Cicero's praise of Caesar in the Pro Marcello of September 46 b.c.e.Footnote 2 has been much discussed for its sincerity or otherwise.Footnote 3 Here I would like to point out some unobserved literary colour which may make some contribution to the argument, namely Cicero's subtle evocation of Hercules in describing the achievements of the victorious Caesar. Such an analogy is not unlikely in the context of Roman military image-making: Sulla in 78 b.c.e. and Crassus and Pompey in 70 b.c.e. had earlier encouraged connections with Hercules in analogous victorious contexts,Footnote 4 and similar comparisons are later made between the foreign conquests of Augustus and those of Hercules in both Virgil (Aen. 6.801) and Horace (Carm. 3.14.1–4).Footnote 5
Early on in the speech, Cicero points to Caesar's remarkable series of wars successfully concluded worldwide, no doubt with a glance at the unparalleled quadruple triumph Caesar celebrated in Rome (App. B Civ. 2.101) around the same timeFootnote 6 over Gaul, Pontus, Africa and Egypt (Marcell. 5):
soleo saepe ante oculos ponere, idque libenter crebris usurpare sermonibus, omnis nostrorum imperatorum, omnis exterarum gentium potentissimorumque populorum, omnis clarissimorum regum res gestas, cum tuis nec contentionum magnitudine nec numero proeliorum nec uarietate regionum nec celeritate conficiendi nec dissimilitudine bellorum posse conferri; nec uero disiunctissimas terras citius passibus cuiusquam potuisse peragrari, quam tuis non dicam cursibus, sed uictoriis lustratae sunt.
For the language of worldwide travel here, we may compare the similar travels and victories of Hercules as presented in a passage of Apuleius’ Apologia (22.9):
ipse inquam Hercules lustrator orbis, purgator ferarum, gentium domitor, is tamen deus, cum terras peragraret, paulo prius quam in caelum ob uirtutes ascitus est.
Indeed, lustrator and terras peragraret may be reminiscences of Cicero, suggesting that Apuleius’ text already picks up the similarity between the two figures; Apuleius also adds the element of Hercules’ subsequent divinity, which matches the several suggestions in Cicero's speech that Caesar has earned apotheosis through his achievements (see further below). Apuleius’ gentium domitor takes us to a further passage of Cicero's speech, where Cicero treats Caesar's victories over foreign enemies (Marcell. 8):
domuisti gentis immanitate barbaras, multitudine innumerabilis, locis infinitas, omni copiarum genere abundantis: sed tamen ea uicisti, quae et naturam et condicionem ut uinci possent habebant.
Cicero's domuisti gentis may well be recalled in Apuleius’ gentium domitor; once more the parallel between Cicero's Caesar and Apuleius’ Hercules is clear. Further support for the Caesar/Hercules analogy comes from another passage of Apuleius about Hercules, which refers to his subjugation of monsters (Flor. 22.3):
quod Herculem olim poetae memorant monstra illa immania hominum ac ferarum uirtute subegisse orbemque terrae purgasse.
The idea of subduing monstrous humans is a clear parallel (domuisti gentis immanitate barbaras ~ immania hominum subegisse).
Perhaps most telling is another passage of Cicero himself, his adaptation of Hercules’ speech of agony in Sophocles’ Trachiniae (Cic. Tusc. 2.20.17–24 ~ Soph. Trach. 1058–63), in a work written by Cicero soon after the Pro Marcello:
Here we find verbal and thematic parallels with both the Pro Marcello passages cited so far (barbara … immanitas ~ 8 immanitate barbaras, terris … ultimis ~ 5 disiunctissimas terras, peragrans ~ 5 peragrari), good evidence for a general Ciceronian link between Caesar and Hercules.
Another relevant passage in the Pro Marcello is towards the end, where Cicero lists the locations of some of Caesar's victories (28):
nec uero haec tua uita ducenda est, quae corpore et spiritu continetur. illa, inquam, illa uita est tua, quae uigebit memoria saeculorum omnium, quam posteritas alet, quam ipsa aeternitas semper tuebitur. huic tu inseruias, huic te ostentes oportet, quae quidem quae miretur iam pridem multa habet: nunc etiam quae laudet exspectat. obstupescent posteri certe imperia, prouincias, Rhenum, Oceanum, Nilum, pugnas innumerabilis, incredibilis uictorias, monimenta, munera, triumphos audientes et legentes tuos.
