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A Colometric Arrangement of CiceroAuthor(s): Charles J. RobbinsSource: The Classical Journal, Vol. 75, No. 1 (Oct. - Nov., 1979), pp. 57-62Published by: The Classical Association of the Middle West and SouthStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3296837.

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A COLOMETRICARRANGEMENTOF CICEROIn theintroductiono his new translation f theProphet saiah,SaintJeromestated hat t was customarynhis daytopublishtheworks of DemosthenesandCicero colometrically, or as he puts it, per cola et commata:

sed quod in Demosthene et Tullio solet fieri,ut per cola scribantur t commata,qui utiqueprosaet non versibus scripserunt ..but as is customarilydone with Demosthenes and Cicero,to write them out in cola and commata,thoughthey certainlywrote prose and not verse .Biblia Sacra I, Prolegomena

It is thepurposeof thispaper o show how Cicero would look written olometri-cally, using primarilyas a samplethe exordiumof his ThirdOrationAgainstCatiline. It will be necessaryfirst to examine briefly the principlesthat wentinto the structureof artisticprose.ClassicalGreek and Latinprose was modeled afterepic poetry, so thatthefunctionthatwas servedby the verse in poetrywas performedby the colon inprose. Inhis work OnStyle, Demetrius ells us (1.1): As poetry s dividedbymeasures such as the hemistich, the hexameterand the like, so also is prosestyledividedby whatarecalled cola. The standard olon wasabout helengthof a dactylichexameter,thoughit could be longeror shorter.When it was thelengthof a dactylichexameter, t was, like theverse, usuallycomposedof twogroupsof wordsthatwhenproperlyphrasedcreateda caesura. Demetrius 1.3)goes on to tell us that the opening sentence of Xenophon's Anabasis iscomposedof two cola. We observethat each is aboutthe lengthof a dactylichexameter,and thateachhas a well definedcaesura,whichI have indicated nthe first colon by anasterisk; hepunctuationndicates t in the second colon.

AapEov xa HlapvoarLto*iYylto'rTaL,Tat8E Ui9o,rpEo-7rEpo0 .UEv'Ap'radpS'r, VEEjrCpo 8&Ki3po,.Of Darius and Parysatiswere borntwo children,the elder was Artaxerxes,the younger Cyrus.

Since emphasisfollows or precedesa pauseor letupin reading,thereare fourplaces for emphasis in the colon, namely the beginning and the end of eachhalf-colonor semi-colon. This can be easily seen in the sentenceabove fromXenophon.As is clear from the second colon in the sentenceabove, it wasnotnecessary57

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58 OCTOBER-NOVEMBERthat he colonbe asingle phraseorclause, but tcould consist of severalphrasesas long as together they constituted some kind of unity. In the followingsentence from Cicero's De Senectute(54), consisting of four shortcola, thethirdcolon containsboth thesubjectand the verb. The otherthreepossess theiridentity romthe fact thateachhas a unifiedrhythmicpatternandpartlybecauseeach constitutes, in a general way at least, a categoryof plantsand shrubs.Because the cola are short, we do not expect to find a distinct caesura.

Nec vero segetibus solumet pratiset vineis et arbustisres rusticae laetae suntsed hortis etiam et pomariis.But not only in wheatfieldsand meadows and vineyardsand woodlandsis farminga source of joybut also in gardensand orchards.

Somethingless than a colon was called a comma, which means literallyachip. Demetrius(1.9) says simply: A comma is commonlydefined as thatwhich is less than a colon. The comma was sometimes used to connect thetwo partsof a period, as the ut in this saying from Seneca:Ingentiprovidentiaposuit Deusin oculis visum et fletumutqui delictum committuntvidendopoenas exsolvant plorando.In his great providenceGod putvision and tears in the eyesthatthose who commit sin throughseeingmight wash away the punishment hroughweeping.

The cola wereputtogether n groupscalled periods. The word comes fromtwo Greek words, 7rTpi and 6860, and means a circularpath as used forracing. Aristotle Rhetoric 3.9.3) definesa periodthus: By aperiodI meanapassage thathas a beginningandan end in itself and a magnitude hat can beeasily grasped. The definition, says Demetrius (1.11), is good andfitting. For the very use of the word 'period' implies that there has been abeginning at one point and will be an ending at another, and that we arehasteningtowards a definitegoal as runnersdo when they leave the starting-place. Thoughaperiodcouldhave more orfewer, thestandard,andcertainlyideal, periodhad four membersor cola, each approximating he length of adactylichexameter. Cicerosays: The full, comprehensiveperiodconsists ofapproximatelyfour parts which we call members . . . The period, then,consists of four members,each approximatelyequal to a hexameterverse.



