1 Welcome to the Summer Newsletter editorial Peter Farrugia It is with great pleasure that the Malta Classics Association presents its summer newsletter. Within these pages you’ll find a varied selection of articles and compositions (in both English and Latin) treating popular culture, Classical heritage and plenty besides. Following up on earlier successes, the Association is keen to keep busy and continue its mission to revive an interest in all facets of Classical culture in Malta. Certainly, the summer months have seen a marked increase in activity. The launch of a Classics Association website promises exciting new possibilities and with Greek and Latin courses currently underway, lectures planned and the premier of an original drama later this July, there’s much to explore. We hope to see you at our next event! www.classicsmalta.org/ [email protected]Mosaic pavement detail Domus Romana, Rabat, Malta FASHIONMONTHLY July, 2011 Contents Upcoming Events p. 2 Administrative Report p.3 What are we laughing at? p.5 Thrinaks p.7 Why are Classical studies still so fascinating? p.10 Sanskrit p.11 Homer and Troy p.13 De Francisci Sammut Vita p.19 Classical Texts in trans. p.21 De Cicerone Encomium p.23 Island Books p.26 Committee List p.27 Membership Form p.28
Transcript
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Welcome to the Summer NewslettereditorialPeter Farrugia
It is with great pleasure that the Malta Classics Association presents its summer newsletter.
Within these pages you’ll find a varied selection of articles and compositions (in both English and Latin) treating popular culture, Classical heritage and plenty besides.
Following up on earlier successes, the Association is keen to keep busy and continue its mission to revive an interest in all facets of
Classical culture in Malta. Certainly, the summer months have seen a marked increase in activity.
The launch of a Classics Association website promises exciting new possibilities and with Greek and Latin courses currently underway, lectures planned and the premier of an original drama later this July, there’s much to explore.
ContentsUpcoming Events p. 2Administrative Report p.3What are we laughingat? p.5Thrinaks p.7Why are Classical studiesstill so fascinating? p.10Sanskrit p.11Homer and Troy p.13De Francisci Sammut Vita p.19Classical Texts in trans. p.21De Cicerone Encomium p.23Island Books p.26Committee List p.27Membership Form p.28
Saturday 30th July at 21:00 hrs. Is-Simpozju, play by Karmenu Serracino, directed by Roderick Vassallo on the University Campus. More information:http://www.classicsmalta.org/page_2455630.html
Sunday 31st July at 21:00 hrs.Second performance of is-Simpozju, play by Karmenu Serracino, directed by Roderick Vassallo on the University Campus. More information:http://www.classicsmalta.org/page_2455630.html
Tuesday 6th SeptemberPublic lecture “Music and Emotion in Ancient Greece and China” by Professor David Cooper. Open to the general public. More Information TBA.
Friday 14th October at 18:00 hrsPublic lecture “The Greek Element in Maltese Culture” by Professor Stanley Fiorini. Open to the general public. More information TBA.
The Malta Classics Association started its existence with the first AGM which was held on 9th April of last year. This was the act to set the ball rolling for the whole year in which there were numerous activities that were all well attended and of various kinds. The most important outcome of this first event was the select ion of the committee members, where nine officers were chosen.
The second event was also very significant where on the 20th of July there was the official launch of the Association as part of the Evenings on Campus, held on the University of Malta’s premises. This event was a huge success where the official introduction of our Association was presented to the academic and the general public while at the same time providing a unique programme of entertainment, which included a reading in Greek of an excerpt from the Iliad by Homer and a play adapted by Joseph Anthony Debono in Latin language.
Among distinguished guests there was present for this event H.E. Dr Ugo Mifsud Bonnici President Emeritus of the Republic of Malta, who was also the first Honorary President for the term of one year of the same association. This event was funded by the Evenings on Campus organisation.
D u r i n g t h e s u m m e r t h e n t h e Association, through the co-ordination of a dedicated sub-committee, held a number of language courses in Latin, Greek and Sanskrit at Saghjtar Parish Centre, Naxxar, and Latin lessons were also held in Gozo.
Then came the next other important event which was held at the President’s Palace, Attard on 26th November, 2010. This event was patronised by H.E. Dr George Abela, President of the Republic of Malta, which also served as a fund-raising event for l-Istrina Campaign. There was a repeat performance of the excerpt from the Iliad and the play in Latin which were performed during the launch event. The evening was concluded by an address from H.E. the President who profusely praised and encouraged the learning of Classics. This event was gently sponsored by KPMG, of Pieta, and Master Group of Naxxar.
As Christmas was approaching towards the end of the year, the committee of the association felt the need to follow the tradition of all associations to hold a customary event, which was held on 7th December at a hotel in St Julians. The programme consisted of a beautiful speech and sing-along prepared by Prof H o r a c e V e l l a , t h e c o m m i t t e e chairperson. Then there was a lavish buffet. This served as a social event for a number of the association members, who had the occasion to meet and socialise.
The year 2010 was concluded in the best way possible by having the first newsletter of the association launched.
“For the future, the main target of the association is to have our own website which we strongly believe will be a state-of-the-art medium to make our voice heard as far and wide as possible.”
Administrative ReportApril 2010 - May 2011
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All members received an electronic version of this first publication on Christmas Day. A hard copy of this was also given to the University Library.
Over the turn of the year another basic course in Classics was held this time at St Martin’s College, Swatar. This was organised by the same sub-committee who organised the summer courses. This particular course offered the pupils of this school the benefit of familiarising themselves with the Classics and making a breakthrough in Maltese education. Since no other school in Malta currently offers such subjects in its teaching programme. The attendance and enthusiasm for this course was very encouraging.
The first activity of this year, 2011, was of a more academic nature. This was the first of a ser ies of publ ic lectures programmed for this year. The event was held at the Greek Embassy, at Ta’ Xbiex, which was also the sponsor of this e v e n t , o n M o n d a y 2 1 s t February. The lecture with the theme ‘Odysseus in Malta’ was magnificently delivered by P r o f . H o r a c e V e l l a . T h e attendance was very good.
Recently, on Tuesday 3rd May, we had the second public lecture in programme. This was diligently delivered by Prof. Peter Vassallo with the theme ‘The Persephone Myth and Literature’, held at the Gateway Bui lding of the University of Malta.
The association, in the last few months, has a lso f inal ly acquired a logo which is a representation of an ancient Maltese coin with the wording ‘MELITAION’ on it. The graphic design was kindly made on a voluntary basis by Nigel Anastasi and Luca Caruana.
The committee members have also completed a finalised version of the statute of the association. This document comprises the main aims and o b j e c t i v e s o f t h e s a m e association and how it intends t o r e a c h t h e m w i t h t h e appropriate logistics.
The association’s Committee, chaired by Prof. Horace Vella, and the following members: M a x i n e A n a s t a s i , V i c t o r Bonnici, Joseph Anthony Debono, Peter Farrugia, Maria G i u l i a n a F e n e c h , K a r m Serracino, Michael Zammit, and Joanna Zammit Falzon, functioned as the backbone of all activities mentioned above, mostly devised in the course of nine official meetings spread over the past twelve months. However, as mentioned earlier, most of the particular details for each event were fine tuned by selected sub-committees who dedicated extra time, besides the official meetings, to see that these events were to work out well. For the future the main target of the association is to have our own website which we strongly believe will be the state-of-the-art medium to make our voice
heard as far and wide as possible.
