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Tiresias: The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Source Database



2298
Cicero, On Laws, 1.4


nanATTICUS: For what purpose do you ask me such questions as these? MARCUS: For no purpose at all, unless it be to convince you that we had better not enquire too critically into those remarkable accounts which are thus handed down by tradition. ATTICUS: But this ingenious apology will not deter some from enquiring whether many of the statements in your Marius are true or false; and some will expect the greater accuracy from you, since Arpinum was your own birth place as well as that of Marius, and the events of his life must be fresh in your memory. MARCUS: I have certainly no ambition to gain the reputation of a liar. But some of these inquisitors, my Atticus, are really too severe. It is preposterous to expect an exact statement of matters of fact in a poem of this nature, as if I had written it not as a poet, but as an eye witness upon oath. I doubt not the same critics would make the same objections if I were to versify on Numaʼs intercourse with Egeria, and the Eagle which dropped a coronet in the head of the first Tarquin. QUINTUS: I understand you, my brother; you think that the historian must maintain a closer adherence to fact than the poet. MARCUS: Certainly. History has its laws, and poetry its privileges. The main object of the former is truth in all its relations: the main object of the latter is delight and pleasure of every description. Yet even in Herodotus, the father of Greek history, and in Theopompus, we find fables scarcely less numerous than those which appear in the works of the poets. ATTICUS: Stop there; I have found the occasion I wanted, and I shall not hesitate to urge my suit. MARCUS: What suit, Atticus? ATTICUS: We asked you, long ago, or rather implored you, to write a History of the Roman empire, for we conceive if you undertook this literary enterprise, even in the historical department, we should yield no palms or laurels to Greece. And if you will listen to my opinion, it seems to me that you owe this gift, not only to the affection of those who are delighted with your writings, but you likewise owe it to your country, that since you have saved her constitution, you should endeavour to adorn her annals, A good history of our country is a desideratum in our national literature, as I know by my own experience, and as I have often heard you declare. Now there is no man more likely than yourself to give general satisfaction in a work of this kind, since by your own avowal, it is of all the forms of composition that which most demands the eloquence of the orator. You would therefore be doing us a great favour if you would undertake this work, and devote your time to a complete history of Rome, which is unknown to most of our fellow-citizens, or at least neglected by them. For after the annals of the chief Pontiffs, which are very contracted, if we come to the book of Fabius, or Cato, whom you are always eulogizing, or the treatises of Piso, Fannius, and Venonius, though one of them may excel another, are they not all extremely defective? The contemporary of Fannius, Coelius Antipater, adopted a bolder style of expression. His energy was indeed somewhat rude and rough, without polish or point, but he did what he could to recommend a manly and truthful eloquence. But unfortunately he had for his successors a Claudius, an Asellio, who, far from improving on him, relapsed into the former dullness and insipidity. I scarcely need to mention Attius. His loquacity is not without its fine points, though he has derived them not so much from the great Grecian authors, as from the Latin scribblers. His style is full of littlenesses and atrocious conceits. His friend Sisenna, far surpasses all our historical writers whose compositions have yet been published, for of the rest we cannot judge. He has, however, never gained a name among the orators of your rank; and in his history he betrays a sort of puerility. He seems to have read no Greek author but Clitarchus, and him he imitates without reserve, but even when he succeeds in his imitation, he is still far enough from the best style. Therefore the task of historian of right belongs to you, and we shall expect you to accomplish it, unless Quintus can bring forward any reasonable objections. QUINTUS: I have nothing to say against it. Indeed we have often talked over the subject together, and I have made the same request as yourself; but we could never quite agree in our views of the subject. ATTICUS: How so? QUINTUS: Why we differed respecting the epoch from whence such a history should commence its narrative. In my opinion, it ought to begin with the origin of our state and nation, for the accounts that have hitherto been published respecting our primitive antiquities are so written as never to be read. My brother, on the other hand, wishes to confine himself to the events that have happened in our own times, so as only to describe those public affairs in which he himself bore a part. ATTICUS: In this respect I rather agree with him. For the grandest events in Roman history are probably those that have taken place within our own recollection. He would then be able to illustrate the praises of our noble friend Pompey, and describe the memorable year of his own consulship. These memoirs, I imagine, would be far more interesting than any thing he could tell us respecting Romulus and Remus. MARCUS: I know, my Atticus, that you and other friends have long urged me to this undertaking, nor should I be at all unwilling to attempt it, if I could find more free and leisure time. But it is vain to enter on so extensive a work while my mind is harassed with cares, and my hands are full of business. Such literary enterprises demand a perfect freedom from anxieties and political embarassments.


