Reflecting the mounting conflict amidst the militaristic innovation of Cnaeus Pompeius and the oligarchic sentiments of Lucius Licinius Lucullus in 62 B.C.E., the poet Archias, Marcus Tullius Cicero’s childhood tutor, faces prosecution based on the tribunal law of Gaius Papius expelling non-Roman citizens. While Cicero’s defense of Archias’s citizenship depends upon the Lex Julia and the Lex Plautia Papiria, Cicero focuses on Archias's status as a heralded Roman poet. Thus, “Pro Archia Poeta” illuminates Cicero’s perceptions regarding the literary foundations of an education and the implications of a political career. By emphasizing notions of glory, honor, and duty in the Roman Republic, “Pro Archia Poeta” establishes the preeminence of literature within a legal education.
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