2. Pro Roscio Amerino

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About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, Andrew discusses Cicero's first successful defence speech, Pro Roscio Amerino ('For Roscius of Ameria'). Andrew introduces the key individuals (three separate Rosciuses as well as the freedman Chrysogonus), before exploring why the 26-year-old Cicero took the case in the first place, and how he won. Andrew argues that Cicero exploited key prejudices held by the Roman jury: a natural suspicion towards Greeks and freedman, and the conception of farming as the ideal Roman pastime.

Course

In this course, Dr Andrew Sillett (University of Oxford) provides an introduction to Cicero's life and times through six legal and political speeches, from his first speech (Pro Roscio Amerino), delivered when he was just 26, through the speeches that would shape the last years of the Roman Republic and his own death at the hands of hired thugs.

Lecturer

Andrew joined Brasenose in 2006 to study for his BA in Classics (Course IIA). Thanks to the generosity of the Helmore Fund, he was able to stay on for his MSt in Classical Languages & Literature. As a senior Germaine Scholar, he recently completed his DPhil on the early imperial reception of Cicero under the supervision of Llewelyn Morgan. His research interests include the reception of Cicero in the early imperial period, politics and thought in the late Roman Republic and early Principate.