Kako je Klodija postala Medeja? (Cic. Cael. 18)
How did Clodia become Medea? (Cic. Cael. 18)

Summary/Abstract: When someone quotes a well-known line from the heritage, especially, when he does it in public, he wants to evoke the whole series of emotions in his audience. Of the copious scholarship on Cicero, only very small part of it has made an attempt to deal with the quotations in Cicero’s writings. Most of the citations from the dramatic poets are found in Cicero’s philosophic works, less in his rhetorical treatises and letters, and in the speeches. But during the mid-fifties, in all Cicero’s extant forensic speeches quotes from pre-classical Roman literature were used as a way of enforcing the orator’s argumentation. In this article I confine myself to a few remarks on Cicero’s quotations from Ennius in his speech Pro Caelio. I am primarily interested in exploring the techniques that Cicero uses in citing Ennius, as well as explaining the citations’ context and function within the work. The main prosecutor was the seventeen year old L. Sempronius Atratinus, one of Cicero’s students. The real motives and creators of the prosecution of Caelius have been widely disputed. R. G. Austin had a view that the prosecution was instigated by Clodia, sister of P. Clodius Pulcher, in order to drive her former lover from society. On the other side, this opinion has been challenged by T. A. Dorey. The trial was held on 3-4 April 56 BC and Ludi Megalenses started on 4 April. This could explain to a certain extent why the orators mentioned mythological characters several times at this trial, comparing them with the main protagonists – Caelius and Clodia. They were aware that this would have a strong effect on the judges, since those mythological characters were the heroes of the plays which were in these days playing in Rome. A series of mythological associations was initiated by Atratinus who called Caelius pulchellus Iason, probably wanting to emphasize his fickleness, calculating nature and treachery. On the other hand, Iason as a mythological character brings positive as well as negative associations (e.g. his ingenuity, skilfulness, boldness etc.) and it became a double-edged knife for the prosecutor. After presenting a complaint, on the side of the defense the accused, Caelius, spoke first. He had formed another meaningful pair: Clodia and Clytemnestra. M. Crassus spoke as a second orator on the side of the defense. Regarding the story about Caelius involvement in the murder of the ambassadors from Egypt, he quoted the first line from Ennius’ tragedy Medea. Cicero had a very difficult task: his speech had to excel those of all the previous orators. How is Cicero’s antonomasia Clodia–Medea made? Before quoting the first verse from the beginning of Ennius’ Medea, Cicero said that Marcus Crassus also included that verse in his speech. It seemed as if Cicero needed an alibi for himself, since he dared to continue with citing verses from Ennius’ tragedy up to the verse in which Medea is explicitely mentioned. It is interesting to see how Cicero did act when quoting Ennius’ lines. The first and second line quoted are not cited complete, and the third is left for the end. The reason for omitting the last word in the first line can be found in its relatively small semantic significance for the whole statement. The answer should also be sought in the rhetorical requirements regarding the rhythm, which were known even by less educated audiences. An explanation for ’’shortening’’ of the first Ennius’ verse can be found in the wider context, i.e. the whole period. The second verse was quoted only in half, and in this case Cicero’s intervention was much bigger. Cicero omitted the following words mea domo efferret pedem. Since the third cited verse begins with word Medea, there is an obvious conclusion why the orator did not want to quote the entire previous verse. The reference of the possesive adjective mea to Clodia or Medea would have been avoided. Because Cicero formed periods according to set patterns, the estimated length of the second quotation probably caused the omittion of the word securibus from the first line. Actually, it was typical for Cicero’s time to use a so called tricolon crescendo, which has two parts of the period of almost the same length and a significantly longer final part. Taking into consideration that from the orator’s point of view these three quotations could have formed a period (although in Cicero’s speech they do not come in sequence), we can notice a fulfilment of the above-mentioned principle. It has been shown that Cicero did not rely on the use of words or thoughts not used elsewhere, but knew how to achieve the finest effects without stepping outside the common knowledge. His quotations are the direct answer to the expectations of his audience. He worked as an interpreter of public opinion and manipulated it. In mobilizing support for a client it was especially agreeable to call upon the distinguished Latin authors; their distinction added an intellectual weight and moral force to the argument. New ideas in the conservative Roman society, during the Republic period, were always suspect, but recourse to quotation could show that an orator’s ideas were rooted deep in the history of Roman culture.

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