No More Learning

Marcellus's next ploy was a nocturnal attack, with soldiers stealthily creeping toward the city walls, the hope being that Archimedes's long-range weapons would be ineffective against soldiers at such close proximity. But once again, Archimedes had outsmarted the Roman general, by directing volleys of stones and arrows thrown and shot down at the soldiers who were attempting to breach the walls. ]
At last the Romans became so fearful that, whenever they saw a bit of rope or a stick of timber projecting a little over the wall, "There it is," they cried, "Archimedes is training some engine upon us," and turned their backs and fled. Seeing this, Marcellus desisted from all fighting and assault . . .
And yet Archimedes possessed such a lofty spirit, so profound a soul, and such wealth of scientific theory, that although his inventions had won for him a name and fame for superhuman sagacity, he would not consent to leave behind him any treatise on this subject [of designing military weapons or any kind of practical invention, considering such things unworthy] . . .
And therefore, we may not disbelieve the stories told about him, how, under the lasting charm of some familiar and domestic Siren, he forgot even his food and neglected the care of his person; and how, when he was dragged [forcefully], as he often was, to the place for bathing and anointing his body, he would trace geometrical figures in the ashes, and draw lines with his finger in the oil with which his body was anointed, being possessed by a great delight, . . . a captive of the Muses. And although he made many excellent discoveries, he is said to have asked his kinsmen and friends to place over the grave where he should be buried a cylinder enclosing a sphere, with an inscription giving the proportion by which the containing solid exceeds the contained. [Tr. Bernadotte Perrin. Plutarch's Lives. (Marcellus 14, 17). Volume V. LCL, 1917. Page numbers: 473, 479, 481. ]
AFTERMATH
Archimedes could rightly be called a casualty of the Second Punic War, a victim of the collateral damage that occurred during that devastating conflict. Several ancient authors, notably Livy, Cicero, Valerius Maximus, and Pliny the Elder--in addition to Plutarch-- provide accounts of what happened. Livy writes: "[After the Roman blockade finally suc- ceeded in the capture of Syracuse] the city was turned over to the troops to pillage as they pleased . . . Many brutalities were committed in hot blood and the greed of gain, and it is on record that Archimedes, while intent upon figures that he had traced in the dust, and regardless of the hideous uproar of an army let loose to ravage and despoil a captured city, was killed by a soldier who did not know who he was. Marcellus was distressed by this; he had him properly buried and his relatives inquired for . . . " [25. 31; tr. de Selincourt] It appears that Archimedes was so focused on the mathematical problem that occupied him at the time that he was unaware of the approach of an armed and hostile soldier.
An Intellectual Who Invented Many Ingenious Devices
? ? 139
Voices of Ancient Greece and Rome
? ASK YOURSELF
1. What do you think of the various weapons that Archimedes invented for the defense of Syracuse? Do they seem practical?
2. Archimedes lived and worked in Syracuse, on the island of Sicily, nowhere near Greece. Why, then, is he usually called a Greek mathematician?
3. What do you think of Archimedes's famous claim that, if given a place to stand and a pole long enough, he could move the world? Is that really practical, or rather, an empty boast?
4. What were the circumstances of Archimedes's death? What lessons are to be learned from that tragic event?
TOPICS TO CONSIDER
e Do some additional investigative work on King Hiero's famous ship. The dimensions seem so outlandishly gigantic as to be impractical; the state- ment that it contained 60 triremes' worth of lumber, in particular, appears incredible. Triremes were large, imposing ships; even one of them would have made an impression. Do you think that it would have been possible to build a ship as large and as heavy as one that Athenaeus describes?
e What were the specific circumstances under which Archimedes cried out the now-famous Greek word eureka? Eureka is also the state motto of California. Why is that word an appropriate motto for California?
e It has been said that Archimedes's mathematical theories and discoveries formed the basis for the branch of mathematics that today is called calculus. Is this statement accurate? Why or why not?
e What is the Archimedes Palimpsest? What is its significance? Further Information
Boyer, Carl Benjamin. A History of Mathematics. New York, 1991.
