Weekly Journal #6
A Political Thriller~
2–16–17 12:30pm-1:30pm
If I could make my ideal portrait I think that I would want it to be both holographic and touch interactive. I’m someone who overthinks dangerously so it would have to be extremely clogged with ideas, all of which I’d hope were tastefully combined. With today’s technology I think that my portrait would have to talk and confuse the eye. To display my adaptive nature I would like the background of the portrait to move and change like it’s a real landscape. I also would want the actual portraiture of me to move. I don’t anybody to just stare at my picture, standing in one spot forever. My portrait should move around, slump, hunch and even leave the background. I want people to look at this picture and realize that you can never just get one side of anybody story. And that my picture has may more than 1000 words to tell you.
2–19–17 12am-2am
63 BCE Rome was a territory controlled by the whims of men and their principles. The territory’s immense size made governance difficult. The outlying settlements were not inclined to keep up with the ever-increasing taxes of the Roman capital; This, coupled with the decrease in tax revenue, increased the debt of wealthy Roman aristocrats. Rome was essentially in an economic depression with high national debt and levels of unemployment. These times set the stage for Cicero and Catiline to engage in their vie for power.
Catiline was a noble born, but enduringly poor, aristocrat in the Roman scene. His ancestors claimed connection to Aeneas, but this noble blood did little to put money in pockets. This dichotomy resulted in Catiline growing up adjacent to other wealthy Romans nobles, but without any real backing to the noble name he held. This inspired contempt in Catiline. Novus homos, or the first rich and successful men in new bloodlines, threatened Catiline’s position in the noble class. Catiline’s desperate fiscal straits set an exceedingly poor grounds upon his consulship was sponsorship. Catiline effectively spent the money of others as well as bankrupted himself in the hope of winning the consulship. Such did not come to pass and Catiline landed third in the race, behind Cicero and Hybrida respectively. Catiline who was originally well favored and highly likely to win had his reputation jeopardized a month outside of the election.
Catiline, had very big plans for his future consulship that he had not disclosed with the public. In fact, Catiline was conspiring with other Roman nobles in a massive plot to overthrow the Roman political and economic system at-large. This plot called upon the poor to rise up against the wealthy and destroy the institutions which held them in debt. The plan was held in confidence until the mistress of Curius, Fulvia, sold her secret knowledge of the meetings, (leaked by Curius in an attempt to calm her worries about his depleting wealth) to Cicero. Naturally, some of the wealthy people who had been supporting Catiline did not take so kindly to hearing that he planned to erase the institutions that house their records of his, and everyone else’s, debts to them. Catiline’s waning support threw the election in Cicero’s favor and everyone thought that would have been the end of Catiline. They were wrong.
As soon as Catiline lost the election of 64 BCE he set immediately to scheming his ride to power in the 63 BCE elections. He also used the time after his loss to begin raising an army to take power with. His plan was to come into power with the army he bankrupted himself in building, then use the guise of consulship to implement his plan and gain total power. This however did not plan out, as public opinion of him had not improved since the outing of his plans to overthrow society. Catiline lost the election of 63 BCE as well, casting his original plan as moot. Catiline saw his window of opportunity closing and decided he had no choice but to act. Therein, he and his conspirators decided to mobilize.
Catiline’s plan was set to fail because of leaks in his ship. Cicero’s spies Fulvia and Curius (who was later pressured into turning sides), shared all the information of the bloody overthrow planned by Catiline. This kept Cicero one step ahead of Catiline, always. Cicero was even able to avoid assassination attempts. The army Catiline had amassed had orders to circle the city while the conspirators inside the city set fire to 12 specific locations. The army would keep anybody from escaping while the conspirators killed the family and supporters of Catiline’s main opposition group, the Optimates.
Upon hearing this news, the Senate moved to elect Cicero as sole ruler and dictator of Rome. All the mean while, Catiline is still in rome, organizing his conspirators to streamline his efforts to overthrow the government. He even shows up to senate conventions to stay in the know. This outrages Cicero, who at this point has avoided assassination attempts, and is aware of the entire insidious plot. Cicero denounced Catiline in court, appalled that he was still alive, much less coming to Senate like he wasn’t actively planning all of their deaths. This attack against Catiline is known as the First Catilinarian. Cicero gave a total of 4 of these speeches against Catiline, denouncing him and telling his audiences of Catiline’s crimes against Rome. Each speech is tactical and utilizes Cicero’s innate love of rhetoric and displays his mastery of the art. These speeches are Cicero’s main weapon against Catiline, because the public opinion is formed against Catiline and in favor of Cicero.