Two of the three victory locations mentioned here are clearly associated with Hercules. Oceanum points to the famous limit to the Atlantic set by Hercules at the Pillars of Hercules (for example, cf. Diod. Sic. 4.18.4–5), and the Nile suggests his slaying of the villainous Egyptian king Busiris (for example, cf. Diod. Sic. 4.18.1, Hyg. Fab. 31). Cicero himself mentions the extension of Hercules’ fame to the Atlantic in a passage discussing how humans become gods (Tusc. 1.28):
et apud Graecos indeque perlapsus ad nos et usque ad Oceanum Hercules tantus et tam praesens habetur deus.
The Rhine as the border of Gaul and Germany (cf. Caes. BGall. 1.1.3), repeatedly policed and occasionally crossed by Caesar from Gaul, is less obviously Herculean, but even here links can be made. In the Germania Tacitus reports that the Germans claim that Hercules had visited them (3.1):
fuisse apud eos et Herculem memorant, primumque omnium uirorum fortium ituri in proelia canunt.
It is not impossible that this was already known in Cicero's time, though the very limited contact between Rome and the region beyond the Rhine at this point suggests caution. Gaul itself can also be linked with Hercules, since it was claimed that Alesia, the scene of his great victory of 52 b.c.e., was founded by Hercules, and even that Hercules was the ancestor of the Gauls (Diod. Sic. 4.19.2, 5.24.2–3).
Another passage of Caesar's younger contemporary Diodorus Siculus brings out some key reasons for the Caesar/Hercules comparison in Cicero. In the introduction to his lengthy and detailed narrative of Hercules’ career and labours (4.8–4.36), in which he stresses the worldwide nature of the god's travels, Diodorus makes the link between Hercules’ unique achievements and his apotheosis (4.8.1):
I am not unaware that many difficulties beset those who undertake to give an account of the ancient myths, and especially is this true with respect to the myths about Heracles. For as regards that magnitude of the deeds which he accomplished it is generally agreed that Heracles has been handed down as one who surpassed all men of whom memory from the beginning of time has brought down an account; consequently, it is a difficult attainment to report each one of his deeds in a worthy manner and to present a record which shall be on a level with labours so great, the magnitude of which won for him the prize of immortality.Footnote 7
Both points, that Hercules’ achievements are so great that it is difficult to deal worthily with them, and that he deserves his immortality on account of them, are found in Cicero's speech in describing the deeds of Caesar. For the first, see, for example, 4 nullius tantum flumen est ingeni, nullius dicendi aut scribendi tanta uis, tanta copia, quae non dicam exornare, sed enarrare, C. Caesar, res tuas gestas possit, and 6 quae quidem ego nisi ita magna esse fatear, ut ea uix cuiusquam mens aut cogitatio capere possit, amens sim; for the second, see, for example, 1 tam denique incredibilem sapientiam ac paene diuinam, 8 haec qui fecit, non ego eum cum summis uiris comparo, sed simillimum deo iudico, and 26 tua diuina uirtus. Like Hercules, Caesar deserves raising to the gods for his extraordinary benefits conferred on mankind, joining the list of those held to have been promoted to divinity in Roman culture for this reason, recorded at Nat. D. 2.62:
suscepit autem uita hominum consuetudoque communis ut beneficiis excellentis uiros in caelum fama ac uoluntate tollerent. hinc Hercules hinc Castor et Pollux hinc Aesculapius hinc Liber etiam …
Much the same point is made at Tusc. 1.32, as has been recently noted by Spencer Cole, who in an important discussion has shown that Hercules (along with Romulus) is a prime example for Cicero and others of a hero who achieves divinity in heaven through his deeds on earth:Footnote 8
quae est melior igitur in hominum genere natura quam eorum, qui se natos ad homines iuuandos tutandos conseruandos arbitrantur? abiit ad deos Hercules: numquam abisset, nisi, cum inter homines esset, eam sibi uiam muniuisset. uetera iam ista et religione omnium consecrata.
