1. Cicero, On Duty. What responsibilities does the great Roman orator believe that people have towards their society? Is he encouraging altruism or self-interest — or both? What are the results of successful diplomacy? What do you feel people owe society, if anything? Justify your position from personal and/or public experience — in other words, things that have happened to you and/or to someone in the public eye (politicians, celebrities, historical personalities).
2. Pliny the Younger, Letters. This will require a bit of research. First, write a paragraph summarizing the event that Pliny the Younger describes. Be sure to tell us what happened to Pliny the Elder and also to the neighboring city of Herculaneum. Feel free to imagine the experience of surviving a natural disaster — think Mt. Saint Helens, Hurricane Katrina, or our recent wildfires and floods! Then pick one of the many discoveries from Pompeii, furnishing a link and/or image. This might be a building, a sculpture, or a fresco. Using our 3-step art criticism rubric (formal/social/symbolic context), describe it, telling us its history and associations, and why you chose it. To comment on some else’s post, explain why you agree/disagree with their choice and refer them to a similarly intriguing artwork (not necessarily from Pompeii).
