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Transalpinae Gentes: Cicero, De Re Publica*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Jeremy Paterson
Affiliation:
University of Newcastle upon Tyne

Extract

In the third book of Cicero's De re publica L. Furius Philus, one of the protagonists, is assigned the task of putting the case against justice. Among his arguments he makes the familiar claim that justice is a product of society, not of nature (3.13: ‘ius… civile est aliquod, naturale nullum’). If, he explains, justice and injustice were natural phenomena, they would be the same for all men, but in fact people hold very diverse views on what is just. This argument is supported by a motley collection of exempla: the Egyptians worship Apis, a bull; while the Greeks and the Romans fill their temples with statues in human form, the Persians consider such practices to be sacrilege; various nations indulge in human sacrifice; the Cretans and Aetolians hold the view that brigandage is perfectly respectable; the Spartans used to claim as their own all the territory which their spears might touch; the Athenians used to take public oaths that all land which produced olives and grain belonged to them; the Gauls despised corn-growing and raided the fields of others instead. All these instances would be familiar to Cicero's audience.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1978

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References

1 Begun in 54 B.C. (Cic. ad QF 2.12.1, 3.5.1, ad Att. 4.16.2) and published in 51 B.C. (ad Fam. 8.1.5, ad Att. 5.12.2)

2 The principal passages are: Apis, Hdt. 3.27, Diodorus 1.21.10; Persian attitude to statues of gods, Hdt. 1.131; human sacrifice, Hdt. 4.103 (Tauri), Plut.Mor.315B, Apollod. Bibliotbeca 2.5.11 (Busiris, though the story is rejected by others cf. Hdt. 2.45, Diod. 1.67), Caesar, BG 6.16 (Gauls), Diodorus 20.14, Justin 18.6 (Carthaginians); Cretan and Aetolian brigandage, Thuc. 1.5, Polyb. 4.16.4, Athenaeus 6.253f (cf. Ormerod, H. A., Piracy in the Ancient World (London, 1924), passim); the Spartan claim (ascribed variously to Agesilaus, Antalcidas, or Archidamus Ill), Plut.Mor. 210 E, 217 E, 218 F; The Athenian claim (part of the Ephebic oath)Google Scholar, Plut, . Alcibiades 15; the Gauls, Polyb. 2.19.4, Diodorus 5.32.Google Scholar

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24 Livy, 39.54.5.Google Scholar Later in the Roman senate they protested ‘se superante in Gallia multitudine inopia coactos agri et egestate ad quaerendam sedem Alpes transgressos.

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28 12,000 armed men (Livy, 39.54).Google Scholar

29 Piso, L. fr.35 (Peter).Google Scholar

30 L. Furius Purpurio, as praetor in Cisalpine Gaul in 200 B.C., had defeated a serious rising of Gauls and Ligurians for which he may have got a triumph (Livy, 31.10, 21 f.).Google Scholar As consul in 196 B.C. he again fought in the area (Livy, 33.37).Google ScholarRufus, Q. Minucius, as consul in 197 B.C.Google Scholar, fought against the same tribes (Livy, 32.28 f., 33.22 ff.).Google Scholar L. Manlius Acidinus (Fulvianus), later to be consul 179 B.C., was one of the Illviri in charge of the foundation of Aquileia (Livy, 39.55).Google Scholar These men were chosen for their interest and experience in North Italy. Those who consider it useful and significant to assign senators to family groups should consult Scullard, H. H., Roman Politics, and Briscoe, J., A Commentary on Livy XXXI XXXIII (Oxford, 1973), pp. 64 f., 158.Google Scholar

31 Sanctis, De, Storia iii. 1.291 ff., particularly 319 f.Google Scholar, Calderini, A., Aquileia Romano (Udine, 1930), pp. 4 ff.Google Scholar

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34 Piso, L. fr. 35Google Scholar (Peter), ‘et ab Aquileia ad XII lapidem deletum oppidum etiam invito senatu a M. Claudio Marcello.’ Sanctis, De, Storia iv.1.Google Scholar 428 claims that ‘invito senatu’ is a misunderstanding. But it is clearly supported by Livy's narrative. It was Marcellus‘ brutality that shocked senators. The senate's opposition may have continued when Marcellus asked to march against the Istri (Livy, 39.55,4, reading ’id senatui non placuit’).Google Scholar

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38 Justin 43.4.1, talking of the effect Massilia had on the Gauls: ‘ab his Galli et usum vitae cultioris deposita ac mansuefacta barbaria et agrorum cultus et urbes moenibus cingere didicerunt. Tunc et legibus non armis vivere, tune et vitem putare, tunc olivam serere consuerunt.’

39 Amphorae supply the evidence, although the beginnings of the trade are as yet unclear. Pliny, , NH 15.1.3 implies that Italy first exported oil in 52 B.C. But there is no reason to believe him. It is very difficult to know what Pliny had in mind – perhaps an official gift by the Roman senate?Google Scholar

40 Livy, 39.55.Google Scholar

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