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THECLASSICALOURNAL 59(Orator 65.221-222) But Cicerowarnsthatwhat he calls thefull, comprehen-sive period s not to be usedconsistently,otherwise t will becomemonotonousand the audiencewill begin to doubtthe sincerityof the speaker. (Orator 61.207-209)The principles governingthe composition of the colon and the period areillustratednthissentencefromCicero'sThirdOrationAgainstCatiline(9.22).Thequo is acommabecauseit is simplya transitionword. We havehereafull,comprehensiveperiod, consisting of four cola, each about the length of adactylichexameterandeach with awell defined caesura.Some of theemphaticwords clusterabout he middleof the lines at thebeginningand theendsof thehalf-cola. Againthe asterisk ndicates thepositionof thecaesura. Theperiod,like all periods, must be read in one breath.

Quoetiam maiore sunt isti*odio supplicioquedigniqui non solum vestris*domiciliisatquetectissed etiam deorum*templisatque delubrissunt funestos ac nefarios*ignisinferreconati.Whereforethose men are worthyof even greaterhatredand punishmentwho not only upon your homes and dwellingsbut also upon the temples and shrinesof the godshave attempted o bringdestructiveand impious fires.

In the two middle cola we have a double contrast:vestris with deorum, anddomiciliisatquetectis with templisatquedelubris. Because of thepauseatthecaesura, setting off the semi-colon, the contrasts work out very nicely. Wehave a kindof book-endarrangementwithsunt atone endof thelastcolon andconati at the other, bindingin everythingbetween.Note shouldbe takenof themagnificentrhythmof thelines. Thewords lowwithout a hitch from beginning to end. Rhythm was one of the essentialelements of artisticprose. It is not the measuredrhythmof verse, but theharmoniouscombinationof words and sounds. Cicero (Orator 198) tells usthat, Every passagewhich does not haltor waver, butadvancessteadilyanduniformly, is consideredrhythmical. But the rhythmcannot be adequatelyrecapturedunless we know wherethe period begins andends, andespeciallywhere the colon begins and ends. That is one reason for arrangingtextscolometrically.Anotherbasic notionof the periodwas thatit hadto be shortenoughto bespoken in one breath. Speaking of the length of the period, Quintilian(In-stitutio Oratoria 9.4.125) says: According to Cicero, its length should berestricted o the equivalentof four senariior the compassof a single breath.Speakingfor himself Cicero says: It was failure or scantiness of breath hatoriginatedperiodicstructure ndpausesbetween words;butnow that thishasonce been discovered, it is so attractive hat, even if a personwereendowedwith breath hatneverfailed, we shouldnot wish him to deliveran unbrokenflow of words. (De Oratore3.46.181) And yet therearemanysentencesin



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60 OCTOBER-NOVEMBERLatin that cannot be spoken in one breath,which fact tells us that the termssentence and period are not synonymous. Many sentences break up intosubordinate nits,each acompletepartcomposedof closely connectedcolaandconfined to the compassof a single breath. The last unitalwaysconcludesthe total thoughtin a strictperiodic fashion.If we returnnow to the complete sentence of SaintJeromefrom which wequoteda partat the beginningof the paper, we can see that it illustrates henatureof subordinate eriods. It falls into two unitsorsubordinate eriods,thefirst consisting of three cola, and the second of five. The second unit, ashappensat timesalso in Cicero, is composedbasicallyof fourcola, witha fifthone between the second and third as a kind of parenthetical hought. Wherethere s aclearcaesura haveindicated t withanasterisk. It willbe seen that heemphaticwordsgenerallyare at thebeginningandend of eachhalf-colon. Thereaderwill pauseforbreathafterthefirstunit, atthe colon punctuationmark.

Nemo cum prophetas*versibus ideritesse descriptosmetroeos existimet*apudHebraeosligariet aliquidsimile habere*dePsalmis et operibusSalomonis:sed quod in Demosthene*etTullio solet fieriut per cola scribantur t commata-qui utiqueprosa*etnon versibus scripserunt-nos quoque, utilitatilegentium providentes,interpretationem ovam*novo scribendigenere distinximus.No one, when he sees the prophetswritten out in verses,should think thatthey are boundby meteramong the Hebrewsor anythingsimilar aboutthe Psalms and the works of Solomon:but as is customarilydone with Demosthenes and Ciceronamely to write them out in cola and commata-thoughof course they wrote in prose and not verse-we too, looking to the convenience of our readers,have divided ournew translation n the new mannerof writing.

