Professional Documents
Culture Documents
PDF Open Source Agriculture Grassroots Technology in The Digital Era Chris Giotitsas Ebook Full Chapter
PDF Open Source Agriculture Grassroots Technology in The Digital Era Chris Giotitsas Ebook Full Chapter
https://textbookfull.com/product/incorporating-the-digital-
commons-corporate-involvement-in-free-and-open-source-software-
benjamin-j-birkinbine/
https://textbookfull.com/product/how-open-source-ate-software-
understand-the-open-source-movement-and-so-much-more-gordon-haff/
https://textbookfull.com/product/how-open-source-ate-software-
understand-the-open-source-movement-and-so-much-more-gordon-
haff-2/
https://textbookfull.com/product/penetration-testers-open-source-
toolkit-faircloth/
Sustainable Agriculture in the Era of Climate Change
Rajib Roychowdhury
https://textbookfull.com/product/sustainable-agriculture-in-the-
era-of-climate-change-rajib-roychowdhury/
https://textbookfull.com/product/open-source-law-policy-and-
practice-2nd-edition-brock/
https://textbookfull.com/product/practical-glimpse-learn-to-edit-
and-create-digital-photos-and-art-with-this-powerful-open-source-
image-editor-phillip-whitt/
https://textbookfull.com/product/forge-your-future-with-open-
source-build-your-skills-build-your-network-build-the-future-of-
technology-1st-edition-vm-vicky-brasseur/
https://textbookfull.com/product/politics-and-technology-in-the-
post-truth-era-anna-visvizi/
Open Source
Agriculture
Grassroots Technology
in the Digital Era
Chris Giotitsas
Palgrave Advances in Bioeconomy: Economics and
Policies
Series Editor
Justus Wesseler
Agricultural Economics and Rural Policy Group
Wageningen University
Wageningen, Gelderland, The Netherlands
More information about this series at
http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/16141
Chris Giotitsas
Open Source
Agriculture
Grassroots Technology in the Digital Era
Chris Giotitsas
Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation
and Governance
Tallinn University of Technology
Tallinn, Estonia
P2P Lab
Ioannina, Greece
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2019
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of
translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,
electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now
known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information
in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the
publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to
the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The
publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and
institutional affiliations.
This Palgrave Pivot imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
Switzerland AG.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank all the participants of this research who graciously allowed
me to join them in their fascinating activities and took time off their busy
schedules to offer valuable insight and genuine hospitality. It is my great-
est concern to provide an accurate account of their experience and values.
More specifically, I wish to thank Julien Reynier and Dorn Cox for their
thoughtful guidance before and during my field work in France and the
US respectively.
I also wish to thank my P2P Lab family, and especially Vasilis Kostakis,
for their love, support and inspiring work all these years.
I acknowledge funding from the School of Business (University of
Leicester) as part of the PhD programme and financial support from the
European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon
2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 802512).
v
Contents
1 Introduction 1
5 Technology Matters 69
Appendix141
Index143
vii
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
I have spent most of my life (so far) in and around a farm in one of the
most remote and poor areas of Greece. Being surrounded by farmers and
people working in the primary and basic construction sector, I had not
appreciated the ingenuity and collaborative effort these people put in
their day to day activities to achieve sustainability. It was not until I spent
several years away from my family home that it dawned on me how
uncritically immersed urbanised societies were in the technology they
are handed.
I had always been enamoured with information and communication
technologies. I was experimenting with free and open source software and
tinkering with hardware to get my work done affordably and to have
some control over the digital technologies I have been using. But I came
to understand that open source is something beyond an efficient approach
to hi-tech. It is a social movement.
Openness, sharing resources and other terms like these are used today
to add a “sexiness” factor to products or institutions that do not deserve
the name. This has led to the term “openwashing” (borrowed from “gre-
enwashing”) to call out this trend. Similarly, participatory or user-driven
design, co-creation or co-construction and other concepts have been pro-
posed to include the public or at least some diversity of stakeholders in the
technology development. However, such initiatives, mostly externally
driven, are often organised top-down and do not essentially involve citi-
zens. Hence, the dichotomy is maintained between expert and layman
ignoring the social complexities of stakeholder engagement.
This book explores those initiatives that have been self-mobilised from
within farmer communities, in a bottom-up fashion, and are engaging in
technology development for the community itself. The practical lessons
learned from this research project are being applied in our efforts to pro-
vide the local community, where I grew up, with the tools to formulate an
effective organisation similar to the ones I discuss here.
This book explores technology designed and produced by farmers to
accommodate their particular needs. I trace the emergence of a new social
movement that facilitates and promotes this type of technology. I thus
discuss two case studies of social movement organisations and their tech-
nological communities: the Farm Hack network in the USΑ and the
L’Atelier Paysan initiative in France. The focus is on how they frame their
activities and how this translates in the alternative technology develop-
ment model. I use the following conceptual tools: framing analysis and
resource mobilisation theory from the social movement research field, and
the constructivist approach and critical theory of technology from the
technology research field.
