5

CONCLUSION: DEVELOPMENT
OF THE CHARACTER ‘CICERO’

Exploring a group of dramas whose only common feature is that they all present ‘Cicero’ as a character in the dramatic action may appear rather arbitrary at first glance and might seem not to lead directly to specific insights. In particular, such a study has been carried out in a context when elsewhere the influential texts left by Cicero are read and interpreted, Cicero's political activity in the fight for the preservation of the Roman Republic is analysed on the basis of the ancient sources and positive or negative assessments of what can be inferred for Cicero's personality from his writings are being proposed. In comparison with such activities, the dramas presenting a fictional version of the character of ‘Cicero’ (though based on the historical record) cannot add further details about the historical Cicero. Still, as the survey demonstrates, they are, each on their own as well as cumulatively, most revealing documents of the creative reception of Cicero the writer and the historical figure and thus demonstrate how Cicero could be seen and exploited in a variety of contexts. The portraits of ‘Cicero’ promoted through dramas that were actually performed will have had far-ranging effects on the perception of Cicero.

The overview has revealed that ‘Cicero’ as a dramatic character appears in well over sixty plays (some now lost), produced in the period between 1574 and 2017; the majority was written in Latin, English, German, Italian or French, but there also a few in Dutch, Spanish and Czech (and some have also been translated or adapted from one language into another). The fact that interest in the period of the late Roman Republic and in its dramatic representation based on ‘Cicero’ as a central figure surged in the sixteenth century is probably connected with broader intellectual developments in the Renaissance and the growing attractiveness of historical drama. At any rate, long before the genre of the historical novel became established in Europe in the early nineteenth century (after individual forerunners) and lead to narratives on ‘Cicero’ (see ch. 3), the historical individual Cicero was presented in a partly historical and partly fictional context in the genre of historical drama.¹

Even though ‘Cicero’ is not of equal relevance in all the plays in which he appears, his character is never an entirely subsidiary figure, but always important for the development of the plot or at least a subplot. In creating a dramatic version of ‘Cicero’, playwrights have focused particularly on two aspects: on the biography of the historical Cicero, whose life was determined by great successes and major catastrophes (particularly his exile and his death), by highlighting some of these experiences and also, frequently, on the activities of Catiline and his followers along with Cicero's opposition to them in his consular year. In addition, in some dramas ‘Cicero’ is present in the context of a plot directed against Julius Caesar; a few others present unique stories, like the first identifiable ‘Cicero’ piece, Robert Garnier's Cornélie (1574), not named after a male historical character or an historical incident, and the piece Everie Woman in Her Humor (1609), which shows ‘Cicero’ as a young man getting married to Terentia inserted into other narrative threads. The topic of the Catilinarian Conspiracy appears among ‘Cicero’ dramas since the sixteenth century (first attested in Stephen Gosson's play of c. 1579); it is prominent in plays of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and turns into the dominant topic in the nineteenth century.² Other aspects of Cicero's life, such as his exile and death, are most frequently dramatized in the eighteenth century; these features are no longer of particular interest in the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century the focus changes again: once more, Cicero becomes more interesting as a personality, particularly as a representative of a political system (the structure of the traditional Roman Republic) that he unsuccessfully tries to preserve.

The number of plays including ‘Cicero’ as a character is particularly large in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The change of thematic focus, which sees Cicero's personal fate move into the background over the course of that period, may be connected with the development of historical drama. At any rate the plays dramatizing the Catilinarian Conspiracy typically present it less as an incident characterizing the figure of ‘Cicero’, but rather as a political and societal phenomenon, influenced by the conditions at the time of composition. The historical theme is thus opened up for interpretations guided by the assumption of the potential repetition of political conflicts or of the continuity of conditions in society.³

That the plot of the Catilinarian Conspiracy lends itself to political exploitation can be seen in the changing assessment of the conspirators and their opponents: in the earlier pieces Catiline is the arch-villain, and ‘Cicero’ is the person to whom Rome owes its salvation and who is rightfully honoured as the ‘father of the country’. In the plays of the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries Catiline morphs into a revolutionary, whose personality is not without its problems, but who is keen to improve the appalling conditions of ordinary people and to reduce the privileges of the wealthy in power. Despite the drawbacks in his moral attitude and his chosen procedures, it is Catiline who realizes that something needs to change, as Caesar does too, who often appears as the one who will bring the Catilinarian initiative to completion. Accordingly, ‘Cicero’ emerges as a person who does not recognize the problems and, instead, focuses on the threat to the existing circumstances, which he wishes to preserve. Against the foil of the historical sequence of events, ‘Cicero's’ success in ‘preserving the republic’ is put into perspective.

