Cicero’s De Amicitia in Nepos’ Life of Atticus

Rex Stem (University of California)

This talk will argue that Cornelius Nepos shaped his biography of Titus Pomponius Atticus in order to present Atticus as the embodiment of the principles of ideal friendship set forth by Cicero in his treatise De Amicitia (On Friendship). Nepos claims that biography teaches by presenting examples of conduct (Atticus 19.1), for one learns honorable conduct by following the example of others. Specific historical examples are thus the most appropriate way for the biographer to demonstrate his view of Atticus as the ideal friend, and Nepos’ presentation of his chosen anecdotes does much to promote the understanding of Atticus that he wants his readers to comprehend. But the justification of Atticus’ conduct that Nepos offers is grounded in more than the exemplary anecdotes themselves, for Nepos describes Atticus’ actions as a friend in language that corresponds to the principles advocated in the De Amicitia. These correspondences, the elaboration of which will constitute the bulk of the talk, significantly strengthen the presentation of Atticus as the ideal friend because they invest his actions with principles that heighten his appeal and confirm the enlightened nature of his conduct. The evidence for the mutual association of all three men makes it entirely plausible that when Nepos came to write about his friend Atticus, he would have turned to Cicero’s celebration of his friendship with Atticus in the De Amicitia. Elaborating upon Cicero’s association of Atticus and the ideal friend allows Nepos to endorse the main ideas of Cicero’s treatise while filling out the picture of Atticus’ friendship implied by Cicero with specific and relevant examples of Atticus’ conduct.