diff options
Diffstat (limited to '28676.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 28676.txt | 12808 |
1 files changed, 12808 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/28676.txt b/28676.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4fd2d86 --- /dev/null +++ b/28676.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12808 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life of Cicero, by Anthony Trollope + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Life of Cicero + Volume II. + +Author: Anthony Trollope + +Release Date: May 3, 2009 [EBook #28676] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF CICERO *** + + + + +Produced by Turgut Dincer, Ted Garvin and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + ++----------------------------------------------------+ +| Transcriber's Note: | +| | +| Latin word "demuntiat" in Footnote 222 has been | +| corrected as "denuntiat" and the Latin words "At" | +| and "audient" in Footnote 253 have been corrected | +| as "Ut" and "audiunt" respectively after checking | +| with reliable sources. | ++----------------------------------------------------+ + + + + +THE + +LIFE OF CICERO + + +BY + +ANTHONY TROLLOPE + + +_IN TWO VOLUMES_ + +VOL. II. + + +NEW YORK + +HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE + +1881 + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOLUME II. + + + PAGE + CHAPTER I. + + HIS RETURN FROM EXILE 7 + + CHAPTER II. + + CICERO, AETAT. 52, 53, 54. 38 + + CHAPTER III. + + MILO 59 + + CHAPTER IV. + + CILICIA 76 + + CHAPTER V. + + THE WAR BETWEEN CAESAR AND POMPEY 110 + + CHAPTER VI. + + AFTER THE BATTLE 129 + + CHAPTER VII. + + MARCELLUS, LIGARIUS, AND DEIOTARUS 147 + + CHAPTER VIII. + + CAESAR'S DEATH 172 + + CHAPTER IX. + + THE PHILIPPICS 195 + + CHAPTER X. + + CICERO'S DEATH 231 + + CHAPTER XI. + + CICERO'S RHETORIC 249 + + CHAPTER XII. + + CICERO'S PHILOSOPHY 277 + + CHAPTER XIII. + + CICERO'S MORAL ESSAYS 304 + + CHAPTER XIV. + + CICERO'S RELIGION 321 + + + APPENDIX 333 + + INDEX 337 + + + + +THE + +LIFE OF CICERO. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +_HIS RETURN FROM EXILE._ + + +Cicero's life for the next two years was made conspicuous by a series of +speeches which were produced by his exile and his return. These are +remarkable for the praise lavished on himself, and by the violence with +which he attacked his enemies. It must be owned that never was abuse +more abusive, or self-praise uttered in language more laudatory.[1] +Cicero had now done all that was useful in his public life. The great +monuments of his literature are to come. None of these had as yet been +written except a small portion of his letters--about a tenth--and of +these he thought no more in regard to the public than do any ordinary +letter-writers of to-day. Some poems had been produced, and a history of +his own Consulship in Greek; but these are unknown to us. He had already +become the greatest orator, perhaps, of all time--and we have many of +the speeches spoken by him. Some we have--those five, namely, telling +the story of Verres--not intended to be spoken, but written for the +occasion of the day rather than with a view to permanent literature. He +had been Quaestor, AEdile, Praetor, and Consul, with singular and +undeviating success. He had been honest in the exercise of public +functions when to be honest was to be singular. He had bought golden +opinions from all sorts of people. He had been true to his country, and +useful also--a combination which it was given to no other public man of +those days to achieve. Having been Praetor and Consul, he had refused the +accustomed rewards, and had abstained from the provinces. His speeches, +with but few exceptions, had hitherto been made in favor of honesty. +They are declamations against injustice, against bribery, against +cruelty, and all on behalf of decent civilized life. Had he died then, +he would not have become the hero of literature, the marvel among men of +letters whom the reading world admires; but he would have been a great +man, and would have saved himself from the bitterness of Caesarean +tongues. + +His public work was in truth done. His further service consisted of the +government of Cilicia for a year--an employment that was odious to him, +though his performance of it was a blessing to the province. After that +there came the vain struggle with Caesar, the attempt to make the best of +Caesar victorious, the last loud shriek on behalf of the Republic, and +then all was over. The fourteen years of life which yet remained to him +sufficed for erecting that literary monument of which I have spoken, but +his public usefulness was done. To the reader of his biography it will +seem that these coming fourteen years will lack much of the grace which +adorned the last twenty. The biographer will be driven to make excuses, +which he will not do without believing in the truth of them, but +doubting much whether he may beget belief in others. He thinks that he +can see the man passing from one form to another--his doubting devotion +to Pompey, his enforced adherence to Caesar, his passionate opposition to +Antony; but he can still see him true to his country, and ever on the +alert against tyranny and on behalf of pure patriotism. + +At the present we have to deal with Cicero in no vacillating spirit, but +loudly exultant and loudly censorious. Within the two years following +his return he made a series of speeches, in all of which we find the +altered tone of his mind. There is no longer that belief in the ultimate +success of justice, and ultimate triumph of the Republic, which glowed +in his Verrine and Catiline orations. He is forced to descend in his +aspirations. It is not whether Rome shall be free, or the bench of +justice pure, but whether Cicero shall be avenged and Gabinius punished. +It may have been right--it was right--that Cicero should be avenged and +Gabinius punished; but it must be admitted that the subjects are less +alluring. + +His first oration, as generally received, was made to the Senate in +honor of his return. The second was addressed to the people on the same +subject. The third was spoken to the college of priests, with the view +of recovering the ground on which his house had stood, and which Clodius +had attempted to alienate forever by dedicating it to a pretended +religious purpose. The next, as coming on our list, though not so in +time, was addressed again to the Senate concerning official reports made +by the public soothsayers as interpreters of occult signs, as to whether +certain portents had been sent by the gods to show that Cicero ought not +to have back his house. Before this was made he had defended Sextius, +who as Tribune had been peculiarly serviceable in assisting his return. +This was before a bench of judges; and separated from this, though made +apparently at the same time, is a violent attack upon Vatinius, one of +Caesar's creatures, who was a witness against Sextius. Then there is a +seventh, regarding the disposition of the provinces among the Propraetors +and Proconsuls, the object of which was to enforce the recall of Piso +from Macedonia and Gabinius from Syria, and to win Caesar's favor by +showing that Caesar should be allowed to keep the two Gauls and +Illyricum. To these must be added two others, made within the same +period, for Caelius and Balbus. The close friendship between Cicero and +the young man Caelius was one of the singular details of the orator's +life. Balbus was a Spaniard, attached to Caesar, and remarkable as having +been the first man not an Italian who achieved the honor of the +Consulship. + +It has been disputed whether the first four of these orations were +really the work of Cicero, certain German critics and English scholars +having declared them to be "parum Ciceronias"--too little like Cicero. +That is the phrase used by Nobbe, who published a valuable edition of +all Cicero's works, after the text of Ernesti, in a single volume. Mr. +Long, in his introduction to these orations, denounces them in language +so strong as to rob them of all chance of absolute acceptance from those +who know the accuracy of Mr. Long's scholarship.[2] There may probably +have been subsequent interpolations. The first of the four, however, is +so closely referred to by Cicero himself in the speech made by him two +years subsequently in the defence of Plancius, that the fact of an +address to the Senate in the praise of those who had assisted him in his +return cannot be doubted; and we are expressly told by the orator that, +because of the importance of the occasion, he had written it out before +he spoke it.