The main event of the evening was Professor Arlene Holmes-Henderson, MBE, MAE, Professor of Classics and Ancient History Durham University interviewing Dr. Vittorio Bufacchi, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at University College Cork. In the interview, they discussed Dr. Bufacchi’s book, Why Cicero Matters, which has been described as “an engaging and provocative account of Cicero, emphasising his contemporary relevance “.
After about 45 minutes, they were joined by Maya Koomen, Ryan Joynes and Bethany Mitchell from New Writing North’s Young Writers’ Programme. They have been working with performance poet and director Kirsten Luckins, to articulate their own views about why Cicero might matter to us today.
ClassicsFest is a three-day event, exploring the voices of the Ancient Greeks and Romans, through the lens of artists, thinkers and academics now. It is a collaboration between the Lit and Phil and the School of History, Classic and Archaeology at Newcastle University.
Introduction
In the introduction to the evening, we heard that the Classics are for everyone and that the festival wants to make them accessible without dumbing down. The organisers want information about, and ideas form the Ancient World to be spread around.
As for Cicero, we heard that the shadow of Cicero fell over later Roman writers.
Interview with Vittorio Bufacchi
Vittorio began by quoting Cicero: “if you have a garden in a library, you have everything you could wish for”. Vittorio then gave us some background about himself, including that in his own way he is a Roman, having been born in Rome, unlike Cicero, who was born slightly outside Rome. People in Ancient Rome, we were told, looked down at those not born in Rome like Cicero
Vittorio comes to Cicero from a philosophical point of view and normally writes about contemporary political justice and human rights.
So why write about Cicero? Part of the reason is because not many people know about Cicero. It is always the emperors we are taught about and are talked about.
People don’t tend to think about Roman Republic, which Vittorio claimed was the closest thing to democracy in the Ancient World. It had a constitution, the rule of law, and elections. Echoing events across the world today, the Republic went on for centuries until it was undermined by authoritarian populists. Vittorio asked: ‘are we complacent about democracy today’?
In the Republic politicians were elected for 12 months and there were checks and balances, a situation which Vittorio compared favourably to the USA with Trump now.
Vittorio conceded that the Roman Republic was far from a perfect democracy; it had slaves and women were not allowed public life, but at the time, the alternative came with emperors without the rule of law.
Cicero, it was said, tried to stop empire coming. He was a philosopher and politician, and Vittorio asked if we are we about to make same mistakes as Romans…
Vittorio then commented on the shallow way that the Romans are taught in schools now, remarking that there is a picture of Caesar on his children’s school wall, but when mentioned to the teacher that Caesar had committed genocide in Gaul, the teacher didn’t really know how to respond.
Arelene asked Vittorio about authoritarianism and specifically what did Cicero do to defend the Republic? By way of reply, Vittorio noted that Cicero had realised that the people of Rome couldn’t engage in philosophy as it was written in Greek and so he translated much of Greek philosophy into Latin.
Cicero believed that anyone and everyone can engage in philosophical thought, that the method is politically powerful and consequently wrote texts as dialogues. Here there was an exchange of ideas and importantly, the assumption of equality. For Cicero democracy has to be based around dialogue, while authoritarianism is the opposite as the powerful leader claims to have the only truth and those challenging it don’t tend to last long.
Expanding upon this theme, Vittorio went on to say that Cicero had stated that the public thing is owned by the people and that this line of thought had heavily influenced the writing of the constitution of the USA. In other ways, Authoritarians are taking away something that is ours. Despite this, people still allow the Julius Caesars of the world to take over.
Vittorio also told us of how Cicero was clear that being a citizen is recognising you have duties as well as rights.
Arlene then commented that all of this feels very modern and relevant. She asked Vittorio about what can be done about Cicero’s PR with young people? His writing is often seen by them as boring. Vittorio replied that Cicero had written a manual about public speaking and rhetoric. Due to disreputable politicians, this kind of thing has developed a bad reputation now about telling lies, but in the Ancient World the emphasis was far more on ethics.
In recent centuries, it was said that people had turned against Cicero, with one 19th century German describing him as a journalist, but this was because Germans wanted a Kaiser, a Julius Caesar figure, rather than someone like Cicero to lead them.
Vittorio went on to say that Latin written by Cicero is difficult to read, but is definitely not boring!
It was emphasised that Cicero is contemporary and relevant to today. He had stated that there is no more desperate a state than where the richest are seen as the best and Vittorio commented about the modern idea of building a state around billionaires.