This book illustrates how individuals refuse to embrace a technological
system of mainstream agriculture that does not reflect their values and
interests, and instead rely on alternative framings of technological culture
to give meaning to their vision of how agriculture should be. By doing so,
I address a novel collaborative mode of technology production, substan-
tially different from the dominant market-driven one.
I employ the concept of the social movement to describe this collective
activity, albeit in an early stage. This enables the tracing of the various
ideological frames that contribute to the creation of a common set of
1 INTRODUCTION 3
rinciples and goals for those engaging in this activity as well as their
p
efforts to gain support. That is why framing analysis has been selected as a
key theoretical approach, combined with an investigation of the incentivis-
ing and resource management processes within the movement
organisations.
I also examine the details of the production process in the broader
sociotechnical environment. I argue that this emerging mode of produc-
tion signals a break from the capitalist mode of technology production and
formulates a more democratised alternative.
for these pieces of technology are made available for anyone to adopt and
adapt to their needs.
This activity, which I call open source agriculture, is discussed in the
context of an emerging social movement, and it is the primary focus of
this book. This treatment allows me to make sense of the breadth of fac-
tors that affect the development process as well as their output. Because
if we are to call the aggregation of initiatives producing open source
technology for agriculture an emerging social movement, then we may
contextualise it within social movements that came before it. That is to
locate commonalities and trace linkages as well as the values and ethics
they embody in a structured way. It also allows the investigation of ini-
tiatives as social movement organisations, which seek to secure and dis-
tribute resources necessary for their operational activity, as well as
provide adherents with incentives that correspond to their specific inter-
ests and values to elicit participation. I explore the creative capacity of
the movement that goes beyond opposition and the organisational par-
ticularities that facilitate it, focusing on the technology development
processes.
Chapter 6 addresses the two cases, this time under the technology the-
ory lens. Firstly, I explore the various aspects of activity, such as their
organisational and economic models formulated to support technological
development. Secondly, I apply social construction and critical perspec-
tives to study the technological development process in the micro and
macro level, respectively.
Chapter 7 provides a vision for an alternative technological rationale
emanating from this and other technological social movements. I argue
why and how this emerging mode of production should and could
expand globally.
Bibliography
Albritton, B. (1993) “Did Agrarian Capitalism Exist?”, The Journal of Peasant
Studies, 20(3), pp. 419–441
Aoki, K. (2009) “‘Free Seeds, Not Free Beer’: Participatory Plant Breeding, Open
Source Seeds, and Acknowledging User Innovation in Agriculture”, Fordham
Law Review, 77, pp. 2276–2310
Arrow, K. (1962) “Economic Welfare and the Allocation of Resources for
Invention”, in Arrow, K. (ed) The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity:
Economic and Social Factors, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,
pp. 609–625
Biao, X., Xiaorong, W., Zhuhong, D. and Yaping, Y. (2003) “Critical Impact
Assessment of Organic Agriculture”, Journal of Agricultural and Environmental
Ethics, 16(3), pp. 297–311
Brenner, R. (1976) “Agrarian Class Structure and Economic Development in Pre-
Industrial Europe”, Past & Present, 70, pp. 30–75
Brown, L. (2004) Outgrowing the Earth, the Food Security Challenge in an Age of
Falling Water Tables and Rising Temperatures, New York: W.W. Norton
Cochrane, W.W. (1993) The Development of American Agriculture: A Historical
Analysis, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press
Davis, J.H. and Goldberg, R.A. (1957) A Concept of Agribusiness, Boston: Division
of Research, Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University
ECT Group. (2013) “Putting the Cartel before the Horse…Who Will Control
Agricultural Inputs?”, Available at: http://www.etcgroup.org/sites/www.etc-
group.org/files/Communique%CC%81%20111%204%20sep%203%20pm.
pdf, accessed 18 March 2016
Federici, S. (2004) Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive
Accumulation, Brooklyn, NY: Autonomedia
Feenberg, A. (2002) Transforming Technology: A Critical Theory Revisited,
New York: Oxford University Press
10 C. GIOTITSAS
Abstract This brief chapter expands on the methodology devised for this
research project, its specificities and limitations. It also discusses how
diverse sets of data were collected, examined and presented. It then sets
the blueprint for how the rest of the book is structured according to the
two theoretical lenses adopted. Namely, social movement theory and tech-
nology studies approaches which are used to synthesise a way to explore
different sets of value in alternative technological trajectories.
took during data gathering (which include not only people but also
things). Given the fact that many of the interviewees are farmers and not
easy to reach as well as the potential and obvious ideological clash means
that the visual material had to be removed and some of the respondents
anonymised. The irony, of course, is not lost on me but let that be a fur-
ther comment on how the current socio-economic system treats access to
information.
Field observations took place in various sites, including workshops,
events and organisation bases of the cases. During those I managed to wit-
ness the groups’ interactions and activities as well as interact with them. I
travelled in France in various occasions during the spring and summer of
2016. There, I participated in two machine prototyping workshops,
attended a three-day gathering/festival and spent some time in the opera-
tional base of the organisation. The USA case field work took place over a
two-week period in various locations in the states of New York, Vermont,
New Hampshire and Massachusetts in December 2016. In this trip, I vis-
ited farms, attended a prototyping workshop and a farmer tool summit
sponsored by the organisation under examination.
