M/M: A Friend Who'll Have Your Back: Orestes & Pylades, Cicero, de Fin. 2.24.79

Name:  Cicero Date:  106 – 43 BCE Region:  Rome [modern Italy] Citation:  De Finibus 2.24.79

What will you do when a friendship is no longer useful to you (as what usually happens)? Will you end it? What kind of friendship is that? Will you hold onto it? How will it benefit you? You’ll question your definition of friendship if you only base it on how it benefits you….

Will you offer yourself up to a tyrant to be killed to save a friend, like that Pythagorean* did to the Sicilian tyrant? Or, if you were Pylades, would you proclaim that you were Orestes, so that you could die for your friend? Or even if you were Orestes, would you contradict Pylades, give yourself up, and, if you could not convince the tyrant of your identity, would you pray that you both be killed together?

[*the myth of Pythias and Damon]

Sed quid ages tandem, si utilitas ab amicitia, ut fit saepe, defecerit? Relinquesne? Quae ista amicitia est? Retinebis? Qui convenit? Quid enim de amicitia statueris utilitatis causa expetenda vides. … Vadem te ad mortem tyranno dabis pro amico, ut Pythagoreus ille Siculo fecit tyranno? Aut, Pylades cum sis, dices te esse Orestem, ut moriare pro amico? Aut, si esses Orestes, Pyladem refelleres, te indicares et, si id non probares, quo minus ambo una necaremini non precarere?

 Cicero [Marcus Tullius Cicero; 106 – 43 BCE, modern Italy] was an Italian-born Roman statesman and author who lived during the complexities of Rome’s transition from Republic to monarchy. Cicero spent most of his life in service of his country, serving as both a lawyer, senator, and even consul [Roman equivalent of president]. He is known for his suppression of the failed governmental coup in 63 BCE known as the Catilinarian conspiracy that occurred during his consulship. After the rise of Octavian [later known as the first Roman emperor Augustus], his views fell out of favor and he was eventually put to death during the proscriptions under the Second Triumvirate [Octavian, Marc Antony and Lepidus]. He was a prolific author in a wide range in genres, and his literary style was adopted by Petrarch as the default model for the Latin language.

M/M: We Both Go Down Together: Orestes & Pylades, Cicero de Fin. V.22.63

"Ego sum Orestes", contraque ab altero: "Immo enimvero ego sum, inquam, Orestes!" Cum autem etiam exitus ab utroque datur conturbato errantique regi, ambo ergo se una necari cum precantur, quotiens hoc agitur, ecquandone nisi admirationibus maximis?

 --Cicero, De Fin. V.22.63, quoting a work by Pacuvius

One says, “I am Orestes!”

The other responds, “No—it is I who am Orestes!”

And when both give an opportunity for the other to escape from the confused king, both beg that they be killed together.

Every time this scene is done, it receives the highest applause.

PACUVIUS	MAP:
Name:  Marcus Pacuvius Date:  220 BCE – 130 BCE Works:  [tragedies]	REGION  1
BIO:	Timeline:
Although only fragments of his works survive, we know from later authors that Pacuvius was an early Italian tragedian whose works included episodes from the Trojan War. He is one of the earliest Roman dramatists, and was successor to Ennius, Rome’s first literary author.	EARLY ROMAN

CICERO	MAP:
Name:  Marcus Tullius Cicero Date:  106 BCE – 43 BCE Works: de Amicitia                de Divinatione*                Epistles                In Catilinam               Pro Archiam, etc.	REGION  1
BIO:	Timeline:
Cicero was an Italian-born Roman statesman and author who lived during the complexities of Rome’s transition from Republic to monarchy. Cicero spent most of his life in service of his country, serving as both a lawyer, senator, and even consul [Roman equivalent of president]. He is known for his suppression of the failed governmental coup in 63 BCE known as the Catilinarian conspiracy that occurred during his consulship. After the rise of Octavian [later known as the first Roman emperor Augustus], his views fell out of favor and he was eventually put to death during the proscriptions under the Second Triumvirate (Octavian, Marc Antony and Lepidus). He was a prolific author with a wide range in genres, and his literary style was adopted by Petrarch as the default model for the Latin language.	GOLDEN AGE ROME

A Trans Man: Caeneus, Phlegon of Tralles' De Mira. 5

Name:   Phlegon of Tralles Date:     2nd century CE Region: Tralles [modern Turkey] Citation:    On Marvels 5

They say that Caenis was the daughter of the Lapith king Elatus. When they “met” Neptune, the god promised that he would grant them whatever they wanted: and Caenis asked to be turned into a man, as well as become invincible. Neptune granted his wish, and the man’s name became Caenaeus. 

Iidem perhibent, apud Lapithas Elato regi filiam fuisse, nomine Caenidem. Cum hac Neptunum congressum, promisisse, facturum se ei quodcumque vellet: ipsam petiisse, ut ab eo in virum mutaretur, fieretque invulnerabiis; praestitisse id Neptunum, nomenque viro Caenaeus factum.

Translated into Latin by Wilhelm Xylander 

Phlegon of Tralles [2nd century CE, modern Turkey] According to the Suda [φ527], Phlegon of Tralles was a freedman of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. He wrote numerous works in Greek that are now lost, including the Olympiads and Roman festivals. His work, On Marvels, is a collection of extraordinary occurrences throughout history.