Cicero's writings

[spittle]

Much of what we know of the later Republic seems to have come from Cicero. But his letters are all written with the intention of being sent to many different people so how have we kept/found them?

It must be more than coincidence that so many of his letters have turned up? Especially when one considers how much has been lost and we only know of due to reference scraps in other peoples work...

 

So why have Cicero's works survived whilst others works are lost forever?

[Primus Pilus]

Much of what we know of the later Republic seems to have come from Cicero. But his letters are all written with the intention of being sent to many different people so how have we kept/found them?

It must be more than coincidence that so many of his letters have turned up? Especially when one considers how much has been lost and we only know of due to reference scraps in other peoples work...

 

So why have Cicero's works survived whilst others works are lost forever?

 

His secretary Tiro kept copies and published them. Additionally, the later church considered Cicero to be a "righteous pagan" and preserved his work for posterity.

[spittle]

Was Cicero refound at some point or has he been a constant source throughout history?

 

How could Cicero be considered 'righteous'?

He was manipulative, coniving, decietful and two-faced!

[M. Porcius Cato]

Was Cicero refound at some point or has he been a constant source throughout history?

As I recall, no one referred to them for many centuries before Petrarch.

 

How could Cicero be considered 'righteous'?

 

Much of Cicero's reputation in the Western canon derives from his philosophical writings. Whether he lived up to these ideals (even when he was not under threat of force) is a matter of some dispute. See, for example, this thread for praise, criticism, ambivalence, and downright abuse.

[Primus Pilus]

Was Cicero refound at some point or has he been a constant source throughout history?

As I recall, no one referred to them for many centuries before Petrarch.

 

I believe Cicero's Orations was still an educational staple throughout the medieval period. As for the rest of his works, I too am not sure.

[Divi Filius]

He was manipulative, coniving, decietful and two-faced!

 

A saint -- Augustine -- saw him in good light, therefore the church had little to argue with...

[M. Porcius Cato]

He was manipulative, coniving, decietful and two-faced!

A saint -- Augustine -- saw him in good light, therefore the church had little to argue with...

 

And why did Augustine admire Cicero?

[Divi Filius]

Mainly because Cicero pointed at Rome's moral failures during his time. It's in "City of God" Book 2.21

 

I have to say the work is amazing.

 

But, if God will, we shall consider this elsewhere. For I mean in its own place to show that--according to the definitions in which Cicero himself, using Scipio as his mouthpiece, briefly propounded what a republic is, and what a people is, and according to many testimonies, both of his own lips and of those who took part in that same debate--Rome never was a republic, be cause true justice had never a place in it.

 

I would guess that later latin priests preserved Cicero's works in order to get better acquainted with Augustine.

Also a number of earlier pieces of Cicero that come down to us were actually thought to have been written by St. Augustine himself.

On one occasion a piece of Cicero's writings actually came from a Vatican 8th century copy of Augustine. The parchment used for Augustine's text was actually a 5th century original document of Cicero which was been erased in order to copy Augustine over it.

 

Those crazy Christians. lol