In both cases, I had the opportunity to converse with numerous farm-
ers and other individuals involved in the movement as well as observe (and
sometimes assist with) the work and general interaction around tool devel-
opment. On some occasions, I had the privilege to be invited into their
homes and share food and stories. Even so, a large part of the activity in
this type of initiatives is distributed with their community members widely
dispersed in their respective regions (as well as internationally) with much
taking place online.
Last, I gathered data from the online platforms, fora, discussion sec-
tions and documentation (audio-visual material, reports, articles, blog
posts) available as well as email communications with individuals from
each case. Given the fact that openness is a principle permeating such ini-
tiatives, there are rich and diverse sources available for the mining of
research data. Like the interviews, key documents and discussions have
been selected that provide the most insight in each case. In other words,
those that provided details on the intricacies of the technology develop-
ment model as well as insight on what motivates participants.
2 HOW I RESEARCHED THIS 15
Bibliography
Bauwens, M. (2005) “The Political Economy of Peer Production”, CTHEORY,
Available at: http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=499, accessed 7
September 2008
Brown, M. (2009) Science in Democracy: Expertise, Institutions and Representation,
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
Kloppenburg, J., Lezberg, S., De Master, S., Stevenson, G. and Hendirckson, J.
(2000) “Tasting Food, Tasting Sustainability: Defining the Attributes of an
Alternative Food System with Competent Ordinary People”, Human
Organisation, 59(2), pp. 177–186
Levidow L. (2007) “European Public Participation as Risk Governance: Enhancing
Democratic Accountability for Agbiotech Policy?”, East Asian Science,
Technology and Society: An International Journal, 1(1), pp. 19–51
Palys, T. and Atchison, C. (2008) Research Decisions: Quantitative and Qualitative
Perspectives, Toronto: Thomson Nelson
Thorpe, C. (2008) “Political Theory in Science and Technology Studies”, in
Hackett, EJ, Amsterdamska, O, Lynch, M, Wajcman, J (eds) The Handbook of
Science and Technology Studies, 3rd edition, Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press, pp. 63–82
Yin, R.K. (2003) Case Study Research: Design and Methods, 3rd edition, Thousand
Oaks: Sage
CHAPTER 3
Abstract This chapter expands on the social movement theories that are
utilised in this book. Specifically, resource mobilisation theory and fram-
ing analysis. These are presented and adapted in the context of the book
to examine the material and immaterial considerations of the open source
movement respectively. Meaning the impact resource availability and man-
agement have in the organisation and activity of social movement actors as
well as the various cognitive processes that take place to justify and endorse
action.
3.1.1 Framing Analysis
A frame is a methodological concept that describes the amalgam of ideas
and perspectives that motivate individuals and groups (Goffman 1974).
More specifically, the concept of collective action frames is used to describe
“action-oriented sets of beliefs and meanings that inspire and legitimate
the activities and campaigns of a social movement organization” (Benford
and Snow 2000, p.614). These collective action frames are deployed “to
mobilize potential adherents and constituents, to garner bystander sup-
port, and to demobilize antagonists” towards the achievement of the
movements’ goals (Snow and Benford 1988, p.198).
Some collective action frames may be so successful with applying these
processes and acquire such a broad scope that they achieve a status of mas-
ter frames. The master frames influence the activity and orientation of
other movements. While regular collective action frames are specific and
limited to the issue they attempt to address, master frames are wider and
flexible allowing for various movements to use them. I consider master
frames as symbolic tools with cultural significance in certain time periods,
which allow various movements to adapt them in order to elicit support
(Swart 1995). I explore how the open source agriculture movement is
engaging in master frame alignment processes to reconfigure three master
frames, namely the organic, open source and peasant ones to formulate its
collective action frame.
Framing analysis systematically traces the various ideals, beliefs and ide-
ologies that contribute into the emergence of open source technology as
a social movement and subsequently a development model for alternative
technology. It enables the exploration of the link between ideologies and
action, which in this case goes beyond opposition to create artefacts
imbued with these ideologies.
Frame alignment processes within each SMO are traced to identify the
open source agriculture collective action frame. As a social construction,
this frame is malleable and ever evolving, formulated in a transnational
level by different types of actors engaging in productive activity rather
than merely promoting a certain agenda. Framing analysis, then, helps
understand how technology is produced in the context of the economic
activity outside the dominant mode of technology production.
However, given that this mode of technology production partially relies
on market and state relations, I assume that interests and values of these
spheres also influence the technological outcome of the movement under
3 SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AS TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPERS 21
3.1.2 Resource Mobilisation
Resource mobilisation (henceforth RM) emerged as a response to previ-
ous scholarship claiming that social movement activity is irrational and
practiced by fringe members of society. Instead, RM maintains that social
movements need resources to exist and act rationally to obtain them. The
social movement here is viewed as a mobilised demand (or preference) for
change in society (McCarthy and Zald 2001). The SMOs are important
elements of representation for this demand, as they mobilise the necessary
resources for the demand to be met.
