Journal #6

Feb 23, 2017 · 6 min read

A Political Thriller

Hours 1–4(02/19/17/ 12:50pm–2:50pm and 5:00pm–7:00pm/ In My Room)

For these hours, I read Cicero and the Catiline Conspiracy and The Conspiracy of Catiline. Catiline was a aristocrat and was born into a noble patrician family that was poor. His father’s death gave him a house located on the Palatine hill and a lot of debt. Cicero was a philosopher and was born into a wealthy landed family in a little city, Arpinum, outside of Rome.

The Catilinarian Conspiracy plot was to get help from a group of aristocrats and disaffected veteran to overthrow the Roman Empire. Cicero exposed Catiline’s plot so he had to flee Rome. Catiline wanted to topple the reigning upper class and free the lower class of debt and lack of land. At first, Catiline wanted to have a legal mask for the revolution by winning the election in consulship but it didn’t work out. A rumor spread about secret meetings in Catiline’s house with important people who were sworn to secrecy. All of them kept their oaths except for one, Quintus Curius. He told his lover Fulvia. She was a mistress to Cicero and told him. He told the Senates and that eliminated Catiline as his opponent and Cicero won the election. Catiline was seeking a massive economic and social revolution and his supporters found it hard to continue to support him. He tried to win the election again but still lost. Catiline also went bankrupted on building his army against the Roman Empire in Etruria. So he had no choice but to continue his quest for revolution through a military action.

Catiline planned the army to kill the optimates, their family and supporters. Quintus and Fulvia once again told Cicero. So he told the Senates about Catiline’s attack and they made him sole ruler and dictator of Rome. They sent Metellus’ and Marcius’ armies to Etruria and Apulia. When the attack was not made on the day that the Senates were told, October 27th, they began to believe that Cicero planned this to take on the role of dictatorship(which is actually true), but the next day Manlius raised an open revolt in Etruria.

Catiline returned to Rome only to be sent right back out the same day. So he went to Allobroges and asked them for help in the revolution thinking that they would. After speaking with Catiline, Allobroges immediately went to Cicero and told him. Cicero turned them into spies, and had them get written plans and names of those who were involved in the revolution. The five conspirators that were still in Rome were found guilty and this made Cicero a hero. The Senates suggested that the penalty should be death but Caesar convinced them not to make such harsh penalties while they were still angry. Then Cicero went behind Caesar and persuade the Senates to killed the conspirators and they did. Etruria heard of the penalty and many from the army left with fear. Catiline was caught and killed by Antonius. He still won because his death caused a social and economic revolution. That was Catiline’s plan all along. Two decades later, the civil war continued but Cicero would soon come to an end. He made an enemy of Mark Antony, a Roman commander and a friend of Caesar. Cicero was killed by him in 43 BCE.

Hours 5–7(02/20/17/ 4:25pm-6:25pm/ In My Room)

The history of argument. First off, what is an argument? It is statements and reasoning in support of a proposition. Sophos was used in the Greek time meaning wisdom. People loved wisdom so much that they hired sophist to teach them mostly about law and politics. Sophist were traveling teachers and poets who roamed the countryside of Greece and taught anyone who was willing to pay to learn. In time sophist became the best lawyers in Greece. But Socrates and Plato argued that sophists were not so bright. They said that sophist only persuade and gave false information. Socrates and Plato said that they can make you believe that black is white. Now these two were so honest and noble that they gave off their wisdom for free. Aristotle, student of Plato, made rules on giving wisdom and put it in a book called The Art of Rhetoric. One thing that it said was that honesty is the best policy. He explained three terms of persuasion-logos, pathos, and ethos.logos means logic, pathos means emotion, and ethos means ethics.

Cicero created five canons on giving a speech. They are invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. We use these today in speeches, company memos, meeting outlines, mission statements, and sales or marketing reports. In Cicero’s time, rhetoric was used for persuasion and have no planning for a purpose. His famous ideas about rhetoric was that the tongue-represents speech, and brain- represents analyzation and planning, should come together and act as one force. Invention can be thought of as brainstorming. Arrangement must include an introduction, a statement of facts, a division between ideas, proof of evidence supporting all ideas, refutation of ideas, an optional digression, and a conclusion. Style is expressions. It deals with how the topic is being said. How you’re influencing the audience. Memory is a combination of persuasion and excitement during a speech, the thought of being more effective when a speaker really knows the material, and to emphasize certain parts of the speech. Delivery is just perfecting your speech.

In Cicero’s speech, he is persuading the audience to agree with him and execute Catiline. What makes Cicero’s speech so convincing is that he spoke louder at certain points. Points that he really wanted to get across. Cicero also paused when he wanted the audience to remember what he just said. Finally, Cicero made himself seem noble and caring of others. His leadership traits are eliminating enemies and protecting his followers. Barack Obama’s speech at the University of Notre Dame is similar to Cicero's speech.He was speaking about everyone uniting to help out each other. Obama also spoke louder at certain points and paused when he wanted the audience to remember what he just said. They both used the emotion of concern in their speeches.

3 Hours in Class

Rhetoric is the art of persuasion and involving public speaking skills and being a great orator. Today we use different types of rhetoric. One is forensic rhetoric. This one is mostly used in court when you trying to prove guilt or innocence.