Intertexts (texts cited often on the same page as the searched text):

5 results
1. Cicero, On Laws, 1.3, 1.5 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)

2. Cicero, On The Nature of The Gods, 2.5 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)

2.5. how is the latter fact more evident than the former? Nothing but the presence in our minds of a firmly grasped concept of the deity could account for the stability and permanence of our belief in him, a belief which is only strengthened by the passage of the ages and grows more deeply rooted with each successive generation of mankind. In every other case we see that fictitious and unfounded opinions have dwindled away with lapse of time. Who believes that the Hippocentaur or the Chimaera ever existed? Where can you find an old wife senseless enough to be afraid of the monsters of the lower world that were once believed in? The years obliterate the inventions of the imagination, but confirm the judgements of nature. "Hence both in our own nation and among all others reverence for the gods and respect for religion grow continually stronger and more profound.
3. Cicero, Republic, 2.17-2.20 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)

2.17. Ac Romulus cum septem et triginta regnavisset annos et haec egregia duo firmamenta rei publicae peperisset, auspicia et senatum, tantum est consecutus, ut, cum subito sole obscurato non conparuisset, deorum in numero conlocatus putaretur; quam opinionem nemo umquam mortalis adsequi potuit sine eximia virtutis gloria. 2.18. Atque hoc eo magis est in Romulo admirandum, quod ceteri, qui dii ex hominibus facti esse dicuntur, minus eruditis hominum saeculis fuerunt, ut fingendi proclivis esset ratio, cum imperiti facile ad credendum inpellerentur, Romuli autem aetatem minus his sescentis annis iam inveteratis litteris atque doctrinis omnique illo antiquo ex inculta hominum vita errore sublato fuisse cernimus. Nam si, id quod Graecorum investigatur annalibus, Roma condita est secundo anno Olympiadis septumae, in id saeculum Romuli cecidit aetas, cum iam plena Graecia poetarum et musicorum esset minorque fabulis nisi de veteribus rebus haberetur fides. Nam centum et octo annis postquam Lycurgus leges scribere instituit, prima posita est Olympias, quam quidam nominis errore ab eodem Lycurgo constitutam putant; Homerum autem, qui minimum dicunt, Lycurgi aetati triginta annis anteponunt fere. 2.19. Ex quo intellegi potest permultis annis ante Homerum fuisse quam Romulum, ut iam doctis hominibus ac temporibus ipsis eruditis ad fingendum vix quicquam esset loci. Antiquitas enim recepit fabulas fictas etiam non numquam August. C.D. 22.6 incondite, haec aetas autem iam exculta praesertim eludens omne, quod fieri non potest, respuit. 2.20. us ne pos ei us, ut di xeru nt quidam, e x filia. Quo autem ille mor tuus, e odem est an no na tus Si moni des Ol ympia de se xta et quin qua gesima, ut f acilius intel legi pos sit tu m de Ro mu li inmortalitate creditum, cum iam inveterata vita hominum ac tractata esset et cognita. Sed profecto tanta fuit in eo vis ingenii atque virtutis, ut id de Romulo Proculo Iulio, homini agresti, crederetur, quod multis iam ante saeculis nullo alio de mortali homines credidissent; qui inpulsu patrum, quo illi a se invidiam interitus Romuli pellerent, in contione dixisse fertur a se visum esse in eo colle Romulum, qui nunc Quirinalis vocatur; eum sibi mandasse, ut populum rogaret, ut sibi eo in colle delubrum fieret; se deum esse et Quirinum vocari.
4. Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, 1.10-1.11 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)

