II. Literature and a Legal Career
From the literary foundations laid by Archias in Cicero’s youth, Cicero still looks towards literature and poets for advice throughout his public career.37 To Cicero, while literature plays a crucial role in an early legal education, literature also provides a proper historical, practical, and emotional background for a legal career.38 Secondly, literature is a valuable asset for the analysis of Roman laws, and finally,39 literature helps to mitigate any undue ambition, which might threaten the honor and duty of politicians in the Roman Republic.
Cicero maintains that historical figures like Ennius recognized their patrons and their foundations in literature. For example, Ennius erected a marble statue of the elder Africanus near the Tomb of the Scipios.40 The elder Africanus was a model general and statesman, and, like Cicero, looked to poets for advice and support in the affairs of the state.41 Before Ennius, Alexander the Great also recognized the importance of literature. Alexander the Great “carried in his train numbers of epic poets and historians.”42 Like these historical examples, Cicero, also, attests the importance of literature in his public career, especially in Roman laws. Literature helped to demonstrate the valor and honor that must be sought and, in the words of Alexander, “Fortunate youth, to have found in Homer a herald of thy valor.”43
Moreover, the knowledge and study of literature is essential to a legal career due to its theoretical value.44 While literature hardly glorifies actual Roman laws, it provides the facilities to fully understand the potential of the laws. The study of literature is a highly intellectual activity, and such intellectual depth helps to develop the formulas and techniques of lawyers.45 In the opening sentence of the speech, Cicero states that he developed a theoretical understanding of the laws from a devoted literary career.46 Then, at the conclusion, in a reflective sense, Cicero rhetorically asks, “And how much more anxious should we be to bequeath an effigy of our minds and characters, wrought and elaborated by supreme talent?”47 Since the study of literature shapes and molds the intellect, the study of literature is of the utmost value not only to a legal education, but also in a legal career.
At the same time, Cicero realizes the dangers of unmitigated ambitions in politics
and in law. While Cicero states, “Ambition is a universal factor in life,
and the nobler a man is, the more susceptible he is to the sweets of fame,”48
he also acknowledges, paradoxically, that literature has the potential to calm
even the most ferocious temperaments.49 Therefore, literature helps promote reason,
which is critical for applying the law in a rational manner.
III. The Delivery of Pro Archia Poeta
While the defense of Archias relies on the Lex Julia and Lex Plautia Papiria, Cicero verges from the conventional legal dialogue. With typical rhetorical flourishes, Cicero asks the “cultivated audience and enlightened jury”50 to allow this defense speech. Although Brougham maintains that the crux of Cicero’s legal argument could be summarized in one-sixth the actual length of Pro Archia Poeta51, Cicero uses his lengthy speech quite intentionally both to reaffirm and to demonstrate the importance of literature.52 Furthermore, the rhetorical nature of Pro Archia Poeta implies that the Lex Julia and Lex Plautia Papiria are secondary in Archias’ defense. Archias remains indispensable as a poet and scholar regardless of the details of his legal status, and Cicero is even convinced of the propriety of awarding Archias citizenship because of his literary contributions to Rome.53 Cicero bolsters his contention by referring to dramatists like Roscius, who also captivated and inspired Roman audiences.54 Thus, literature and its study become the most compelling argument in Pro Archia Poeta. Although the verdict of the actual trial was not preserved, in his letters to Atticus, Cicero later refers to Archias.55 The letters suggested that he was acquitted of the charges, allowed to remain in Rome, and enrolled as a Roman citizen.
IV. The Legacy of A Proper Legal Education
Pro Archia Poeta not only remains a profound document of a brilliant legal defense, but is also a tribute to Archias that reflects the importance of literature in Cicero’s training and suggests that literature is an essential part of a proper education. While there was not an actual pre-law curriculum in the Roman world, Cicero considers literature to be an inherent and compelling force from any aspiring lawyer to study. Yet literature did not serve as a means to a solely political end.56 Instead, Cicero involves literature as a noble means by which to aid Archias, the very man who fostered these virtues. Despite being at the pinnacle of his political career in 62 B.C.E.57, Cicero desired to defend Archias, his childhood tutor. In Pro Archia Poeta, Cicero did not just defend the legitimacy of Archias’ citizenship, but took the opportunity to assert the value of literature in his legal career and as a central component of a legal training. The legacy of a proper legal education goes beyond courtroom victories; a foundation in literature preserves and protects the dignity of life.
[ Abstract - 1 - 2 - Notes - Bibliography]