Latin 423: Sallust and Cicero (WQ 2015) – Paper Assignment

Due Date: You may hand the paper in at any time, but no later than THURSDAY, MARCH 19 (note changed date). You mail email your paper to me at alain@uw.edu or place a copy in my mailbox in Denny 218, the Dept. of Classics main office.

Length: The paper should be approximately 5 pages in length, typed and doublespaced.

Purpose: This is not a research paper per se, but rather an essay in which you explore a particular topic or issue in the reading that has piqued your curiosity and about which you have something to say. The paper may focus on something in either Sallust’s Bellum Catilinae or in Cicero’s First Catilinarian – or it may explore an issue both have in common. The following are merely suggestions – feel free to devise a topic of your own choosing, but please clear your topic with me before you begin (even if it is from this list).

· The character of Catiline in Sallust: hero or villain?

· Of the two speeches by Caesar and Cato in the Cat., which is the more persuasive and why?

· Virtus is clearly an important word and concept for Sallust. Looking closely at where and how the word is used in the Cat., formulate a 'definition' of the word that captures its particularly Sallustian characteristics.

· How do the digressions in Sallust’s Cat. relate to the work as a whole? What do they add?

· Although Caesar is not a major player on the Catilinarian Conspiracy, he is given prominence in Sallust by virtue of his speech. Some would say that Sallust’s account of Catiline is a commentary on Caesar’s own career – that Caesar succeeded where Catiline failed. Write an essay in which you discuss how Catiline mirrors (or does not mirror) Julius Caesar.

· The imagery of Cicero’s First Catilinarian: what are some of the predominant metaphors (this is a much more interesting topic than it might at first glance seem!)…and how does Cicero use them to characterize Catiline?

· Summarize the arguments of Cicero’s First Catilinarian. Are they persuasive….or not?

· What do you make of Sempronia in Sallust’s Cat.? Why is such an evidently minor character allotted an entire chapter?

· How does the characterization of Cicero in Sallust differ from the impression you have of him from the First Catilinarian

· Compare Sallust’s Catiline with Cicero’s. How are they similar? Different?

· Discuss Sallust’s and Cicero’s respective views of the conspiracy as a whole. Do they seem to agree in the basic facts? Where do they differ…and how would you account for that?

· The 'reception' of Cicero's or Sallust's 'Catiline' in later classical or post-classical literature.