Origines (Cato)

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Origines was the title of one used in the first half of the 2nd century BC. Chr. Written seven-volume historical work of the important Roman politician and speaker Marcus Porcius Cato Censorius , which like many other ancient works was largely lost in the original or was only passed on indirectly.

Scope, title and time of writing

The Origines consisted of seven books and probably represented a late 170s BC. The old work of Catos, begun in BC, on which he worked until his death (149 BC). They were probably the first prose presentation of Roman history in Latin, while earlier Roman historians such as Quintus Fabius Pictor wrote their histories in Greek. In his short biography from De viris illustribus , Cornelius Nepos provides a brief synopsis of Catos' historical work.

The title Origines appears not only in Nepos, but in several ancient authors, first with the speaker Cicero . However, no express testimony from the author himself has been preserved. Occasional ancient citations of the work as Historiae or Annales are general names for historical writings and say nothing about their specific titles. In contrast to other Roman annals, the Origines contained not only the legends of the origins and the early history of Rome , but also those of numerous other Italian peoples and cities. This has (the Greek term κτίσεις for describing cities founding legends appropriate) Title Origen (= "origin") is justified, but only for the first three books; he has already been reprimanded by the antiquarian and grammarian Marcus Verrius Flaccus .

The all-Italian historical approach of Catos was not taken up by later Roman historians and thus remained an exception. Around 140 fragments of the work, which may have only been published posthumously, have survived, and were first collected by Antonius Riccobonus in 1568.

swell

Little is known about the sources that Cato used to write the Origines . He may have used the Greek-Sicilian historian Timaeus of Tauromenion , as well as the oldest Roman historian Fabius Pictor, as confirmed by Dionysius of Halicarnassus . For the first three books he probably consulted chronicles and documents from various Italian communities as well as local oral traditions. Historical credibility for the very early period dealt with in it was only given to a limited extent. In addition to pontifical tablets and epitaphs, Cato was able to draw on his own experience for the last four books, which ran from the First Punic War to the time he himself experienced.

content

In a Proömium, Cato justified his writing activity by stating that, as a leading person of his time, he had to give an account not only of his public work, but also of his free time. He then dealt with the early history of Rome in the first book of the Origines . At the beginning he reported, like earlier Roman historians before him, of the emigration of the Trojans under the leadership of Aeneas to the Lazio region in central Italy and then told of the indigenous population there ( Aborigines ), the founding of Rome's mother city Alba Longa and the Building of Rome itself, which, like Eratosthenes , he did in 752/751 BC. Dated. Also up to the end of the 6th century BC The era of the Roman kings, which extended to the 3rd century BC, was part of the content of the first book. The next two books dealt with the origins and names of other Italian peoples and the founding histories of their communities, as well as geographical discussions (e.g. a fragment about Lake Como is preserved ), character assessments of the allegedly lying Ligurians and the Gauls , etymological derivations (e.g. the name of the Sabine people ) as well as agrarian explanations.

In the further course of his historical work, Cato gave a summary of the history of the Roman Republic . In scholarship it is disputed whether it completely ignored the first two centuries of the older republic, or at least briefly touched it. In any case, he dealt with the First Punic War in the fourth book, which begins with a new foreword, in the fifth book Rome's lengthy struggle against Hannibal, and in the last two books he continued the presentation until shortly before his death. In this part of the work, too, geographical and cultural-historical excursions were not lacking, among other things about Spanish regional studies (fish wealth of the Ebro , silver mines, etc.), the customs and mixed constitution of the Carthaginians as well as the clothing of women. In the contemporary history, the author also interspersed his own political speeches such as those in defense of the Rhodians (167 BC) and in the seventh book the speeches in his last public appearance as an 85-year-old old man in 149 BC. Speech given against Servius Sulpicius Galba , who was accused of serious violations of international law during his praetur in Hispania ulterior . Cato's recording of authentic speeches was in contrast to the practice of most other annalists, such as Titus Livius , of writing down fictional speeches.

Style and tendency

Cato mostly used a concise, dry style in his history work, but sometimes also extended the narrative. He used the Latin language for the first time because, due to the increased status of Rome as a world power, he no longer considered it necessary to adapt to the language of foreign peoples and to bring them closer to the point of view of Roman nobility, as had been the case for Fabius Pictor.

In composing the Origines , Cato was not only pursuing the purpose of recording historical facts. He did not want to reproduce the mere contents of the pontifical tablets. Above all, he intended a moral instruction and political education for his readers. So he brought an example of ancient Roman virtus handed down in fragment 83 : a war tribune, usually called Marcus Calpurnius Flamma (deviating among others, Quintus Caedicius ), sacrificed himself as the “Roman Leonidas ” in 258 BC. With 300 comrades-in-arms to save a trapped consular army.