Pickover, Clifford A. Archimedes to Hawking: Laws of Science and the Great Minds behind
Them. Oxford, 2008.
Stein, Sherman. Archimedes: What Did He Do Besides Cry Eureka? Cambridge, 1999.
Website
Death of Archimedes. http://www. cs. drexel. edu/~crorres/Archimedes/Death/Histories. html
Bibliography for Document
Perrin, Bernadotte. Plutarch's Lives. Volume V. [LCL. ] London and Cambridge, 1917. de Selincourt, Aubrey. Livy: The War with Hannibal, Books XXI-XXX. Baltimore, 1965.
? ? ? 140
28. AN INTELLECTUAL DEFENDS THE STUDY OF LITERATURE
INTRODUCTION
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BCE) was the preeminent Roman lawyer of his time, or of all time, as some might argue. His career as an advocate spanned almost 40 years, and during that time, he argued many noted and controversial cases.
His courtroom speech on behalf of the poet Aulus Licinius Archias ostensibly turned on the twin issues of immigration and citizenship: Was Archias, a Greco-Syrian poet, living in Rome illegally, without Roman citizenship? (The case came up in 62 BCE, a couple of years after a law had been passed evicting all noncitizens from the city. ) Cicero used a two- pronged argument in his defense. The first argument was based on purely legal grounds: Archias held citizenship in the southern Italian town of Heraclea, and a treaty agreement between Rome and that town specified that any Heraclean citizen was thereby also a Roman citizen.
The second argument was more abstract. Cicero pointed out that Archias, as a poet and an intellectual, should hold a place of honor in Rome, and even if he were not a citizen, he should be granted citizenship on the basis of his literary attainments alone. Cicero noted that creators of literature had almost universally been held in high esteem, and that it would be absurdly illogical for the Romans to spurn a great poet who was already in their midst and desired to remain there.
KEEP IN MIND AS YOU READ
1. Before addressing Archias's situation, Cicero reminds the jury that he himself would never have attained his lofty status as a top-shelf lawyer without a keen interest in literary pursuits, and that it is to these literary studies that he owes his success. The unspoken conclusion: If literature can nourish and inspire Ciceronian-style attainments, it then makes eminently good sense for Rome to attract and retain as many skilled writers and thinkers as possible, including, of course, Archias.
2. This courtroom speech is unconventional by Roman legal standards. As noted above, Cicero divided it into two major sections. The strictly legalistic arguments presented in the first section would probably have sufficed for Cicero to make his case. The defense of literary pursuits in the second half may well have had more
? ? ? ? 141
Voices of Ancient Greece and Rome
to do with Cicero's own self-image and intellectual lifestyle choices than it did with
the case on behalf of Archias.
3. The classical scholar N. H. Watts has described Cicero's speech in the following
glowing terms: "[The speech] contains what is perhaps the finest panegyric of liter- ature that the ancient world offers us: a panegyric that has been quoted and admired by a long series of writers from Quintilian, through Petrarch, until today, when it has lost none of its luster. "
Document: Cicero's Unconventional Speech
[E]ven if their [literary studies] aim were pure enjoyment and nothing else, you [the jurors, and perhaps others in the courtroom] would still, I am sure, feel obliged to agree that no other activity of the mind could possibly have such a broadening and enlightening effect. For there is no other occupation upon earth which is so appropriate to every time and every age and every place. Reading stimulates the young and diverts the old, increases one's satisfaction when things are going well, and when they are going badly provides refuge and solace. It is a delight in the home; it can be fitted in with public life; throughout the night, on journeys, in the country, it is a companion which never lets me down.
