An excerpt in medias res from a lengthy item in Forbes:

“Afghanistan is not lost, but for several years it has moved backwards. There’s no imminent threat of the government being overthrown, but the Taliban has gained momentum. Al-Qaida has not reemerged in Afghanistan in the same numbers as before 9/11, but they retain their safe havens along the border. And our forces lack the full support they need to effectively train and partner with Afghan security forces and better secure the population. Our new commander in Afghanistan–General McChrystal–has reported that the security situation is more serious than he anticipated. In short: The status quo is not sustainable. As cadets, you volunteered for service during this time of danger.”

Even the best of the speech is lackluster. Now turn to Cicero’s Philippics, as translated by the wartime code breaker DR Shackleton Bailey 30 years ago, and published late last year by Loeb. Though much is long, and embedded with subclauses, vivid phrases abound:

“Why, then am I against peace? Because it is dishonorable, because it is dangerous, because it is impossible.” [108 characters]

“Is anything more dishonorable not only to individuals but especially to the entire senate than inconsistency, irresponsibility, fickleness? [139]

“I am not against peace, but I dread war camouflaged as peace.” [61]

“Therefore, if we wish to enjoy peace, we must wage war; if we fail to wage war, peace we will never enjoy.” [106]

The point is not that President Obama should have given a Ciceronian speech, but that when examined by the extreme limits of tweeting, the supposed enemy of writing, Cicero shows us that the art and power of prose lies not so much in the words but in their arrangement. It is not for naught, then, that Harris recommends every British politician read the Philippics and be obliged to recite a passage aloud “to understand how great speeches are made.”

• What We Can Learn From Cicero – (Forbes)

Seen on various lists quite a while ago (please send any responses to the folks mentioned in the quoted text, not to rogueclassicism!):

National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar
“The ‘Falls of Rome’: The Transformations of Rome in Late Antiquity”

CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS

NEH Summer Seminar at the American Academy in Rome
28 June – 30 July, 2010

Director: Michele Renee Salzman, University of California at Riverside
Michele.Salzman or 951 827 1991
Associate Director: Kimberly Bowes, Cornell University
kdb48 or kimberlybowes or 917 699 0340

The NEH Summer Seminar, “The ‘Falls of Rome’: The Transformations of Rome in Late Antiquity” will take place at the American Academy in Rome from 28 June through 30 July 2010. This seminar will focus on a topic that is fundamental to the study of antiquity; “What does it mean to say Rome fell?” Unlike other attempts to analyze the fall in terms of the political and military end of the Roman Empire, this seminar will focus on the capital of that empire, the city of Rome, in the late third to the seventh centuries. Through intensive study of texts and new archaeological remains, we will critically examine the reasons traditionally adduced for Rome’s fall – political and/or military crisis – and search for more complete definitions, and more complete explanations, of societal change.

The seminar is founded on interdisciplinary interactions, including the collaboration of the Seminar Director, Michele Renee Salzman, an historian, with the Associate Director, Kimberly Bowes, an archaeologist. All readings and seminar discussion will be in English. We welcome applicants from a wide variety of fields in the humanities.

Participants are chosen from university and college faculty who teach American post-secondary students. This includes faculty teaching abroad who teach American students. Applicants of all ranks and all levels of institution are welcome.

In addition, two places are reserved for qualified advanced graduate students

For detailed information about the Seminar and the application go to the American Academy in Rome website,

http://www.aarome.org/other-ways-to-participate.php#program5

or contact the Director or Associate Director at the addresses above.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: March 2, 2010.