Classics 35. The End of the Roman Republic
The last century of the Roman Republic is the best attested period in
ancient history. Except for Plutarch's biographies and Appian's history,
students read primary sources written by contemporaries of the events
which they describe. Caesar's Commentaries on his conquest of "Gaul"
(comprising modern France, the Low Countries, and part of Germany) and on
the war he waged against his fellow citizens rank as outstanding literary
endeavors as well as historical sources and propagandistic documents.
Catullus' poetry, often scurrilous but always lively, reflects
contemporary society and mores, and marks a change in the
development of Roman literature. Cicero has left an immense corpus; his
works include essays on philosophy and rhetoric, speeches defending his
clients in court, political speeches delivered at various crises, uncut
and unedited letters: these last not only give a rare insight into the
mind of a very real person, but the collection includes letters to Cicero
by a number of people, and give us our only extant writings by Caesar,
Brutus, Marc Antony, Cato the younger, and other key players in the events
of the Republic's last generation. Lucretius, no less an "Alexandrian"
than Catullus, has essayed a philosophical discussion in verse of the
atomic philosophy of Epicurus. Sallust, a younger contemporary and
supporter of Julius Caesar, is the author of historical monographs on
discrete episodes of late Republican history, those which best show, in
his opinion, the polarity between different classes of Roman society.
The class format is lecture when necessary and discussion or serial
observation as often as possible. Students must come to class prepared:
to contribute observations, to ask questions about the readings, to attempt to
enter into the world of late Republican Rome, and to find parallels in
contemporary social, political, and literary spheres.