And indeed even if we ourselves were not capable of any inclination or taste for these pursuits, we ought all the same to feel admiration when we see such gifts exemplified in others. No one can have been so boorish and insensitive that he remained unaffected when Roscius recently died. Although he was an old man at the time of his death, we had a feeling that such a superb and attractive artist ought somehow to have been exempted from our common fate. And if such a man's mere physical comportment on the stage was enough to win the hearts of us all, surely we can- not be left indifferent by genius of a purely intellectual kind, with all its enigmatic motions and scintillations . . .
Many is the time. . . that I have listened to this Archias . . . many is the time I have listened to him impro- vising quantities of admirable verses about topics of the day without having written down one single letter before he spoke. Many times I have also heard him respond to demands for an encore by repeating the same subject mat- ter in an entirely new set of words and phrases. And as for his written works, the products of meticulous care and cog- itation, I have seen them accorded a degree of appreciation in no way inferior to the reverence felt for writers of ancient times. Should I not love and admire such a man, and deem it my duty to defend him by every means in my power?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? as brief and simple as usual: An ironic statement, considering that Cicero's cases were almost never brief nor simple.
chairman: The presiding judge (praetor) in this case is thought to have been Cicero's brother, Quintus Tullius Cicero. Apparently, a question of conflict of interest was not raised.
encore: Most likely, Cicero is referring to an informal public recitation, in which Archias, at the conclusion of his performance, was recalled by the audience for additional read- ings. During the first century CE and beyond, such public recitations (recitationes, in which both budding and established authors would read their works aloud) became both common and fashionable. Pliny the Younger remarks in one of his letters [1. 13] that in one particular year "there was scarcely a day throughout the month of April when someone was not giving a public reading. " [tr. Radice. ]
Ennius: Quintus Ennius (239- 169 BCE), the "father of Roman poetry," was a playwright, historian, satirist, philosopher, and poet, highly regarded in his own time and in later times, as the Ciceronian description of him indicates. He referred to himself as a man of three hearts, because he knew Greek,
? ? ? 142
. . . whereas other arts need to be based upon study and rules and principles, poets depend entirely on their own inborn gifts and are stimulated by some internal force, a sort of divine spark with the depths of their own souls. Our great Ennius was therefore right to call poets holy, because they seem to bring to us some spe- cial gift and endowment which the gods have accorded them as a passport for this world. Even the most barba- rous of races has never treated the name of poet with dis- respect. How imperative therefore it is that you yourselves, with all your noble culture, should regard it as holy indeed! The very rocks and deserts echo the poet's song. Many is the time when ferocious beasts have been enchanted and arrested in their tracks as these strains come to their ears. Shall we, then, who have been nurtured on everything that is fine, remain unmoved at a poet's voice?
[Next, Cicero reminds his audience that many com- munities--at least seven--claimed that Homer was their own native son, and that Archias had already writ- ten several histories that celebrated the accomplishments and conquests of the Roman armies. Achilles's name would have been buried in the dusts of history had Homer not penned the Iliad, and Alexander the Great would never have been famous were it not for the Archiases of his own time, poets and historians who could record his deeds for posterity; immortality comes via the written word. ]
Cicero's concluding words: "I have made the state- ment of my case as brief and simple as usual; and I have the feeling that it has gained your approbation. I hope my digression . . . to tell you something about my client's talent and about literary studies in general, has been to your taste. To the chairman of this tribunal--I venture to express the conviction--it has proved acceptable enough. " [Tr. Michael Grant. Selected Political Speeches of Cicero (Pro Archia Poeta). Penguin Books, 1977. Reprinted in The Intellectual Journey. Simon & Schuster Custom Publishing, 1998. Page numbers: 12, 13, 16. ]
AFTERMATH
Oddly, it is not known if Cicero won the case, but most scholars who have studied his arguments have assumed that he did indeed triumph. It seems to be an eminently reasonable assumption. Cicero was evidently hoping that Archias would reward him for his legal efforts by writing a laudatory poem about him, but that
An Intellectual Defends the Study of Literature
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Latin, and a local dialect, Oscan. The famous Roman general Scipio Africanus, conqueror of Hannibal, ordered that a statue of Ennius be placed on his own tomb.
other arts: By "other arts," Cicero pre- sumably means other intellectual activities and/or working within other literary genres. It is almost as if he is suggesting that poets are born, not made.