Finally, we can conclude by saying that all efforts made throughout the past twelve-m o n t h p e r i o d a i m e d t o promote the Classics with the widest audience possible, and we are proud to claim that the first important steps have been taken.
Joanna Zammit Falzon, Secretary General
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“I desire only to know the truth, and to live as well as I can, and when I die, to die as well as I can.” (Plato, Gorgias) And to do that, Plato tells us, is to sit at the feet of Philosophy . . . for she is the teacher at whose words we wonder, “and if you want to silence me”, says Socrates, “silence Philosophy”. Philosophy, he insists - not rhetoric.
Plato takes the trouble to demystify the aura surrounding the figure of the rhetorician (note - the true rhetorician not the sophist) for the reason that “above all things, the reality and not the appearance of virtue is to be followed” and even more surprisingly, he will very soon (in the
same dialogue) accuse the rhetorician of practising an art akin to the ghost or counterfeit of politics which reduces rhetoric to “a kind of flattery.”
But what is Socrates doing here attacking that which we have grown to revere as the mark of the man of nobility and culture? How could anyone remain cold in the face of Cicero’s passionate claim,“What achievement is so mighty and glorious as that the impulses of the crowd should suffer transformation through the eloquence of one man?” (Cicero, De Oratore) and likewise, “What so effectively procaims the madman as the hollow thundering of words - be
What are we all laughing at?Maria Zammit
“Have we really reached the point where visual stimulation is a
substitute for thought, and verbal precision is an anachronism?”
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they never so choice and resplendent - which have no thought or knowledge behind them?” (id.)
But what about the present age? Are we also guilty of choosing to follow the chimaera of appearance, rather than reality, in the way we conduct our public discourse?
One is reminded again of Plato’s words that a culture is defined by the way in which men within that culture conduct their conversations. Are we presently conducting our conversations on the basis of what is amusing - Plato’s “kind of flattery”? Neil Postman (1985) has pointed out that what our electronic media offer us and will keep offering us is information “without context, without consequences, without value and therefore without essential seriousness - news as pure entertainment.”
What we are embracing essentially is “a type of discourse that abandons logic, reason, sequence and rules of contradicition. In aesthetics, I believe the name given to this theory is Dadaism; in philosophy, nihilism; in psychiatry schizophrenia. In the parlance of the theatre, it is known as vaudeville.” (id.)
Have we really reached the point where visual stimulation is a substitute for thought and verbal precision is an anachronism? (R. MacNeil, 1983)
If like Socrates we want to both live well and die well, then we need to question the way conversing is being dictated by the electronic media which solicit applause but not reflection, which value performing in place of thinking, where serious debate gives way to the boxing-match and where talk produces more inert talk but never meaningful action - what Neil Postman has called “amusing
ourselves to death” and what Plato would have called a living death.
Finally, how many of us are so ready to be entertained, so compliant to the burlesque which goes by the name of culture, that we have not stopped to question why we have chosen laughing in place of thinking - and what exactly it
is we are laughing at? ◊
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The Malta Classics Association’s Logo is reminiscent of Roman coinage with representations from Greek mythology. On a number of coins we have the figure of Persephone on one side, and the representation of our Logo on the other. The two figures are intrinsically connected.
Persephone was the daughter of Demeter, goddess of fertility, who came to be associated with death. As a compromise with her mother, Hades, god of the Underworld, contented himself with keeping Persephone, his wife, whom he had stolen from Earth, for only six months of the year. This myth explains why Earth is fertile generally for only half a year. Because of her connection with death, the Romans represented Persephone on the Maltese coins as veiled.
The tripod, called in Greek “Thrinax”, was a three-legged stool, with a hole or holes in the seat, that was placed over a hole in the earth commonly believed to be the omphalos of the world. Through this hole in Mother-Earth, generally imagined to be a “primeval hill” representing the pregnant earth, came the inspiration which passed through the hole or holes of this tripod into the skirt of the priestess, Pythia, sitting on it. She, in turn, interpreted the inspiration she received from the earth in enigmatic poetry.
Apollo, the twin-brother of the moon-goddess, came to be connected with this tripod and the Pythia, because he had usurped that supremacy of the locality from Python, the “primeval serpent” or dragon (it is the same in Greek), who p r o t e c t s M o t h e r - E a r t h a n d a l l entrances into the Underworld. This serpent was thought to be the ideal
Thrinaks The Tripod and the Islands of Malta and Gozo Horace Vella
Maltese MELITAION coin with the veiled head of Persephone (obverse) and the tripod bearing the word MELITAION (reverse).
MELITAION means "of the Maltese" or "belonging to the Maltese".
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creature for this guardianship because, like Persephone, he shared life with both the living and the dead since he lived on both levels, and was therefore cognizant of things above the ground and of other mysterious things hidden from man, as hinted in the account of the Genesis.
The Virgin Moon-Goddess was also connected with death. Both her waning phases and her short absence from the sky within the lunar month, as well as her almost daily sinking into the western horizon, associated with death, where Oceanus was imagined to flow out, helped to associate her with death. Apollo’s sister received various names in Greek, such as Selene and Phoebe. Selene was the sister of Helius and, therefore, aunt of another Phoebe.
Later on, even Artemis herself was to receive that name as an epithet, as her twin-brother was to receive that of Phoebus. Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and Leto the daughter of Coeus and Phoebe, brother and sister, husband and wife, two of the twelve Titan gods, children of Uranus and Ge. This means that Artemis was a second cousin of Phaethon, Phaethusa, Lampetia and Phoebe. This last Phoebe, the nymph Homer does not mention, was Thrinacia herself, the Moon-Goddess venerated in the last of Odysseus’ landfall before he came to Ogygia.
Death was also associated with fertility. Since the dead were thought to go down into the
Underworld, then Mother-Earth received its fertility precisely from the Underworld. Hence the connection of fertility with Thrinax, Persephone, Apollo and Artemis. A Roman coin minted also in Malta represents a figure holding a trident. Such an instrument was called in Greek precisely “Thrinax”, and it was used in connexion with the threshing of corn. This trident was therefore associated with Demeter, goddess of fertility, mother of Persephone, who, as said above, tied up the lives both of the Underworld and of the Earth. Among his other attributes, Apollo was the god of help and healing, the protector of flocks and cattle, the god of the Sun that gives light and energy to all things which grow.
Similarly, Artemis, the moon-goddess, averted evil and cured the suffering of mortals; she protected the young, the flocks and the chase. She was also the goddess of child-birth in as much as the child passed from darkness into light (Dea Lucina for the Romans) and of night activities in as much as she was the chief illuminator at night. As a hunting goddess during night, she became associated with the snake, the reptile who seeks its prey at night. As such, she becomes identifiable with the Cretan Potnia Thērōn who holds the snakes in her hands. As a moon-goddess, she is often, like Persephone, represented with a veil over her head.
