[Start of sample of the ebook Cicero’s Pro Archia (3d edition) available at this link.] Cicero’s Pro Archia An Acceleration Reader with Translation Third Edition Claude Pavur -----This Acceleration Reader and translation © Claude Pavur, 2013; third edition, 2019 ------ Contents Prefatory Note 4 Introductory Note on Acceleration Readers 6 Some Practical Advice for Students 8 [I] [II] 9 24 [III] 33 [IV] 48 [V] [VI] 68 84 [VII] 105 [VIII] 120 [IX] 135 [X] 153 [XI] 171 [XII] Cicero’s Pro Archia: Continuous Latin Text 188 205 Prefatory Note Here, in an easy-reading format for intermediate Latin students, is Cicero’s plea to affirm the citizenship-status (civitas) of his old humanities teacher Archias. It is an excellent choice for beginning a study of Ciceronian oratory, as the case is not complex, the technical legalities are minimal, and the particularities give rise to interesting, timely reflections on humanistic studies and citizenship. The Pro Archia is also a short speech that can easily be covered in its entirety within a part of a term. In 62 BCE, the poet Archias was charged with the illegal use of the rights of citizenship. He had already become a member of the Italian freetown of Heraclea, and then a citizen of Rome by a law that was in effect at the time. But records of his status were not available; his name was missing in certain census documents. Cicero wished to demonstrate that not only was Archias already a citizen, but that even if he were not, the court ought to want to make him one in light of the contributions that he had made and was about to make to the Roman republic. In this book, students will find a pari passu (“bit by bit”) and mostly literal translation interleaved with the original text in Acceleration Reader format, a style of presentation that helps them to divide, conquer, and progress towards a fluent understanding of the Latin. The basic assumption is that the process of attaining mastery requires learning how to process language in “chunks” or units of meaning sequentially, that is, as they arise. Typographically breaking down the longer, complex, syntactically foreign sentences allows for a better mental digestion of the contents, and ultimately for a smoother and quicker road to fluency in reading the language. Students can practice comprehension with less difficulty if they can focus on manageable and relatively undaunting smaller units. The translations given here attempt to follow the original Latin text very closely, but still without being too unidiomatic; they are not offered as exemplary English style or even as a polished translation but rather merely as something to help students to learn how to understand the Latin, and, where possible, the Latin language’s manner and order of putting things. Proper use of this edition should accelerate the language-learning process and release students to attend to other, more important, more lasting work, like getting a feeling for word-meanings, usages, and sentence-structure. Students should be familiarizing themselves with the Latin to the point that the English is left further and further behind. They should be getting their own insights into the language and consulting teachers, dictionaries, and commentaries when they need help with vocabulary or grammar. They will improve their sense of meaning and style if, after understanding the Latin, they study how expert translators have put Cicero’s ideas into smooth and elegant English. And lastly, they might turn to the larger issues that this famous text raises, especially citizenship, the personal and general values of the humanities, literature’s relationship to practical oratory, and the place of the desire for an honorable fame as a leading motivational force in life. On many levels, this masterful composition can repay the effort that is made to appreciate it. It has a value that ought not to be limited to the time of its original audience. It was meant to have relevance, as Cicero intended, on all posterity. The third edition contains many minor improvements in the translation and attaches a continuous Latin text for those who wish to practice without a visible English version. Claude Pavur Saint Louis, MO / July 24, 2013 Third edition: Chestnut Hill, MA / April 4, 2019 ------ Introductory Note on Acceleration Readers We learn to master short sentences before we gain a ready ability to understand and produce long ones. You should at first take some satisfaction in understanding of any of the phrases of this Acceleration Reader, whether or not the entire meaning of the context is clear to you. Let the larger sense emerge as you try to extend your understanding to the adjoining phrases. Then, once you have understood the parts, you should rehearse the act of “getting the meaning” of the full sentences in a smooth way. All sentences are words that “hang together. ” Long sentences have many sub-groups that are meaningful as phrases or as clues for the larger structure of meaning. This Acceleration Reader format offers a device by which the subgroups can be highlighted and then integrated in your mind as you connect the phrases together. Think of this old