The political upheavals of the nineteenth century, caused by the endeavour to introduce more democracy and better living conditions for factory workers against the perseverance of conservative forces, are mirrored in this shift (for instance in Ferdinand Kürnberger's Catilina of 1855, where Catiline and his followers fight for freedom and the republic of the world). This development in the assessment of Cicero may have been affected by the emergence of a negative portrayal of the historical Cicero in classical scholarship, especially in the works of the German classicist Theodor Mommsen (1817–1903), influenced by the historian Wilhelm Drumann (1786–1861; see ch. 2.2).⁴

Beyond such contemporary scholarly engagement with the figure of ‘Cicero’ and his time, the ancient sources on Cicero offer a treasure trove for playwrights, who may have been familiar with at least some of them and who can exploit them according to their needs and intentions: the works of ancient historiographers amply document Cicero's political activity, and Cicero's reactions to his experiences are demonstrated in his own writings. The earlier playwrights in particular frequently indicate their sources: these include the works of the historical Cicero (sometimes with reference to particular pieces), the relevant biographies of Plutarch, Sallust's historical monograph on the Catilinarian Conspiracy and sections from the Greek histories of Appian and Cassius Dio. A few early and some later playwrights refer to historical publications of their own time. For other dramatists, especially later ones, it is unclear whether they have consulted any ancient sources directly or whether there may have been intermediaries. Although some of the ancient sources do not offer an unequivocally positive presentation of Cicero, they provide the dramatists with a wealth of details on the historical incidents; these were available for exploitation in a dramatic presentation, for instance, as regards the events concerning Cicero's exile and return in 58–57 BCE or Caesar's assassination in 44 BCE and Cicero's death in 43 BCE. In cases where playwrights add fictional characters, modify the biographies of historical figures or add unhistorical details, it is not always certain whether they do so for dramatic reasons (fully aware of what they are doing) or whether they are not sufficiently familiar with the historical record.

Since the discovery of Cicero's letters to his friend Atticus by Petrarch (1345), Cicero has been the ancient personality for whose activities and feelings there is access to a particularly wide range and large amount of material. Against this background it is all the more noteworthy that, while the dramas include details of Cicero's personal life, he is generally presented as a public figure: his political situation is what seems to have been of interest; little attention is given to details of his private life. Even the relationship to other members of his family is mainly considered from a political point of view: his wife Terentia appears in a few plays, often commenting on the political situation (only in Everie Woman in Her Humor does the relationship between Terentia and the young ‘Cicero’ become a major element); but there are not many references to Cicero's friend Atticus, for instance.⁵

A particular reason why out of the prominent individuals from the Roman Republic it is ‘Cicero’ who would have been relevant particularly to elite audiences is his paradigmatic function as a linguistic and stylistic model; this status goes back at least to the imperial writer Quintilian, who presented Cicero as a personification of eloquence.⁶ While there was some reservation regarding the admiration of Cicero's texts in the Middle Ages, since it might lead to neglecting reading the Holy Scripture, in the period in which the first ‘Cicero’ dramas were produced Cicero was again the undisputed stylistic model. Even though the movement of ‘Ciceronianism’ was already losing prominence at that time, Cicero's works were school texts and had a firm position in the education system. Therefore, it is not a coincidence that a substantial number of plays in the eighteenth century focusing on Cicero's personality were initially written for performance in an educational context; this applies particularly to Jesuit schools in German-speaking countries. Presenting Cicero as a dramatic figure restores the performative aspects of his activity missing from the transmitted texts.

Although the ‘Cicero’ plays shape the role of the character ‘Cicero’ in different ways, as a positive model or a negative caricature (e.g. as a saviour or as an opportunist), key features are maintained throughout. This applies to selected aspects of what is attested for the life and personality of the historical Cicero, such as Cicero being a homo novus from Arpinum, who becomes a successful orator and politician, eventually is victorious over his opponents, at least in the short term (e.g. Catiline, Mark Antony), and / or makes personal sacrifices for the sake of his country, but whose political views do not agree with everyone's opinion and who is even sent into exile. Some plays include comments by other characters who find Cicero's political views one-sided and obsessive, his oratory a nuisance or polished without substance and who recall that he has never achieved a major military victory, is a newcomer to the political scene from a small provincial town and / or is driven by ambition and pride for his own career. Thus, they mirror the ambivalence of reactions to the historical Cicero from antiquity until the modern period.⁷ That Cicero is also a literary author and a philosophical writer does not receive much prominence in most of the dramatic presentations.

What is included or at least mentioned are important historical incidents transmitted from antiquity, which is particularly obvious in the plays on the Catilinarian Conspiracy: in the end Cicero is victorious since the plans of the conspirators are revealed to him, and when the plot extends that far, Catiline dies (though not always according to the historical record). As regards the chronological structure, however, events are often condensed, and the reasons given for the motivation of the main characters may not agree with what can be inferred from the historical sources. Still, the relative faithfulness to the historical record distinguishes the ‘Cicero’ plays from those in which ancient myths might be transformed and given new interpretations. Therefore, they can be regarded as ‘historical dramas’ in a wider sense, and the series of ‘Cicero’ dramas may be seen as a sequence of different presentations of essentially the same elements. At the same time, while all dramas go back to the information provided in the ancient sources and in that sense have plots that are comparable to some extent, they differ from each other since the playwrights adapt the plots to the requirements of their audiences and the conventions of the respective times and places. Thus, apart from a few coherent groups linked by the shared choice of the same underlying incidents, there is no discernible pattern that emerges as characteristic for ‘Cicero’ plays as such, nor are there particular (unhistorical) additions or variations that develop into standard features of such plays.