Roscius: Full Roman name: Quintus Roscius Gallus. Roscius, who died in the same year in which Cicero presented his defense of Archias, was considered the best comic actor of his time. He was a close friend of Cicero, who always spoke of him in the most complimentary terms. His name became prover- bial in the acting profession, so much so that any actor who attained prominence was called a "Roscius. "
Cicero had defended Roscius in a court case a number of years ear- lier; the exact year is uncertain, with dates of 76, 68, and 66 BCE suggested. The gist of the case: a certain Gaius Fannius Chaerea owned a slave by the name of Panurgus.
This Fannius entered into an agreement with Roscius, which contained three clauses: that they would jointly own Panurgus; that Roscius would train Panurgus to act; and that Fannius and Roscius would share in any earn- ings that Panurgus might sub- sequently generate through his work as a professional actor. Panurgus was indeed an apt pupil, and this, along with his innate tal- ent, soon translated into success on the stage. Unfortunately, Panurgus was later murdered by a
? ? ? ? ? 143
Voices of Ancient Greece and Rome
seemingly did not happen. "Archias has not written anything about me," Cicero wrote in a letter to his friend Atticus. "I am afraid, now [that] he has written his Greek poem on the Luculli [a prominent Roman family who had befriended Archias], he is turning to . . . drama" [Cicero. Letters to Atticus 1. 16; tr. Winstedt. ].
ASK YOURSELF
1. Do you agree with Cicero's claim that "there is no other occupation [other than literary pursuits] upon earth which is so appropriate to every time and every age and every place"?
2. What do you think of Cicero's belief that writing poetry successfully relies more on inborn talent and divine inspira- tion than it does on training and study?
TOPICS TO CONSIDER
e Cicero admits that that portion of his speech in which he defends literary pursuits is unconven- tional, not the kind of approach that would be expected in a courtroom oration. Research Roman legal procedure to determine what form a conventional speech would take. Was there any- thing in Roman legal tradition that would prohibit Cicero's approach?
e Most authorities agree that polite Roman society scorned actors and treated them with contempt. Comporting in public (as actors obviously did, by the nature of their profession), and receiving pay- ment for it, was frowned upon. Why, then, do you suppose an elegant and sophisticated Roman
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? certain Quintus Flavius, whose motive for so doing was never deter- mined. Roscius sued Flavius, whose homicidal act had deprived Roscius of a profitable source of income. But an out-of-court settlement was reached: Roscius agreed to accept a farm from Flavius as compensation; this farm, which Roscius astutely managed, soon became a money- maker. But in another twist, Fannius, the co-owner of the actor Panurgus, demanded half the pro- ceeds of the farm, arguing that the settlement was not on behalf of Roscius alone but the partnership, and that therefore half the value of the farm belonged to Fannius. Cicero now entered the picture to defend Roscius against the claims of his partner.
you yourselves, with all your noble culture. A direct address to the jury. Cicero was a master at flatter- ing the members of Roman juries, and especially in suggesting that they were men of learning and cul- ture, which presumably, they often were not.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? HOMER'S HOMETOWN
One of the enduring questions about the famous epic poet Homer is his place of origin. No one seems to know where he was born. And so there arose a kind of competition among many cities in the ancient world, all claim- ing to be Homer's birthplace. A famous epigram lists the front-runners for the honor as the following seven cities: Smyrna, Rhodes, Colophon, Salamis, Chios, Argos, and Athens. Of these, Salamis, Argos, and Athens are in Greece; the rest are situated on or near the western coast of modern Turkey. In his speech, Cicero specifi- cally mentions Colophon, Chios, Salamis, and Smyrna, and notes that the people of the latter city were so cer- tain of their claim that they even constructed a building in Homer's honor, called the Homereum.