We are now prepared o presentthe exordium of Cicero's ThirdOrationAgainst Catiline. The first sentencefalls into two periodsof four cola each,separatedby theemphaticcomma hodiernodie. Thesecond sentencealso fallsinto two periodsof four cola each, separatedby thetransition ommaprofecto.The readerwill pausefor breathafter the first unitin each sentence. Thethirdsentence consists of a single period of four cola. Each of the five units orperiods,so far, is whatCicerocalls a full, comprehensiveperiod,composedoffourcola, eachabout helengthof adactylichexameter.Thelastsentence allsinto two periodsseparatedby thecommaut. Heretheperiodsarecomposedofonly threecola, whichin turnaremostlyshorter handactylichexameters.Thetaperingoff in thelengthof periodsandcola, we maysurmise,wasto give bothspeakerand audiencearespite rom the demandsof thelong cola andperiodsofthe precedingpart. An Englishtranslation,made colon by colon, follows the



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THE CLASSICALOURNAL 61Latin. This is to show that the thought order is nearly the same in bothlanguages, and that this, therefore, is another reason to believe that thisparticulardivision into cola is probablythe correct one.

Rem publicam, Quirites,vitamqueomniumvestrum,bona, fortunas,coniuges, liberosquevestrosatquehoc domicilium clarissimi imperi,fortunatissimampulcherrimamque rbem:hodiernodiedeorumimmortalium ummoerga vos amore,laboribus, consiliis, periculis meis,e flammaatqueferro ac paene ex faucibus fati ereptamet vobis conservatamac restitutamvidetis.Et si non minus nobis iucundiatque illustres suntet dies quibusconservamurquam illi quibusnascimurquod salutis certa laetitiaest, nascendi incertacondicio,et quod sine sensu nascimur,cum voluptateservamur:profectoquoniamillum qui hanc urbem condiditad deos immortalesbenevolentiafamaquesustulimus,esse apudvos posterosquevestros in honore debebit isqui eandem hanc urbem conditamamplificatamque ervavit.Nam toti urbi, templis, delubris, tectis ac moenibussubiectosprope iam ignis circumdatosque estinximus,idemque gladios in rem publicamdestrictos retuddimusmucronesqueeorum a iugulis vestris deiecimus.Quae, quoniamin senatuillustrata,patefacta,compertasunt per me,vobis iam exponambreviter,Quirites:utet quantaet quammanifestaet qua rationeinvestigataet comprehensasintvos, qui et ignoratiset exspectatis, scire possitis.The State, 0 citizens, and the lives of all of you,your property,fortunes, wives and children,this home of the most illustriousgovernment,the most fortunateand most magnificent city:on this dayby the unrivaled ove of the immortalgods for you,by my labors, plans, and perils,rescuedfrom fire and sword and almost from the jaws of fateyou see preservedand restoredto you.



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62 OCTOBER-NOVEMBERAnd if to us no less pleasantand illustriousare those days on which we are saved than those on which we areborn,because thejoy of safety is certain, the condition of birthuncertainand because we are born withoutperception,but saved with pleasure:certainlythensince him who foundedthis citywe have raisedto the immortalgods with affection andpraise,among you and your posterityhe will need to be held in honorwho saved this same city founded and grown great.For we have extinguishedthe fires thatwere set and almost surroundedthe whole city, the temples, shrines, dwellings, and walls,and the swords drawnagainstthe state we have also struckdownand their sharppoints we have turnedaside from your throats.Since in the Senate these eventswere disclosed, made clear, and recountedby me,I will now briefly lay them before you, O citizens:in orderthathow great and how manifestthey areand by what means they were sought out and suppressedyou, who are uninformedand eager for news, can know.

This kindof colometricarrangement an be made, in varyingdegrees, withall the classicalprosewriters-and oughtto be made. It wouldbe doing VirgilandShakespeare graveinjustice f we were to print heir ines in a continuousfashion withoutregardto verses. It is equally an injusticeto classical prosewriters to print them straightout, using only grammaticalpunctuation,indisregardof thecarefullycomposedcola andperiods. Whata tremendoushelpit would be to students nlearningandto teachersand scholars nexplaining heclassics if we were to write them out, in Saint Jerome's words, per cola etcommata.CHARLESJ. ROBBINSSaint Joseph's College, Rensselaer, Indiana

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