[3] As to the Latinity, it is not within my scope, nor +indeed within my power, to express a confident opinion; but as to the +matter of the speech, I think that Cicero, in his then frame of mind, +might have uttered what is attributed to him. Having said so much, I +shall best continue my narrative by dealing with the four speeches as +though they were genuine. + +[Sidenote: B.C. 57, aetat. 50.] + +Cicero landed at Brundisium on the 5th of August, the day on which his +recall from exile had been enacted by the people, and there met his +daughter Tullia, who had come to welcome him back to Italy on that her +birthday. But she had come as a widow, having just lost her first +husband, Piso Frugi. At this time she was not more than nineteen years +old. Of Tullia's feelings we know nothing from her own expressions, as +they have not reached us; but from the warmth of her father's love for +her, and by the closeness of their friendship, we are led to imagine +that the joy of her life depended more on him than on any of her three +husbands. She did not live long with either of them, and died soon after +the birth of a child, having been divorced from the third. I take it, +there was much of triumph in the meeting, though Piso Frugi had died so +lately. + +The return of Cicero to Rome was altogether triumphant. It must be +remembered that the contemporary accounts we have had of it are +altogether from his own pen. They are taken chiefly from the orations I +have named above, though subsequent allusions to the glory of his return +to Rome are not uncommon in his works. But had his boasting not been +true, the contradictions to them would have been made in such a way as +to have reached our ears. Plutarch, indeed, declares that Cicero's +account of the glory of his return fell short of the truth. + +It may be taken for granted that with that feeble monster, the citizen +populace of Rome, Cicero had again risen to a popularity equal to that +which had been bestowed upon him when he had just driven Catiline out of +Rome. Of what nature were the crowds who were thus loud in the praise of +their great Consul, and as loud afterward in their rejoicings at the +return of the great exile, we must form our own opinion from +circumstantial evidence. There was a mass of people, with keen ears +taking artistic delight in eloquence and in personal graces, but +determined to be idle, and to be fed as well as amused in their +idleness; and there were also vast bands of men ready to fight--bands of +gladiators they have been called, though it is probable that but few of +them had ever been trained to the arena--whose business it was to shout +as well as to fight on behalf of their patrons. We shall not be +justified in supposing that those who on the two occasions named gave +their sweet voices for Cicero were only the well-ordered, though idle, +proportion of the people, whereas they who had voted against him in +favor of Clodius had all been assassins, bullies, and swordsmen. We +shall probably be nearer the mark if we imagine that the citizens +generally were actuated by the prevailing feelings of their leaders at +the moment, but were carried into enthusiasm when enabled, without +detriment to their interests, to express their feelings for one who was +in truth popular with them. When Cicero, after the death of the five +conspirators, declared that the men "had lived"--"vixerunt"--his own +power was sufficient to insure the people that they would be safe in +praising him. When he came back to Rome, Pompey had been urgent for his +return, and Caesar had acceded to it. When the bill was passed for +banishing him, the Triumvirate had been against him, and Clodius had +been able to hound on his crew. But Milo also had a crew, and Milo was +Cicero's friend. As the Clodian crew helped to drive Cicero from Rome, +so did Milo's crew help to bring him back again. + +Cicero, on reaching Rome, went at once to the Capitol, to the temple of +Jupiter, and there returned thanks for the great thing that had been +done for him. He was accompanied by a vast procession who from the +temple went with him to his brother's house, where he met his wife, and +where he resided for a time. His own house in the close neighborhood had +been destroyed. He reached Rome on the 4th of September, and on the 5th +an opportunity was given to the then hero of the day for expressing his +thanks to the Senate for what they had done for him. His intellect had +not grown rusty in Macedonia, though he had been idle. On the 5th, +Cicero spoke to the Senate; on the 6th, to the people. Before the end +of the month he made a much longer speech to the priests in defence of +his own property. Out of the full heart the mouth speaks, and his heart +was very full of the subject. + +His first object was to thank the Senate and the leading members of it +for their goodness to him. The glowing language in which this is done +goes against the grain with us when we read continuously the events of +his life as told by himself. His last grievous words had been +expressions of despair addressed to Atticus; now he breaks out into a +paean of triumph. We have to remember that eight months had intervened, +and that the time had sufficed to turn darkness into light. "If I cannot +thank you as I ought, O Conscript Fathers, for the undying favors which +you have conferred on me, on my brother, and my children, ascribe it, I +beseech you, to the greatness of the things you have done for me, and +not to the defect of my virtue." Then he praises the two Consuls, naming +them, Lentulus and Metellus--Metellus, as the reader will remember, +having till lately been his enemy. He lauds the Praetors and the +Tribunes, two of the latter members having opposed his return; but he is +loudest in praise of Pompey--that "Sampsiceramus," that +"Hierosolymarius," that "Arabarches" into whose character he had seen so +clearly when writing from Macedonia to Atticus--that "Cn. Pompey who, by +his valor, his glory, his achievements, stands conspicuously the first +of all nations, of all ages, of all history." We cannot but be angry +when we read the words, though we may understand how well he understood +that he was impotent to do anything for the Republic unless he could +bring such a man as Pompey to act with him. We must remember, too, how +impossible it was that one Roman should rise above the falsehood common +to Romans. We cannot ourselves always escape even yet from the +atmosphere of duplicity in which policy delights. He describes the state +of Rome in his absence. "When I was gone, you"--you, the Senate--"could +decree nothing for your citizens, or for your allies, or for the +dependent kings. The judges could give no judgment; the people could not +record their votes; the Senate availed nothing by its authority. You saw +only a silent Forum, a speechless Senate-house, a city dumb and +deserted." We may suppose that Rome was what Cicero described it to be +when he was in exile, and Caesar had gone to his provinces; but its +condition had been the result of the crushing tyranny of the Triumvirate +rather than of Cicero's absence. + +Lentulus, the present Consul, had been, he says, a second father, almost +a god, to him. But he would not have needed the hand of a Consul to +raise him from the ground, had he not been wounded by consular hands. +Catulus, one of Rome's best citizens, had told him that though Rome had +now and again suffered from a bad Consul, she had never before been +afflicted by two together. While there was one Consul worthy of the +name, Catulus had declared that Cicero would be safe. But there had come +two, two together, whose spirits had been so narrow, so low, so +depraved, so burdened with greed and ignorance, "that they had been +unable to comprehend, much less to sustain the splendor of the name of +Consul. Not Consuls were they, but buyers and sellers of provinces." +These were Piso and Gabinius, of whom the former was now governor of +Macedonia, and the latter of Syria. Cicero's scorn against these men, +who as Consuls had permitted his exile, became a passion with him. His +subsequent hatred of Antony was not as bitter. He had come there to +thank the assembled Senators for their care of him, but he is carried +off so violently by his anger that he devotes a considerable portion of +his speech to these indignant utterances. The reader does not regret it. +Abuse makes better reading than praise, has a stronger vitality, and +seems, alas, to come more thoroughly from the heart! Those who think +that genuine invective has its charms would ill spare Piso and Gabinius. + +He goes back to his eulogy, and names various Praetors and officers who +have worked on his behalf. Then he declares that by the view of the +present Consul, Lentulus, a decree has been passed in his favor more +glorious than has been awarded to any other single Roman citizen--namely +that from all Italy those who wished well to their country should be +collected together for the purpose of bringing him back from his +banishment--him, Cicero. There is much in this in praise of Lentulus, +but more in praise of Cicero. Throughout these orations we feel that +Cicero is put forward as the hero, whereas Piso and Gabinius are the +demons of the piece. "What could I leave as a richer legacy to my +posterity," he goes on to say, opening another clause of his speech, +"than that the Senate should have decreed that the citizen who had not +come forward in my defence was one regardless of the Republic." By these +boastings, though he was at the moment at the top of the ladder of +popularity, he was offending the self-importance of all around him. He +was offending especially Pompey, with whom it was his fate to have to +act.