This is a creative writing project. The assignment is to take any one genre of ancient literary endeavor and to turn it into another. Although the boundaries of literary forms may appear to be distinct, they are fluid. So far this semester you have read two special kinds of narrative history (the monographs of Sallust and the commentaries of Caesar), biography (Plutarch's lives), a lot of oratory (Cicero for the defense or prosecution in law courts, and political speeches), letters, two kinds of poetry (Catullus' lyric poetry in various forms and Lucretius' epic or didactic poem), and prose philosophy (Cicero on the nature of the gods). A description of these genres follows in Section I. Section II gives the actual assignment, with some examples.

I. Description of the genres

Sallust's monographs tell the story not of a certain historial period but of some particular conflict or crisis, complete with background, letters and speeches, ethnography, and a big dose of political philosophy.

Caesar's commentaries are written in the form of accounts of his activities as proconsul in Gaul, year by year. He refers to himself almost exclusively in the third person and although he includes speeches, these are usually reported rather than given as direct speech (compare the practice in Sallust). Propaganda and publicity are important elements; there is also a considerable amount of ethnography.

Biography tells the story of a person's life in chronological order, with occasional digressions. There are no set speeches in biographies, but occasional brief quotations occur frequently. Plutarch's biographies have a moral purpose and are, as it were, life-size exempla demonstrating how to live, or how not to.

History and biography have much to do with each other; specifically, one can compare the information in Plutarch's lives of:

Marius and Sulla with Sallust's account of the Jugurthine war

Cicero, Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey with Sallust's account of the Catilinarian conspiracy

Caesar and Pompey with Caesar's commentaries

Oratory also has links to History and biography. In addition to the possibility of encountering parallel information in Cicero's orations and Plutarch's biography (e.g., the defense of Roscius, the prosecution of Verres, the conspiracy of Catilina), one may use his speeches as historical sources in a number of ways. Examples include, but are not limited to, references to the Gracchi, Marius, Sulla, and others in Cicero's orations (there is no index in the book Defence Speeches but one can search on-line documents or use different editions), information about Catilina in Cicero and Sallust, information about Pompey in Cicero (especially the speech on the Manilian law and the defense of Milo) and Plutarch, information about Caesar in Plutarch and Cicero (mostly in things which you have not read, e.g., Cicero's speech on the consular provinces, or his defense of Marcellus).

Letters to and from Cicero, his friends and acquaintances, and his brother are a goldmine of historical, social, and economic information, gossip, and psychological insight. They can be used to elucidate history, biography, and even poetry, especially personal and topical poetry such as Catullus'. Obvious elements of the letters is that they are written in a less formal (but still correct: cf. Catullus) style, that they are usually honest expressions, since the people who wrote them did not have a chance to fix them up before they were published, and that everyone who writes is very, very conscious of his (I don't think any are from women) status with respect to the Roman republic and the person receiving the letter.

Catullus' lyric poetry is topical. He writes about the society in which he lives and the people whom he knows. There are poems about love, dinner parties and other forms of social interaction, provincial service, writing poetry, gossip (usually scurrilous and about sexual escapades), politicians and their subordinates, and various other things. Of particular interest may be the poems about things that happened to various people, including himself, and poems about Caesar and Mamurra, giving a unique perspective on Caesar's activities in Gaul. Primary requirements of this genre are elegance of expression and a keen eye for human behavior; this is the only genre in which one may employ really idiomatic language.

Lucretius' didactic poetry on the nature of things describes Epicureanism for an upper-class Roman audience. It provides in a non-traditional framework an accurate account of the teachings of the fourth-century Athenian Epicurus, both his physical (atomic theory) and ethical systems (how fear of death and the afterlife are thought to inform behavior in one's life, and on the remote status of the gods). Caesar was an Epicurean, although he certainly did not detach himself from worldly endeavors, and was well-known for his belief that there was no afterlife, as he argued in the speech which Sallust wrote for him, and as we know from other sources, e.g., Cicero's oration for Marcellus. One requirement of philosopical writing, in addition to exposition of one's own theories, is reference to and criticism of what other philosophers believe (this goes for prose dialogues such as Cicero's as well).