There are three basic assumptions for RM: first, instead of being sup-
ported by aggrieved populations who provide resources, movements draw
upon a wider base of supporters both individuals and groups; second,
movements can use several tactics to achieve their goals; and third, move-
ments interact with and are influenced by political and institutional struc-
tures, primarily through SMOs.
A SMO is defined as a formal organisation that aligns its interests with
those of a social movement (ibid.). Several SMOs might be affiliated with
one movement, grouped in a “social movement industry”, and it is pos-
sible for them to be competing for the resources available for the achieve-
ment of the movement’s goals (McCarthy and Zald 2003). These resources
may include materials, money, labour, land, facilities, technical expertise or
even legitimacy (Tilly 1978; McCarthy and Zald 1977).
For resources to be attained, the SMO focuses its actions towards the
individuals and groups in society that may assist in the achievement of the
movement’s goals. These may be categorised in various ways. For the pur-
pose of this book, I outline McCarthy and Zald’s (1977) categorisation:
generally speaking, there may be opponents to the movement’s goals and
mere bystanders; more importantly, those that share the movement’s con-
victions are called adherents, while those that actively contribute resources
to the achievement of the movement’s goals are its constituents. A further
distinction for each of these categories is whether they may benefit from
22 C. GIOTITSAS
the achievement of the groups goals or not as, presumably, even an oppo-
nent could potentially be a beneficiary. Having said that, an adherent or
even a constituent is not necessarily a beneficiary as they might contribute
out of simple agreement to the movement’s cause.
In broad terms, the SMO attempts to turn bystanders into adherents
(beneficiary or otherwise) and adherents into constituents, but the goal of
each movement is what defines the specific course of action. A SMO may
provide selective incentives that will ensure continuous involvement from
constituents. These incentives may be monetary or material. Thus, RM
examines social movements and SMOs to identify what groups and indi-
viduals are engaged and how resources are mobilised to achieve the move-
ment’s goals.
The focus of RM on SMOs and selective incentives, combined with the
insights from motivation framing in the master frame analysis, allows for
the examination of the organisational structures featured in both cases as
well as the material motivation behind the involvement of individuals in
the movement. RM enables their examination as rational actors pursuing
goals that could be perceived as attempting to escape the prevailing socio-
economic context of market relations in conventional agriculture, while
struggling to secure the necessary resources to remain sustainable within
it or at its periphery.
L’Atelier Paysan and Farm Hack are only two of the SMOs involved in
the open source agriculture movement. They have been selected due to
their extraordinary organisational structures and the large communities
supporting them. The next chapter applies the theoretical approaches pre-
sented here in the two cases. First, L’Atelier Paysan and Farm Hack, as
SMOs, are examined separately to pinpoint their unique characteristics as
they are formulated within their respective environments even though
they are geared towards similar goals.
Then, I review the three master frames identified as contributing in the
open source agriculture collective action frame. Master frames here are
considered historical thematic umbrellas to aggregate the immaterial
underpinnings (values, ideals, interests, goals, etc.) of the movement.
These have been identified via preliminary research in either case which
included tentative interviews and a review of documents and online mate-
rial. They were then synthesised through a mixture of extensive literature
review on the topic of framings in the identified social movements as well
as key documents of their prominent transnational SMOs. The frames are
broad enough to encompass all relevant elements identified in the subcases.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
117. Ad Att. vii. 3.
118. Horace, Sat. II. 3, 239.
119. Ad Att. xi. 25.
120. Ad fam. iv. 5.
121. Ad Att. iv. 6.
122. Ad Att. x. 8.
123. Plin. Hist. nat. xiv. 22.
124. Ad fam. xvi. 21.
125. Brut. ad Cic. ii. 3.
126. De offic. ii. 7.
127. Ad Att. i. 12.
128. Ad fam. xiii. 77.
129. Ad fam. xvi. 22.
130. A. Gell. vii. 3.
131. Ad fam. xvi. 10.
132. Ibid. xvi. 21.
133. Ad fam. xvi. 18.
134. Ad fam. xvi. 3, 4.
135. A. Gell. xiii. 20.
136. Plin. Epist. viii. 16.
137. Virgil, however, always faithful to ancient traditions, places, in Tartarus,
the patron who had deceived his client beside the son who had struck his father.
138. De petit. cons. 9.
139. Ad fam. xiii. 19.
140. Ad Quint. i. 1.
141. Ad fam. xiii. 22.
142. Ibid. vii. 31.
143. Ad Att. vi. 1.
144. I have endeavoured to prove this with more detail in a memoir published
by the Revue archéologique, entitled, Atticus, éditeur de Cicéron.
145. Ad Att. iv. 4, 8.
146. Ad Att. i. 13.
147. Ibid. i. 19.
148. De Leg. i. 7. He is still faithful to this part of an amateur in philosophy,
when he says further on (i. 21), that Antiochus had made him take a few steps in
the Academy, deduxit in Academiam perpauculis passibus. He never penetrated
further.
