero, Ad Atticum 15.13.1
  6. doi:10.4159/DLCL.marcus_tullius_cicero-philippic_5.2010
    .
  7. ^ Plutarch, Cicero 46.3–5
  8. ^ Haskell, H.J.: This was Cicero (1964) p. 293

Bibliography

  • M. Tulli Ciceronis Orationes tom. II. Recognovit brevique adnotatione critica instruxit Albertus Curtis Clark (Scriptorvm Classicorvm Bibliotheca Oxoniensis), typogr. ND der Ausgabe Oxford 2. Auflage 1918 [o.J].
  • Marcus Tullius Cicero. Die politischen Reden, Band 3. Lateinisch-deutsch. Herausgegeben, übersetzt und erläutert von Manfred Fuhrmann, Darmstadt 1993.
  • Stroh, Wilfried: "Ciceros Philippische Reden: Politischer Kampf und literarische Imitation." In: Meisterwerke der antiken Literatur: Von Homer bis Boethius, hrsg. von Martin Hose, München 2000, 76–102.
  • Hall, Jon: "The Philippics", in: Brill's Companion to Cicero. Oratory and Rhetoric, hrsg. von James M. May, Leiden-Boston-Köln 2002, 273–304.
  • Manuwald, Gesine: "Eine Niederlage rhetorisch zum Erfolg machen: Ciceros Sechste Philippische Rede als paradigmatische Lektüre", in: Forum Classicum 2 (2007) 90–97.

External links

Latin Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Philippicae&oldid=1213815047"