So much of what we know about that period comes from letters of Cicero and they could be very emotional. The Romans tended to look down on emotions, in favour of what were seen as more masculine virtues. However, Vittorio noted, “Cicero had emotional intelligence in spades “…
We then considered the contemporary value of Cicero with the help of three young people, Meya, Ryan and Bethany. Cicero was said to have noted that a good leader should be like a good parent, putting people first with no favouritism…
The three young people then read out a contemporary group poem, based on what they thought Cicero might say about the contemporary political world:
An open letter to the leaders of the world
“When are you going to retire? You're very old
We demand you get a grip on your eagles
We demand you stop killing people, I'm ruining people's lives!
What thing happened when you were little the major support and commit genocide
Have you done your research?
We need competence, not conspiracy
Stop the secrets we need transparency.
We should be able to trust anyone with power over us
We need to understand the impact of climate change and how to contain it We need trees and shade, not tarmac and heat Squishy ground, not injured toddlers
Rainforest returns and absorbent earth not forest fires and flash floods
We need to swim in clean rivers, not tides of sewage
You're watching us drown while you're sitting in your lifeboats
Stop shoving your pollution down our throats!
We hope you will not be so anthropocentric going forward
We need you to stop letting the whole world get exploited
Rights for all not just those you anointed
When they cheer for you do you mistake it for love?
Have you thought about doing some therapy?
We demand violence and crime should be destroyed at its roots - poverty and inequality
We want more housing and less of the greedy landlords
We want workers’ rights not super yachts
We need to stop the rockets and billionaire blood sports
We asking for charity not self-obsessed gluttony
Where are taxes going?
We demand you repatriate all that was stolen -
I mean, if you’re sending immigrants back. You might as well return that artefacts!
We hope the next generation will know better
In the years to come, we look for diversity not division.
Will we live to see change? Or will you be stuck in your ways forever?
We may not know what is to come, but we know what came before us
We are not children, and history does not bore us
When are you going to die? You're very old…”
Vittorio reflecting on the open letter said that Cicero would approve and how true it is that we must learn from the past. It was a powerful piece of writing.
Arlene then asked Vittorio why Julius Caesar is the poster boy of the Romans, why he is the one leader from the ancient world people think about.
Vittorio replied that Mark Anthony was given the amazing speech, “friends, Romans, countrymen etc….” in the Shakespeare play Julius Caesar., while Cicero gets one line. What is so remarkable about Julius Caesar is that he committed genocide in Gaul, but people want easy answers, while democracy is inclusive but more messy. Vittorio commented that Mussolini had copied Julius Caesar. The problem seems to be that people lose patience and think they need a strong man. Vittorio asked: ‘have we learned anything from the past?’ Movies are about Julius Caesar, not Cicero, so it is back to the PR to help more people be aware of Cicero.
We have taken easy way out..if only a Julius Caesar would come and take away our problems…
Questions
There were then a series of questions from the audience, which Vittorio replied to.
Cicero was not a warrior and so he is not as attractive to film makers but is he a more attractive figure now because of that. Cicero was not a pacifist as war was inevitable at time, as people would wage war if their crops had failed. However, Cicero asked contemporary questions about war and if it is justified.
Cicero was very good at propaganda. Julius Caesar sent bulletins back from wars and also realised the value of propaganda. Cicero said that there were three duties, including duties to truth and to social justice. Truth is something you can’t achieve. You can only get close to it but it is your duty to try and find truth. The citizens of Rome had this duty and just believing first thing you see on Tiktok is definitely not fulfilling that duty. In the USA now there is a war on truth and we shouldn’t let it happen.
Vittorio also said that it was lazy to be negative and that it is our duty to try and change things and be positive.
One audience member asked who the modern day Cicero is. Are there any contemporary politicians who are philosophers? The reply was that some politicians can be thoughtful, but tellingly, Vittorio couldn’t name a modern-day Cicero! Meanwhile, Arlene suggested James Swallow Labour MP for Bracknell.
It was noted at the end that the Roman Republic was based around political engagement for the common good, rather than simply self-interest.
Comment
Here was a plea from both the heart and the mind, for a more decent and humane world. This was an interesting and varied event, that certainly lived up to its aim of making the Classics more accessible, especially in terms of what we can learn from the past. It was also a call for justice and democracy – and engagement in the political world. As we see the rise of right-wing populism around the world and in our own communities, with all its destructive tendencies, it appears to me that Cicero definitely does matter. I, for one, will be taking more interest in his work…
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