joke: Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana. What is going on in this witticism? Unless you mentally register the first two words of the second sentence as the subject of the sentence, you tend to be tricked into misunderstanding it on the model of the first sentence, in which only the first word must be registered as the subject. When the proper subject is registered, you can more easily also register the third word like as a preposition (first sentence) or as a verb (second sentence). This process of ongoing, self-correcting registration of meanings and functions is essential in learning to understand communications. In an Acceleration Reader, many times, but not always, the subject, or direct object, or indirect object, or verb, or conjunction is set off on a line by itself. The point in this kind of division is to facilitate your practicing that essential process of registering the word as something that has its own special function in the sentence. But there are also larger patterns that should be practiced, so you will find various other structures sectioned off on individual lines as well, e. g., consulem invenêrunt is an example of the syntactic pattern [direct object - verb]. The vertical arrangement here may seem unusual at first, but it is not very far from the very popular columnar layouts in magazines and newspapers. Your task in reading is to integrate the larger idea of each sentence as you register the meanings and functions of the individual words and phrases. Latin case-endings are the major clues that help you to register the functions (or syntax) of the nouns and pronouns of sentences. They also give you clues about which adjectives and adjectival phrases “hook onto” which nouns and pronouns. Of course, the sentences could have been divided up differently than shown here. I have not tried for perfect consistency, but rather for shorter rather than longer units of meaning, in order to make things easier for beginners. Sometimes, however, three or more short lines will have to be understood as a unit. The parts nevertheless remain fragments for which some registering of meaning should be practiced. For example, if there is a very long genitive expression like “of those preparing to face their enemy near the river,” then it is important to learn to perceive and understand this collocation of words whether or not the reader yet has the noun to which the genitive phrase belongs. In Latin, that noun may or may not be immediately attached. Keep in mind: Only if readers learn to register the meanings and functions of the parts of a sentence bit-by-bit in its unfolding will they have the satisfactions that accompany the act of smooth and fluent reading. *** Some Practical Advice for Students 1. It is far better to stay with the Latin as much as possible rather than to keep going back and forth with the translation. The English is there only to help your understanding and accelerate your reading when you need it. 2. Do not fear the “lions at the gate.” Many classical texts start off with very complex, formal, artfully constructed sentences. Such difficult introductions are sometimes so forbidding that people fail to stay for the easier parts that follow. But don’t stop reading. Just keep moving forward. 3. Register the meanings of phrases. Isolate the parts that you cannot understand. With long and complex sentences, it can help to use the GRASP method. (Search the Web for the appropriate pages on GRASP.) Any long and complex utterance can be simplified by being broken down into small parts. 4. Even if you do not understand a sentence, you can begin to learn the meanings of its key words, the words that are bound to recur in your reading. Learning any language requires some attention to what meanings various words can assume in different contexts. 5. Review has always been recognized as essential for language mastery. Do not overestimate your expertise. What is in your short-term memory has not yet been fully absorbed though you may have the impression that you know it. It is often more helpful to assume that you still need several more passes through the material. 6. Be realistic! Learning a language takes time and patience. And if you are reading Cicero within your first five years of Latin study, you shouldn’t expect his advanced prose to present no problems. Expectations that are raised too high can set you up for unnecessary disappointment. 7. Enjoy and profit from what you can achieve at your particular stage of learning. Be happy with your developing skills and the opening up of new horizons. Cicero’s Pro Archia [I] [1] Si quid est in me ingeni, judices, quod sentio quam sit exiguum, * If there is any talent in me, judges — and I do perceive how small it is — ----- [This line indicates a fresh page on the ereader. Small units are thus highlighted and more easily digested.] aut si quae exercitatio dicendi, in qua me non infitior mediocriter esse versatum, * or if there is any skilled practice in speaking — and to that, I do not deny that I have devoted a good bit of time — ----aut si hujusce rei ratio aliqua ab optimarum artium studiis ac disciplina profecta, a qua ego nullum confiteor aetatis meae tempus abhorruisse, * or if there is in this area any method deriving from the best of liberal education and training — and from this I confess that no period of my life has shied away — ----earum rerum omnium vel in primis hic A.