1.10. num nunc ex. num K 1 te illa terrent, triceps apud inferos Cerberus, Cocyti coyc ti R 1 fremitus, travectio traiectio ex trav. K 1 transv. V c mg. ('al trans') g Trag. inc.111 Acherontis, mento summam aquam aquam trisyll. cf. Lachm. ad Lucr. 6, 552 quam Nonii L 1 A A attingens amnem Bue. adtinget ( vel -it) senextus Nonii L 1 A A enectus siti Tantalus? summam... tantalus Non. 401,29 enectus ... Tantalus Prisc, GL 2, 470, 18 tantulus X ( corr. K 2 ) Nonii et Prisciani pars tum illud, quod Sisyphus sisyphius X ( sed 2. eras. in V. sis. K 1 aut c ) Nonii pars versat versus? cf. Marx ad Lucil. 1375 saxum sudans nitendo neque proficit hilum? tum ... hlium Non. 121,4; 353, 8. fortasse etiam inexorabiles iudices, Minos et Rhadamanthus? apud quos nec te L. Crassus defendet defendet om. RK 1 ( add. 2 ) nec M. Antonius nec, quoniam apud Graecos iudices res agetur, poteris adhibere Demosthenen; demostenen K tibi ipsi pro te erit maxima corona causa dicenda. dicenda causa K haec fortasse metuis et idcirco mortem censes esse sempiternum malum. Adeone me delirare censes, ut ista esse credam? An tu ante G 1 haec non an tu an non ( 2. an in r. ) V 1? credis? Minime vero. Male hercule narras. Cur? quaeso. Quia disertus dissertus KR 1 esse possem, si contra ista dicerem. Quis enim non in eius modi causa? aut quid negotii est haec poëtarum et pictorum portenta convincere? aut convincere Non. 375, 29 1.11. Atqui pleni libri sunt contra ista ipsa disserentium dissenentium G 1 (dissotium corr. G 1? ) RV 1 ( corr. ipse? ) diserentium K philosophorum. Inepte sane. quis enim est est om. K 1, add. c tam excors, quem ista moveant? commoveant V 2 Si ergo apud inferos miseri non sunt, ne sunt quidem apud inferos ulli. Ita prorsus prossus G existimo. Ubi sunt Inde ab ubi - 223, 24 iam sunt multa in K madore corrupta ergo i, quos miseros dicis, aut quem locum incolunt? si enim sunt, nusquam esse non possunt. Ego vero nusquam esse illos puto. Igitur ne esse quidem? Prorsus isto modo, et tamen miseros miseros cf. Serv. Aen. 4, 20 ob id ipsum quidem, quidem om. K quia nulli sint.
5. Plutarch, Coriolanus, 37.5, 38.4-38.6 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)

38.4. escape our knowledge through incredulity.


Subjects of this text:

