1. Eloquence, you see, is one of the greatest virtues: Crassus here follows Stoic doctrine, with modifications.
2. Lycurgus, Pittacus and Solon: Cicero has Crassus list three legendary Greek lawgivers. Lycurgus of Sparta, Pittacus of Mitylene and Solon of Athens. Pittacus and Solon were also traditionally included among the Seven Sages of the Greek world.
3. Coruncanius, Fabricius, Cato and Scipio: Here as elsewhere in his writings Cicero identifies figures from the Roman past as comparable to the legendary leaders of Greece. These include Tiberius Coruncanius (consul 280 BCE), Gaius Fabricius Luscinus (consul 282 and 278 BCE), Marcus Porcius Cato (consul 195 BCE), also known as Cato the Elder or Cato the Censor, and almost certainly Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Africanus (consul 147 and 134 BCE).
4. Pythagoras, Democritus and Anaxagoras: Three well-known Greek philosophers, considered pre-Socratics for pre-dating Socrates and especially Plato. Pythagoras lived in the second half of the sixth century BCE, Democritus in the latter part of the fifth century BCE, and Anaxagoras from about 500 to 428 BCE. Although it is probably true that none of the three ‘governed’ a community, the followers of Pythagoras played an important role in the political life of south Italian communities.
5. Phoenix in Homer … and a doer of deeds: See Homer, Iliad 9.438–43, part of an episode in which Phoenix and others seek to induce Achilles to reconcile with the Greek leader, Agamemnon.
6. as you, Caesar, will have to do in the coming year: At the dramatic date of the dialogue, Caesar had been elected as curule aedile, a position that included responsibility for public works. Crassus may be drawing an analogy between the organization of material resources and the construction of a speech.
7. although as censor … their impudence strengthened: The character Crassus refers in somewhat evasive terms to the historical Crassus’ closure of the Latin schools of declamation in 92 BCE. The explanation given here, that he thought the teachers were not very good, is unlikely to be the whole story.
8. Roscius: Quintus Roscius, the most famous stage actor of the first half of the first century BCE. Cicero represented him in a private lawsuit from which his speech, For Roscius the Actor, survives.
9. The wise man … prey: This verse and the next from an unknown Roman tragedy, perhaps the Hecuba of Ennius, which would have dealt with the destruction of Troy, the city of Priam.
10. O Father … Priam: This and the preceding quotation are from Ennius, Andromacha.
11. topics: These are general themes that arise in many oratorical contexts and thus can be prepared ahead of time. The use of the Latin term locus (place) in this context should not be confused with the use of the same word for the backgrounds selected as part of the memory-system described in the Rhetoric to Herennius.
12. two schools of philosophy I discussed earlier: Crassus seems to refer to philosophers who believed in the knowability of truth (so-called dogmatics) versus those who denied the possibility of secure human knowledge (sceptics). More specifically, he may have in mind the Old Academy and the New Academy.
13. small part of their city: Crassus treats the Peripatetics, i.e. Aristotle and his successors, as part of the Old Academy more generally. Before its association with philosophy, the Academy was the site of a grove near Athens sacred to the goddess Athena.
14. Philo: Philo of Larissa (159/8–84/3 BCE), leader of the Academy at Athens before relocating to Rome. He was a teacher of Quintus Lutatius Catulus, who appears elsewhere in On the Orator, and of Cicero himself.
15. Hippocrates of Cos: A physician to whom many writings are attributed, although little is known about his life. He probably lived in the fifth century BCE, and is the source of the famous ‘Hippocratic Oath’ taken by medical professionals.
16. Euclid and Archimedes, Damon and Aristoxenus, or Aristophanes and Callimachus: Crassus lists some of the most famous scholars of Greek antiquity: the mathematicians Euclid (perhaps third century BCE) and Archimedes (third century BCE), the musicologists Damon (fifth century BCE) and Aristoxenus (fourth century BCE), the literary scholar Aristophanes of Byzantium (c.257–180 BCE) and the poet-scholar Callimachus (third century BCE).
17. Sextus Aelius … Manius Manilius: Crassus refers to two earlier Romans, both of whom he describes as distinguished legal experts elsewhere in On the Orator: Sextus Aelius Paetus Catus (consul 198 BCE) and Manius Manilius (consul 149 BCE).