Cicero's point is that citizens of all seven of these communities, and also of others that were not named, knew that the fame and prestige of their town could be enhanced by virtue of the town's status as the birthplace and hometown of a famous poet. So it would follow that Rome could receive similar boost by accepting Archias as one of its own.
? ? 144
gentleman like Cicero would have had such high regard for the actor Roscius and even have defended him in a legal matter?
Further Information
Gutoff, Harold. Cicero's Elegant Style: An Analysis of the Pro Archia. Chicago, 1979. Sherwin-White, Adrian. The Roman Citizenship. Oxford, 1973.
Wood, Neil. Cicero's Social and Political Thought. Berkeley, CA, 1988.
Website
Bibliography: Cicero's "Pro Archia Poeta. " http://www. uga. edu/juro/2004/patrickbib. htm Bibliography for Document
Grant, Michael (tr. ). Selected Political Speeches of Cicero. New York, 1977.
Watts, N. H. (tr. ) Cicero: The Speeches. [LCL] London and New York, 1923.
Winstedt, E. O. (tr. ) Cicero. Letters to Atticus. Volume I. [LCL. ] Cambridge and London,
1912.
An Intellectual Defends the Study of Literature
145
This page intentionally left blank
29. AN INTELLECTUAL PAYS TRIBUTE TO HIS UNCLE'S LITERARY OUTPUT
INTRODUCTION
Pliny the Younger (62-114 CE) was a noted diplomat, statesman, author, and epistler. Still extant are 247 letters that he wrote to friends. An additional 121 letters also remain, written to and received from the emperor Trajan while Pliny was serving as his representative in the province of Pontus-Bithynia.
The document consists of the introductory portions of a letter that he wrote to his friend Baebius Macer. This friend had asked Pliny for a "complete list" of all the books that his illustrious uncle, Pliny the Elder, had written. The document is the Younger Pliny's response to this request.
KEEP IN MIND AS YOU READ
1. Many of the letters of Pliny the Younger are not written in a chatty, informal mode, but are more like informational essays. The letter about his uncle's literary accom- plishments clearly falls into the latter category.
2. Pliny, of course, did not have available to him any of the modern technologies that writers make use of today. Books always had to be written out longhand, either by the authors themselves or by scribes to whom they dictated their words.
3. As an educated and well-traveled civil servant, Pliny had many friends and acquaint- ances throughout the Roman world, and so it should come as no surprise that his surviving letters reflect a great deal of variety. Many of the individuals to whom he addressed letters are known to us, but Baebius Macer (the recipient of the letter that provides the text for the fourth document) is unknown to us. This is the only one of the 247 letters that was written to Macer.
Document: How Pliny the Elder Was Able
to Write So Many Books
I am delighted to hear that your close study of my uncle's books has made you wish to possess them all. Since you ask me for a complete list, I will provide a
? ? ? ? ? 147
Voices of Ancient Greece and Rome
bibliography, and arrange it in chronological order, for this is the sort of information also likely to please scholars.
Throwing the Javelin from Horseback . . . a work of industry and talent, written when he was a junior officer in the cavalry.
The life of Pomponius Secundus . . . My uncle was greatly loved by him and felt he owed this as an act of hom- age to his friend's memory.
The German Wars . . . covering all the wars we have ever had with the Germans. He began this during his mili- tary service in Germany, as the result of a dream; in his sleep he saw standing over him the ghost of Drusus Nero, who had triumphed far and wide in Germany and died there. He committed his memory to my uncle's care, begging him to save him from the injustice of oblivion.
The Scholar . . . in which he trains the orator from his cradle and brings him to perfection.
Problems in Grammar . . . This he wrote during Nero's last years [Nero died in 68 CE] when the slavery of the times made it dangerous to write anything at all inde- pendent or inspired.
