Cicero: Letters of January to April 43 BC 0856686328, 9780856686320, 085668631X

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CICERO The Letters of January to April 43 BC Edited with an Introduction, Translation & Commentary by

M. M. Willcock

CICERO The Letters of January to April 43 BC

Edited with an Introduction, Translation & Commentary by

M. M. Willcock

Aris & Phillips Ltd - Warminster - England

© Malcolm Willcock 1995. All rights reserved. No part of this publicat'i.on may be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including photocopying without the prior permission of the Publishers in writing.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

lSBNs O 85668 631 X (cloth) 0 85668 632 8

(limp)

Printed and published in England by Aris & Phillips Ltd. Tcddington House, Warminster Wiltshire BAI 2 8PQ

To my daughter Sophie

Contents Preface

iv

Bibliography

v

Introduction 1. Cicero's Letters 2. Cicero's life and times 3. Events from the death of Caesar in March 44 to January 43 4. January to April 43 5. The Roman calendar 6. The text

1 3 8 10 11 12

THE LETTERS OF JANUARY TO APRIL 43 The letters Text and Translation Commentary

15 16 85

Maps 1. The provinces of the Roman empire in 43 B.C. 2. Cisalpine Gaul

144 145

Appendixes 1. The eighteen months following April 43 2. The later fates of those named in the correspondence

146 146

Concordance

150

Indexes 1. The other writings of Cicero 2. General

151 152

Preface This edition of thirty-three letters exchanged between Cicero and various·· correspondents differs from other partial editions with English commentary or translation in that no selection has been made, but all the letters surviving from a particular period of time have been included. As the opening months of 43 B.C. were the beginning of the final and decisive stage in the change from Roman republic to Roman empire, it is my hope that the edition will be found uscf ul by ancient historians, as well as by those interested in Latin as a language or Cicero as a man. Similar periods when a study of all the surviving lcllcrs exerts an intense historical fascination arc 59 B.C. (the year of Cacsar's first consulship: twenty-four letters), and the first two months of 49 B.C. (when Caesar started the civil war: forty-five letters). ILis a pleasure to record my thanks to John Carter, Alan Douglas and Sophie Willcock, who read the whole typescript and saved me from errors of fact and infelicities of expression, and to Mark Hassan, John Richardson and David Shottcr: who gave authoritative answers to particular questions. M.M.W.

London, December 1995

Bibliography Andre Andresen Beaujeu Bengtson BergmUller Bohm Bondurant Botermann

Broughton Carter Drumann - Groebe

Ferrero Frisch Ganter Gelzer, etc.

Gurlitt Heine How Huzar Knight

Kohner - Stegmann Mommsen MUnzer Nardo Rawson 1978 Rawson 1994

J. Andre, La vie et /'oeuvre d'Asinius Pol/ion (Paris, 1949) G. Andresen, Part II of Ausgewahlte Briefe von M. Tullius Cicero, ed. Fr. Hofmann (Berlin, 1878) J. Bcaujeu, Ciceron, Correspondance Vol. X (Paris, 1991) H. Bengtson, 'Untersuchungen zum Mutinensischcn Krieg', in Kleine Schriften zur A/ten Geschichte (Munchen, 1974), 479-531 L. BergmUller, Uber die Latinitiit der Briefe des L. Munatius Plancus an Cicero (Erlangcn and Leipzig, 1897) R. G. Bohm, Vigiliae Tullianae, Vol. JI (Freiburg im Brcisgau, 1985) B. C. Bondurant, Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus: a historical study (Chicago, 1907) H. Boterinann, Die So/daten und die romische Politik in der Zeit von Caesars Tod bis zur Begrundung des Zwciten Triumvirats (Milnchcn, 1968) T. R. S. Broughton, The magistrates of the Roman republic, 3 vols (repr., Atlanta, 1984-6) J.M. Carter, Julius Caesar, the Civil War (2 vols, Warminstcr, 19913) W. Drumann and P. Groebe, Geschichte Roms in seinem Ubergange von der republikanischen zur monarchischen Verfassung, 6 vols (Berlin and Leipzig, 1899-1929) G. Ferrero, The greatness and decline of Rome, English translation, 5 vols (London, 1907-9) H. Frisch, Cicero's fight for the republic (Copenhagen, 1946) F. L. Ganter, 'Q. Cornuficius', Philo/ogus 53 (1894), 132-46 M. Gelzer, W. Kroll, R. Philippson and "K. Buchner, 'M. Tullius der classischen Cicero', in Pauly's Real-Encyclopadie Altertumswisseruchaft, Vol. VII A 1 (Stuttgart, 1939), 827-1274 . L. Gurlitt, 'Die Briefe Ciccros an M. Brutus, in Bczug auf ihre Echtheit gcprilft', Philo/ogusSupplb. lV (Gottingen, 1884), 551-630 R. Heine, Quaestionum de M. T. Ciceronis et M. Bruti mutuis epistu.lis capita duo (Ostcrvici, 1875) W.W. How, Cicero, select lellers (Oxford, 1925-6) E. G. Huzar, Mark Antony (London, 1978) D. W. Knight, 'The political acumen of Cicero after the death of Caesar', Lalomus 21 (1968), 157-64 R. Kilhner and C. Stegmann, Ausfuhrliche Grammatik der /ateinischen Sprache (3rd e