Norwid and Cicero

Abstract

Cicero makes an appearance in many of Norwid’s works: the poems Z listu (Do Włodzimierza Łubieńskiego) (1862) and Do Wielmożnej Pani I. (1871), the treatise Jasność i ciemność (1850), and the dramatic fragment Teatr bez teatru (1855); he also appears in Norwid’s letters: to Emma Herwegh (Paris, 29 September 1852), to Maria Trębicka (New York, 21-23 February 1854), to Joanna Kuczyńska (Paris, May 1862) an to Julian Fontana (Paris, 26 March 1866). This high frequency makes Cicero stand out very clearly among the figures, themes and motifs that make up Norwid’s vision of antiquity, since he is mentioned so often, it may be useful to devote a whole article to him; the description of Cicero reveals the complex structure of Norwid’s vision of tradition. Cicero’s presence is conditioned by three paradigms in Norwid’s thinking about the cultural heritage of ancient Rome and indeed of Europe as a whole.

The first to be dealt with is the paradigm of transition from antiquity to Christianity. The Middle Ages accepted antiquity and worked out the formula of a single ancient and Christian tradition. The modern era put an end to that unity. Norwid follows the modem view of the ancient and Christian traditions. He saw the transition from antiquity to the Middle Ages as an age that symbolized the world’s indifference and aggressiveness towards the Christian religion. In the letter to Joanna Kuczyńska written in May 1862 Cicero appears as a representative of the pagan era, which was unable to hear the voice of God; in a more general sense, he appears as a representative of all mankind, erring and plunged in sin and unbelief.

The second paradigm is that of the totalitarianism of pagan Rome; this comes from the Romantic philosophy of history. Pagan Rome functions in many places in Norwid as a retrospective negative utopia; it is pictured as a totalitarian empire that subjugates other nations and aims at destroying their cultural identities. In the poem Z listu (Do Włodzimierza Łubieńskiego) Cicero appears as a consul of the Roman state who comes to the conquered tribe of Siculi on a diplomatic mission and uses the most sophisticated methods of political aagitation and propaganda to effect the intellectual and cultural subordination of the Greek people to Rome.

The third paradigm invokes the coryphaei of mankind, the great artists and discoverers who outgrew their own time and took on the world as heroes and martyrs. An apology of Cicero as a heroic advocate of the coming truth of Christianity can be found in the poem Do Wielmożnej Pani I. In the poem Wielkie slowa, the treatise Jasność i ciemność and the letter to Maria Trębicka of 21-23 February 1854 Cicero figures as the herald of new ideas of immense importance for the human race.