CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

Pro Caecina

speech by Marcus Tullius Cicero

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionNov 21, 2022
Entity authorityQ3922211
Source-derived summary

The Pro Caecina is a public speech made by Marcus Tullius Cicero on behalf of his friend Aulus Caecina sometime between 71 BC and 69 BC. The speech was delivered in the third hearing of a lawsuit where Caecina averred that he had been unlawfully dispossessed of a farm by use of force. Known for its refinement and scathing characterisations of the opposing parties, the speech is a good study in how rhetorical advocacy can occlude legal argument.

Editorial summary

“Pro Caecina” enters the record as speech by Marcus Tullius Cicero. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Caecina, speech and Marcus can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current 78-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Caecina, speech and Marcus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Pro Caecina” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Caecina, speech and Marcus provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 21, 2022. The linked authority identifier is Q3922211. VIAF identifies the subject as 185122682. The Library of Congress control number is n85340231. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Pro Caecina”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Pro Caecina primary sources, Pro Caecina archive and Caecina research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Pro Caecina”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Pro Caecina” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.