Alongside praise of Caesar's Herculean worldwide victories over monstrous opposition, Cicero presents the most remarkable virtue of Caesar as being his self-restraint and curbing of anger in his leniency to his old enemy Marcellus; sheer force can be overcome, but true divine virtue is to show restraint in one's passions (Marcell. 8, following immediately on the passage cited above):
nulla est enim tanta uis, quae non ferro et uiribus debilitari frangique possit. animum uincere, iracundiam cohibere, uictoriam temperare, aduersarium nobilitate, ingenio, uirtute praestantem non modo extollere iacentem, sed etiam amplificare eius pristinam dignitatem, haec qui fecit, non ego eum cum summis uiris comparo, sed simillimum deo iudico.
Likewise, military victory can be attributed to fortune, but the moral victory of clemency is wholly Caesar's own glory and a mark of his sapientia (Marcell. 19):
qua re gaude tuo isto tam excellenti bono, et fruere cum fortuna et gloria, tum etiam natura et moribus tuis: ex quo quidem maximus est fructus iucunditasque sapienti. cetera cum tua recordabere, etsi persaepe uirtuti, tamen plerumque felicitati tuae gratulabere: de nobis, quos in re publica tecum simul esse uoluisti, quotiens cogitabis, totiens de maximis tuis beneficiis, totiens de incredibili liberalitate, totiens de singulari sapientia tua cogitabis: quae non modo summa bona, sed nimirum audebo uel sola dicere. tantus est enim splendor in laude uera, tanta in magnitudine animi et consili dignitas, ut haec a uirtute donata, cetera a fortuna commodata esse uideantur.
The similar idea that the true god-like victory is the capacity to subdue the inner monsters of one's own emotions is linked with Hercules at Lucretius 5.43–54, where Epicurus’ achievements in taming mortal passions and bringing ataraxia represent a greater title to divinity than the monster-slaying exploits of Hercules:
This passage of Lucretius no doubt reacts against Stoic claims that Hercules offered moral victories over passions and fears:Footnote 9 Seneca states that both Odysseus and Hercules were seen by the Stoics as inuictos laboribus et contemptores uoluptatis et uictores omnium terrorum (Constant. 2.1) and that Hercules’ worldwide deeds were morally motivated by contrast with those of the selfish Alexander (Ben. 1.13.3): Hercules nihil sibi uicit; orbem terrarum transiuit non concupiscendo, sed iudicando, quid uinceret, malorum hostis, bonorum uindex, terrarum marisque pacator. Similar ideas are found in the Greek writer Heraclitus’ second-century c.e. allegorical interpretations of Hercules’ labours as subjugations of various kinds of undesirable passions (Quaestiones Homericae 33.3–8).Footnote 10
The deployment argued for here of the analogy between Hercules and Caesar in the Pro Marcello is not merely a recognition of the dictator's extraordinary deeds and his consequent claim to divinity, nor is it simply a traditional Roman appropriation of Hercules as a suitable god of military achievement in a celebratory or triumphal context. Cicero's speech, I would argue, presents Caesar's most impressive similarity to Hercules as his capacity to control the destructive passions of anger and revenge in the context of his victorious return from civil war. In the second half of 46 b.c.e. after his return from Spain in June, Caesar could easily have carried out post-civil-war proscriptions as Sulla had done in 82 and Antony and the young Caesar would do in 43, with Cicero himself as one of the victims; Cicero's elaborate praise of the now all-powerful dictator is, I suggest, a sincere recognition of Caesar's enlightened policy of clemency not only towards half-hearted Pompeians, such as Cicero himself, but also towards previous major enemies, such as Marcellus. Like the Hercules of myth, Caesar can now be said to have traversed the world and subjugated all kinds of violent and monstrous opposition; but, in line with the moralized Hercules of philosophical discourse, his greater triumph and fame consist in the wise control and conquest of his own passions.
