A reading of cicero’s de haruspicum responso some reflections on roman identity

Abstract

In 56 BCE, a series of prodigies takes place in the vicinity of Rome. Frightened by this event, the Senate consults the haruspices with the purpose of establishing its meaning. The diviners deliver a response (responsum) in which they single out the human actions that caused the anger of the gods and give four warnings about the near future. Publius Clodius takes advantage of this occasion and, during a public gathering (a contio), he states that the divine message refers to Cicero who, recently returned from exile, had polluted a sacred place by rebuilding his house on the site where a temple to Libertas formerly stood. The speech De haruspicum responso is Cicero?s answer to the views put forward by Clodius. The orator first discredits the account of his opponent, then presents his own reading of the response, in which Clodius is blamed for the wrath of the gods and the author of the discord among the optimates that the haruspices have announced. In essence, Cicero´s argument is an invective against Clodius, such that the description of his vices and faults helps to present him as the reason why Rome is threatened with such great dangers. The aim of this paper is to examine how Cicero, while attacking his opponent, configures a Roman identity framed mainly around religious aspects. With this purpose in mind, we will first analyse the responsum given by the haruspices, as well as the competing interpretations put forward by Clodius and Cicero. Secondly, the notion of ciues deteriores, which the Etruscan priests mention in their response, will be considered, since Cicero underlines the strong religious component of this concept and uses it to exclude Clodius from the number of ´good citizens´ (boni ciues). Finally, the opposition between optimates and deteriores will be explored by taking into account the claims about religio and its connection with Roman identity, as made in §19 of the speech.