[4] But that was little to the offence he was giving to those who +were to come many centuries after him, who would not look into the +matter with sufficient accuracy to find that his vanity deserved +forgiveness because of his humanity and desire for progress. "O +Lentulus," he says, at the end of the oration, "since I am restored to +the Republic, as with me the Republic is itself restored, I will slacken +nothing in my efforts at liberty; but, if it may be possible, will add +something to my energy." In translating a word here and there as I have +done, I feel at every expression my incapacity. There is no such thing +as good translation. If you wish to drink the water, with its life and +vigor in it, you must go to the fountain and drink it there. + +On the day following he made a similar speech to the people--if, indeed, +the speech we have was from his mouth or his pen--as to which it has +been remarked that in it he made no allusion to Clodius, though he was +as bitter as ever against the late Consuls. From this we may gather +that, though his audience was delighted to hear him, even in his +self-praise, there might have been dispute had he spoken ill of one who +had been popular as Tribune. His praise of Pompey was almost more +fulsome than that of the day before, and the same may be said of his +self-glorification. Of his brother's devotion to him he speaks in +touching words, but in words which make us remember how untrue to him +afterward was that very brother. There are phrases so magnificent +throughout this short piece that they obtain from us, as they are read, +forgiveness for the writer's faults. "Sic ulciscar facinorum singula." +Let the reader of Latin turn to chapter ix. of the oration and see how +the speaker declares that he will avenge himself against the evil-doers +whom he has denounced. + +Cicero, though he had returned triumphant, had come back ruined in +purse, except so far as he could depend on the Senate and the people for +reimbursing to him the losses to which he had been subjected. The decree +of the Senate had declared that his goods should be returned to him, but +the validity of such a promise would depend on the value which might be +put upon the goods in question. His house on the Palatine Hill had been +razed to the ground; his Tusculan and Formian villas had been destroyed; +his books, his pictures, his marble columns, his very trees, had been +stolen; but, worst of all, an attempt had been made to deprive him +forever of the choicest spot of ground in all the city, the Park Lane of +Rome, by devoting the space which had belonged to him to the service of +one of the gods. Clodius had caused something of a temple to Liberty to +be built there, because ground so consecrated was deemed at Rome, as +with us, to be devoted by consecration to the perpetual service of +religion. It was with the view of contesting this point that Cicero +made his next speech, Pro Domo Sua, for the recovery of his house, +before the Bench of Priests in Rome. It was for the priests to decide +this question. The Senate could decree the restitution of property +generally, but it was necessary that that spot of ground should be +liberated from the thraldom of sacerdotal tenure by sacerdotal +interference. These priests were all men of high birth and distinction +in the Republic. Nineteen among them were "Consulares," or past-Consuls. +Superstitious awe affects more lightly the consciences of priests than +the hearts of those who trust the priests for their guidance. +Familiarity does breed contempt. Cicero, in making this speech, probably +felt that, if he could carry the people with him, the College of Priests +would not hold the prey with grasping hands. The nineteen Consulares +would care little for the sanctity of the ground if they could be +brought to wish well to Cicero. He did his best. He wrote to Atticus +concerning it a few days after the speech was made, and declared that if +he had ever spoken well on any occasion he had done so then, so deep had +been his grief, and so great the importance of the occasion;[5] and he +at once informs his friend of the decision of the Bench, and of the +ground on which it was based. "If he who declares that he dedicated the +ground had not been appointed to that business by the people, nor had +been expressly commanded by the people to do it, then that spot of +ground can be restored without any breach of religion." Cicero asserts +that he was at once congratulated on having gained his cause, the world +knowing very well that no such authority had been conferred on Clodius. +In the present mood of Rome, all the priests, with the nineteen +Consulares, were no doubt willing that Cicero should have back his +ground. The Senate had to interpret the decision, and on the discussion +of the question among them Clodius endeavored to talk against time. +When, however, he had spoken for three hours, he allowed himself to be +coughed down. It may be seen that in some respects even Roman fortitude +has been excelled in our days. + +In the first portion of this speech, Pro Domo Sua, Cicero devotes +himself to a matter which has no bearing on his house. Concomitant with +Cicero's return there had come a famine in Rome. Such a calamity was of +frequent occurrence, though I doubt whether their famines ever led to +mortality so frightful as that which desolated Ireland just before the +repeal of the Corn Laws. No records, as far as I am aware, have reached +us of men perishing in the streets; but scarcity was not uncommon, and +on such occasions complaints would become very loud. The feeding of the +people was a matter of great difficulty, and subject to various chances. +We do not at all know what was the number to be fed, including the free +and the slaves, but have been led by surmises to suppose that it was +under a million even in the time of Augustus. But even though the number +was no more than five hundred thousand at this time, the procuring of +food must have been a complicated and difficult matter. It was not +produced in the country. It was imported chiefly from Sicily and Africa, +and was plentiful or the reverse, not only in accordance with the +seasons but as certain officers of state were diligent and honest, or +fraudulent and rapacious. We know from one of the Verrine orations the +nature of the laws on the subject, but cannot but marvel that, even with +the assistance of such laws, the supply could be maintained with any +fair proportion to the demand. The people looked to the government for +the supply, and when it fell short would make their troubles known with +seditious grumblings, which would occasionally assume the guise of +insurrection. At this period of Cicero's return food had become scarce +and dear; and Clodius, who was now in arms against Pompey as well as +against Cicero, caused it to be believed that the strangers flocking +into Rome to welcome Cicero had eaten up the food which should have +filled the bellies of the people. An idea farther from truth could +hardly have been entertained: no chance influx of visitors on such a +population could have had the supposed effect. But the idea was spread +abroad, and it was necessary that something should be done to quiet the +minds of the populace. Pompey had hitherto been the resource in State +difficulties. Pompey had scattered the pirates, who seem, however, at +this period to have been gathering head again. Pompey had conquered +Mithridates. Let Pompey have a commission to find food for Rome. Pompey +himself entertained the idea of a commission which should for a time +give him almost unlimited power. Caesar was increasing his legions and +becoming dominant in the West. Pompey, who still thought himself the +bigger man of the two, felt the necessity of some great step in rivalry +of Caesar. The proposal made on his behalf was that all the treasure +belonging to the State should be placed at his disposal; that he should +have an army and a fleet, and should be for five years superior in +authority to every Proconsul in his own province. This was the first +great struggle made by Pompey to strangle the growing power of Caesar. It +failed altogether.