Triumphus

Reading notes

• Ad Atticum 7.3 §2 a triumph by canvass, and the commonwealth in freedom

  A triumph required a senatorial vote and so political solicitation (ambitio); Cicero sets the self-interested pursuit of that honour against acting freely for the Republic in the looming crisis.

• Ad Familiares 2.12 §3 The hope of a triumph

  A triumph required the general to remain outside the city pomerium until the Senate voted it; Cicero had been acclaimed imperator after the Amanus campaign of 51 BC and held a lingering hope for the honour, though he would never receive it.

• Ad Familiares 2.16 §2 this laurel of mine

  A general awaiting a triumph carried laurel-wreathed fasces and could not enter Rome; Cicero's laurel, still unresolved as the civil war broke out, became a conspicuous advertisement of his impossible position between Caesar and Pompey.

• Ad Familiares 3.9 §2 the prospect, by no means in doubt and now plainly settled, of your triumph

  The triumph was the supreme honour for a victorious commander, a ceremonial procession through Rome voted by the Senate; Appius was angling for one on his return from Cilicia.

• Ad Familiares 3.10 §1 the most assured and most rightful triumph

  The triumph was the formal victory procession through Rome granted by the Senate to a victorious commander; Appius had hoped for one for his campaigns as governor of Cilicia, but his enemies' prosecutions cost him the honour.

• Ad Familiares 5.10a §1 the most lawful of triumphs

  The triumph was the Roman victory procession through the city, the highest honour a commander could win, voted by the Senate; Vatinius insists his Dalmatian campaign has more than earned one.

• Ad Familiares 8.5 §1 we should achieve just so much glory and triumph as is necessary

  A triumph, the formal victory-parade voted by the Senate, required a real military success; Caelius wishes Cicero a war just big enough to earn one without the genuine danger of a full Parthian invasion.

• Ad Familiares 8.6 §1 dropped his demand for a triumph

  A general claiming a triumph had to remain outside the city walls (retaining his imperium) until the senate voted it; by entering Rome Appius forfeited the claim, but removed the pretext of arrogance his prosecutor was exploiting.

• Ad Familiares 15.5 §2 you reckon a thanksgiving the foretaste of a triumph

  A supplicatio commonly preceded the award of a triumph, the victory procession through Rome; Cato's point is that the one does not entail the other, and that the Senate's praise of a commander's restraint outweighs the parade.

• Ad Familiares 15.6 §1 what chariot, what laurel could I match with your formal commendation

  The triumphing general rode a chariot (currus) and wore a laurel wreath; Cicero says Cato's written commendation outweighs even those trophies of a triumph.

• Philippica XIV §12 the Roman people carried me from my house up to the Capitol in ovation and all but in triumph

  On the day before the speech the people had escorted Cicero to the Capitol in a spontaneous celebration. He claims this informal popular tribute as the truest kind of triumph, the consensus of the whole state.