CLA 101C: Topics in Roman Civilization (4 units)
Rex Stem
Course Description: This class will explore the life and writings of Cicero, Rome’s most prolific republican writer and greatest orator. We will survey his life chronologically through both a modern biography and a sampling of his speeches, letters, and treatises. We will try to assess his strengths and weaknesses as a politician and as a writer, and we will seek to understand his principles and actions against the political revolution that Rome experienced during his lifetime. The course will largely be discussion-based, with some mini-lectures, but with the overall purpose of articulating and debating the value of Cicero’s contributions to Roman civilization (and Western Civilization generally). Students will be expected to read extensively and produce, in class and on paper, close analysis of Cicero’s writings. Regular participation in class discussion will be expected, plus two midterm papers, a final paper, and a final exam.
Prerequisite: A lower division Classics (CLA) course or consent of instructor
GE Credit: AH, WC, WE
Format: Lecture/Discussion—3 hour(s); Term Paper
Required Texts:
- Cicero, Political Speeches, trans. D. H. Berry (Oxford, ISBN 978-0199540136)
- Cicero, Defence Speeches, trans. D. H. Berry (Oxford, ISBN 978-0199537907)
- Cicero, Selected Letters, trans. P. G. Walsh (Oxford, ISBN 978-0199214204)
- Anthony Everitt, Cicero (Random House, ISBN 978-0375758959)