Pro Caelio

by Marcus Tullius Cicero, Stephen Ciraolo

-- Entire text of the speech

-- Running vocabulary and commentary on grammar, style, history, and Roman institutions

-- Introductory essays on the lives of Cicero and Caelius and on Roman oratory

-- Extensive bibliography

Genres: Classics, Nonfiction, History, Language, Classical Studies, Read For School, Literature

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 63

About the author

Born 3 January 106 BC, Arpinum, Italy
Died 7 December 43 BC (aged 63), Formia, Italy

Marcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. Cicero is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.

Alternate profiles:
Cicéron
Marco Tullio Cicerone
Cicerone

Note: All editions should have Marcus Tullius Cicero as primary author. Editions with another name on the cover should have that name added as secondary author.

Reviews

[Giorgia Saolini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Non ne farò una recensione

[Andrew DeWar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to read this for my Advanced Latin class this semester. If you haven't read any of Cicero's work before you definitely should, the man is an incredible speaker/writer. This version is particularly helpful if you're still learning Latin, as it has editor notes for uncommon vocabulary usage and a good introduction that helps you understand the speech contained within better if you aren't familiar with how Roman law practices worked.

This is also a great book if you're learning Latin due to the fact that Cicero's style of speech is easier to translate than many other Latin authors, and this particular speech is one of the easier ones of Cicero's as well, making it a very good place to start trying to read Latin instead of just tiny snippets and vocabulary words. That said, it is still difficult to translate due to the drastic difference between English and Latin, so patience is definitely a must.

As for the speech within, it's the Roman equivalent to the OJ case, and Cicero is OJ's lawyer. The man knows how to say just the right things in just the right way to get the results he wants, and it shows greatly in this speech. If this is your first time reading the speech in Latin, or just your first time reading Latin, I recommend having an English translation close by to help through it. While it loses some of it's finesse in English, it's still a well-crafted speech. A good site to use if you don't wish to buy a copy that contains English and Latin is Perseus.tufts.edu and search for Pro Caelio. It has the original Latin on as well as the English translations, plus you can select a Latin word and it'll give you the info the editor believes is correct about it. Definitely make sure you give this one a read, it's worth the extra work you might have to put in to read it.

[wreowr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super diver de leer no me lo esperaba omg

[Francesco Cavestro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Non direi in alcun modo che è edificante, ma è sicuramente divertente

[Isabella Zust · Rating 3 out of 5]

Top scores for an entertaining translation activity in all its ridiculousness, falls short with the sprinkling of sexism and misogyny ✨ :((

[Santiago Rojas F · Rating 5 out of 5]

¡Qué pocos pueden librarse de ellos en una ciudad tan chismosa!

[Mateo R.]

Cicerón será muy habilidoso e imagino que en su época habrá sido una luminaria (y no dudo que yo no podría hacer lo que él hace), pero no pude evitar sentirme decepcionado al leer este discurso. Pensé que iba a encontrarme con desarrollos lógicos impecables o al menos firmes y desprovistos de falacias, pero veo ataques ad hominem (o ad mulierem ponele), dobles estándares, apelaciones al pathos del público, mordacidades fuera de lugar... gran parte de su argumento es simplemente atacar la talla moral de la instigadora, o sea tratarla de puta. Y aun suponiendo que los que estaban en el otro bando (Clodia y Clodio principalmente) eran lo peor de lo peor y que las acusaciones hacia Celio eran todas falsas... me quedo decepcionado de las palabras de Cicerón. Cuando él y otros pensadores criticaban a los antiguos sofistas por sus trampas dialécticas y su abuso de la retórica, pensé que se referían justamente a las cosas que me encontré que el propio Cicerón hace en este discurso. Supongo que habrán sido incluso peores.

[georgia]

I'M FREE!!!!!!! WORST EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE

[martina · Rating 1 out of 5]

cosa cazzo ho appena letto

[Elodie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ho studiato tutto il testo in latino per un esame. Rispetto ad altre opere di Cicerone, il testo mi sembra immediatamente accessibile anche in originale e la lettura in latino dà l'opportunità di cogliere anche aspetti come la pungente ironia dell'orazione. Il fatto di averlo studiato per obbligo e con scadenze stringenti, ha tolto sicuramente una parte di godibilità al testo.

[Will · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Nihilne igitur illa vicinitas redolet, nihihne hominum fama, nihil Baiae denique ipsae loquuntur ? Illae vero non loquuntur solum,verum etiam personant, huc unius mulieris libidinem esse prolapsam, ut ea non modo solitudinem ac tenebras atque haec flagitiorum integumenta non quaerat, sed in turpissimis rebus frequentissima celebritate et clarissima luce laetetur.