[6] The fear of Caesar had already become too great in +the bosoms of Roman Senators to permit them to attempt to crush him in +his absence. But a mitigated law was passed, enjoining Pompey to provide +the food required, and conferring upon him certain powers. Cicero was +nominated as his first lieutenant, and accepted the position. He never +acted, however, giving it up to his brother Quintus. A speech which he +made to the people on the passing of the law is not extant; but as there +was hot blood about it in Rome, he took the opportunity of justifying +the appointment of Pompey in the earlier portion of this oration to the +priests. It must be understood that he did not lend his aid toward +giving those greater powers which Pompey was anxious to obtain. His +trust in Pompey had never been a perfect trust since the first days of +the Triumvirate. To Cicero's thinking, both Pompey and Caesar were +conspirators against the Republic. Caesar was the bolder, and therefore +the more dangerous. It might probably come to pass that the services of +Pompey would be needed for restraining Caesar. Pompey naturally belonged +to the "optimates," while Caesar was as naturally a conspirator. But +there never again could come a time in which Cicero would willingly +intrust Pompey with such power as was given to him nine years before by +the Lex Manilia. Nevertheless, he could still say grand things in praise +of Pompey. "To Pompey have been intrusted wars without number, wars most +dangerous to the State, wars by sea and wars by land, wars extraordinary +in their nature. If there be a man who regrets that this has been done, +that man must regret the victories which Rome has won." But his abuse of +Clodius is infinitely stronger than his praise of Pompey. For the +passages in which he alluded to the sister of Clodius I must refer the +reader to the speech itself. It is impossible here to translate them or +to describe them. And these words were spoken before the College of +Priests, of whom nineteen were Consulares! And they were prepared with +such care that Cicero specially boasted of them to Atticus, and declares +that they should be put into the hands of all young orators. Montesquieu +says that the Roman legislators, in establishing their religion, had no +view of using it for the improvement of manners or of morals.[7] The +nature of their rites and ceremonies gives us evidence enough that it +was so. If further testimony were wanting, it might be found in this +address, Ad Pontifices. Cicero himself was a man of singularly clean +life as a Roman nobleman, but, in abusing his enemy, he was restrained +by no sense of what we consider the decency of language. + +He argues the question as to his house very well, as he did all +questions. He tells the priests that the whole joy of his restoration +must depend on their decision. Citizens who had hitherto been made +subject to such penalties had been malefactors; whereas, it was +acknowledged of him that he had been a benefactor to the city. Clodius +had set up on the spot, not a statue of Liberty, but, as was well known +to all men, the figure of a Greek prostitute. The priests had not been +consulted. The people had not ratified the proposed consecration. Of the +necessity of such authority he gives various examples. "And this has +been done," he says, "by an impure and impious enemy of all +religions--by this man among women, and woman among men--who has gone +through the ceremony so hurriedly, so violently, that his mind and his +tongue and his voice have been equally inconsistent with each other." +"My fortune," he says, as he ends his speech, "all moderate as it is, +will suffice for me. The memory of my name will be a patrimony +sufficient for my children;" but if his house be so taken from him, so +stolen, so falsely dedicated to religion, he cannot live without +disgrace. Of course he got back his house; and with his house about +L16,000 for its re-erection, and L4000 for the damage done to the +Tusculan villa with L2000 for the Formian villa. With these sums he was +not contented; and indeed they could hardly have represented fairly the +immense injury done to him. + +[Sidenote: B.C. 56, aetat. 51.] + +So ended the work of the year of his return. From the following year, +besides the speeches, we have twenty-six letters of which nine were +written to Lentulus, the late Consul, who had now gone to Cilicia as +Proconsul. Lentulus had befriended him, and he found it necessary to +show his gratitude by a continued correspondence, and by a close +attendance to the interests of the absent officer. These letters are +full of details of Roman politics, too intricate for such a work as +this--perhaps I might almost say too uninteresting, as they refer +specially to Lentulus himself. In one of them he tells his friend that +he has at last been able to secure the friendship of Pompey for him. It +was, after all, but a show of friendship. He has supped with Pompey, and +says that when he talks to Pompey everything seems to go well: no one +can be more gracious than Pompey. But when he sees the friends by whom +Pompey is surrounded he knows, as all others know, that the affair is in +truth going just as he would not have it.[8] We feel as we read these +letters, in which Pompey's name is continually before us, how much +Pompey prevailed by his personal appearance, by his power of saying +gracious things, and then again by his power of holding his tongue. "You +know the slowness of the man," he says to Lentulus, "and his +silence."[9] A slow, cautious, hypocritical man, who knew well how to +use the allurements of personal manners! These letters to Lentulus are +full of flattery. + +There are five letters to his brother Quintus, dealing with the politics +of the time, especially with the then King of Egypt, who was to be, or +was not to be, restored. From all these things, however, I endeavor to +abstain as much as possible, as matters not peculiarly affecting the +character of Cicero. He gives his brother an account of the doings in +the Senate, which is interesting as showing us how that august assembly +conducted itself. While Pompey was speaking with much dignity, Clodius +and his supporters in vain struggled with shouts and cries to put him +down. At noon Pompey sat down, and Clodius got possession of the rostra, +and in the middle of a violent tumult remained on his feet for two +hours. Then, on Pompey's side, the "optimates" sang indecent songs +--"versus obscenissimi"--in reference to Clodius and his sister Clodia. +Clodius, rising in his anger, demanded, "Who had brought the famine?" +"Pompey," shouted the Clodians. "Who wanted to go to Egypt?" demanded +Clodius. "Pompey," again shouted his followers. After that, at three +o'clock, at a given signal, they began to spit upon their opponents. +Then there was a fight, in which each party tried to drive the others +out. The "optimates" were getting the best of it, when Cicero thought it +as well to run off lest he should be hurt in the tumult.[10] What hope +could there be for an oligarchy when such things occurred in the Senate? +Cicero in this letter speaks complacently of resisting force by force in +the city. Even Cato, the law-abiding, precise Cato, thought it necessary +to fall into the fashion and go about Rome with an armed following. He +bought a company of gladiators and circus-men; but was obliged to sell +them, as Cicero tells his brother with glee, because he could not afford +to feed them.[11] + +There are seven letters also to Atticus--always more interesting than +any of the others. There is in these the most perfect good-feeling, so +that we may know that the complaints made by him in his exile had had no +effect of estranging his friend; and we learn from them his real, +innermost thoughts, as they are not given even to his brother--as +thoughts have surely seldom been confided by one man of action to +another. Atticus had complained that he had not been allowed to see a +certain letter which Cicero had written to Caesar. This he had called a +[Greek: palinodia], or recantation, and it had been addressed to Caesar +with the view of professing a withdrawal to some extent of his +opposition to the Triumvirate. It had been of sufficient moment to be +talked about. Atticus had heard of it, and had complained that it had +not been sent to him. Cicero puts forward his excuses, and then bursts +out with the real truth: + +"Why should I nibble round the unpalatable morsel which has to be +swallowed?" The recantation had seemed to himself to be almost base, and +he had been ashamed of it. "But," says he, "farewell to all true, +upright, honest policy. You could hardly believe what treachery there is +in those who ought to be our leading men, and who would be so if there +was any truth in them."