149. T. Pomp. Att. 13. All the preceding details are taken from the life of
Atticus by Cornelius Nepos.
150. Ad Att. vi. 1.
151. Ad Att. iv. 9.
152. Ibid. vi. 1.
153. Ad Att. vii. 8: soles conglutinare amicitias.
154. It is the saying of Tacitus: pessimum veri affectus venenum sua cuique
utilitas.
155. Ad Att. xiii. 33.
156. It must be remarked, however, that the last letter that we have from
Cicero to Atticus (xvi. 16) contains a proof of the very active steps that Cicero took
to save a part of the fortune of Atticus which was endangered after the death of
Caesar.
157. Ad Att. iv. 8.
158. Ad Att. ii. 1.
159. Ad Att. i. 14.
160. Ibid. xvi. 3.
161. Ibid. xii. 3.
162. Ad Att. xii. 51.
163. Ibid. i. 18.
164. Ibid. xii. 14.
165. Cui potest esse vita vitalis, ut ait Ennius, qui non in amici mutua
benevolentia conquiescat? (Cicero, De Amicit. 6.)
166. T. Liv. xxi. 63: Quaestus omnibus patribus indecorus visus
167. Scipio says so in the Republic (i. 22): Quum mihi sit unum opus hoc a
parentibus majoribusque meis relictum, atque administrate rei publicae, etc.
168. Corn. Nep. Attic. 7: Usus es aetatis vacatione.
169. Nep. Attic. 6.
170. Ad Att. xiv. 10.
171. Ibid. viii. 2.
172. Ibid. x. 15.
173. Ad Att. x. 16.
174. Ad Att. i. 17. See also de Offic. i. 21, and especially i. 26. This last passage
evidently contains an allusion to Atticus.
175. Epist. Brut. i. 17.
176. De Rep. i. 2.
177. Epist. Brut. i. 17.
178. Attic. 10.
179. De Orat. 34.
180. In the time of the Gracchi, the Censor Metellus thus expressed himself in
a speech in which he vigorously attacked bachelors: “Citizens, if we could live
without wives we should all dispense with that encumbrance (omnes ea molestia
careremus); but, as nature has willed it to be as impossible to do without them as it
is disagreeable to live with them, let us sacrifice the charms of so short a life to the
interests of the republic, which must always endure.” This way of encouraging men
to marry seemed apparently very efficacious, since, at the time when men married
less than ever, Augustus thought he ought to have the speech of old Metellus read
to the people.
181. Liv. xxxiv. 3.
182. Pro Muraen. 12.
183. Schol. Bob. p. Sext. ed. Or. p. 304.
184. Schwab. Quaest. Catull. p. 77.
185. All these details, and those that follow, are taken from the Pro Caelio of
Cicero.
186. Macr. Sat. ii. 10.
187. Ovid, Trist. ii. 427.
188. Apul. de Mag. 10. A learned German, M. Schwab, in a book that he has
just published on Catullus (Quaest. Catull. 1862), seems to me to have put the
truth of this assertion of Apuleius beyond doubt.
189. Catull. Carm. 26.
190. Catull. Carm. 86.
191. Cat. Carm. 5.
192. Cat. Carm. 12.
193. Cat. Carm. 70.
194. Ibid. 85.
195. Probably with some woman that Caelius loved. Cicero, in replying to this
letter, tells him that the rumour of his exploits has reached Mount Taurus. Many
suppose he means amorous exploits.
196. Ad fam. viii. 7.
197. Quint. Inst. or, iv. 2.
198. De Ira. iii. 8.
199. Ad fam. ii. 8.
200. Ad fam. viii. 6.
201. Ibid. viii. 4.
202. Ibid. viii. 5. The sense of this phrase is altered in Orelli.
203. Ibid. viii. 14.
204. Ad fam. viii. 13.
205. Ibid. viii. 14.
206. Ad fam. ii. 8.
207. See the excellent memoir of M. Th. Mommsen, entitled Die Rechtsfrage
zwischen Caesar und dem Senat. Breslau, 1857.
208. Ad fam. viii. 14.
209. We see at the end of the eighth book De Bello Gallico, that Caesar had
eight legions in Gaul, one in Cisalpine Gaul, and two that he gave to Pompey. At
the first threat of war he ordered those that were in Gaul to approach the frontier.
After the capture of Corfinium he had three of his old legions with him.
210. Ad Att. vii. 4.
211. Ad Att. vii. 8.
212. Ibid. viii. 12.
213. Ad fam. viii. 15.
214. Ad Att. viii. 11.
215. Ibid. ix. 6.
216. Ad Att. ix. 12.
217. Ad Att. ix. 10.
218. Ad fam. ii. 16.
219. Ibid. vi. 6.
220. Ad fam. viii. 17.
221. De amic. 15.
222. It would be wrong to pass over the name of Matius in silence. A very fine
letter of his on the death of Caesar remains (Ad fam. xi. 28). He was a true friend
of Caesar; but it is to be remarked that he was not one of those whom he made
praetors and consuls, and whose debts he had often paid. Matius never filled any
important political office, and his name would not have come down to us if it had
not been for Cicero’s correspondence.