Verum si quis est, qui etiam meretriciis amoribus interdictum iuventuti putet, est ille quidem valde severus (negare non possum), sed abhorret non modo ab huius saeculi licentia, verum etiam a maiorum consuetudine atque concessis. Quando enim hoc non factitatum est, quando reprehensum, quando non permissum, quando denique fuit, ut, quod licet, non liceret? Hic ego iam rem definiam, mulierem nullam nominabo; tantum in medio relinquam.

Si quae non nupta mulier domum suam patefecerit omnium cupiditati palamque sese in meretricia vita collocarit, virorum alienissimorum conviviis uti instituerit, si hoc in urbe, si in hortis, si in Baiarum illa celebritate faciat, si denique ita sese gerat non incessu solum, sed ornatu atque comitatu, non flagrantia oculorum, non libertate sermonum, sed etiam complexu, osculatione, actis, navigatione, conviviis, ut non solum meretrix, sed etiam proterva meretrix procaxque videatur: cum hac si qui adulescens forte fuerit, utrum hic tibi, L. Herenni, adulter an amator, expugnare pudicitiam an explere libidinem voluisse videatur?

Obliviscor iam iniurias tuas, Clodia, depono memoriam doloris mei; quae abs te crudeliter in meos me absente facta sunt, neglego; ne sint haec in te dicta, quae dixi. Sed ex te ipsa requiro, quoniam et crimen accusatores abs te et testem eius criminis te ipsam dicunt se habere. Si quae mulier sit eius modi, qualem ego paulo ante descripsi, tui dissimilis, vita institutoque meretricio, cum hac aliquid adulescentem hominem habuisse rationis num tibi perturpe aut perflagitiosum esse videatur? Ea si tu non es, sicut ego malo, quid est, quod obiciant Caelio? Sin eam te volunt esse, quid est, cur nos crimen hoc, si tu contemnis, pertimescamus? Quare nobis da viam rationemque defensionis. Aut enim pudor tuus defendet nihil a M. Caelio petulantius esse factum, aut impudentia et huic et ceteris magnam ad se defendendum facultatem dabit."

[Ulrike · Rating 1 out of 5]

wow, bad speech! already was anti cicero bc im a catiline simp, but i did have some respect for him before i read this, which is now greatly diminished. his catiline speeches were good! really good actually! this was not!

not only was it incredibly sexist and slut shame-y and anti sex work and all that (yes duh this was ancient rome. im still allowed, as a woman, to be really angry and uncomfortable about this!!) but it was just full of double standards and hypocracies and fallacies. oh my god. ew.

holy shit though oh my god his treatment of women v. men in terms of sex was SO bad... the double standard is so obvious! ugh! i was so mad dude, men never change every year for millenia they are like 'women are SLUTS and WHORES and they all they do is LIE!!!!!' literally the point of whether clodia is lying about this is so moot considering how vicious and mean he is to her, how he assassinates her character entirely.

plus the ending was really weak imo? a paragraph or two on caelius' father??? should have ended it on his whole point of <3 boys will be boys but they will grow up <3 that would have been far stronger.

edit wait no there was One Thing i enjoyed!!! it was the 'catilina was [...] a furnace of inordinate sensual passions'. okay cicero...

(note i didnt read this in latin this time but i couldnt find any better listing for the speech alone on here)

[Edwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cicero moet in deze redevoering een kennis verdedigen, die aangeklaagd is voor onder meer moord en plannen maken voor een vergiftiging. Hij heeft er echter weinig zin in, want het is een feestdag én de aanklacht is gebaseerd op geruchten van een vrouw genaamd Clodia. Dus om toch te genieten van het feest en tegelijk af te rekenen met deze Clodia, schrijft hij een bijzonder vreemde en geestige verdedigingsrede. Met uitgebreide stijlmiddelen in bij vlagen prachtig Latijn worden personages opgevoerd als in een toneelstuk, die vanuit hun eigen gezichtspunt afrekenen met de aanklacht. Hoogtepunt is de vernietiging van Clodia door eerst een strenge bebaarde voorouder van haar en vervolgens door haar minnaar eh wacht broer ('ik haal dat altijd door elkaar' zegt Cicero op een valse manier). Al met al een bizar, maar ook geniaal stuk Romeinse retorica.

[Patroclus · Rating 3 out of 5]

fellas is it gay to defend my client by saying that he did nothing wrong because he followed me all the time and is by my side at every moment.

not his best speech ever and i don't really like it because i love clodia way more than i love the bald old man. also kinda pathetic that his only argument is that she's promiscuous like???

[Martin]

We translated part of this text during school and I wanted to read the whole speech. Finally read it recently. Ms. Giebel's annotations and commentary gives great insight and emphasizes the historical context and the points Cicero does not properly adress in his speech.