[12] He does not rely upon those who, if they +were true to their party, would enable the party to stand firmly even +against Caesar. Therefore it becomes necessary for him to truckle to +Caesar, not for himself but for his party. Unsupported he cannot stand in +open hostility to Caesar. He truckles. He writes to Caesar, singing +Caesar's praises. It is for the party rather than for himself, but yet he +is ashamed of it. + +There is a letter to Lucceius, an historian of the day then much thought +of, of whom however our later world has heard nothing. Lucceius is +writing chronicles of the time, and Cicero boldly demands to be praised. +"Ut ornes mea postulem"[13]--"I ask you to praise me." But he becomes +much bolder than that. "Again and again I beseech you, without any +beating about the bush, to speak more highly of me than you perhaps +think that I deserve, even though in doing so you abandon all the laws +of history." Then he uses beautiful flattery to his correspondent. +Alexander had wished to be painted only by Apelles. He desires to be +praised by none but Lucceius. Lucceius, we are told, did as he was +asked. + +[Sidenote: B.C. 56, aetat. 51.] + +I will return to the speeches of the period to which this chapter is +devoted, taking that first which he made to the Senate as to the report +of the soothsayers respecting certain prodigies. Readers familiar with +Livy will remember how frequently, in time of disaster, the anger of +Heaven was supposed to have been shown by signs and miracles, +indications that the gods were displeased, and that expiations were +necessary.[14] The superstition, as is the fate of all superstitions, +had frequently been used for most ungodlike purposes. If a man had a +political enemy, what could do him better service than to make the +populace believe that a house had been crushed by a thunder-bolt, or +that a woman had given birth to a pig instead of a child, because +Jupiter had been offended by that enemy's devices? By using such a plea +the Grecians got into Troy, together with the wooden horse, many years +ago. The Scotch worshippers of the Sabbath declared the other day, when +the bridge over the Tay was blown away, that the Lord had interposed to +prevent travelling on Sunday! + +Cicero had not been long back from his exile when the gods began to show +their anger. A statue of Juno twisted itself half round; a wolf had been +seen in the city; three citizens were struck with lightning; arms were +heard to clang, and then wide subterranean noises. Nothing was easier +than the preparation and continuing of such portents. For many years +past the heavens above and the earth beneath had been put into +requisition for prodigies.[15] The soothsayers were always well pleased +to declare that there had been some neglect of the gods. It is in the +nature of things that the superstitious tendencies of mankind shall fall +a prey to priestcraft. The quarrels between Cicero and Clodius were as +full of life as ever. In this year, Clodius being AEdile, there had come +on debates as to a law passed by Caesar as Consul, in opposition to +Bibulus, for the distribution of lands among the citizens. There was a +question as to a certain tax which was to be levied on these lands. The +tax-gatherers were supported by Cicero, and denounced by Clodius. Then +Clodius and his friends found out that the gods were showering their +anger down upon the city because the ground on which Cicero's house had +once stood was being desecrated by its re-erection. An appeal was made +to the soothsayers. They reported, and Cicero rejoined. The soothsayers +had of course been mysterious and doubtful. Cicero first shows that the +devotion of his ground to sacred purposes had been an absurdity, and +then he declares that the gods are angry, not with him but with Clodius. +To say that the gods were not angry at all was more than Cicero dared. +The piece, taken as a morsel of declamatory art, is full of vigor, is +powerful in invective, and carries us along in full agreement with the +orator; but at the conclusion we are led to wish that Cicero could have +employed his intellect on higher matters. + +There are, however, one or two passages which draw the reader into deep +mental inquiry as to the religious feelings of the time. In one, which +might have been written by Paley, Cicero declares his belief in the +creative power of some god--or gods, as he calls them.[16] And we see +also the perverse dealings of the Romans with these gods, dealings +which were very troublesome--not to be got over except by stratagem. The +gods were made use of by one party and the other for dishonest state +purposes. When Cicero tells his hearers what the gods intended to +signify by making noises in the sky, and other divine voices, we feel +sure that he was either hoaxing them who heard him or saying what he +knew they would not believe. + +[Sidenote: B.C. 56, aetat. 51.] + +Previous to the speech as to the "aruspices," he had defended +Sextius--or Sestius, as he is frequently called--on a charge brought +against him by Clodius in respect of violence. We at once think of the +commonplace from Juvenal: + + "Quis tulerit Gracchos de seditione querentes." + +But Rome, without remonstrating, put up with any absurdity of that kind. +Sextius and Milo and others had been joined together in opposing the +election of Clodius as AEdile, and had probably met violence with +violence. As surely as an English master of hounds has grooms and whips +ready at his command, Milo had a band of bullies prepared for violence. +Clodius himself had brought an action against Milo, who was defended by +Pompey in person. The case against Sextius was intrusted to Albinovanus, +and Hortensius undertook the defence. Sextius before had been one of the +most forward in obtaining the return of Cicero, and had travelled into +Gaul to see Caesar and to procure Caesar's assent. Caesar had not then +assented; but not the less great had been the favor conferred by Sextius +on Cicero. Cicero had been grateful, but it seems that Sextius had +thought not sufficiently grateful; hence there had grown up something of +a quarrel. But Cicero, when he heard of the proceeding against his old +friend, at once offered his assistance. For a Roman to have more than +one counsel to plead for him was as common as for an Englishman. Cicero +was therefore added to Hortensius, and the two great advocates of the +day spoke on the same side. We are told that Hortensius managed the +evidence, showing, probably, that Clodius struck the first blow. Cicero +then addressed the judges with the object of gaining their favor for the +accused. In this he was successful, and Sextius was acquitted. As +regards Sextius and his quarrel with Clodius, the oration has but little +interest for us. There is not, indeed, much about Sextius in it. It is a +continuation of the paean which Cicero was still singing as to his own +return, but it is distinguished from his former utterances by finer +thought and finer language. The description of public virtue as +displayed by Cato has perhaps, in regard to melody of words and grandeur +of sentiment, never been beaten. I give the orator's words below in his +own language, because in no other way can any idea of the sound be +conveyed.[17] There is, too, a definition made very cleverly to suit his +own point of view between the conservatives and the liberals of the day. +"Optimates" is the name by which the former are known; the latter are +called "Populares."[18] + +Attached to this speech for Sextius is a declamation against Vatinius, +who was one of the witnesses employed by the prosecutor. Instead of +examining this witness regularly, he talked him down by a separate +oration. We have no other instance of such a forensic manoeuvre either +in Cicero's practice or in our accounts of the doings of other Roman +advocates. This has reached us as a separate oration. It is a coarse +tirade of abuse against a man whom we believe to have been bad, but as +to whom we feel that we are not justified in supposing that we can get +his true character here. He was a creature of Caesar's, and Cicero was +able to say words as to Vatinius which he was unwilling to speak as to +Caesar and his doings. It must be added here that two years later Cicero +pleaded for this very Vatinius, at the joint request of Caesar and +Pompey, when Vatinius on leaving the Praetorship was accused of +corruption. + +[Sidenote: B.C. 56, aetat. 