Still, poetic licence is exploited in that frequently complex love affairs are introduced, which make the political connections and proceedings more complicated. This even affects the protagonists, especially Catiline, who may be either a rapist of a Vestal Virgin (e.g. in Alexandre Dumas' / Auguste Maquet's Catilina, 1848; Mariano Vittori's Lucio Sergio Catilina, 1894; Guido Ammirata's Quattro assassini per una cerva, 1972/73) or the caring lover of Orestilla (e.g. in Carl Theodor Curti's Catilina, 1892). A particular change applies to Cicero's daughter Tullia, who, beyond her historical dates, is still assumed to be alive at the time of Cicero's death (e.g. in Die Enthaubttung deß Weltberühmten Wohlredners Ciceronis, 1724) and is shown involved in specific love relationships in some of the plays (e.g. in Simon-Joseph Pellegrin's Catilina, 1742; Prosper Jolyot Crébillon's Catilina, 1748; Prosper Jolyot Crébillon's Le Triumvirat ou La mort de Cicéron, 1754; Richard Cumberland's The Banishment of Cicero, 1761; Pierre Jean-Baptiste Dalban's Catilina, 1827; André Lebey's Catilina, 1922). The audience familiar with the historical facts will have noticed such variations and might have enjoyed them. School dramas also include divergences from the historical record, but less drastic ones, and they tend not to add love stories.

What is noteworthy is that merely in some of the early dramas the action has been supplemented by comic elements or even constructed as a comedy (Philipp Nicodemus Frischlin's Iulius redivivus, 1585; Everie Woman in Her Humor, 1609; Die Enthaubttung deß Weltberühmten Wohlredners Ciceronis, 1724). Only towards the end of the nineteenth century did Mariano Vittori (1894) again include comic aspects, as there is less emphasis on profiling the character of ‘Cicero’ than on presenting a complex web of love affairs set against the political background of the Catilinarian Conspiracy (to some extent also in Giovanni Battista Casti's Catilina, 1752). That there is also a parody (Cargula) of a drama featuring ‘Cicero’ (Prosper Jolyot Crébillon's Catilina, 1748) may be due to the contemporary discourse on the theatre rather than the subject matter. The material apparently was seen as being less suited to the inclusion of comic and humorous effects. Nevertheless, the embellishment of the plot through the addition of fictional characters and of further twists as a result of unattested love affairs (among fictional as well as historical personages) seems not to have been regarded as incompatible with a plot based on historical sources.

From antiquity no drama is attested in which ‘Cicero’ featured as a character. The historical Cicero does not seem to have entertained the idea of a drama about his achievements; he was rather keen on a monograph about his consulship, as his famous letter to L. Lucceius reveals (Cic. Fam. 5.12). The features that would make such a monograph appealing as outlined by Cicero in that letter also apply to dramatic treatments: the vicissitudes of fortune, the untroubled recollection of past sorrows, the presentation of the fortunes of a man of eminent character (Cic. Fam. 5.12).⁸ Thus, in a way (early) modern dramatists producing dramas on ‘Cicero’ carry out belatedly what the historical Cicero intended. Moreover, these dramas contribute to keeping the record of Cicero's oratory alive since a number of them include reminiscences of speeches of the historical Cicero, he is often defined as an ‘orator’, and some pieces even have metaliterary remarks on the future fame of Cicero's writings.

It is certainly remarkable that Cicero was such a constant feature in drama over more than 400 years in several European countries. Obviously, Cicero as an historical figure (through his personality and his actions) offered a good number of starting points for both positive and negative presentations and assessments. The richness of material inviting different interpretations enabled the shift to be observed during the nineteenth century, when the high appreciation of Cicero, perhaps supported by his prominence in the education system, changed to a negative portrayal of a conservative preserver of something out of date.

That most of these dramas on ‘Cicero’ are no longer read today may have to do with the facts that the poetic quality of some of these pieces is sometimes felt not to be particularly high or that they were composed by relatively obscure authors or for performances in particular local contexts; linguistic issues may also play a part in preventing their widespread knowledge. In the last century fewer new dramas on ‘Cicero’ were written. But the topic of Cicero and of the end of the Roman Republic has not lost its attractiveness as its continued popularity in other media, such as novels, detective stories, films and audio plays, demonstrates. In this context the genre of ‘Cicero drama’ was recently revived when a successful novel on ‘Cicero’ (by Robert Harris), narrated by Cicero's secretary Tiro, was given a dramatic presentation, first performed in the 2017/18 season by the Royal Shakespeare Company: this indicates that a dramatic ‘Cicero’ is still thriving.