A Continuation of the History of Aufidius Bassus . . .
A Natural History [Pliny's only surviving work]-- thirty-seven volumes, a learned and comprehensive work as full of variety as nature itself.
You may wonder how such a busy man was able to complete so many volumes, many of them involving detailed study, and wonder still more when you learn that up to a certain age he practiced at the bar, that he died at the age of fifty-five [in 79 CE, in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius], and throughout the intervening years his time was much taken up with the important offices he held and his friendship with the Emperors. But he combined a penetrating intellect with amazing powers of concentra- tion and the capacity to manage with the minimum of sleep.
From the fest of Vulcan onwards he began to work by lamplight, not with any idea of making a propitious start, but to give himself more time for study, and would rise halfway through the night; in winter, it would often be at midnight or an hour later, and two at the latest. Admittedly, he fell asleep very easily, and would often doze and wake up again during his work. Before daybreak, he would visit the Emperor Vespasian [in his role as one of the "friends of the emperor"] (who also made use of his nights), and then go to attend to his official duties. On returning home, he devoted any spare time to his work. [More of his work habits are described next, including an incident that illustrated his near-obsession with using time
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Aufidius Bassus: This historian lived during the time of the emperor Tiberius, and wrote a history that covered the end of the Roman Republic, down to the reign of the emperor Claudius (reigned 41-54 CE). This was the book that Pliny apparently completed. Quintilian [10. 1. 103] admired the dignity that Bassus brought to the writing of history and said that he was "always praiseworthy. "
Drusus Nero: The stepson of the emperor Augustus (reigned 27 BCE- 14 CE), and brother of the emperor Tiberius (reigned 14-37 CE); Drusus died in 9 BCE.
friendship: It became customary for Roman emperors to gather about them the so-called amici principis--"friends of the emperor"--who constituted a consilium, or "advisory council"; this council offered advice to the emperor on legal and judicial mat- ters, and perhaps on other issues as well. It was a mark of the high esteem in which Pliny the Elder was held that he was selected for this consilium by several emperors.
his official duties: The nature of Pliny's official duties is not known. junior officer: The praefectus alae. The word ala literally means "wing"; in military parlance, it referred to the wing of an army. So a praefectus alae was in charge of one wing of an army, usually composed of cav- alry, as indicated in the document. Pomponius Secundus: He was "the most important tragedian of the time of the Empire, probably the last who wrote for the stage" [Harper's]. He also served as a poli- tician (as consul in 44 CE) and as a military general. Both Tacitus and
Quintilian respected his work.
? ? ? 148
wisely. It seems that on one occasion, a passage from a book was being read to Pliny and some of his friends; Pliny took copious notes during the recitation At one point, the reader mispronounced a word, whereupon one of the hearers asked him to go back and correct him- self. Pliny asked his friend whether he had understood the word the first time, and the man replied in the affirmative. "Then why make him go back? " said Pliny. "Your interruption has lost us at least ten lines. "] [Tr. Betty Radice. Pliny: Letters and Panegyricus (3. 5). Volume I. LCL, 1969. Page numbers: 173, 175, 177. ]
AFTERMATH
In the remainder of the letter, Pliny informs us that his uncle's gift
of focused concentration enabled him to work on his writing in
almost any circumstance: while in the country; while traveling from place to place; while being rubbed down after a bath--he dictated to a scribe in that instance! Pliny relates that his uncle often chided him for walking, instead of being transported in a litter, because walk- ing wasted time that could have been devoted to writing. He claims that compared to his uncle, even the most industrious person would seem like an unabashed slacker.
In conclusion, he expresses the hope that the friend to whom he addressed the letter would be motivated to try to "produce something similar. "
ASK YOURSELF
1. What is your impression of the list of the Elder Pliny's published works? Do you notice any similarities among them, or does each one seem quite different and dis- tinct? Is there any way to categorize or classify the letters?
2. What do you think of Pliny's work schedule?