223. De bell. civ. iii. 53.
224. Ibid. iii. 91.
225. De amic. 15.
226. Ad Att. ix. 19.
227. Ibid. ix. 18.
228. Suet. Caes. 54.
229. Ad Att. x. 4.
230. Ad fam. viii. 15.
231. Pro Flacco, 38.
232. Ad fam. viii. 17.
233. A very curious detail preserved by Quintilian, shows us that Caelius
retained his levity of character and bantering humour in the midst of these grave
affairs in which he staked his life. After his curule chair had been broken he had
another made entirely of leather thongs, and took it to the consul. All the
spectators burst out laughing. The story ran that Servilius had had a strapping in
his youth.
234. Inst. orat. x. 1.
235. Pro Marcello, 9.
236. In Pis. 22.
237. Pro Dom. 28.
238. Ad Quint. ii. 1.
239. Ibid. ii. 3.
240. Pro Sext. 35.
241. Ad pop. pro red. 7.
242. Ad Att. iv. 3. Ego diaeta curari incipio, chirurgiae taedet.
243. Ad Att. iv. 2.
244. Ad Att. iv. 5.
245. Ad Att. iv. 5.
246. Ibid. iv. 6.
247. Ad fam. i. 9.
248. Ad fam. i. 9.
249. In Pis. 32.
250. Ad Quint. ii. 12.
251. Ibid. ii. 15.
252. This at least was the opinion of all the historians of antiquity. We read in
a fragment of a letter from Cicero to Q. Axius quoted by Suetonius (Caes. 9):
Caesar in consulatu confirmavit regnum de quo aedilis cogitaret.
253. Ad Quint. ii. 13.
254. Or only forty-two, if we place his birth in 654. See, on this point, an
interesting note in the Life of Caesar, by Napoleon III., Bk. II. ch. i.
255. Ad fam. vii. 5.
256. Ad fam. vii. 5.
257. Ad Quint. ii. 15.
258. Ad fam. vii. 6: nisi te extrusissemus.
259. Ad fam. vii. 17.
260. Ibid. vii. 13.
261. Ad fam. vii. 18.
262. Ibid. vii. 10.
263. De orat. ii. 3.
264. Ad Quint. i. 2.
265. Caes. 47.
266. Ad fam. vii. 7.
267. Suet. Caes. 67.
268. Suet. Caes. 46, 48.
269. Ad Quint. iii. 1.
270. Ad Quint. iii. 9.
271. Ad Quint. ii. 15.
272. Ibid. ii. 16.
273. Cic. Brut. 72, and Pliny, Hist. nat. vii. 30.
274. Caesar wrote to Cicero twice from Britain. The first letter took twenty-six
days to reach Rome, and the second twenty-eight. This was quick travelling for that
time, and we see that Caesar must have organized his mail-service well.
Furthermore, we know his stay in Britain was very short.
275. Ad Quint. iii. 1.
276. De prov Cons. 13, 14.
277. M. Mommsen completely settles this in his Roman History.
278. De Arusp. resp. 25.
279. Ad Att. vii. 7.
280. Ad Att. xi. 20. I read cognitionem instead of notionem, which does not
seem to me to have any sense.
281. Ad fam. ix. 1.
282. Ad Att. xvi. 31.
283. Ad fam. ix. 5.
284. Ad Att. ix. 20.
285. Ad Att. x. 4.
286. Bell. Afric. 88.
287. Ad Att. ix. 7.
288. The general amnesty that Suetonius speaks of did not take place till much
later.
289. Ad fam. vii. 7.
290. It is unnecessary to say that I believe in the authenticity of this speech: it
has been disputed for reasons that seem to me futile. Further on I shall reply to
those drawn from the character of the speech, by showing that it is less base and
servile than has been asserted.
291. Pro Marc. 4.
292. Ad fam. iv. 4.
293. Pro Marc. 7.
294. Ibid. 8.
295. Philipp. iii. 11.
296. Ad fam. xv. 5.
297. Pro Muraen. 31.
298. Pro Muraen. 35.
299. Pro Mur. 36.
300. Ad Att. ii. 1.
301. Ad Att. xii. 4.
302. Ann. iv. 34.
303. Ad Att. xiii. 46.
304. Caes. Bell. civ. i. 4.
305. Philipp. ii. 32.
306. It is not easy to say what Caesar’s projects were, as his work was
interrupted by his death. Some insist that he only desired a sort of dictatorship for
life; the greater number suppose that he thought of permanently establishing
monarchical rule. The question is too grave to be entered upon incidentally, and
settled in a few words. I will simply say that perhaps he only thought at first of the
dictatorship; but in proportion as he became more powerful, the idea of founding a
monarchy seemed to take more consistency in his mind. Yet it may be inferred
from a passage in Plutarch (Brut. 7), that he was not decided on the question of an
hereditary succession when he died.