Thrinacia was also the lonely island South of Scylla and Charybis, identifiable with the
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islands of the Maltese archipelago. Malta has its name derived from Melite, one of the 50 daughters of Nereus and Doris. Both Melite and T h r i n a c i a , d a u g h t e r o f H e l i u s , w e r e granddaughters of Oceanus, the river that poured into Death in the West.
Malta and Gozo were the “sacred islands” of the Mother-Earth goddess of fertility in prehistoric times, connected with the dead below, while Malta, Gozo and Comino represent the triple dimensions of an archipelago, formerly referred to by the name of “Thrinacia”, the moon-goddess of the “triple” phases of the moon. This name has the same root as in Thrinax, the re p re se ntat ion o f the Mal ta C lass ics Association’s Logo, the three-legged stool which was used in connection with all the e lements just d iscussed, namely , the Underworld and its Queen of the Dead, Persephone, as well as Apollo, Python, the snake-dragon he defeated, and Artemis, the
Moon-Goddess. ◊
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Why are Classical Studies still so fascinating?Jesmond Grech
What is so alluring about the Greeks and the Romans? Why has generation upon generation looked at the work of those men of Antiquity to enjoy and be inspired by the fruits of their studies and observations? What has made empire after empire jealous in emulating their systems of organisation? And finally, what has driven these people to reach the pinnacle of excellence in various fields of study?
There may be several answers to these questions but, in synthesis, I think that the driving force behind the glory of Greece and Rome was their unquenchable curiosity and their habit of asking persistent questions till satisfying answers could be obtained. Coupled with this curiosity the Greeks, especially, had a fertile and creative imagination as the elaborate weave of their myths testify.
It has often been said that nothing original was ever produced after the Greeks. Indeed, everything thought by the human mind, has already been thought in Greek. They were the first human beings conscious and proud of their humanity and even their gods and goddesses behaved like mortals. In Judaism, God created man in His own image, the Greeks, on the contrary, created their gods in Man’s
own image. Those on the peak of Olympus had common passions with the people who lived at its foot. This not only amuses us but makes us marvel at their ability in accurately portraying the frailty, virtue and vices of the human race.
The Grecian myths are so down to earth and vibrant with humanity that their truths become universal and extemporal. In literature, the more a story is human, the more it is appreciated by its readers throughout the world. So also the realistic observations on the human nature and condition by the Greeks have often fascinated anthropologists and psychologists alike.
The Greeks were the first people to manifest, in Sartre’s words “man’s desire to be god” but they were humble enough to realise that no mortal can ever outwit the gods and no one, however wise or brave, can escape his fate.
History has showed us that the works of Antiquity did not have a passive effect on the societies where they were studied and appreciated. On the contrary they proved to be a catalyst for Renaissance art and literature. The plots and themes of their plays still gather audiences and inspire playwrights. The feelings expressed in their poems can still make us smile or shed a tear. It is a marvel that most of what these men wrote and thought thousands of years ago is still valid,
truthful and relevant to us today.
Maybe the most salient feature of today’s world is its emphasis on technological innovation especially in the field of communication. Indeed our society is marked by breakthroughs in science which have made our burdens lighter, our distances shorter, our lives longer. However this affluence and scientific progress can never answer issues which have been debated in Greece.
The Greeks of Antiquity have attempted to give man direction and we must learn from their successes and failures. It is to no avail that one has an excellent car if this vehicle lacks a steering or if the driver does not know how to drive. It is chiefly for this reason that the study of
classics will remain valid. ◊
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The name Sanskrit signifies perfectly constructed, cultivated literary speech, in contrast to the common dialects or Prakrit. Sanskrit is the elaborate form of the language of the Rig Weda, the e a r l i e s t k n o w n I n d i a n l i r e r a r y composition. Also known as The Weda of Praise, the Rig Weda consists of a collection of hymns, about1,028 arrainged in ten books called mandalam. In the Indian tradition the Rig Weda acknowledged to be the record of divine revelation, is seen as well as heard by the inspired seers, the rishi. The term Weda, from Wid carries the sense of wisdom, deep and everlasting, inbuilt into the very fabric of the cosmos. In turn the Rig Weda becomes in itself the greatest source of information about early Indian social, political, religious and linguistic development.
In his work Original Sanskrit Texts on the Origin and History of the People of India, their Religion and Institutions, in five volumes (London, 1858-1872, Repr. 1967) John Muir claims that the Sanskrit Rig Weda provides far more illustrations of the workings of the human mind, in the period of its infancy, upon matters of religion, than can be found in any other literature whatsoever.
This Wedic prototype seems to have been in the main the language of the Aryan races who are generally believed to have migrated from the Caucasus to Iran, India and Europe circa 2000 to 1700 BCE. In turn from this prototype evolved the principal languages of northern India and those comprising the Aryo-European group including ancient Greek and Latin.
Although not widely used Sanskrit today is by no means a dead language. It is still studied and taught in India and several other centres of learning and universities throughout the world.
The earliest standard Sanskrit grammar t o g o o n r e c o r d i s c a l l e d t h e A s h t a d h y a y i ( l i t . T h e E i g h t Meditations) a masterpiece of some 4000 aphorisms written by Panini and regarded as one of the most remarkable literary works of all time...no other country can produce any grammatical system at all comparable to it, either for originality of plan or for analytical subtlety (Monier Monier Williams, Indian Wisdom, London 1875, Repr. 1963, pg.172).
Panini’s work enumerates the technical terms used in grammar, the rules for their interpretation and application and in turn becomes a kind of recitation of the natural history of the Sanskrit language. The term used for grammar is wyakarana which actually means u n d o i n g o r , a s w e w o u l d s a y d e c o n s t r u c t i o n . T h e m a s t e r grammarian therefore does not explain language in terms of gramma but in terms of a process of dissolution, a re-(an)nunciation that is applied primarily to the analysis of language and then g e n e r a l l y t o t h e p h i l o s o p h y underpinning this Panini’s opus magnum. It seems likely that Panini flourished somewhere near to the 4th Century BCE and so great was his achievment that it was considered to have had divine origins like the Weda, the direct inspiration of Wac, the goddess of speech.
SanskritMichael Zammit
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The contemporary analysis of this masterpiece is still yielding new results and recently became the inspiration for the study and development of what in linguistics have come to be known as context-free grammars. Context-free grammars are important for describing the structure of sentences and words in natural languages, and in computer science for describing the structure of programming languages and other artificial languages (Wikipedia, cf. Context-Free Grammar).
Panini it seems is the first to have described the deconstruction of the Sanskrit language in terms of its block structures and also how sentences are recursively built from smaller phrases, and eventually from individual words and word elements all the way down to crude (even humanly produced) sound patterns and finally, silence. He therefore creates the meta-language for tracing the emergence of speech systematically all the way from the first disturbance of silence (that happens in the attitudinal realm) and concurrently keeps the path of deconstruction open...enabling language’s return to silence to be grammatically (or rather wyakaranically) traceable. This methodology is simply not conceived for any other language and enables Sanskrit wyakarana and its linguistic analysis to discover its real roots in the ancient philosophical reflections of the Weda and their Upanishad.
