Dialogue on speakers ( Latin: Dialogus de oratoribus ) is a work of the ancient Roman historian Publius Cornelius Tacitus .
Content
Contents
After a short introduction (1), Tacitus tells how, in his youth, he came along with eminent speakers Mark Apre and Julius Secundus to Curio Materna, who recently publicly read his poem about Cato the Younger , one of the most idealized Roman Republicans and fighters against tyranny (2) . Seconds points Materna to a difficult political situation in which it is undesirable to publish a work praising the irreconcilable defender of the republican system, while Apr attacks the abuse of Mater’s poetry and recalls that the courts hear cases of his friends, whose defense he should concentrate; Curation responds to them (3-4). Then April makes a speech about oratory and poetry (5-10), after Seconds he speaks about the current state of oratory (11-13). According to G. S. Knabe, the exchange of views looks “ like a parody of a lawsuit, with lawyers, defendants and plaintiffs, [the narrative] is sprinkled with jokes, objections are expressed with a smile ” [1] . Subsequently, Vipstan Messala also joins the debaters, who attracts the audience to discuss the changes that have occurred in oratory (14–41). Mark Apr advocates updating the style and oratory, while Messala speaks of the need to follow the traditions of previous generations of speakers [2] .
Dating
The conversation takes place around 75 years, but Tacitus’s oversight prevents the date from being clarified: the text contains both an indication of the sixth year of Vespasian’s reign (between July 1, 74 and July 1, 75), and a mention of the fact that one hundred and twenty years have passed since the death of Cicero ( that is, after December 7, 76) [3] .
In the XIX century, “Dialogue” was considered the first work of Tacitus and attributed its creation to about 77 [4] [5] , that is, shortly after the conversation he described. Later, this point of view was held, in particular, by S. I. Sobolevsky [6] and S. I. Kovalev [7] [8] . However, at present, the publication of the work dates back to the time after the assassination of Domitian [9] . A number of scholars attribute the writing of the work to about 102 or even later [10] [11] [12] [5] [13] [14] , G. S. Knabe defends the idea of the appearance of the "Dialogue" while working on " History ”about 105-107 years [15] . The final dating, however, remains unclear [11] . The question of the authenticity of this work has not been completely resolved ( see the main article ). Modern scholars, as a rule, agree with the authorship of Tacitus and consider the ideas embodied in the Dialogue as the historian’s reasoning about the reasons for his transition from an oratory to writing history and choosing a style for his works [16] .
Features
The basis of this work is the plot of the conversation of several well-known speakers in Rome about their craft and its modest place in public life. Touching upon the reasons for the decline of eloquence, works like the Dialogue were circulated in the first century A.D. e. [17] [14] , but Tacitus’s position on this subject is completely different [18] . The historicity of the main characters is in question - sometimes it is assumed that at least Mark Apr and Curation of Mater are fictional characters [3] [19] .
Notes
- ↑ Knabe G.S. Cornelius Tacitus. Time. A life. Books. - M .: Nauka, 1981. - S. 154
- ↑ Chistyakova N.A. , Vulikh N.V. History of ancient literature. - L .: LSU, 1963 - S. 412-413
- ↑ 1 2 Knabe G. S. Cornelius Tacitus. Time. A life. Books. - M .: Nauka, 1981. - S. 158
- ↑ Tacitus, Cornelius // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary
- ↑ 1 2 Losev A.F. History of ancient aesthetics. Volume V. - M. — Kharkov: AST — Folio, 2000. - P. 597
- ↑ Sobolevsky S.I. Tacitus // History of Roman literature. / Ed. S.I. Sobolevsky, M.E. Grabar-Passek , F.A. Petrovsky . - T. 2. - M .: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1962. - S. 246
- ↑ Kovalev S.I. History of Rome. - L .: Leningrad State University, 1986. - S. 468
- ↑ S. I. Kovalev (p. 468) justifies the absence of other works of Tacitus between “Dialogue” and “Agricola”: “ ... a long break is explained by the fact that during the reign of Domitian (81 - 96 years) there is every possibility of free literary creativity was ruled out . ”
- ↑ Gibson B. The High Empire: AD 69-200 // A Companion to Latin Literature. Ed. by S. Harrison. - Blackwell, 2005 .-- P. 70
- ↑ Grant M. Greek and Roman historians: information and misinformation. - London — New York: Routledge, 1995. - P. 19
- ↑ 1 2 Goldberg SM The faces of eloquence: the Dialogus de oratoribus // The Cambridge Companion to Tacitus. Ed. by AJ Woodman. - Cambridge, 2009 .-- P. 74
- ↑ Albrecht M. History of Roman Literature. T. 2. - M .: Greek-Latin cabinet, 2004 .-- S. 1198
- ↑ Woodman AJ Tacitus and the contemporary scene // The Cambridge Companion to Tacitus. Ed. by AJ Woodman. - Cambridge, 2009 .-- P. 31
- ↑ 1 2 Goodyear FRD Early Principate. History and biography. Tacitus // The Cambridge History of Classical Literature. Volume 2: Latin Literature. Ed. by EJ Kenney, WV Clausen. - Cambridge: Cambridge University Press , 1982. - P. 645
- ↑ Knabe G.S. Cornelius Tacitus. Time. A life. Books. - M .: Nauka, 1981. - S. 152
- ↑ Gasparov M.L. Greek and Roman literature of the 1st century n e. // History of world literature . In nine volumes. T. 1. - M .: Nauka, 1983 .-- S. 484
- ↑ Knabe G.S. Cornelius Tacitus. Time. A life. Books. - M .: Nauka, 1981. - S. 144
- ↑ Losev A.F. History of ancient aesthetics. Volume V. - M. — Kharkov: AST — Folio, 2000. - P. 598
- ↑ Knabe G.S. Cornelius Tacitus. Time. A life. Books. - M .: Nauka, 1981. - S. 147