307. Ad fam. xii. 17.
308. Brut. 51.
309. Pro Rabir. 7.
310. Pro Rosc. Am. 12.
311. Ad fam. iv. 5.
312. Ibid. xiii. 68.
313. Ibid. xii. 18.
314. Ibid. vi. 9.
315. Pro Marc. 10.
316. Ad Att. xii. 45.
317. Pro Dejot. 12.
318. “All the honest men,” said Cicero (Phil. ii. 12), “in so far as they could,
have killed Caesar. Some wanted the means, others the resolution, several the
opportunity; no one wanted the will.”
319. Ann. i. 3.
320. The authenticity of these letters has been often called in question since
the last century, and has been debated in Germany quite recently with much
warmth, and a distinguished critic, F. Hermann of Göttingen, has published some
remarkable essays, to which it seems to me difficult to reply, in order to prove that
they are really letters of Brutus and Cicero. I have summed up his principal
arguments in Recherches sur la manière dont furent recueillies les lettres de
Cicéron, ch. v.
321. Ad Att. vi. 1.
322. Ad fam. iii. 11.
323. Ad Att. vi. 1.
324. Orat. 10.
325. Ad Att. xiv. 1.—A very curious statue of Brutus is to be seen at the
Campana Museum. The artist has not tried to idealize his model, and seems to
have aimed at nothing but a vulgar exactness; but we can very well recognize in it
the real Brutus. We can trace in that low forehead and the heavy bones of the face a
narrow mind and an obstinate will. The face has a feverish and sickly look; it is at
once young and old, as is the case with those who have never really been young.
Above all we perceive in it a strange sadness, that of a man overwhelmed by the
weight of a great and fateful destiny. In the fine bust of Brutus preserved in the
Museum of the Capitol, the face is fuller and handsomer. The sweetness and
sadness remain; the sickly look has disappeared. The features exactly resemble
those on the famous medal struck during Brutus’ last years, and which bears on the
reverse a Phrygian cap between two daggers, with the threatening legend, Idus
Martiae. Michael Angelo commenced a bust of Brutus, of which the admirable
rough model may be seen at the Uffizi in Florence. It was not a fancy study, and we
see that he had made use of ancient portraits while idealizing them.
326. Ad Att. xv. 1, B.
327. Ad Att. xii. 21.
328. Liv. xlv. 18.
329. Cic. Ad Quint. i. 1.
330. Ad Att. vi. 1.
331. Ad Quint. i. 1.
332. Ad Att. vi. 1.
333. Ibid. v. 21.
334. Ad Att. xi. 4.
335. Ad fam. xv. 15.
336. Ad fam. iv. 9.
337. Cic. Brut. 96.
338. Tusc. ii. 2.
339. See on this question the very interesting work of M. Martha, Les
Moralistes sous l’Empire Romain.
340. Ad Att. xv. 2.
341. Quint. x. 1.
342. Sen. Cons. ad Helv. 9.
343. Epist. Brut. i. 16.
344. App. De bell. civ. iv. 133.
345. Plut. Brut. 12.
346. Those who employed these manœuvres well knew that they were taking
Brutus on his weak side. His descent from him who expelled the kings was much
contested. The more it was regarded as doubtful the more anxious he was to prove
it. To say to him: “No, you are not Brutus,” was to put on him the necessity or the
temptation of proving his origin by his actions.
347. Ad fam. xv. 18.
348. De Offic. ii. 7.
349. De Divin. ii. 2.
350. Brut. 97.
351. Epis. Brut. i. 17.
352. Ibid. x. 16.
353. Ibid. i. 17.
354. Quint. ix. 3.
355. It must, however, be noticed that there are several of Cassius’ letters in
Cicero’s correspondence, and that some of them are witty and very lively. There are
even puns in them.—(Ad fam. xv. 19.)
356. De Bell. civ. ii. 113. Plutarch relates the same thing, and almost in the
same words.
357. Ad Att. xv. 4.
358. De Bell. civ. ii. 120.
359. Ad Att. xiv. 10, and xv. 11.
360. De Bell. civ. iii. 42.
361. Ad Att. xv. 11.
362. Ad fam. xi. 3.
363. Philipp. x. 4.
364. Ad fam. x. 1.
365. Ad fam. xi. 7.
366. Ibid. x. 16.
367. Ad Brut. ii. 7.
368. Ad fam. xi. 23.
369. Philipp. xiii. 19.
370. Philipp. xi. 8.
371. Ad fam. xii. 2.
372. Ad Att. xiv. 20.
373. Ad Brut. i. 10.
374. Epist. Brut. i. 17.
375. Ad fam. ix. 16.
376. Ad Att. xvi. 11.
377. Ibid. xiv. 12.
378. Ad fam. xii. 25: Quem ructantem et nauseantem conjeci in Caesaris
Octaviani plagas.