The goal of the ancient Indian Wyakaranani (call them grammarians if you so wish) and of their philosophy t h e n , i s n o t m e r e i n t e l l e c t u a l knowledge,but a striving for the direct e x p e r i e n c e o f u l t i m a t e truth...philosophical (as a way of life) truth. Sanskrit therefore claims that a k n o w l e d g e o f w y a k a r a n a
(deconstruction) results in correct articulate speech but does not merely convey meaning...or rather its meaning becomes the opportunity that enables one to see reality. The word used in this context would be darshan (lit. sight) which in Sanskrit is used to refer to what we would call a philosophy.
These are features that set Indian philosophies and their linguistic analysis apart from the modern western perspectives. Wyakarana not only addresses itself to the analysis of grammatical rules (though that is certainly important) nor does it merely theorize about how speech conveys meaning (though that also is achieved) but it insists that we should not be satisf ied with mere intel lectual conviction but should strive to transform such conviction into direct experience...which Sanskrit is wont to
provide the means for... ◊
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Homer and TroyCarmel Serracino
Ever since reading Homer’s Iliad for the first time back in 1990, I had always wondered why Hollywood never really produced a significant movie based on the immortal epic poem. Such a tale of bloodshed and revenge must arouse the inspiration of any serious film-maker, I figured. The film industry answered my silent plea in 2004. As destiny would have it, my own country helped in
its realisation. A big movie, Troy succeeded not only in drawing huge crowds to the hal ls but a lso in capturing at least some of Homer ’s irresistible power.
Besides the strength of its numerous battle-scenes and most of its characterisation, the movie is also remarkable in the way it simplifies a long complicated saga and makes it inte l l ig ib le to a modern audience which is mainly u n f a m i l i a r w i t h G r e e k mythology. This simplification understandably necessitates some deviations from the original story, a few of which being wayward enough to be termed ‘distortions’. In this essay, I intend to go over the story of the Trojan War as recorded by Homer and other ancient writers, with special
references to the episodes in which the movie diverges.
Gods and MortalsOne key aspect, so important in Homer and yet almost entirely neglected by the filmmakers of Troy, is the role of the gods
and their divine intervention in the affairs of
mortal men. In the epic, this i n t e r v e n t i o n t a k e s o n numerous forms: dreams, omens, gods appearing to men in the guise of someone they know, and visitations. The influence of the gods, and the sense of duty by which men are b o u n d t o t h e m , i s overwhelming. Consequently, the absence of gods from the movie strips it of any epic pretensions i t may have claimed.
Just how important the gods are to the story of Troy can indeed be seen in the very origin of the war, never actually referred to in the movie. It goes back to an affair
between men and gods, the wedding-feast of Peleus and Thetis. This marriage was extraordinary in the fact that, although Peleus was human, Thetis was a sea-nymph, and so, an immortal. All the gods were invited to descend from their abode on Mount Olympus and attend this wedding. Not
exactly all, since Eris, being the goddess of Strife, was
left out.
Eris makes an appearance nonetheless, and throws a golden apple at the feet of three lovely goddesses, Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. On the apple there is an inscription: “To the Fairest”. Each one of the three goddesses claims the apple for herself, and a terrible dispute is about to arise. Zeus, the king of the gods, decides that the issue should be settled by the young shepherd Paris, deemed as the most handsome mortal alive. Paris awards the apple to Aphrodite, succumbing to her promised offer of the most beautiful living woman for a wife.
Half-God AchillesThe only surviving offspring born from the union between Thetis and Pelus is a boy, Achilles. Having an immortal deity for a mother makes Achilles rather more privileged than ordinary human beings. In Homer, he gets incessant help from his mother, and he is the darling of other gods too.
This preternatural parentage and nature of Achilles is barely alluded to in Troy, although some hint of the mystical can
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be felt in the only scene between Achilles and Thetis. The movie does also away with the notorious episode in Achilles’s infancy, namely, when his mother bathed him in the River Styx to grant him immortality. Only his right heel, by which Thetis held the baby, remained untouched by the miraculous waters, thus leaving that part of his body the only vulnerable spot.
However, it is fair to say that neither Homer himself seems to have been aware of this incident , s ince he never mentions it in the Iliad, and Achilles at Troy appears to need protective armour just as any common man.
Paris, Helen et al.In Troy we see Paris as Prince of Troy, never a shepherd. In reality, Paris was born a prince, son of Priam, King of Troy. When still a baby, an oracle predicted Paris would be the cause of Troy’s downfall. His father, therefore, had him exposed in the wilderness, to be left to perish of starvation or as prey to wild animals. He was saved by the same man who had been charged to execute this gruesome order, and secretly brought up by a shepherd. Soon after the divine beauty-contest mentioned previous ly , Par is ’ s roya l identity is discovered. Priam is overjoyed at his gorgeously-looking son’s return, and sends him on a diplomatic mission to Sparta, a city in Greece.
The goddess Aphrodite sets to work, making Paris fall madly
in love with Helen, wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta, and famed as the most beautiful woman alive. No surprise in this, since she too had a semi-divine parentage, her father being Zeus himself.
The two lovers elope to Troy, an action that makes Paris guilty on two accounts: he has not only robbed another man of his wife, but has also betrayed his own host, a very grave offence according to the ancient perception. Menelaus is furious and seeks his brother A g a m e m n o n ’ s h e l p . Agamemnon, the power-hungry king of Mycenae and mightiest lord in the whole of Greece, amasses a great army from all the princedoms of Greece, and sails for Troy.
Apart from the exclusion of all things supernatural, Troy the movie takes pains to introduce the main characters and situation that led to war. The effect is lucid and graspable, and at the same time it faithfully adheres to the basic facts of the ancient tale. There a r e o n l y a c o u p l e o f divergences. One particular and stimulating departure is in having Paris accompanied at Troy by his elder brother Hector, fraternal love just prevailing over the latter’s sense of justice to save the skin of his adulterous brother. Equally colourful are the c h a r a c t e r s o f b r o t h e r s Agamemnon and Menelaus, the former played with great panache by actor Brian Cox.
In Homer’s Iliad, we are given a detailed l ist , endlessly running into hundreds of lines, of the number of ships sent to Troy by each Greek city and their individual captains and kings. In the movie, we only get to know Odysseus, King of Ithaca, a hero who cannot be left out in any account of the Trojan War.
Odysseus is the hero of the Odyssey, the other Greek epic poem attributed to Homer. In Troy he is shown very much the way Homer portrays him, resourceful and wise, and he cunningly ent ices young Achilles into joining the army. Although headstrong and arrogant, Achil les is the greatest warrior of Greece, and Agamemnon has to turn a blind eye to the young man’s pride and have him lured along. His presence in the army is indispensable.
Maiden’s Sacrifice One pre l iminary ghast ly episode is missing in Troy, important not so much for the actual war but rather for its aftermath. Homer strangely overlooks it in both epics, and we learn the details mainly f r o m t h e G r e e k t r a g i c playwrights who wrote and staged their great works at Athens of the 5th century BC.
For long days, strong gales prevent the Greek f leet , assembled at the Bay of Aulis, from crossing the Aegean Sea to Troy. Calchas, the seer of the army, takes auspices and finds out that the storm is being caused by the anger of the
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g o d d e s s A r t e m i s f o r Agamemnon. The cause of this divine anger baffled ancient commentators and has never been fully accounted for. According to Calchas, however, only one thing would appease Artemis: the sacrif ice of I p h i g e n i a , A g a m e m n o n ’ s young daughter.
