Minerva

Reading notes

• Ad Atticum 1.4 §3 Minerva is the singular emblem of that gymnasium

  Hermes (Mercury) was the standard tutelary figure of any Greek gymnasium, so 'common to all,' whereas Athena/Minerva, goddess of wisdom, was the distinctive patron Cicero chose for his own scholarly retreat.

• Ad Atticum 9.8 §2 Homer's Minerva in the likeness of Mentor

  In the Odyssey the goddess Athena (Latin Minerva) takes the form of the old counsellor Mentor to guide and advise Telemachus and Odysseus. Cicero wishes for such a divine adviser to tell him how to face his coming interview with Caesar.

• Ad Familiares 3.1 §1 not unwillingly --- nor unwilling, I trust, will Minerva be

  A play on the proverb invita Minerva ("with Minerva unwilling," i.e. against one's natural aptitude); Minerva was the goddess of wisdom and craft.

• Ad Familiares 3.1 §1 I shall name not only \textit{[Greek: Polias]} but \textit{[Greek: Appias]}

  Polias ("of the city") was Athena's chief Athenian cult-title; Cicero coins "Appias" as a flattering parallel, joking that a Minerva-statue taken from Appius's household would be named after Appius himself.

• Ad Familiares 9.18 §3 though it is a pig giving lessons to Minerva

  The proverb 'sus Minervam (docet)' --- a pig teaching Minerva, goddess of wisdom and craft --- meant a fool presuming to instruct an expert. Cicero deploys it self-deprecatingly about offering rhetorical 'introductions' (prolegomena) to Paetus.

• Ad Familiares 12.25 §1 our Minerva, guardian of the city, whom a whirlwind had toppled, should be restored

  A statue of Minerva (Minerva Custos Urbis) that Cicero himself had dedicated on the Capitol before going into exile in 58 BC; it had been thrown down by a storm, and the Senate now voted its restoration.

• Brutus §257 that loveliest statue of Minerva in ivory

  The colossal chryselephantine (gold-and-ivory) statue of Athena (Minerva) by Phidias in the Parthenon at Athens; Cicero uses it as the type of supreme art, preferring to be Phidias than any mere carpenter.

• On Duties §1.110 against Minerva's will

  The Roman proverb invita Minerva, literally ``with Minerva unwilling,'' meaning to act against one's natural gift or aptitude. Minerva was the goddess of skill and intelligence.

• Laelius, On Friendship §19 a thick-witted Minerva

  Pingui Minerva, a proverb meaning “with plain, homespun sense” rather than refined philosophical subtlety; Minerva being the goddess of wisdom and craft. Laelius signals that he will speak as a practical man, not a school theorist.