51.] + +The nature of the reward to which the aspiring oligarch of Rome always +turned his eyes has been sufficiently explained. He looked to be the +governor of a province. At this period of which we are speaking there +was no reticence in the matter. Syria, or Macedonia, or Hispania had +been the prize, or Sicily, or Sardinia. It was quite understood that an +aspiring oligarch went through the dust and danger and expense of +political life in order that at last he might fill his coffers with +provincial plunder. There were various laws as to which these +governments were allotted to the plunderers. Of these we need only +allude to the Leges Semproniae, or laws proposed B.C. 123, by Caius +Sempronius Gracchus, for the distribution of those provinces which were +to be enjoyed by Proconsuls. There were praetorian provinces and consular +provinces, though there was no law making it sure that any province +should be either consular or praetorian. But the Senate, without the +interference of the people and free from the Tribunes' veto, had the +selection of provinces for the Consuls; whereas, for those intended for +the Praetors, the people had the right of voting and the Tribunes of the +people had a right of putting a veto on the propositions made. Now, in +this year there came before the Senate a discussion as to the fate of +three Proconsuls--not as to the primary allocation of provinces to +them, but on the question whether they should be continued in the +government which they held. Piso was in Macedonia, where he was supposed +to have disgraced himself and the Empire which he served. Gabinius was +in Syria, where it was acknowledged that he had done good service, +though his own personal character stood very low. Caesar was lord in the +two Gauls--that is, on both sides of the Alps, in Northern Italy, and in +that portion of modern France along the Mediterranean which had been +already colonized--and was also governor of Illyricum. He had already +made it manifest to all men that the subjugation of a new empire was his +object rather than provincial plunder. Whether we love the memory of +Caesar as of a great man who showed himself fit to rule the world, or +turn away from him as from one who set his iron heel on the necks of +men, and by doing so retarded for centuries the liberties of mankind, we +have to admit that he rose by the light of his own genius altogether +above the ambition of his contemporaries. If we prefer, as I do, the +humanity of Cicero, we must confess to ourselves the supremacy of Caesar, +and acknowledge ourselves to belong to the beaten cause. "Victrix causa +Deis placuit; sed victa Catoni." In discussing the fate of these +proconsular officials we feel now the absurdity of mixing together in +the same debate the name of Piso and Gabinius with that of Caesar. Yet +such was the subject in dispute when Cicero made his speech, De +Provinciis Consularibus, as to the adjudication of the consular +provinces. + +There was a strong opinion among many Senators that Caesar should be +stopped in his career. I need not here investigate the motives, either +great or little, on which this opinion was founded. There was hardly a +Senator among them who would not have wished Caesar to be put down, +though there were many who did not dare declare their wishes. There were +reasons for peculiar jealousy on the part of the Senate. Cisalpine Gaul +had been voted for him by the intervention of the people, and especially +by that of the Tribune Vatinius--to Caesar who was Consularis, whose +reward should have been an affair solely for the Senate. Then there had +arisen a demand, a most unusual demand, for the other Gaul also. The +giving of two provinces to one governor was altogether contrary to the +practice of the State; but so was the permanent and acknowledged +continuance of a conspiracy such as the Triumvirate unusual. Caesar +himself was very unusual. Then the Senate, feeling that the second +province would certainly be obtained, and anxious to preserve some shred +of their prerogative, themselves voted the Farther Gaul. As it must be +done, let it at any rate be said that they had done it. But as they had +sent Caesar over the Alps so they could recall him, or try to recall him. +Therefore, with the question as to Piso and Gabinius, which really meant +nothing, came up this also as to Caesar, which meant a great deal. + +But Caesar had already done great things in Gaul. He had defeated the +Helvetians and driven Ariovistus out of the country. He had carried +eight legions among the distant Belgae, and had conquered the Nervii. In +this very year he had built a huge fleet, and had destroyed the Veneti, +a seafaring people on the coast of the present Brittany. The more +powerful he showed himself to be, the more difficult it was to recall +him; but also the more desirable in the eyes of many. In the first +portion of his speech Cicero handles Piso and Gabinius with his usual +invective. There was no considerable party desirous of renewing to them +their governments, but Cicero always revelled in the pleasure of abusing +them. He devotes by far the longer part of his oration to the merit of +Caesar.[19] As for recalling him, it would be irrational. Who had counted +more enemies in Rome than Marius? but did they recall Marius when he +was fighting for the Republic?[20] Hitherto the Republic had been forced +to fear the Gauls. Rome had always been on the defence against them. Now +it had been brought about by Caesar that the limits of the world were the +limits of the Roman Empire.[21] The conquest was not yet finished, but +surely it should be left to him who had begun it so well. Even though +Caesar were to demand to return himself, thinking that he had done enough +for his own glory, it would be for the Senators to restrain him--for the +Senate to bid him finish the work that he had in hand.[22] As for +himself, continued Cicero, if Caesar had been his enemy, what of that? +Caesar was not his enemy now. He had told the Senate what offers of +employment Caesar had made him. If he could not forget, yet he would +forgive, former injuries.[23] + +It is important for the reading of Cicero's character that we should +trace the meaning of his utterances about Caesar from this time up to the +day on which Caesar was killed--his utterances in public, and those which +are found in his letters to Atticus and his brother. That there was much +of pretence--of falsehood, if a hard word be necessary to suit the +severity of those who judge the man hardly--is admitted. How he praised +Pompey in public, dispraising him in private, at one and the same +moment, has been declared. How he applied for praise, whether deserved +or not, has been shown. In excuse, not in defence, of this I allege that +the Romans of the day were habitually false after this fashion. The +application to Lucceius proves the habitual falseness not of Cicero +only, but of Lucceius also; and the private words written to Atticus, in +opposition to the public words with which Atticus was well acquainted, +prove the falseness also of Atticus. It was Roman; it was Italian; it +was cosmopolitan; it was human. I only wish that it were possible to +declare that it is no longer Italian, no longer cosmopolitan, no longer +human. To this day it is very difficult even for an honorable man to +tell the whole truth in the varying circumstances of public life. The +establishment of even a theory of truth, with all the advantages which +have come to us from Christianity, has been so difficult, hitherto so +imperfect, that we ought, I think, to consider well the circumstances +before we stigmatize Cicero as specially false. To my reading he seems +to have been specially true. When Caesar won his way up to power, Cicero +was courteous to him, flattered him, and, though, never subservient, yet +was anxious to comply when compliance was possible. Nevertheless, we +know well that the whole scheme of Caesar's political life was opposed to +the scheme entertained by Cicero. It was Cicero's desire to maintain as +much as he could of the old form of oligarchical rule under which, as a +constitution, the Roman Empire had been created. It was Caesar's +intention to sweep it all away. We can see that now; but Cicero could +only see it in part. To his outlook the man had some sense of order, and +had all the elements of greatness. He was better, at any rate, than a +Verres, a Catiline, a Clodius, a Piso, or a Gabinius. If he thought that +by flattery he could bring Caesar somewhat round, there might be conceit +in his so thinking, but there could be no treachery. In doing so he did +not abandon his political _beau ideal_. If better times came, or a +better man, he would use them. In the mean time he could do more by +managing Caesar than by opposing him. He was far enough from succeeding +in the management of Caesar, but he did do much in keeping his party +together. It was in this spirit that he advocated before the Senate the +maintenance of Caesar's authority in the two Gauls. The Senate decreed +the withdrawal of Piso and Gabinius, but decided to leave Caesar where he +was. Mommsen deals very hardly with Cicero as to this period of his +life. "They used him accordingly as--what he was good for--an advocate." +"Cicero himself had to thank his literary reputation for the respectful +treatment which he experienced from Caesar." The question we have to ask +ourselves is whether he did his best to forward that scheme of politics +which he thought to be good for the Republic. To me it seems that he did +do so. He certainly did nothing with the object of filling his own +pockets. I doubt whether as much can be said with perfect truth as to +any other Roman of the period, unless it be Cato. + +Balbus, for whom Cicero also spoke in this year, was a Spaniard of +Cadiz, to whom Pompey had given the citizenship of Rome, who had become +one of Caesar's servants and friends, and whose citizenship was now +disputed. Cicero pleaded in favor of the claim, and gained his cause. +There were, no doubt, certain laws in accordance with which Balbus was +or was not a citizen; but Cicero here says that because Balbus was a +good man, therefore there should be no question as to his +citizenship.