Cicero, Against Verres, 2.1.53-86 : Latin text with introduction, study questions, commentary and English translation

208 Pages·2011·34.26 MB·English

by  Ingo Gildenhard

./
CICERO, AGAINST VERRES,
2.1.53-86

Against Verres,
Cicero, 2.1.53-86:
Latin Text with Introduction, Study
Questions, Commentary and English
Translation
Ingo Gildenhard
Publishers
Open Book Publishers CIC Ltd.,
40 Devonshire Road, Cambridge, CB1 2BL, United Kingdom
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© 2011 Ingo Gildenhard
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Contents
Page
..
Acknowledgements
Vll
.
Preface
lX
Introduction 1
21
Latin Text and Study Questions
Commentary 55
List of Abbreviations 167
List of Rhetorical Terms 169
Translation 175
Appendix: Issu es for Further Discussion 189
Map of Italy and the Greek East 193

Acknowledgements
I am very grateful to the friends and colleagues who provided comments
and feedback during my work on this volume, notably Benjamin
Biesinger, Wolfgang Havener, Ted Kaizer, Myles Lavan, who also
generously shared forthcoming work of his own, Mathew Owen, and
Rik Van Wijlick. Closer to home, I would like to acknowledge the help of
Norbert Gildenhard who read through an early draft, offering comments
and corrections page by page, and Paola Ceccarelli who volunteered
to design the map. I had hoped to include a reprint of Catherine Steel's
superb analysis of the Lampsacus episode ('Being Economical with the
J. J.
Truth: What Really Happened at Lampsacus?', in Powell and Paterson
(eds.), Cicero the Advocate, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 233-51) in
this volume; unfortunately, problems to do with copyright interfered, but
I am nevertheless very grateful for her personal agreement and support.
Alessandra Tosi and Corin Throsby at Open Book Publishers have simply
been wonderful in accommodating this rather unusual project as well as
its urgent time frame. I also benefited much from the speedy endorsement
and feedback offered by the two anonymous referees. As previous
work, this volume profited considerably from the library resources of
the Philologische Seminar of Tiibingen University, and I am once again
extremely grateful to Professor Maennlein-Robert for offering hospitality.
My most significant debt is to three PhD students in the Department of
Classics & Ancient History at Durham University. Zara Chadha, Louise
Hodgson, and Lauren Knifton generously volunteered to read through
the penultimate draft, provided invaluable annotations, and agreed
to join in a series of workshops (' having fun with Cicero') devoted to
discussing issues to do with the volume large and small. Their eagle
eyes spotted more embarrassing mistal<es than I care to remember; and
...
Cicero, Against Verres, 2.1.53- 86
Vlll
their good sen se and sensibility vastly improved the final product. Their
critical engagement with the commentary and ability to improve upon
m y own reading of Cicero exemplify m y notion of this volume's ideal
reader. It is thus a particular pleasure to dedicate this book to them and
their spirit of intellectual camaraderie.
Preface
This little volume has its origins in a coincidence. I had just finished w riting
Creative Eloquence: The Construction ofR eality in Cicero's Speeches (Oxford, 2011),
w hich involved some close analysis of Cicero's orations against Verres,
when I was asked to give a lecture on how best to teach a new set-text that
the Examination Board of Oxford, Cambridge, and the Royal Society of
Arts (OCR) has specified for their A-Level Latin examination for the years
2012-2014. The passage in question, in Verrem 2.1.53-69, consists of some
paragraphs on Verres' looting of artworks from Greek cities in Asia Minor
during his legateship under Dolabella (§§ 53-62) and of about a third of
the infamous episode at Lampsacus. Paragraphs 63- 69 contain an account
of w hat happened when Verres visited the Greek city. According to Cicero,
he tried to abduct and rape the daughter of the local notable Philodamus,
which resulted in the death of one of his lictors and brought the inhabitants
of the tow n to the brink of rioting. Paragraphs 70--86 deal with the aftermath
of the sordid affair, including the trial and public execution of Philodamus
and his son in what Cicero portrays as a blatant miscarriage of justice
designed to cover up Verres' crimes.
Part of the brief was to talk about the resources available for teaching the
text. These turned out to be rather less spectacular than the chosen passage.
There is, of course, T. N. Mitchell's superb Aris & Phillips edition w ith
translation and commentary of Verrines II.1 (London, 1986), which remains
an invaluable port of call for anyone working on, or teaching, (portions of) the
speech. Yet one of the main purposes of the edition is to render the oration
accessible to students without Latin, and thus the commentary, w hich is
keyed to the translation, focuses on historical context rather than d etails
of language and st yle (even though Mitchell's explication of the rhetorical
texture is uniformly excellent). And other than that, one pretty much draws
a blank, at least in term s of commentaries. I therefore decided to w rite up