~Licinius fructum a me repetere prope suo jure debet. * then from all of these things, this Antonius Licinius should even be one of the first to collect the interest from me, almost as if this is his own right. ----Nam quoad longissime potest mens mea respicere spatium praeteriti temporis, * For from as far as back as my mind is able to look on the stretch of time past, ----et pueritiae memoriam recordari ultimam, * and recall the earliest memory of childhood ----inde usque repetens hunc video mihi principem et ad suscipiendam et ad ingrediendam rationem horum studiorum exstitisse. * searching on from there, I see that this man stood out as the first one for me in both my taking up the program of these studies and my making my way into it. ----Quod si haec vox, hujus hortatu praeceptisque conformata, non nullis aliquando saluti fuit, * But if this voice, trained by his coaching and instruction has at any time been a help to some, ----a quo id accepimus quo ceteris opitulari et alios servare possemus, huic profecto ipsi, * (then) precisely to this very man from whom I received this (means) by which I was able to save some and to assist the rest, ----quantum est situm in nobis, et opem et salutem ferre debemus. * as far as I am able [lit: to the extent that it is in me], I ought to furnish both assistance and safety. ----[2] Ac ne quis a nobis hoc ita dici forte miretur, * And in case anyone happens to be taken aback that I am speaking this way, [lit: And so that nobody is perhaps surprised that this is being said this way by me,] ----quod alia quaedam in hoc facultas sit ingeni, neque haec dicendi ratio aut disciplina, * insofar as there is another kind of intellectual ability in this person and not this rhetorical style or practice, ----ne nos quidem huic uni studio penitus umquam dediti fuimus. * [it should be said that] not even I have ever surrendered myself altogether to this pursuit alone. ----Etenim omnes artes, quae ad humanitatem pertinent, * For indeed all the arts that have to do with a humane sensibility ----habent quoddam commune vinculum, et quasi cognatione quadam inter se continentur. * are somehow linked together [lit: have a certain common bond] and form a consistent unity [lit: are held together among themselves] by something like a kind of kinship. [II] [3] Sed ne cui vestrum mirum esse videatur me in quaestione legitima et in judicio publico * But in case it seems strange to any of you that I in a legal issue and in open court ----— cum res agatur apud praetorem populi Romani, lectissimum virum, et apud severissimos judices, tanto conventu hominum ac frequentia— * — while a case is being pled before a praetor of the Roman people, a specially designated person, and before quite dignified judges, before such an assembly and crowd of people — ----hoc uti genere dicendi, quod non modo a consuetudine judiciorum, verum etiam a forensi sermone abhorreat; * am using a kind of speaking that not only deviates greatly from the custom of the courts, but even from forensic discourse; ----quaeso a vobis, ut in hac causa mihi detis hanc veniam, adcommodatam huic reo, * I beg of you to give me in this case this leeway, adapted to this defendant, ----vobis (quem ad modum spero) non molestam, * a concession which I hope is not bothersome to you, ----ut me pro summo poeta atque eruditissimo homine dicentem, hoc concursu hominum literatissimorum, hac vestra humanitate, hoc denique praetore exercente judicium, patiamini de studiis humanitatis ac litterarum paulo loqui liberius, * so that while I am speaking on behalf of a consummate poet and highly learned man—and as this assembly of well-educated men, and your own humane culture, and finally this praetor passes judgment—you allow me to talk a little more freely about humanistic education [lit: about studies of humanity and Letters], ----et in ejus modi persona, quae propter otium ac studium minime in judiciis periculisque tractata est, uti prope novo quodam et inusitato genere dicendi. * and, [that you allow me] in such a role that on account of the time and study [that is necessary] has hardly ever been taken on in risky court matters [lit: in the courts and their dangers], to make use of a kind of almost novel and strange style of address [lit. manner of speaking]. ----[4] Quod si mihi a vobis tribui concedique sentiam, * And if I see that you grant me this [lit: if I perceive that this is allowed and conceded to me by you], ----perficiam profecto ut hunc A.~Licinium non modo non segregandum, cum sit civis, a numero civium, verum etiam si non esset, putetis asciscendum fuisse. * I will actually get you to think [lit: fully bring it about that you think] not only that this Antonius Licinius should not be excluded from the list of citizens, since he is a citizen, but also that even if he were not, he should be formally registered as one. [End of the sample of Cicero’s Pro Archia (3d edition) available at this link.]
