THE FIRST TRIUMVIRATE AT HOME AND ABROAD IN CICERO'S PRO FLACCO. (17th September 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: DiLuzio, Joseph
• Is Part Of: Greece & Rome. Volume 65:Number 2(2018)
• Page Start: 175
• Page End: 188
• Publication Date: 2018-09-17
• Subjects: Classical antiquities -- Periodicals; Classical philology -- Periodicals; Greek literature -- Periodicals; Latin literature -- Periodicals; Greece -- Periodicals; Rome -- Periodicals; 930
• DOI: 10.1017/S001738351800013X
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0017-3835

Abstract

Abstract : In 59bc, in the second half of Caesar's tumultuous year as consul, a certain Decimus Laelius brought a charge of extortion against the former praetor and ally of Cicero – L. Valerius Flaccus. Flaccus had proven instrumental in the suppression of the Catilinarian conspiracy four years earlier. From the beginning of his speech pro Flacco, the orator frames the case in terms of contemporary politics. Though ostensibly about the defendant's alleged misconduct as Governor of Asia, Cicero makes the contest a 'trial of character' and argues that the impetus for the prosecution was actually Flaccus' role in foiling the Catilinarian plot. In contrast with his own heroism as consul and that of his client in preserving the Republic, Cicero portrays the prosecution and its backers as in league with the remnants of Catiline's ill-fated putsch.