Let our powers combine
Cicero was a homo novus, a New Man, a middle-class provincial elbowing his way into Rome's exclusive senatorial class. At the start of his career, he lacked the dignitas, the personal dignity and social clout, necessary to give his words unquestioned authority. Writing was Cicero’s way of legitimizing his speaking; and Tiro, in a sense, became his master's voice. (Di Renzo, "His Master's Voice" 9)
It's interesting that such a captivating speaker depended so heavily on writing to bolster his work--he enjoyed the best of both worlds, thanks to Tiro's talent. I can't help but wonder how Socrates would have responded to such evidence of writing's legitimacy as a useful tool for the public speaker.
Comments
Exactly, Stormy. Regardless of what the officials and diplomats (like Socrates' peers) believed, it was the general public need for writing that helped push it into the mainstream. I believe this relates to the trend of democratization that was mentioned in class.
Awesome job with the internship by the way. Congrats! Where will you be working?
Daniella, you make a good point--Tiro's writing very accurately captured the intricacies of speech, which perhaps proves that writing is a sharper tool than Socrates was willing to admit.
Posted by: ChrisU | January 30, 2008 10:53 PM
Cicero truely did have the best of both worlds. While he was a brilliant speaker, he had a faithful servant who was able not only to record what he had said, but to also capture the inflections in his voice. A recorded speech is just a bunch of flat words, but Tiro's brand of shorthad also captured the emotion and inflection in Tiro's voice
Posted by: Daniella | January 30, 2008 10:35 PM
I thought the exact same thing, Chris. I think Socrates and his ego would have been a little deflated in seeing a time where the public was so dependent on people with writing skills.
I can relate to Cicero's thinking that recording his speaking in writing legitimized it. Writing is used to legitimize everything in our generation, contracts, credit card receipts, checks, notary signatures. I couldn't have added my internship today without signing the yellow slip at the Registrar. :)
Posted by: Stormy Knight | January 30, 2008 6:43 PM