A t f i r s t , A g a m e m n o n i s adamant against this, but finally, afraid of losing faith with his army, he gives in. Once the girl is sacrificed, the s t o r m a b a t e s a n d t h e “thousand ships” set for Troy.
Ten-Year WarWhere Troy really goes amiss is in the aspect of time. As shown in the movie, the Greeks manage to sack Troy in a matter of a fortnight, 12 days of which time being actually spent in an armistice for Hector’s funeral. Ancient tradition maintained that the war stretched for 10 staggering y e a r s ! O f c o u r s e , t h e filmmakers resorted to this glaring falsehood in an attempt t o i n t r o d u c e s o m e c o n c e n t r a t i o n i n t o t h e entangled sequence of events t h a t m a k e u p t h e l o n g chronicle. Yet, the sense of anxiety and weariness that weighs so heavily on the Greek morale in Homer, which constant ly nags them to abandon s iege, is sorely missing in the movie.
In the Iliad the problem of time is solved in a masterly fashion. Instead of telling the whole story from beginning to e n d , H o m e r f o c u s e s h i s
narration on one single momentous episode in the war, an episode that spreads over less than two months - a wise choice for which he was praised by Aristotle and by many another critic ever since.
QuarrelI n H o m e r , t h e w h o l e narration revolves around a g r i m q u a r r e l b e t w e e n Agamemnon and Achilles during the ninth year of the war. In the previous days before the events of the Iliad set off, Agamemnon and Achilles have both received a slave-girl from the spoils of battle. Agamemnon’s girl happens to be the daughter of an old priest of the god Apollo.
W h e n t h i s p r i e s t v i s i t s Agamemnon and begs to ransom his daughter, he is savage ly threatened and dismissed by the king. The priest prays to Apollo to avenge him. A great champion of Troy, Apollo hearkens to the priest’s prayer and starts a pestilence among the Greek army.
Even when countless Greek s o l d i e r s h a v e d i e d , Agamemnon still refuses to surrender the girl. Achilles is the only Greek leader who is not afraid to challenge the King for his insolence. The hatred between the two men, for a long time just under the surface, now flares up when spiteful Agamemnon asserts he will only give up the girl if Achilles cedes his own slave-girl to him.
With great reluctance, Achilles submits to Agamemnon’s terms, and Briseis, the girl, is t a k e n a w a y f r o m h i m . However, Achilles decides to retire from the fighting and wait for the right weather to sail back to Greece together with his men, the amazing Myrmidons. This immediately brings about a total upheaval on the battleground, with the Trojans under bold Hector getting the upper-hand and the Greeks critically losing ground. Agamemnon tries to reconcile himself with Achil les by o f f e r i n g p r e s e n t s a n d promising to return Briseis untouched. Achilles, however, remains implacable.
Brisies vis à vis PatroclusIn Troy, the character of Brisieis acquires a much greater role than is given her in Homer. She is made to be a niece of King Priam of Troy, and so cousin to Paris and
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Hector. Moreover, Briseis is developed into an ardent love interest for Achilles, never the case in the Iliad.
Obviously, a Hollywood sex-symbol like Brad Pitt in the part of Achilles could not be left without his little love-affair, even though the main erotic focal point in the story is Helen and Paris. In the movie, t h e c o n s e q u e n c e o f t h i s emphasis on Achilles’ love for Briseis is the retraction into the background of what in Homer is very central: the near-obsession of Achilles for his c o u s i n a n d c o m p a n i o n Patroclus, and his terrible anguish and overwhelming lust for revenge after Patroclus gets killed by Hector.
Again, the circumstances that lead to the death of Patroclus i n T r o y a r e n o t e x a c t l y congruent with Homer. In the epic poem, seeing the dreadful plight the Greek army is in because of the absence of Achilles and his Myrmidons, P a t r o c l u s b e g s y o u n g e r Achilles to allow him to return to the front and help the Greeks regain confidence. Grudgingly, Achilles gives in, even lending Patroclus his own suit of armour so that he might strike more fear in the Trojans.
However, before he leaves, Achilles warns Patroclus not to overdo it and to withdraw as soon the Trojans are repelled. In Troy, Patroclus, who is presented as a mere boy, does all this behind Achilles’ back. Thus, when he succeeds in helping the Greeks out of their
difficulties but is finally slain by Hector, the Achilles of Troy has little pangs of conscience as he is not even aware that Patroclus had gone to fight.
DuelAchilles of the Iliad is a far cry from the brooding stony Brad Pitt at his cousin’s tomb. In Homer, he raves and rages and rolls hysterically in the dust. Swearing revenge against Hector, he goes to battle in a frenzied fury, pitilessly cutting down all Trojans who foolishly cross his path. This battle takes on a supernatural dimension when even the gods, siding either with Greeks or Trojans, descend into the battlefield and fight each other.
At last, Hector alone remains outside the walls of Troy, and courageously offers to fight Achilles. However, in one of the Iliad’s most astonishing moments, even this greatest fighter on the Trojan side suffers qualms of terror at the a p p r o a c h o f m u r d e r o u s Achilles.
Turning to flight, Hector is chased by Achilles for three times around the walls of Troy, a harrowing spectacle watched by the helpless Trojans from above. At the end, Hector resolves to do or die, and Achilles kills him in a quick battle. Achilles brutally drives l e a t h e r t h o n g s t h r o u g h Hector’s heels, secures them to his chariot, and drags the body around for all the grief-stricken Trojans to see.
HectorIn this respect, the greatness of the Iliad lies in the fact that Hector knows he is doomed to die should he fight Achilles s i n g l e - h a n d e d l y . I n a memorable passage which foreshadows Hamlet’s famous soliloquy, Hector weighs the prospects of seeking shelter inside the walls or of gaining eternal glory by perishing at Achilles’ hands. This does not quite emerge in Troy, although there is a lot to read in actor Eric Bana’s stare when, playing Hector, he walks out of Troy for his last stand. Nevertheless, the impression one gets is that the battle between the two is fought nearly on an equal footing and that victory could go on either side.
Bana is admirable in the role of Hector. He manages to infuse the character with the blend of humanity and heroism for which the personage in Homer has always been loved. It is to the credit of the filmmakers that they found space to show us Hector in the domesticity of his family life, thus adapting the poignant scenes that are hallmarks of Homer at his most moving.
On the other hand, I have my reservations on the portrayal of Brad Pitt as Achilles. Although looking splendid enough, and very muscular, I dare say that P i t t w a s m i s c a s t ( o r misdirected) in the role, because he fails to bring the necessary fire and fury to it. But try to convince the girls about that!
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RedemptionAs far as acting goes, Pitt has to give his best shot when pitted against actor Peter O’Toole playing King Priam. This comes in the fine scene where Priam humbles himself into boldly visiting Achilles alone at night and imploring the Greek warrior to let him ransom Hector’s body for a decent burial. This is a lengthier scene in the Iliad, and a far more moving one, but it is an example of the lengths to which the filmmakers were ready to go in order to attempt a satisfactory rendition of the tale even in some of its cerebral aspects.