In addition, Cato's historical work should also serve his self-portrayal. Apparently, he devoted a great deal of time to the services he rendered as consul during his war against Iberian tribes (195 BC), as is likely to emerge from the report of Livy on this campaign in the 34th book of his annals. On the other hand, as Nepos emphasizes, Cato otherwise withheld the proper names of the political and military officials and contented himself with mentioning their rank designations such as consul , dictator , etc. However, one case has come down to us in which he gave the name of the most courageous war elephant of the Carthaginians. The reason for Cato's approach was probably that he viewed the nobles as servants of the state and was not prepared to pay them individual fame; instead he wanted to praise his people as a whole. As a staunch republican, he saw the strength of the Roman state in the fact that it had emerged as the collective work of many important men over generations, while the constitutions of Greek states were only drawn up by individual personalities such as Drakon and Solon .

reception

Not only the content but also the style of the Origines was vividly studied. Cicero, who adored Cato, Sallust and, in the 2nd century AD, the orator Marcus Cornelius Fronto were particularly concerned with the style of the work . The origines presumably served the historian Marcus Terentius Varro and a number of annalists as a historical source , but their - at least indirect - use can only be shown to be quite plausible for Livy. Grammarians like Verrius Flaccus took mainly language from the origines . For today's knowledge of Cato's historical work, which was probably lost before the time of Isidore of Seville , the quotations from Aulus Gellius are particularly significant in addition to the brief description of Nepos .

Editions and translations

  • The early Roman historians . Volume 1. Ed., Translated and commented by Hans Beck and Uwe Walter . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2001, p. 148ff.
  • M. Porcius Cato: Scripta qvae manservnt omnia. From farming. Fragments. All writings preserved . Latin - German, ed. and over. by Otto Schönberger . Heimeran, Munich 1980.
  • Hermann Peter (ed.): Historicorum Romanorum Reliquiae (HRR). Volume 1. Teubner, Leipzig, 1914, pp. 55-97.
  • Wilt-Aden Schröder (ed.): M. Porcius Cato. The first book of the origines. Edition and explanation of the fragments . Hain, Meisenheim am Glan 1971.

literature

  • Rudolf Helm : Porcius 9). In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XXII, 1, Stuttgart 1953, Col. 157-162.
  • Dietmar Kienast : Cato the censor. His personality and his time. With a critically reviewed reprint of Cato's speech fragments . Quelle & Meyer, Heidelberg 1954.
  • Enrica Sciarrino: Cato the Censor and the beginnings of Latin prose. From poetic translation to elite transcription . Ohio State Univ. Press, Columbus 2011.
  • Werner Suerbaum (Hrsg.): Handbuch der Altertumswwissenschaft , 8th section: Handbook of the Latin literature of antiquity , 1st volume: The archaic literature . CH Beck, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-406-48134-5 , pp. 387-394.
  • Werner Suerbaum: Cato Censorius in the research of the 20th century. An annotated chronological bibliography for 1900-1999 together with systematic references and a description by the writer M. Porcius Cato (234-149 BC) . Olms, Hildesheim 2004.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Cornelius Nepos , Cato 3, 3-4.
  2. ^ Cicero, Pro Cn. Plancio 66.
  3. ^ Rudolf Helm: Porcius 9). In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XXII, 1, Stuttgart 1953, Col. 160 f.
  4. ^ Nepos, Cato 3, 3.
  5. ↑ Verrius Flaccus in Sextus Pompeius Festus , p. 216, 20 ed. WM Lindsay.
  6. ^ Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitates Romanae 1, 79, 4.
  7. ↑ Werner Suerbaum (2002), p. 391; Rudolf Helm: Porcius 9). In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XXII, 1, Stuttgart 1953, Col. 161.
  8. ↑ Werner Suerbaum (2002), pp. 390f. and 393; Rudolf Helm: Porcius 9). In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XXII, 1, Stuttgart 1953, Col. 157-159.
  9. ↑ Cato in Aulus Gellius , Noctes Atticae 3, 7.
  10. ^ Nepos, Cato 3, 4.
  11. ↑ Pliny , Naturalis historia 8, 11.
  12. ↑ Werner Suerbaum (2002), p. 392f .; Rudolf Helm: Porcius 9). In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XXII, 1, Stuttgart 1953, Col. 159.
  13. ↑ Werner Suerbaum (2002), p. 393f.