Ecce Romani III Fabulae

Chapter 59: Background Information

Culture/History: Political climate of the Late Republic

Grammar: The Gerundive • Passive Periphrastic, Gerundive of Obligation

The Readings

Accused of the murder, Milo seeks help from the most noted orator of his time, Marcus Tullius Cicero. No friend to Clodius (who had engineered Cicero's exile for his part in executing the Catilinarian conspirators), Cicero is only too pleased to exonerate Milo. His three-hour speech was delivered in front of pro-Clodius hecklers and he was unable to complete its delivery. The full text was sent to Milo who was in self-exile. When Milo returned to Rome four years later he was arrested and executed for insurrection.

It is interesting to compare the two speeches. Consider these topics for discussion:

  1. Did Clodius have legitimate justification for being on the Via Appia?
  2. Were either or both groups of travelers suspicious?
  3. Where did the attack occur? Was there anything suspicious about the location?
  4. Did Milo have foreknowledge of, or complicity in, Clodius's death?

Reading Notes

Passage A

  1. cum sciret (line 1) -- causal clause.
  2. sciret...iter...esse (lines 1-2) -- indirect statement.
  3. ut collocaret (line 4) -- purpose clause.
  4. quod...intellectum est (line 4) -- relative clause.
  5. ut relinqueret (lines 5-6) -- result clause.
  6. nisi...voluisset...reliquisset (line 6-7) -- past imaginary condition (covered in Ch. 67).

Passage B

  1. More clauses -- Cicero loved the language: in this passage find a gerundive phrase and a relative clause of characteristic. Also find examples of asyndeton in lines 8-9, 11-12, and 14-15.
  2. appaisset (line 13) -- contraction for apparvisset.

Passage C

  1. Use of the Historic Present tense in lines 17-21 brings the reader into the action more vividly. Also find examples of ablative absolutes in this passage.
  2. incipiunt (line 21) -- its subject is illi in line 19, and the verb governs the infinitives recurrere and caedere.

Passage D

  1. ex quibus servis (line 1) -- linking qui form.
  2. animo fideli (line 22) -- ablative of description.
  3. (id) quod...voluisset (lines 26-27) -- a relative clause of characteristic (discussed in Ch. 65).

Passage E

  1. This is a good passage for sight reading. Note the way that the Roman judicial process is illustrated here.
  2. tribuni aerarii (line 2) -- officials who had financial duties associated with the military and who, during the first century BC, had become a subclass below the equites and above the plebs.
  3. ignoravisse...vulneratum esse Clodium (lines 3-4) -- an indirect statement.
  4. occisum (line 4) -- esse is to be supplied. This is an elliptical infinitive, a common construction.

Images

The photograph on p. 55 is from just outside the city walls of Rome. The battle took place near Bovillae, and the site may have resembled this in ancient days.

Compare the busts of Cicero on p. 57 and p. 71. Do you think Roman sculpture is idealized or tends to represent a true likeness?

In the marble relief on p. 59, identify the roles of the various figrues. Would the funeral Asconius described be a typical Roman funeral?

J. Jahnige, September 2003

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