The magnanimous aspect of old Priam reminds Achilles of his lonely father Peleus, whom he will never embrace again, and he experiences a change of heart. Achilles gains his redemption when he delivers to Priam the body of his son, and promises besides a twelve-day break from battle to allow the Trojans enough time to grieve and bury their dead hero.
Death and DestructionHomer’s Iliad stops with the funeral of Hector. We know the rest of the story from other sources of Greek and Roman Literature, among which Homer’s other epic, the Odyssey, which tells the story of Odysseus’ adventures encountered in his homeward voyage after the fall of Troy.
According to Greek sources, not very long after Hector’s funeral, Achilles meets his end too. His mother Thetis had warned him that if he goes to war, he was fated to die young at Troy. Only, he did not know when, how and from whom to expect his death.
The man who finally bestows it on him is Paris, whose poisonous arrow, according to one version, pierces Achilles in his only vulnerable spot, the right heel. The flight of the arrow was indeed guided to its target by a malevolent god, Apollo, but little happened in this mythical age without some degree of superhuman agency.
In the movie, Achilles also dies by Paris’s arrow. This time, he is wounded by more than one arrow. But the first and seemingly mortal arrow
is the one that Paris shoots at Achilles’ heel. This is only a subtle reference to the proverbial vulnerability that is nowhere explained in the movie.
Another departure from the Greek account is in making Achilles die inside Troy the night when the Greeks breach the walls of the city through Odysseus’ deadly stroke of genius, the Wooden Horse. This twist is understandable for a plot that is centred round the figure of Achilles. It is ironic that, in the ancient version, what seems to have prompted Odysseus to rake his mind and come up with the stratagem of the Wooden Horse was that the Greeks, with Achilles dead, had begun to despair of ever destroying Troy.
Others’ FatesOf the other main characters in the movie that are dead by the end of it, none faces the end in exact accordance with the original account. Although the sources agree that King Priam was savagely slaughtered during the sack, we never hear that this was executed by pitiless Agamemnon as is shown in Troy. On the authority of Virgil’s Roman Latin epic Aeneid, the man who dispatches Priam is none other than Neoptolemus, a very young son of Achilles! Naturally, this inclusion would have much complicated matters for Troy’s scriptwriter.
A rather more blatant inaccuracy in the movie is having Agamemnon killed by the girl Briseis. A harsher fate, albeit probably a just one, was in fact awaiting Agamemnon on his return to Greece laden with Trojan gold and a princess for a concubine. Just as Agamemnon was stepping out of his bath and getting ready for a sumptuous banquet in his palace at Mycenae, he was ignobly murdered by his wife Clytaemnestra (Helen’s half-sister) and her lover Aegisthus. This was an act of vengeance perpetrated by the wife who never forgot what Agamemnon had done to her virgin daughter Iphigenia ten years before.
Menelaus fared rather better. While Troy was being sacked, Menelaus looked for his wife Helen, his avenging sword ready in hand. However, when he came upon Helen and was
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about to strike, his eyes fell upon her exposed breasts and the shaking sword fell to the ground. In the Odyssey, we find Menelaus reconciled with Helen, happily together in the comfort of their palace at Sparta. This is surely at odds from what the movie shows us regarding the fate of husband and wife. In Troy, Menelaus is on the point of dispatching Paris, at the climax of their single-battle, when he is treacherously slain by Hector. This duel between the two arch-rivals is also found in the Iliad, but the outcome there is settled by goddess Aphrodite, who snatches Paris in the nick of time and removes him to Helen’s bed-chamber within the bastions of Troy. At the end of Troy, Paris escapes the Greek carnage and makes away to safety, taking Helen with him. In the war’s ancient chronicles, we learn that Paris was in fact wounded by the arrows of Greek archer Philoctetes, and perishes from the wounds. This happened only some time before Troy’s ruin.
Definitive?In winding up, if I were to pass judgment on Troy from the classicist point of view, I would say that it is always a pleasure to watch a movie based on any literary work from Ancient Literature, let alone on Homer, rightly considered by the Greeks themselves as their greatest poet. The deviations outnumbered above should not be considered as flaws in the movie, since they were largely employed to suit the filmmakers’ genuine purposes towards a more comprehensible plot.
However, I am not ready to believe that this movie should be considered the definitive adaptation to the screen of the great story of Troy. If there will ever be one, it has yet to come!
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Franciscus Xaverius Sammut (natus a.d. XIII Kal. Nov. MCMXLV qui a.d. III Non. Mai. MMXI obiit) erat cum historiarum commenticiarum tum rerum verarum scriptor Melitensis.
Natus est Sammut in vico Zebbug qui Melitae stat, primo in huius vici ludo litterarum litteris studebat, deinde eisdem in Collegio Sancti Aloysii, denique arti docendi in Collegio ad Magistros Educandos Sancti Michaelis, postremo, toga virili sumpta, in Universitate Melitensi (B.A., S.Th. Dip, M.Ed.), ad extremum in Universitate Civitatis Perusii.
Sammut, annis sexagensimis fere consumptis, Societate Renovatione Litterarum (Moviment Qawmien Lettarju) cum aliis condita, famam primo adeptus, dein Academiae Linguae Melitensis (Akkademja tal-Malti) scribae officio praepositus, tandem anno MMX sodalis Societatis
Gentium Napoleonicae (International Napoleonic Society) creatus est.
Sammut qui stipendium magister merebat, in otio ludi rector recessit, etsi ab MCMLXXXXVI ad MCMLXXXXVIII Administro Principali Rei Publicae Melitae de cultura suadebat. Sammut, Catharina Cachia sponsa ducta, duos liberos, Marcum Joannem-Pierumque genuit.
Multa opera scripsit inter quae erant fabulae favorabilissimae Il-Gaġġa (Cavea) de quo Marius Philipus Azzopardi pelliculam Gaġ ġa, anno MCMLXXI, fecit, Samuraj (Miles Iapponicus) quem palmam Rothmans tulit, Paceville (Oppidum Pace) cui Res Publica litterarum numus honoris causa detulit, et Il-Holma Maltija (Somnium Melitense) de quo non s o l u m N o r b e r t E l l u l - V i n c e n t i , litterarum existimator, ratus nil maioris esse inter litteras Melitenses sed etiam Alfredus Sant, is qui erat Ministro
De Francisci Sammut Scriptoris Vitacomposition, Joseph Anthony Debonomaterial & image, Mark Anthony Sammut
Franciscus Sammut Vassalli librum de p r o v e r b i i s Melitensibus tenet, Dec. MMVI.Natus:Franciscus Xaverius Sammit. a.d. XIII Kal. Nov. MCMXLV.Mel i tae , in v ico Zebbug.Obiit: a.d. III Non. Mai. MMXI (LXV annos vixit).
Officia persecuta: scriptor, diurnarius, m a g i s t e r e t c o n s i l i a r i u s d e cu l tu r a Min i s t ro Primo Rei Publicae Melitae.Opera Maiora: Il-Gaġġa, Samuraj, Il-Holma Maltija, On The Da Vinci Code, Bonaparte à Malte.