[24] This could hardly be a good legal argument. But we are +glad to have the main principles of Roman citizenship laid down for us +in this oration. A man cannot belong to more than one State at a time. A +man cannot be turned out of his State against his will. A man cannot be +forced to remain in his State against his will.[25] This Balbus was +acknowledged as a Roman, rose to be one of Caesar's leading ministers, +and was elected Consul of the Empire B.C. 40. Thirty-four years +afterward his nephew became Consul. Nearly three centuries after that, +A.D. 237, a descendant of Balbus was chosen as Emperor, under the name +of Balbinus, and is spoken of by Gibbon with eulogy.[26] + +I know no work on Cicero written more pleasantly, or inspired by a +higher spirit of justice, than that of Gaston Boissier, of the French +Academy, called Ciceron et ses Amis. Among his chapters one is devoted +to Cicero's remarkable intimacy with Caelius, which should be read by all +who wish to study Cicero. We have now come to the speech which he made +in this year in defence of Caelius. Caelius had entered public life very +early, as the son of a rich citizen who was anxious that his heir should +be enabled to shine as well by his father's wealth as by his own +intellect. When he was still a boy, according to our ideas of boyhood, +he was apprenticed to Cicero,[27] as was customary, in order that he +might pick up the crumbs which fell from the great man's table. It was +thus that a young man would hear what was best worth hearing; thus he +would become acquainted with those who were best worth knowing; thus +that he would learn in public life all that was best worth learning. +Caelius heard all, and knew many, and learned much; but he perhaps +learned too much at too early an age. He became bright and clever, but +unruly and dissipated. Cicero, however, loved him well. He always liked +the society of bright young men, and could forgive their morals if their +wit were good. Clodius--even Clodius, young Curio, Caelius and afterward +Dolabella, were companions with whom he loved to associate. When he was +in Cilicia, as Proconsul, this Caelius became almost a second Atticus to +him, in the writing of news from Rome. + +But Caelius had become one of Clodia's many lovers, and seems for a time +to have been the first favorite, to the detriment of poor Catullus. The +rich father had, it seems, quarrelled with his son, and Caelius was in +want of money. He borrowed it from Clodia, and then, without paying his +debt, treated Clodia as she had treated Catullus. The lady tried to get +her money back, and when she failed she accused her former lover of an +attempt to poison her. This she did so that Caelius was tried for the +offence. There were no less than four accusers, or advocates, on her +behalf, of whom her brother was one. Caelius was defended by Crassus as +well as by Cicero, and was acquitted. All these cases combined +political views with criminal charges. Caelius was declared to have been +a Catilinian conspirator. He was also accused of being in debt, of +having quarrelled with his father, of having insulted women, of having +beaten a Senator, of having practised bribery, of having committed +various murders, and of having perpetrated all social and political +excesses to which his enemies could give a name. It was probable that +his life had been very irregular, but it was not probably true that he +had attempted to poison Clodia. + +The speech is very well worth the trouble of reading. It is lively, +bright, picturesque, and argumentative; and it tells the reader very +much of the manners of Rome at the time. It has been condemned for a +passage which, to my taste, is the best in the whole piece. Cicero takes +upon himself to palliate the pleasures of youth, and we are told that a +man so grave, so pure, so excellent in his own life, should not have +condescended to utter sentiments so lax in defence of so immoral a young +friend. I will endeavor to translate a portion of the passage, and I +think that any ladies who may read these pages will agree with me in +liking Cicero the better for what he said upon the occasion. He has been +speaking of the changes which the manners of the world had undergone, +not only in Rome but in Greece, since pleasure had been acknowledged +even by philosophers to be necessary to life. "They who advocate one +constant course of continual labor as the road to fame are left alone in +their schools, deserted by their scholars. Nature herself has begotten +for us allurements, seduced by which Virtue herself will occasionally +become drowsy. Nature herself leads the young into slippery paths, in +which not to stumble now and again is hardly possible. Nature has +produced for us a variety of pleasures, to which not only youth, but +even middle-age, occasionally yields itself. If, therefore, you shall +find one who can avert his eyes from all that is beautiful--who is +charmed by no sweet smell, by no soft touch, by no rich flavor--who can +turn a deaf ear to coaxing words--I indeed, and perhaps a few others, +may think that the gods have been good to such a one; but I doubt +whether the world at large will not think that the gods have made him a +sorry fellow." There is very much more of it, delightfully said, and in +the same spirit; but I have given enough to show the nature of the +excuse for Caelius which has brought down on Cicero the wrath of the +moralists. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +_CICERO, AETAT._ 52, 53, 54. + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 55, aetat. 52.] + +I can best continue my record of Cicero's life for this and the two +subsequent years by following his speeches and his letters. It was at +this period the main object of his political life to reconcile the +existence of a Caesar with that of a Republic--two poles which could not +by any means be brought together. Outside of his political life he +carried on his profession as an advocate with all his former energy, +with all his former bitterness, with all his old friendly zeal, but +never, I think, with his former utility. His life with his friends and +his family was prosperous; but that ambition to do some great thing for +his country which might make his name more famous than that of other +Romans was gradually fading, and, as it went, was leaving regrets and +remorse behind which would not allow him to be a happy man. But it was +now, when he had reached his fifty-second year, that he in truth began +that career in literature which has made him second to no Roman in +reputation. There are some early rhetorical essays, which were taken +from the Greek, of doubtful authenticity; there are the few lines which +are preserved of his poetry; there are the speeches which he wrote as +well as spoke for the Rome of the day; and there are his letters, which +up to this time had been intended only for his correspondents. All that +we have from his pen up to this time has been preserved for us by the +light of those great works which he now commenced. In this year, B.C. +55, there appeared the dialogue De Oratore, and in the next the treatise +De Republica. It was his failure as a politician which in truth drove +Cicero to the career of literature. As I intend to add to this second +volume a few chapters as to his literary productions, I will only +mention the dates on which these dialogues and treatises were given to +the world as I go on with my work. + +In the year B.C. 55, the two of the Triumvirate who had been left in +Rome, Pompey and Crassus, were elected Consuls, and provinces were +decreed to each of them for five years--to Pompey the two Spains, and to +Crassus that Syria