subject book bibliographic info
athens Dinter and Guérin, Cultural Memory in Republican and Augustan Rome (2023) 88
belief, doxastic Mackey, Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion (2022) 41
belief, fama Erker, Ambiguity and Religion in Ovid’s Fasti: Religious Innovation and the Imperial Family (2023) 145
belief, roman Mackey, Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion (2022) 41
brutus, marcus Jenkyns, God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination (2013) 210
carmentis Erker, Ambiguity and Religion in Ovid’s Fasti: Religious Innovation and the Imperial Family (2023) 158
christianity Jenkyns, God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination (2013) 210; Mackey, Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion (2022) 41
cicero Mackey, Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion (2022) 41
closeness to the gods, of augustus Erker, Ambiguity and Religion in Ovid’s Fasti: Religious Innovation and the Imperial Family (2023) 158
cognition, and conformity Mackey, Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion (2022) 41
credo Mackey, Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion (2022) 41
dante Jenkyns, God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination (2013) 210
deification, ascent to heavens Erker, Ambiguity and Religion in Ovid’s Fasti: Religious Innovation and the Imperial Family (2023) 145, 158
distancing Erker, Ambiguity and Religion in Ovid’s Fasti: Religious Innovation and the Imperial Family (2023) 145
divine origins Erker, Ambiguity and Religion in Ovid’s Fasti: Religious Innovation and the Imperial Family (2023) 145, 158
divine support, by quirinus Erker, Ambiguity and Religion in Ovid’s Fasti: Religious Innovation and the Imperial Family (2023) 145
divinity (of a mortal) Erker, Ambiguity and Religion in Ovid’s Fasti: Religious Innovation and the Imperial Family (2023) 158
doubt Erker, Ambiguity and Religion in Ovid’s Fasti: Religious Innovation and the Imperial Family (2023) 145, 158
egeria Jenkyns, God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination (2013) 210
emperor cult Erker, Ambiguity and Religion in Ovid’s Fasti: Religious Innovation and the Imperial Family (2023) 145
epiphany, of romulus-quirinus Erker, Ambiguity and Religion in Ovid’s Fasti: Religious Innovation and the Imperial Family (2023) 145
eulogy Erker, Ambiguity and Religion in Ovid’s Fasti: Religious Innovation and the Imperial Family (2023) 158
honorific titles, augustus as pater patriae Erker, Ambiguity and Religion in Ovid’s Fasti: Religious Innovation and the Imperial Family (2023) 158
imperial family Erker, Ambiguity and Religion in Ovid’s Fasti: Religious Innovation and the Imperial Family (2023) 145
intentionality, doxastic states of Mackey, Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion (2022) 41
juno Jenkyns, God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination (2013) 210
jupiter Jenkyns, God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination (2013) 210
latin Mackey, Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion (2022) 41
legend, myth, fabula Erker, Ambiguity and Religion in Ovid’s Fasti: Religious Innovation and the Imperial Family (2023) 145
lieux de mémoire (sites of memory) Dinter and Guérin, Cultural Memory in Republican and Augustan Rome (2023) 88
livia drusilla, julia augusta Erker, Ambiguity and Religion in Ovid’s Fasti: Religious Innovation and the Imperial Family (2023) 158
marius, c. Dinter and Guérin, Cultural Memory in Republican and Augustan Rome (2023) 88
mythology in roman religions Jenkyns, God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination (2013) 210
numa Erker, Ambiguity and Religion in Ovid’s Fasti: Religious Innovation and the Imperial Family (2023) 145; Jenkyns, God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination (2013) 210
offerings, sacrificial rituals Erker, Ambiguity and Religion in Ovid’s Fasti: Religious Innovation and the Imperial Family (2023) 158
pagans Mackey, Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion (2022) 41
penates Erker, Ambiguity and Religion in Ovid’s Fasti: Religious Innovation and the Imperial Family (2023) 158
pontifex maximus Erker, Ambiguity and Religion in Ovid’s Fasti: Religious Innovation and the Imperial Family (2023) 158
ptolemies Erker, Ambiguity and Religion in Ovid’s Fasti: Religious Innovation and the Imperial Family (2023) 158
rationalising Erker, Ambiguity and Religion in Ovid’s Fasti: Religious Innovation and the Imperial Family (2023) 145
religion, roman Mackey, Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion (2022) 41
religions, roman, mythology Jenkyns, God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination (2013) 210
religions, roman Jenkyns, God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination (2013) 210
renaissance Jenkyns, God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination (2013) 210
rituals, by augustus Erker, Ambiguity and Religion in Ovid’s Fasti: Religious Innovation and the Imperial Family (2023) 158
roman religion, and belief Mackey, Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion (2022) 41
romulus, deified, quirinus Erker, Ambiguity and Religion in Ovid’s Fasti: Religious Innovation and the Imperial Family (2023) 145
romulus Erker, Ambiguity and Religion in Ovid’s Fasti: Religious Innovation and the Imperial Family (2023) 145; Jenkyns, God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination (2013) 210
rumour Erker, Ambiguity and Religion in Ovid’s Fasti: Religious Innovation and the Imperial Family (2023) 145
salus, well-being Erker, Ambiguity and Religion in Ovid’s Fasti: Religious Innovation and the Imperial Family (2023) 158
scepticism Erker, Ambiguity and Religion in Ovid’s Fasti: Religious Innovation and the Imperial Family (2023) 145, 158
self-fashioning Erker, Ambiguity and Religion in Ovid’s Fasti: Religious Innovation and the Imperial Family (2023) 158
tarquin Jenkyns, God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination (2013) 210
temple Dinter and Guérin, Cultural Memory in Republican and Augustan Rome (2023) 88
tullius cicero, m. Dinter and Guérin, Cultural Memory in Republican and Augustan Rome (2023) 88
underworld' Jenkyns, God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination (2013) 210
vesta Erker, Ambiguity and Religion in Ovid’s Fasti: Religious Innovation and the Imperial Family (2023) 158
wagner Jenkyns, God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination (2013) 210
witness Dinter and Guérin, Cultural Memory in Republican and Augustan Rome (2023) 88