Primo Rei Publicae Melitae et scriptor ipse, id censebat esse Francisci opus magnum. Scriptor autem poetaque Britannica Marjorie Boulton id nominavit opus ingens.
S a m m u t f a b u l a r u m b r e v i u m anthologica quoque edidit: Labirint (Labyrinthus), Newbiet (Omnia Anni Tempora) et Hrejjef Zminijietna (Fabula Aetatis Nostri).
Inter eius opera de rebus veris erant Ir-Rivoluzzjoni Franciza: il-Grajja u t-Tifsira (Res Novae in Francia, Historia et Significatio), Bonaparti f'Malta (Napoleon in Insula Melita), qui in linguam Francam Bonaparte à Malte,
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redditus, MMVIII editus est et On The Da Vinci Code (De Leonardi Da Vinci Latebra Scribendi), commentarius in linguis Anglica Melitensique de libro ab omnibus celebratissimo. Michaelis Antonii Vassalli Lexicon ab eo autem editus est. Vassalli enim (ob. MDCCCXXIX) habetur pater esse linguae Melitensis.
Sammut cum anno MMVI Vassalli Aforismi e Proverbii Maltesi in linguam Melitensem reddidisset, hunc librum Ghajdun il-Ghaqal, Kliem il-Gherf u Qwiel Maltin edidit. Anno autem MMVII, eius Il-Holma Maltija in linguam Esperanticam redditus (La Malta Revo), erat Melitae opus delegatum in linguae Esperanticae anthologicis classicis a Mondial Books Urbis New York editis. Anno MMVIII, Il-Gaġġa quinquiens editus est. Anno autem MMIX, Sammut de Petri Caxari carmine Xidew il-qada (Il-Cantilena quoque noto), veterrimo pr imoque l inguae Mel i tens is scr ipto , interpretationem pernovam edidit.
Sammut opera maximi momenti ad artes theatrales agendas reddidit: Joannis Racine Phedre (Phaedra) (anno MCMLXXVIII) et Maximi Gorki The Lower Depths (Inferi). Ambo opera in Theatro Manoel a poeta Mario Azzopardi acta sunt.
Univers i tat is Mel i tensis rector pr ior , philosophiae professor et primus inter Melitenses doctos Reverendus Petrus Serracino Inglott dixit adeo fuisset Francisci ingenium ut quivisset, sicut scurra Voltairicus, personam historicam in quasi Saturnaliciam vim quandam formae ironice vividae mutare. Lectori certe iuvandos esse hos homines veteres qui solemnitate mera fere habeantur. Cum enim dubitent, labantur, tergiversenturque, nos, participes paene, ridere. Scribendi autem generis mutationem ab historiae narratione ad illam fictam fortasse esse laborem maximum cuique interpreti conflictandum.
Clarissima quidem sunt Francisci Sammut verba ultima. “Eundum” nam inquit “erat mulieri mihique Ierusalem sed consilia mutata esse videntur. Ierusalem enim Caelestem nunc iturus sum”.
Serracino Inglott his auditis locutus est se tunc animadvertisse lacrimas et risus nonnumquam
inter se permutare. ◊
This article is now available on the Latin Wikipedia: http://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/
quod non imber edax, non Aquil(o) impotens possit diruer(e) aut innumerabilis
annorum series et fuga temporum. Non omnis moriar multaque pars mei
vitabit Libitin(am): usq(ue) ego postera crescam laude recens, dum Capitolium
scandet cum tacita virgine pontifex. Dicar, qua violens obstrepit Aufidus
et qua pauper aquae Daunus agrestium regnavit populor(um), ex humili potens
princeps Aeolium carmen ad Italos deduxisse modos. Sume superbiam quaesitam meritis et mihi Delphica
lauro cinge volens, Melpomene, comam.
Quintus Horatius Flaccus Carmen III, xxx
Tellajt monument iktar dejjiemi mill-bronżu ogħla mis-sit regali tal-piramidi, li la xita naqqaxa, la riħ fuq vjolenti ma jkun jista’ jkisser u lanqas sensiela bla għadd
ta’ snin jew il-ħarba taż-żmien.Mhux kollni għad immut, u parti kbira minnigħad teħlisha mill-Mewt: għal dejjem waragħad nikber frisk bit-tifħir, waqt li l-qassis
għad jitla’ l-Kapitolju mal-verġni siekta.Għad nissemma, li fejn Awfidu vjolenti jkarwatu fejn Dawnu, fqir mill-ilma, ħakemfuq popli bdiewa, jien, minn bidu baxx, kont kapaċi
nkun l-ewwel li naddatta l-għanja tal-Ejoli għad-daqqa Taljana. Ikseb il-kburijamiksuba bil-merti tiegħek, u bil-qalb dawwar rasi,Melpomene, bir-rand ta’ Delfi.
Horatius Caesar Ruggierus Vellaa.d. VI Kal. Mar., a.D. MMVII
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Virtus, virtus, inquam, C. Fanni et tu, Q. Muci, et conciliat amicitias et conservat. In ea est enim convenientia rerum, in ea stabilitas, in ea constantia, quae cum se extulit et ostendit lumen suum et idem adspexit agnovitque in alio, ad id se admovet vicissemque accipit illud quod in altero est, ex quo exardescit sive amor sive amicitia. Utrumque enim dictum est ab amando; amare autem nihil aliud est nisi eum ipsum diligere quem ames, nulla indigentia, nulla utilitate quaesita; quae tamen ipsa efflorescit ex amicitia, etiam si tu eam minus secutus sis. Hac nos adulescentes benevolentia senes illos L. Paulum, M. Catonem, C. Gallum, P. Nasicam . . . dileximus
CiceroDe Amicitia (XXVII)
Virtue, virtue, I say, Gaius Fannius and you, Quintus Mucius, both harmonises and conserves friendship. For, in her, there is truly harmony, in her firmness, in her fidelity, and when she has raised her head and shone her light and sees and recognises the same light in another, she advances towards it, and, in turn, receives that which is in another, out of which bursts into flame either love or friendship. For truly, both words stem from love; on the other hand, to love is nothing other than to hold him, whom you love dear, withut requirement, without advantage. However this, advantage itself, blossoms out of friendship, even if you would have followed her to a lesser degree. By this kind of good feeling, we young men have loved those old men, Lucius Paulus, Marcus Cato, Gaius Gallus, Publius Nasica ...
Tyron Baron3rd year Classics Hons.
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De Cicerone EncomiumJoseph Anthony Debono
Few men have shaped the course of history with such effect as Cicero. He achieved the summit of power despite his humble origins and strong opposition from those who d e e m e d t h e m s e l v e s h i s betters. When his enemies stood over his butchered body, nai led his hands to the rostrum, there displayed his head and jabbed needles into his incomparable tongue, they might have thought that these acts of barbarity were the conclusive judgement on a man whose virtues condemned their vices as eloquently as his words. But his voice rose from the grave. It thundered down the long centuries of history, shaping civilization along its way. It now speaks with all the clarity of a trumpet raising a new army of men to live according to the values it taught in life – Virtus, Honos, D i g n i t a s , G r a v i t a s , Humanitas¸ and Scientia. In the age of software and facebook, the age of financiers and technocrats, the age of expression without meaning and pleasure without purpose, the words of the Novus Homo from Arpinum still educate the mind and console the heart.
