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CICERO'S ATTITUDE TO CULTURE
gorean formula * The Master said. . .' (Ipse dixii):' Those who ask what I think
myself are unnecessarily curious. In a discussion what is to be sought is not so
much weight of authority as force of argument. Indeed the authority of professed
teachers is often a positive hindrance to would-be learners.'
Such openmindedness was also encouraged by the rhetorical exercise,
recommended by Aristotle, of arguing both sides of a question. How deeply
this conditioned Cicero's way of thinking is shown by a letter he wrote to
Atticus in his agony of indecision two months after Caesar crossed the Rubicon
in 49 (An. 9.4). He says he has been debating a series of'theses* (discussions of
general principles) relevant to the situation, first in Greek and then in Latin, and
proceeds to list the topics in Greek. He says he is doing this partly to distract
his mind, partly to give relevance to his exercise.
The prologues to his dialogues and treatises form collectively an interesting
corpus of intellectual autobiography, in which the defence of cultural studies
as an occupation for an ex-consul consonant with 'otium cum dignitate' is a
recurrent theme. (He makes the Muse Urania praise him for this in his poem on
his consulship: Div. 1.17.) Deploring utilitarian values, he remarks sarcastically
in the Brutus (257) that, while no doubt it was more important for the Athenians
to have watertight roofs over their heads than to possess that ivory statue of
Athena, he would rather be Phidias than a master-roofer. In his famous Dream
of Scipio (see p. 261), at a time when he was in eclipse as a statesman, he made
Africanus reveal that there is a place in heaven reserved for benefactors of their
country, including not only men of action but (remarkable for a Roman) others
who have devoted their genius to divine pui suits (Rep. 6.19). The debate that
began among Aristotle's followers as to whether the life of contemplation was
better than the life of action was continued intermittently in Cicero's soul.
Normally the life of action prevailed.
Naturally he was drawn to men who needed no conversion to culture; to
Atticus, with his hospitable library, his propagation of books and his historical
interests, who bought works of art for him at Athens; to Cato and Brutus, who,
even if at times he did not see eye to eye with them, were likewise lifelong
students of philosophy; even to Caesar, politically his arch-enemy, whose keen
critical interest in literature and language provided them with safe topics of
discourse. But he aimed at reaching a wider circle, with special hopes of influencing
the rising generation. All his life he was concerned to promote humane
education. It was unthinkable at Rome that higher education should be anything
but rhetorical in basis; but in the De oratore (55 B.C.) he put forward the
view that the perfect orator should be a' full man', and propounded accordingly
an unprecedented scheme of liberal education, politior humatutas (Jiumanus, a
word embracing both culture and human-kindness, meant something like our
'civilized' as applied to people). His letters provide ample evidence that he was
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