Catiline fled Rome after the First Catilinarian to amass his forces and begin his assault against Rome. Again, Catiline’s plot was undermined through reporting against him, this time from the Allobroges. The Allobroges, (Gaul settlers conquered in 121) were approached by CAtiline in hopes of adopting them to his cause. The sided with Cicero and delivered news of the main conspirators’ names straight to him. These nobles, still residing in Rome, were rounded up and killed. The Third and Fourth Catlinarians were delivered and helped the Senate decide upon executing Catiline’s followers. Catiline’s army was quickly disbanded thereafter, as the reality of their chances of winning slimmed. Only 3,000 of the original 20,000 forces remained to fight alongside CAtiline against Hybrida where he was defeated.
2–21–17 11:10am-12:30pm
Rhetoric was the everyman’s tool. In the past, leadership was passed on dynastically. Cicero revolutionized the idea that anyone could gain leadership, especially Cicero the novus homo, or first of his family to gain consulship. With Cicero’s election to consulship, Romans in mass began studying rhetoric as a means of political ascension. Aristotle was an avid student of rhetoric and came up with 3 types of rhetoric: forensic rhetoric (rhetoric in court aimed at proving either guilt or innocence), epideictic rhetoric (used in speeches of blame [i.e. invective rhetoric character assassination] or praise in attempts to prove someone is either a good or bad person) and deliberative rhetoric (should something be done or not). Rhetoric as truth-seeing is referred to dialectic. It involves open discourse in the hopes of solving questions. Socrates was the pioneer of this type of rhetoric and stood testament to this through his sacrifice. In the Apology Socrates declines emotion appeal to be used in his sentencing, preferring to be acquitted upon facts.
2–22–17 10:00pm-
Cicero introduced 5 canons of rhetoric in his work De Inventione. These pillars of rhetoric are Invention, Arrangement, Style, Memory and Delivery. Each is critical and require careful understanding and study to be truly fluent. Cicero devoted his life to the refinement of these canons, and is regarded as the one who revolutionized discourse in the Roman era. He hoped that through the creation of these canons, rhetoric and discussion would be easier in Roman forum. There were no previous guidelines to speech writing and this diminished the quality and quantity of great speeches.
Cicero needed these five canons to become one of the greatest orators in Rome. The nature of the Roman world was that dialogue and discourse was, often times, a task. In delivering the best speeches possible, Cicero would have to had mastered his speech if he was going to attain power through it. Invention is a canon because one had to be new and revolutionary to be remembered in history. During a debate, if one is not able to continuously create points in support of their position, then that person loses. A leader needs stopping points, or topics in which opposing sides can come together to debate upon, because that is how dissent is quelled. Addressing the points of contention of the enemy and publicly dismissing them through discourse is the most powerful way to remain in power.
Arrangement is crucial because in timing a speech one must become adept at getting to one’s points the audience loses focus. Cicero held arrangement as crucial in the idea creation process. He also broke arrangement down to 6 main parts: introduction, statement of fact, division between ideas, support of ideas, opposition of ideas, relevant digression and conclusion. Whilst logic is most inherently called upon in the arrangement system, emotional appeals are also useful for successful rhetors.
Style is included because not all speeches fit in every setting. Certain occasions call for special treatment of language and literary flexibility. Style focuses mainly on the way something is said, because leader’s personal spin on words can drastically change the interpretation of those words. Effective leaders take advantage of dramatic pauses, and playing upon personal or political connections of the audience. The sounds and beats of the words are important because they assist in the translation of the message. Language is more than just hearing words after all. Connotation is as crucial as content to an audience.
Memory helps to cement the seriousness as well as the flexibility of a speech; A rhetor can add or subtract what is needed if the speech is known and flows. Memory extends beyond knowledge of the words the rhetor has written. It is an overall grasping of the content one is discussing. If, perhaps, during the speech , questions are volleyed at the leader, if said leader is not verse in their subject material then this opens a weakness in the in the leader’s word. Lack of knowledge lessens the likelihood of persuading one’’s target audience.