I first read Cicero while doing an M.A. on the concept of chivalry in literature. Given the vast influence of his Somnium Scipionis in the Middle Ages, it was inevitable that I had to read and assess this work.
Forming the sixth book of Cicero’s De Re Publica, the Somnium recounts the dream in which Africanus Maior appeared to Scipio Aemilianus. The elder Scipio foretells the future glorious achievements of his adoptive grandson but then shows him the glory of the heavens and discusses with him the nature of God, of the soul and of virtue. This is a work so glorious that I have read it several times, hardly ever with a dry eye. It is full of the most sublime thought couched in an unparalleled elegance of Latin. This perhaps is my favourite passage:
Quem (Scipio Aemilianus’s father, Lucius Aemlius Paulus Macedonicus) ut vidi, equidem vim lacrimarum profudi, ille autem me complexus atque osculans flere prohibebat. Atque ego ut primum fletu represso loqui posse coepi, ' Q u a e s o ' i n q u a m , ' p a t e r
sanctissime atque optime, quoniam haec est vita, ut Africanum audio dicere, quid moror in terris? quin huc ad vos venire propero?' 'Non est ita' inquit ille. 'Nisi enim deus is, cuius hoc templum est omne, quod conspicis, istis te corporis custodiis liberaverit, huc tibi aditus patere non potest. Homines enim sunt hac lege generati, qui tuerentur illum globum, quem in hoc templo medium vides, quae terra dicitur, iisque animus datus est ex illis sempiternis ignibus, quae sidera et stellas vocatis, quae globosae et rotundae, divinis animatae m e n t i b u s , c i r c u l o s s u o s orbesque conficiunt celeritate mirabili. Quare et tibi, Publi, et piis omnibus retinendus a n i m u s e s t i n c u s t o d i a corporis nec iniussu eius, a quo ille est vobis datus, ex hominum vita migrandum est, n e m u n u s h u m a n u m adsignatum a deo defugisse
Nescire autem quid ante quam natus sis acciderit, id est semper esse puerum. Quid enim est aetas hominis, nisi ea memoria rerum veterum cum superiorum aetate contexitur?
M. Tulli Ciceronis Orator Ad M. BrutumS
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videamini. 'Sed sic, Scipio, ut avus hic tuus, ut ego, qui te g e n u i , i u s t i t i a m c o l e e t pietatem, quae cum magna in parentibus et propinquis, tum in patria maxima est. Ea vita via est in caelum et in hunc c o e t u m e o r u m , q u i i a m vixerunt et corpore laxati illum incolunt locum, quem v i d e s ' ( e r a t a u t e m i s splendidissimo candore inter f lammas circus elucens), ' q u e m v o s , u t a G r a i i s accepistis, orbem lacteum nuncupatis.' De Re Publica VI. 14-16.
I next encountered Cicero in the final years of my Classics undergraduate degree (note to our department: there’s too little of Cicero in this course) w h e n I w a s s e t t h e D e Senectute and the De Amicitia for my final exams. The De Senectute reminded me of that aphorism – quod aeternum non est, nihil est – which is inscribed in so many churches. It is hardly a book about old age but about the best attitude to life. Above all, it affirms that the value of life depends on the way you live it:
Non libet enim mihi deplorare vitam, quod multi et ei docti saepe fecerunt, neque me vixisse paenitet, quoniam ita vixi, ut non frustra me natum existimem, et ex vita ita discedo tamquam ex hospitio, n o n t a m q u a m e d o m o ; commorandi enim natura d i v o r s o r i u m n o b i s , n o n habitandi dedit. De Senectute XXIII. 84.
Another passage of Cicero, in which he expresses the duties of a virtuous man in political life, is of particular relevance to an age in which politics seems to have become a crucible of cowardice, the triumph of the temporal over the eternal and a circus of turpitude which feeds t h e d e m o t i c b e a s t w i t h immediate gratification at the e x p e n s e o f e v e r y m o r a l consideration while exalting cheap celebrity over those whose contributions to society are more salutary though less spectacular:
Amemus patriam, pareamus senatui, consulamus bonis; p r a e s e n t i s f r u c t u s neglegamus, posteri tat is gloriae serviamus, id esse optimum putemus, quod erit rectissimum, speremus, quae volumus, sed, quod acciderit, feramus, cogitemus denique c o r p u s v i r o r u m f o r t i u m magnorumque hominum esse mortale, animi vero motus et virtutis gloriam sempiternam, neque, hanc opinionem si in i l lo sanct iss imo Hercule consecratam videmus, cuius corporis ambusto vitam eius et v i r t u t e m i m m o r t a l i t a s excepisse dicatur, minus existimemus eos, qui hanc rem publicam suis consiliis aut laboribus aut auxerint aut defenderint aut serviant, esse i m m o r t a l e m g l o r i a m consecutos. Pro Sestio LXVIII. 143.
It is a sobering thought that our civil law is based on continental civil law which itself harks back to Roman law. And who other than Cicero
best recorded the spirit and thought of Roman law? Hence, his words on true law call to their senses legislators, jurists, lawyers and their ilk especially those who confuse natural law with the law of nature:
Est quidem vera lex recta ratio naturae congruens, diffusa in omnes, constans, sempiterna, q u a e v o c e t a d o f f i c i u m iubendo, vetando a fraude deterreat; quae tamen neque probos frustra iubet aut vetat nec improbos iubendo aut vetando movet. Huic legi nec o b r o g a r i f a s e s t n e q u e derogari ex hac aliquid licet neque tota abrogari potest, nec vero aut per senatum aut per populum solvi hac lege p o s s u m u s , n e q u e e s t quaerendus explanator aut interpres eius alius, nec erit alia lex Romae alia Athenis, alia nunc alia posthac, sed et omnes gentes et omni tempore una lex et sempiterna et i n m u t a b i l i s c o n t i n e b i t , unusque erit communis quasi m a g i s t e r e t i m p e r a t o r omnium deus: ille legis huius inventor, disceptator, lator; cui qui non parebit ipse se fugiet ac naturam hominis aspernatus hoc ipso luet maximas poenas, etiamsi c e t e r a s u p p l i c i a , q u a e p u t a n t u r , e f f u g e r i t . D e Republica III. 22.33
These, few fragments that they are, are amongst the noblest expressions of Cicero that I have encountered as I read through his vast corpus. In their universal applicability a n d t h e b e a u t y o f t h e i r language, they show not only
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the loftiness of Cicero’s soul and the magnitude of his mind but also the depth of the loss we have incurred by dropping Cicero from our curricula. That many generations of students have crossed the threshold of u n i v e r s i t y w i t h o u t o n c e hearing the name of Rome’s Pater Patriae, of the man who was the father of Humanitas, and the originator of so many ideas that underpin Western Civilization, is both a rebuke to the authorities who discarded t h e C l a s s i c s f r o m t h e curriculum and a challenge to this generation of Classicists to rekindle the torch that has been so disgracefully dimmed.I make no apologies for quoting Cicero in Latin. The beauty of the original language is such as to engender an ardour to learn it in those who read, even uncomprehendingly