379. Orelli, Fragm. Cic. p. 465.
380. Suet. Aug. 101.
381. Exploration archéologique de la Galatie, etc., par MM. Perrot, Guillaume
et Delbet. Paris, 1863. Didot. As the Galatians spoke Greek and understood Latin
ill, the official text was put in the place of honour, in the temple itself, and the
translation was placed outside where every one might read it, in order to bring the
narrative of Augustus within their reach. But the exterior of the temple has not
been any more respected than the interior. The Turks have fixed their houses
against the walls, carelessly driving their beams into the marble, and using the
solid masonry as a support for their brick and mud party-walls. All the skill of M.
Perrot and his companion M. Guillaume was required to penetrate into these
inhospitable houses. When they had entered they met with still greater difficulties.
It was necessary to demolish the walls, take away the beams and support the roofs
in order to reach the ancient wall. This was but little. The wall was hammered and
cracked, blackened by dirt and smoke. How could the inscription that covered it be
deciphered? It was necessary to remain for weeks in dark and foul rooms, or on the
straw of a loft, working by candlelight, throwing the light in every direction on the
surface of the marble, and thus gradually winning each letter by extraordinary
efforts of courage and perseverance. This painful labour was rewarded by complete
success. Of nineteen columns of Greek text, the English traveller Hamilton had
copied five completely and fragments of another; M. Perrot brings back twelve
entirely new ones. One only, the ninth, could not be read; it was behind a thick
party-wall that it was found impossible to pull down. These twelve columns,
although they have suffered much from the ravages of time, fill up in great part the
lacunae of the Latin text. They make us acquainted with entire paragraphs of which
no traces remain in the original; and even in passages where the Latin was better
preserved they rectify at almost every step mistakes that had been made in the
interpretation of the text. M. Egger, in his Examen des historiens d’Auguste, p. 412
et seq., has carefully and critically studied the inscription of Ancyra. M. Mommsen,
with the help of M. Perrot’s copy, is preparing a learned work on this inscription,
after which, no doubt, nothing will remain to be done. (M. Mommsen’s work, that
was announced in the first edition of this book, has since appeared under the title:
Res gestae divi Augusti ex monumentis Ancurano et Apolloniensi.)
382. Dio, lii. 14–40. See what M. Egger says of Dio in his Examen des hist.
d’Aug. ch. viii.
383. The figure cannot be read either in the Latin or Greek.
384. The figure cannot be read. The great number of gladiators who fought,
and no doubt perished in these bloody fêtes will be noticed. Seneca, to show how
far men can become indifferent to death, relates that, under Tiberius, a gladiator
complained of the rarity of these grand massacres; and alluding to the time of
Augustus said: “That was a good time! Quam bella aetas periit!”
385. There is some probability, according to a passage of Suetonius (Aug. 52),
that what the Greek text of the inscription calls absolute authority αὐτεξουσιὸς
ἀρχὴ was the dictatorship.
386. I have only summed up here a very curious chapter of Dio Cassius (Hist.
Rom. liii. 17). We see there clearly how the Roman constitution, in which the
separation of powers was a guarantee for liberty, became, by the sole fact of their
concentration, a formidable engine of despotism.
387. The Ancyra inscription gives most precise information on the subject of
this increase. In 725 Augustus took the census for the first time after an
interruption of forty-one years: 4,063,000 citizens were counted in this return.
Twenty-one years later, in 746, the numbers returned amounted to 4,233,000. In
767, the year of Augustus’ death, there were 4,937,000. If, to the figures that
Augustus gives, we add the number of women and children who were not
comprised in the Roman census, we shall see that in the last twenty years of his
reign the increase had reached an average of very nearly 16 per cent. This is exactly
the figure to which the increase of population in France rose, after the Revolution,
from 1800 to 1825; that is, like political circumstances produced like results. It
might be thought, indeed, that this increase of population under Augustus was due
to the introduction of foreigners into the city. But we know, from Suetonius, that
Augustus, contrary to the example and principles of Caesar, was very chary of the
title of Roman citizen.
388. Suet. Aug. 31.
389. De Clem. 9; Divus Augustus mitis fuit princeps. It is true that elsewhere
he calls his clemency a wearied-out cruelty.
390. Suet. Aug. 84.
391. See especially Velleius Pat. ii. 66.
392. Sen. Suas. 6.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
1. Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and
variations in spelling.
2. Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings
as printed.
3. Re-indexed footnotes using numbers and collected
together at the end of the last chapter.
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CICERO AND
HIS FRIENDS ***
1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also
govern what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most
countries are in a constant state of change. If you are outside
the United States, check the laws of your country in addition to
the terms of this agreement before downloading, copying,
displaying, performing, distributing or creating derivative works
based on this work or any other Project Gutenberg™ work. The
Foundation makes no representations concerning the copyright
status of any work in any country other than the United States.
1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form,
including any word processing or hypertext form. However, if
you provide access to or distribute copies of a Project
Gutenberg™ work in a format other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or
other format used in the official version posted on the official
Project Gutenberg™ website (www.gutenberg.org), you must, at
no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a copy, a
means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other
form. Any alternate format must include the full Project
Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the
method you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The
fee is owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark,
but he has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty
payments must be paid within 60 days following each date on
which you prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your
periodic tax returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked
as such and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation at the address specified in Section 4, “Information