18. Publius Crassus … Tiberius Coruncanius … Scipio: Publius Crassus (consul 205 BCE), Tiberius Coruncanius (consul 280 BCE) and Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum (censor 159 BCE).
19. pontifex maximus: The chief priest of Rome, head of the college of pontiffs that made determinations about ritual propriety.
20. Cato: Marcus Porcius Cato (consul 195 BCE), also known as Cato the Elder. There is good reason to believe that Cato was more knowledgeable about Greek literature and culture than many ancient sources would seem to imply: see A. E. Astin, Cato the Censor (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978), pp. 157–81.
21. Thales the Milesian: A natural philosopher from the sixth century BCE. The Seven Sages were generally regarded as Thales, Bias of Priene, Cleobulus of Rhodes, Pittacus of Mitylene, Solon of Athens, Chilon of Sparta and Periander of Corinth.
22. Peisistratus: Sixth-century BCE tyrant of Athens. During his rule and that of his successors Athens emerged as a powerful city-state. Peisistratus was said to have commissioned full copies of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, to be deposited in archives at Athens.
23. Pericles: Pericles (c.495–429 BCE) was perhaps the most influential leader of democratic Athens. He favoured monumental building projects in the heart of the city, initiated a reform of requirements for citizenship and articulated the military strategy followed by the Athenians in the early years of the Peloponnesian War against Sparta and her allies.
24. Anaxagoras of Clazomenae: A natural scientist who was convicted of impiety and expelled from Athens in 433 BCE.
25. Critias or Alcibiades: Critias (c.460–403 BCE) was an orator, playwright and politician. He died fighting as one of the Thirty Tyrants, an oligarchic group that briefly governed Athens after its defeat by Sparta. Alcibiades (451/5–404/3 BCE) was an unusually controversial Athenian general and politician. Critias and Alcibiades are both depicted as students of Socrates in the dialogues of Plato.
26. Dio the Syracusan: Would-be ruler of Sicily (c.408–353 BCE), his political agenda was said to have been strongly influenced by his studies with the philosopher Plato.
27. Isocrates … Timotheus … Conon: Isocrates (436–338 BCE) was an important writer and thinker with many famous pupils, including the Athenian general Timotheus, whose father Conon was also a military leader.
28. Lysis the Pythagorean … Epaminondas of Thebes: Lysis was a fifth-century BCE follower of Pythagoras from southern Italy. Epaminondas was a highly successful Theban general (fourth century BCE) who led his city’s forces in struggles against Sparta and Athens.
29. Xenophon teacher of Agesilaus: Xenophon (c.430–355 BCE) was a well-known Athenian writer, soldier and follower of Socrates. Agesilaus (c.445–359 BCE) was king of Sparta, leader in its continuing military struggles, especially against Persia and Thebes.
30. Philolaus … Archytas of Tarentum: Philolaus (c.470–390 BCE) was a southern Italian follower of Pythagoras. Archytas (died c.350 BCE) was also a Pythagorean philosopher, as well as being elected general at Tarentum repeatedly.
31. Pythagoras … called ‘great’: Pythagoras was an important philosopher who lived in the second half of the sixth century BCE. His followers were influential in southern Italy and Sicily for many years. The areas of Sicily and the Italian peninsula that were colonized by the Greeks as early as the eighth century BCE achieved great wealth and were sometimes clustered together under the name Magna Graecia, or Great Greece.
32. For Philoctetes … shameful to let Isocrates speak: The anecdote is not preserved in the surviving treatises attributed to Aristotle. The remark from Philoctetes may be drawn from Euripides’ play of that name, as David Mankin (ed.), Cicero, O De Oratore, Book III (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), p. 229, suggests.
33. wise king Philip … his son: Philip is Philip II (382–336 BCE), king of Macedon, and his son is Alexander the Great (356–323 BCE), whose conquests extended as far as India.
34. Caelius: Either Caelius, and thus probably the Roman historian Lucius Coelius Antipater, whose works included a history of the Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage; or, as in the manuscripts, Laelius, thus Gaius Laelius (184–c.124 BCE), the close friend of Scipio and also the grandfather of Crassus’ wife.