Delivery is important because the base of rhetoric is persuasion. If the speech, no matter the validity of the content or the standing of the person delivering it, is given poorly then it fails at it’s one job; Capturing the audience’s attention and will. Delivery goes hand-in-hand with style because both have to do with the way the speech is received by others. Delivery focuses on the gesticulation that makes speeches memorable. People react more to a speaker who moves in passion to the emphases of their speech than a speaker who is statuesquely still. The delivery of a speech helps to either ingratiate or alienate a rhetor to their audience by drawing or severing human connection and capturing attention.
The First Catlinarian was essentially a show of Cicero’s supreme oratory skills. The stage of the speech is a senate address. Cicero is speaking to the Senate as consul on the dangers of Catiline and his machinations. Cicero is enumerating to the senate the ways in which Catiline has laid out his web reports that Catiline is outside of the city waiting to mount his attack against Rome. In the middle of Cicero’s debriefing, Catiline shows up, attempting ton undermine Cicero and protect his name. Cicero immediately redirects his speech to begin slamming Catiline. Cicero reviles Catiline as a enemy of not only Cicero personally, but of Italy as a whole. Cicero reminds the Senate of the numerous problems the society has with Catiline, all in the attempts to paint Catiline as negatively as possible in the minds of the men who hold power. His wife’s mysterious death and the immediate replacement with a new wife; his possession of weapons against the last consul; Cicero’s in-depth and detailed knowledge of all of Catiline’s plans, all of these points are raised in negation of Catiline’s character. Cicero successfully uses each of his canons of rhetoric to convince the senate as well as Catiline to agree in Catiline’s banishment. Cicero argues that the just thing to do would have been to kill Catiline and continues to give a list of people who were killed along with their entire families for lesser crimes than his. Cicero wants to appear merciful and dutiful in distancing his reporting his own personal distance from the decision. He instead calls upon his audience to take action for him so he is not the executor of harsh punishment.
All of Cicero’s reviling of Catiline is debatable though. Cicero was a long-standing enemy of Catiline’s. There is evidence that Catiline may have been genuinely innocent of some or all of the crime he was accused of. Historians even question if Catiline was the mastermind of the conspiracy at all, or if cicero had arranged the entire plot in a grand scheme to frame Catiline for the conspiracy. In framing Catiline, Cicero would have wrapped up all his political enemies in one foul swoop, and solidified himself with his political allies for the rest of his career. Catiline is a character with an undoubtedly flawed history but theorists speculate whether this was not the crutch Cicero leaned on to beat Catiline into defeat. Whilst it is probable that Catiline was guilty of some of the crimes he was accused of, history can’t really tell which were which. Catiline can’t even be pinned for any of the murders he is said to have committed. In studying his ambitions one must stay vigilant and think of all the possibilities. Cicero, a master of words and persuasion of many kinds, artfully could have shifted sentiments against Catiline based on pieces of information and opinions.
Former president Obama has been compared to Cicero in his mastery of oratory. In watching the 2009 commencement speech at Notre Dame, as well as observing him in other venues, I notice how former president Obama utilizes the five canons of rhetoric. In his use of hand gestures he makes the most of his skills in delivery, silencing the crowd from an uproarious standing ovation and emphasizing his points with open hands and points. Obama’s speeches are always denoted by his signature style of pausing at important moments and drawing out the endings of certain words and vowels. Former president Obama’s speech arrangement is impeccable and flows seamlessly. His introduction calls upon emotional appeals, reminding the soon-to-be-graduates of all their hard works and thanking the establishment for the honorary degree as as well as the acceptance of him. He connects with the students by mentioning many of the cultural norms of the Notre Dame collegiate experience. Obama’s invention is above par because he expresses knowledge on many aspects of his topics and isn’t shaken by attempts to throw him off his game. During this specific speech he is heckled in the middle and instead of getting angry or frustrated he shakes it off and turns the crowd back to him through the implication of his continued experience to this type of treatment. This also ties in with his memory skills because his speech is immediately resumed after the hiccup as though it never happened at all. Obama and Cicero are comparable in their cool and adaptive natures. Cicero is seen many times keeping his cool in times of danger against himself as well as the state. When Obama is attacked he quickly redirects the energy and remains in control. Whilst Cicero is more famous for his attacks against Catiline, Obama’s speech testify to the power of his ideas and his ability to persuade the country to his point of views. Former president Obama, much like Cicero, was someone without any political connection who rose up through the ranks due his exemplary rhetoric skills. Both saw themselves as great public servants and supported the state as a whole. Though these two are not perfect matched, they are both examples of people without supreme power of persuasion and adaptability.