[Rachele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cicerone si dimostra il re supremo e indiscusso degli oratori, mago della parola, principe del foro. Un orazione ingegnosa e che mostra tutta la sua fine eloquenza. Tutto bellissimo...se non ci dovessi preparare un esame. 😭😱

[Mila · Rating 1 out of 5]

fuck that guy

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ciceron y si dejas de llamar zorra a clodia pesao

[moony · Rating 2 out of 5]

cállate

[Joe Gary · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hate Cicero

[a · Rating 4 out of 5]

insanely good orator i fear

[Migueloordz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cicerón es tan bueno de verdad, logra defender a Celio ante unos jueces mientras llama prostituta y acusa de incesto a Clodia y hace burla de la acusación

me voy a acabar leyendo todo lo que haga

[luu&#x1f996; · Rating 2 out of 5]

non voglio commentare. odio cicerone

[sheryne!! · Rating 2 out of 5]

perso j’étais plus du côté de Clodia

[Eva Wall]

okay tea

[Baylee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una grazia e una leggerezza di tocco che neppure i Greci avrebbero potuto superare.
Robert Nisbet

Probabilmente la maggior parte delle persone si immagina Cicerone come un uomo dall'aria greve, accigliata, seriosa. Uno assolutamente incapace di far ridere chicchessia.

Ebbene, nella Pro Caelio, Cicerone dimostra di essere in grado di usare una ironia e arguzia in modo così elegante e misurato da essere assolutamente irresistibile anche per i giorni nostri. Ad una ad una, smonta tutte le accuse, riducendole a dicerie, maldicenze e puntando il dito contro la vera artefice di quel processo-farsa: Clodia, donna "scandalosamente priva di inibizioni" che voleva vendicarsi per esser stata scaricata.

Eppure, nella Pro Caelio c'è molto più di questo. Sullo sfondo si intravedono il conflitto generazionale, la disaffezione verso la politica (vista ormai solo come una corsa all'accaparramento della poltrona migliore), il ribaltamento dei vecchi valori (e quindi amore per il lusso, sperpero dei patrimoni familiari, carriere facili)... Vi ricorda qualcosa?

Un'orazione quanto mai attuale. Vi consiglio l'edizione Bur perché arricchita di un'interessantissima introduzione e correlata di note che aiutano nella comprensione del testo.

[Andy Manoske · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pro Caelio was the bane of my existence in high school. While I was eager to tear into Latin in my reading list this year to try and salvage what command of the language I have, I left Pro Caelio for the very end out of a deep fear of how much of a struggle it was going to be.

Years later, I found Pro Caelio a lot easier to get through. Latin is not a language for puntuation, and Cicero's characteristic epic sentences of dense, onion-layers of indirect statements and subordinate clauses is still a fucking mess. But there's a lot of amazing rhetoric here, and Pro Caelio is a master class in how to make convincing arguments and sway an audience.

By far my favorite parts of Pro Caelio were Cicero's hilarious use of prosopopeia. His barbed humor ridiculing Clodia's arguments against Caelius was as biting as it was hilarious, and it's just as relevant in today's political theater as it was over a thousand years ago.

Still, Cicero is not for the beginning Latin student. Without lots of annnotation and a great dictionary, this is a very daunting undertaking. It was a blast though, and it makes me want to ask of people see "Father Paul coming unto them."

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a reader for the Pro Caelio, I found the notes in this book generally to be quite helpful, though the omissions in the glossary in the back sent me to other Latin dictionaries on more than one occasion, which was annoying; I don't know why the preparers of this commentary chose not include a complete glossary to accompany this text.

Also, the letters between Cicero and Caelius, though interesting, form an awkward addendum to the speech. Certainly, it is fascinating to read their correspondence, but without a fuller context and with no real connection to the speech that makes up the vast majority of this commentary, they give the impression of an attempt to pad out a slim volume.

Still, the commentary is useful and makes for a relatively smooth read through the speech and letters.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this speech. It was my first full text Latin translation, and I just fell in love with it. Cicero's arguments are brilliantly amusing and just outlandish enough to work. The parts with Clodia, especially the part when he talked about all the men hiding in the Baiae was just too funny. My professor and I couldn't stop laughing at how ridiculous Cicero made the whole situation sound. I would recommend this speech to any Intermediate Latin students like myself. Oftentimes, Cicero used similar structures within the sections, so as long as you could grasp what the structure was, it was a pretty simple translation.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite speeches of Cicero I've read thus far. Cicero's invective against Clodia is laugh-out-loud funny in some places. Cicero's toying with dramatic forms is an impressive stylistic feat and continues to entertain his audience. Austin's commentary is thorough and usually helpful in regards to grammar and historical context.