Cicero's philosophical dialogue on the nature of the gods examines three of the main philosophical systems of interest to educated Romans. The first book describes Epicureanism (some of the atomic theory but more on the gods' detachment and the lack of an afterlife) and is easier to understand for those who have read Lucretius (the notes, although voluminous, do help). The second and third books describe the theories of the Academy, where skepticism reigns supreme, and the Stoics. The dialogue form, often used in ancient philosophical writings, employs real people, either living or dead, and a plausible dramatic date.

II. The assignment (Back to top)

Choose any incident or issue in the late Republic which interests you: society, warfare, political life, intellectual life, and pick a mode in which to write about this. Section A contains examples of possible topics, Section B contains the ground rules.

A. To give you an idea about what you might choose, here are a few examples:

In book 4 of the Gallic War, Caesar eliminates a large number of German people, women and children included. He said that although he had a treaty with them, they broke the treaty. Cato, back in Rome, thought that as a result of this action Caesar ought to be removed from his command and handed over to the Germans (this information is found in Plutarch's life of Caesar). Suppose Caesar returned to Rome and went on trial for this action.Write Cato's speech for the prosecution or Cicero's speech for the defense. You could do the same for other incidents in the Gallic War, or put Caesar on trial for something else, perhaps the loss of Cotta and Sabinus and their men.

Write a series of letters between Cicero and someone else at the time of the conspiracy of Catilina (or at any other interesting time, especially one for which there is evidence in other sources - speeches, biographies, histories - but no pertinent letters).

Take an incident, either a political issue described without any speeches (e.g. the setting-up of Mamilius' commission, Sallust pp. 76-77) or a battle (from Caesar or Sallust) which does not have a set of generals' speeches preceding it, and write the speech(es) in an appropriate manner.

Write a poem on Cicero's consulship or Caesar's activities in Gaul or Sulla's proscriptions or Marius' or Pompey's career or anything else in the political or military sphere. This poem can either be epic (i.e., serious) or lyric (serious, slanderous, ironic, depending upon your persona: if Caesar's wife Calpurnia wrote a poem about him it should be laudatory, but if Cato wrote one it wouldn't be).

Write a biography of someone about whom you know something and can find out more (can be a Roman or foreigner, female or male).

Write a didactic poem explaining the beliefs of the Academy or of the Stoics.

Prosecute or defend Cicero for the execution of the conspirators.

Write a monograph on political strife at Rome, either in the time of Marius and Sulla, or the conflicts centering around P. Clodius, or any other time period or figures.

Using the oration for the Manilian law as an example, write a similar speech which combines the elements of panegyric (praise) with a specific issue or request, e.g., that Caesar become king, that Cicero be named father of his country.

Write an oration such as Cicero would have addressed to the senate or people about P. Clodius.

B. The rules

Information in your work must be accurate within limits of the genre. This means, for example, with respect to things which happened, you cannot lie about something which took place but can distort the interpretation of this thing all you want. You must put in a fair amount of factual information and it must be correct. If you can't remember something, ask me for help.

You must stay in character. You will be a Roman, probably male, and consequently prejudiced against non-Romans, women, many things about members of a class other than your own, and prejudiced in favor of proper Roman behavior (whether or not your own behavior conforms is never the point).

Your creation must be true to the form of the genre as it was in the ancient world. If you are unsure what kinds of things to include or exclude, please send me an e-mail and ask. These are only a few of the things to look out for:

In orations, there is usually a set form and there are typical types of content. What the form and content are depend on whether the oration is delivered in a court of law or in a political setting.

In biographies, there is not only a set form (the person's life, including ancestors) but various elements which may seem intrusive: illustrative examples, digressions on behavior, portents at important times.

Philosophy, as noted above, requires both clear exposition of one's own position and refutation of others'.

Histories of all kinds are almost always written by the winners; they cannot contain false information about events but can omit events; there are always speeches and ethnographic descriptions (even in Sallust's monograph about Catilina one might regard his background on the Roman republic a kind of ethnography).

Letters (since all things were read aloud, and could evidently be shard with a wider audience) preserve a certain elegance and formality of expression most of the time, although not as formal as orations or histories. Poems must be poetic, not prose divided up by line breaks.

Last updated: 29 November 2002 Send Comments to: Barbara Rodgers, bsaylor@zoo.uvm.edu Copyright © 2002 Barbara Saylor Rodgers All Rights Reserved.