35. progeny, scion, prognosticate or appellation: The terms are rough equivalents of the Latin proles, suboles, effari, nuncupare.
36. I reckoned not … I opined: The Latin expressions are non rebar and opinabar.
37. The sea shudders … is boiling: The quoted lines are from a tragedy by the Latin author Pacuvius (220–c.130 BCE), in a scene describing the destruction of much of the Greek fleet on its return from Troy. See discussion by Mankin (ed.), Cicero, De Oratore, Book III, p. 244.
38. he cloaks himself … with deceit: Verse quoted from an unknown Latin drama.
39. if the weapon flees his hand: Cited from the Twelve Tables of early Roman law.
40. ‘foot’ on a boat: The Latin word pes refers to the rope that binds the bottom of a sail to the deck of a ship.
41. the massive archways of heaven: Citation from an unknown play of Ennius.
42. yet a sphere is nothing like an archway: It’s not clear what Crassus finds objectionable about the metaphor.
43. Live, Ulysses … with your eyes: Citation from an unknown Latin drama.
44. Syrtis … whirlpool: The Syrtes were notoriously dangerous sand banks off the coast of Libya. Charybdis was a whirlpool in the Straits of Messina, sometimes depicted in mythology as a water-belching monster.
45. Africanus … Glaucia: Presumably Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Africanus, also known as Scipio Africanus the Younger, who led the Roman forces in the third and final war against Carthage; and Gaius Servilius Glaucia (praetor 100 BCE).
46. decline: The Latin word used here, abnuas or abnutas, indicates general disapproval, which is rather weak in context, as Crassus points out. The cited verses are thought to be from a play by Ennius.
47. I will not suffer … yoke of authority: Both quotations are from unknown Latin dramas.
48. rugged Africa … tumult: The verse is Ennius, Annals 309.
49. the sea with smashingrock waves: A phrase possibly drawn from Ennius, Annals.
50. the sea softens: The passage is from a lost play by the Roman dramatist Pacuvius.
51. cease, Rome, your enemies: It is unclear whether this and the following quotation are from specific works or expressions invented for this context.
52. the Roman … in his heart: The verses are Ennius, Annals 560–61.
53. Rudine: Ennius, Annals 525. The Latin expression uses plural forms throughout, even though the passage is understood to refer only to an individual speaker, namely the poet Ennius himself.
54. father-in-law: The author in question is the early Roman satirist Gaius Lucilius (c.180–103/2 BCE). The father-in-law of Crassus is Quintus Mucius Scaevola Augur (c.165–87 BCE).
55. Albucius: Titus Albucius (praetor 105 BCE), a Roman politician and philhellene who brought an unsuccessful prosecution against Scaevola.
56. Isocrates … Naucrates: Isocrates: see note 27. Naucrates the Erythraean was a less prominent fourth century BCE intellectual.
57. And, much to our amazement … most beautiful: The entire passage resembles Balbus’ presentation of Stoic physical doctrine in Book 2 of Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods, which emphasizes the beauty and functionality of nature. The description of the relationship of the earth to the other planets also corresponds to the theories of the Greek astronomer Eudoxus.
58. your Aristotle, Catulus: Aristotle is of course the famous Greek philosopher. Catulus, one of the characters in On the Orator, is Quintus Catulus (consul 102 BCE), often depicted as a lover of Greek learning.
59. iamb and trochee: Generally speaking, an iamb consists of a short syllable followed by a long, a trochee is the reverse. But Cicero here uses the term trochaeus to refer to a run of three short syllables.
60. heroic metre: That is, the dactylic hexameter, standard metre of heroic epic in both Greek and Latin. A dactyl is a metrical foot consisting of a long syllable followed by two short.
61. then give it up … push down on it: The Latin words are desinite, incipite, comprimite.
62. ‘when they had crushed’ … ‘the clatter of hooves’: The Latin words are domuerant, sonipedes.
63. ‘how to seek, where to find, when to run’: The English roughly translates a passage Cicero quotes from Ennius: ‘quid petam praesidi, aut exsequar? quove nunc?’
64. Fannius … threats: The identity of this Fannius is uncertain. The English roughly translates the Latin si Quirites, minas illius.
65. Theophrastus: Greek philosopher and scientist, successor of Aristotle.
66. dithyramb: Dithyramb was originally a type of Greek cultic poetry. As it developed, it abandoned the strict correspondence between stanzas that generally characterized lyric metres.
67. Antonius: Marcus Antonius (consul 99 BCE), one of the two main speakers in On the Orator.
68. Antipater of Sidon: A Greek poet contemporary with Catulus and Crassus.
69. Numa: Numa was the second king of Rome, often regarded as having created the musical culture of the city, along with various rituals.
70. Salian priests: A troupe of priests who periodically sang and danced their way around the city of Rome. Their ritual was said to have been founded by Numa, who was their first leader.
71. But there’s a difference … words you use: Compare the discussion in the Rhetoric to Herennius in the section ‘Style’, above. Cicero has Crassus present an informal list of figures rather than detailed definition with examples. As often within the rhetorical tradition, the names of figures as presented by one rhetorician do not necessarily match those used by another. Yet by and large, the actual figures remain the same.
72. the precepts of Caesar: Crassus refers to the instructions on wit provided earlier in On the Orator by Gaius Julius Caesar Strabo Vopiscus (curule aedile 90 BCE).
73. Cotta: Gaius Aurelius Cotta (consul 75 BCE).
74. Demosthenes: Pre-eminent Athenian orator, fourth century BCE.
75. Aeschines: Athenian orator, fourth century BCE, and rival of Demosthenes.
76. the famous speech against Ctesiphon: Athenian orator and politician, he proposed that Demosthenes be awarded a crown for his services to the city. Aeschines prosecuted him for this action, while Demosthenes defended him in his own speech, On the Crown.
77. Where in my misery … despondent: Crassus quotes from a famous speech by Gaius Sempronius Gracchus (tribune of the plebs 123 and 122 BCE), purportedly delivered the day he was killed. He refers to the earlier death of his brother Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, also in political violence.
78. He urges me … my jaws: Verses quoted from either Ennius’ Thyestes or Accius’ Atreus. Thyestes was fed morsels of his murdered sons by his evil brother Atreus.
79. You dared to separate from yourself: From the Teucer of Pacuvius.
80. Does no one take note? Tie him up!: Quoted from Accius’ Atreus.
81. Atreus: Accius wrote a play called Atreus; but the Latin may also mean ‘just about anything said by Atreus’ (i.e., the character, who would have appeared in Ennius’ Thyestes as well).
82. Where now am I … daughters of Pelias: Lines spoken by the title character in Ennius’ Medea. Medea has had Pelias murdered.
83. O father … deprived of life: From Ennius’ Andromacha. The title character laments the destruction of Troy.
84. I am besieged … these threats: The verses are taken from Ennius’ Alcmeo. The title character has killed his mother Eriphyle.
85. Again Thyestes … cruel heart: The verses are quoted from Accius’ Atreus.
86. But when she carried … delicately: The source of the quotation is unknown.
87. At the time … Polydorus: The verses are quoted from a Roman drama, possibly Pacuvius’ Iliona.
88. Theophrastus quotes Tauriscus: Theophrastus: see note 65. Tauriscus is unknown.
89. Gracchus … Catulus: The Gracchus in question is Gaius Sempronius Gracchus (tribune of the plebs 123, 122 BCE). The slave who reported the story had at some point been freed and become a client (free dependant) of Catulus. Many slaves were war captives who had been well educated prior to enslavement. Catulus is Quintus Catulus (consul 102 BCE).
90. Hortensius: Quintus Hortensius Hortalus (114–49 BCE, consul 69 BCE), most prominent orator of the late Roman Republic, with the exception of Cicero.
91. my consulship: Crassus was consul in 95 BCE.
92. king of Bithynia: Bithynia was a small independent kingdom in Asia Minor. Its king, as a non-Roman, could have sought the assistance of a Roman politician in advancing his diplomatic interests.
93. Cotta … Sulpicius: Gaius Aurelius Cotta (c.124–c.74 BCE, consul 75 BCE) and Publius Sulpicius Rufus (tribune of the plebs 88 BCE) appear as representatives of a generation between Crassus and Hortensius.