which was to be so fatal to him. All this had been +arranged at Lucca, in the north of Italy, whither Caesar was able to come +as being within the bounds of his province, to meet his friends from +Rome--or his enemies. All aristocratic Rome went out in crowds to Lucca, +so that two hundred Senators might be seen together in the streets of +that provincial town. It was nevertheless near enough to Rome to permit +the conqueror from Gaul to look closely into the politics of the city. +By his permission, if not at his instigation, Pompey and Crassus had +been chosen Consuls, and to himself was conceded the government of his +own province for five further years--that is, down to year B.C. 49 +inclusive. It must now at least have become evident to Cicero that Caesar +intended to rule the Empire. + +Though we already have Cicero's letters arranged for us in a +chronological sequence which may be held to be fairly correct for +biographical purposes, still there is much doubt remaining as to the +exact periods at which many of them were written. Abeken, the German +biographer, says that this year, B.C. 55, produced twelve letters. In +the French edition of Cicero's works published by Panckoucke thirty-five +are allotted to it. Mr. Watson, in his selected letters, has not taken +one from the year in question. Mr. Tyrrell, who has been my Mentor +hitherto in regard to the correspondence, has not, unfortunately, +published the result of his labors beyond the year 53 B.C. at the time +of my present writing. Some of those who have dealt with Cicero's life +and works, and have illustrated them by his letters, have added +something to the existing confusion by assuming an accuracy of knowledge +in this respect which has not existed. We have no right to quarrel with +them for having done so; certainly not with Middleton, as in his time +such accuracy was less valued by readers than it is now; and we have the +advantage of much light which, though still imperfect, is very bright in +comparison with that enjoyed by him. A study of the letters, however, in +the sequence now given to them affords an accurate picture of Cicero's +mind during the years between the period of his return from exile B.C. +57 and Milo's trial B.C. 52, although the reader may occasionally be +misled as to the date of this or the other letter. + +With the dates of his speeches, at any rate with the year in which they +were made, we are better acquainted. They are of course much fewer in +number, and are easily traced by the known historical circumstances of +the time. B.C. 55, he made that attack upon his old enemy, the late +Consul Piso, which is perhaps the most egregious piece of abuse extant +in any language. Even of this we do not know the precise date, but we +may be sure that it was spoken early in the year, because Cicero alludes +in it to Pompey's great games which were in preparation, and which were +exhibited when Pompey's new theatre was opened in May.[28] Plutarch +tells us that they did not take place till the beginning of the +following year.[29] Piso on his return from Macedonia attacked Cicero in +the Senate in answer to all the hard things that had already been said +of him, and Cicero, as Middleton says, "made a reply to him on the spot +in an invective speech, the severest, perhaps, that ever was spoken by +any man, on the person, the parts, the whole life and conduct of Piso, +which as long as the Roman name subsists must deliver down a most +detestable character of him to all posterity." + +We are here asked to imagine that this attack was delivered on the spur +of the moment in answer to Piso's attack. I cannot believe that it +should have been so, however great may have been the orator's power over +thoughts and words. We have had in our own days wonderful instances of +ready and indignant reply made instantaneously, but none in which the +angry eloquence has risen to such a power as is here displayed. We +cannot but suppose that had human intellect ever been perfect enough for +such an exertion, it would have soared high enough also to have +abstained from it. It may have been that Cicero knew well enough +beforehand what the day was about to produce, so as to have prepared his +reply. It may well have been that he himself undertook the polishing of +his speech before it was given to the public in the words which we now +read. We may, I think, take it for granted that Piso did make an attack +upon him, and that Cicero answered him at once with words which crushed +him, and which are not unfairly represented by those which have come +down to us. + +The imaginative reader will lose himself in wonder as he pictures to +himself the figure of the pretentious Proconsul, with his assumption of +confidence, as he was undergoing the castigation which this great master +of obloquy was inflicting upon him, and the figure of the tall, lean +orator, with his long neck and keen eyes, with his arms trained to +assist his voice, managing his purple bordered toga with a perfect +grace, throwing all his heart into his impassioned words as they fell +into the ears of the Senators around him without the loss of a syllable. +This Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoronius had come from one of the highest +families in Rome, and had possessed interest enough to be elected +Consul for the year in which Cicero was sent into banishment.[30] He was +closely connected with that Piso Frugi to whom Cicero's daughter had +been married; and Cicero, when he was threatened by the faction of +Clodius--a faction which he did not then believe to be supported by the +Triumvirate--had thought that he was made safe, at any rate, from cruel +results by consular friendship and consular protection. Piso Caesoronius +had failed him altogether, saying, in answer to Cicero's appeal, that +the times were of such a nature that every one must look to himself. The +nature of Cicero's rage may be easily conceived. An attempt to describe +it has already been made. It was not till after his Consulate that he +was ever waked to real anger, and the one object whom he most entirely +hated with his whole soul was Lucius Piso. + +By the strength of Cicero's eloquence this man has occupied an +immortality of meanness. We cannot but believe that he must have in some +sort deserved it, or the justice of the world would have vindicated his +character. It should, however, be told of him that three years afterward +he was chosen Censor, together with Appius Claudius. But it must also be +told that, as far as we can judge, both these men were unworthy of the +honor. They were the last two Censors elected in Rome before the days of +the Empire. It is impossible not to believe that Piso was vile, but +impossible also to believe that he was as vile as Cicero represented +him. Caesar was at this time his son-in-law, as he was father to +Calphurnia, with whom Shakspeare has made us familiar. I do not know +that Caesar took in bad part the hard things that were said of his +father-in-law. + +The first part of the speech is lost. The first words we know because +they have been quoted by Quintilian, "Oh ye gods immortal, what day is +this which has shone upon me at last?"[31] We may imagine from this +that Cicero intended it to be understood that he exulted in the coming +of his revenge. The following is a fair translation of the opening +passage of what remains to us: "Beast that you are, do you not see, do +you not perceive, how odious to the men around you is that face of +yours?" Then with rapid words he heaps upon the unfortunate man +accusations of personal incompetencies. Nobody complains, says Cicero, +that that fellow of yesterday, Gabinius, should have been made Consul: +we have not been deceived in him. "But your eyes and eyebrows, your +forehead, that face of yours, which should be the dumb index of the mind +within, have deceived those who have not known you. Few of us only have +been aware of your infamous vices, the sloth of your intellect, your +dulness, your inability to speak. When was your voice heard in the +Forum? when has your counsel been put to the proof? when did you do any +service either in peace or war? You have crept into your high place by +the mistakes of men, by the regard to the dirty images of your +ancestors, to whom you have no resemblance except in their present grimy +color. And shall he boast to me," says the orator, turning from Piso to +the audience around, "that he has gone on without a check from one step +in the magistracy to another? That is a boast for me to make, for +me--"homini novo"--a man without ancestors, on whom the Roman people has +showered all its honors. You were made AEdile, you say; the Roman people +choose a Piso for their AEdile--not this man from any regard for himself, +but because he is a Piso. The Praetorship was conferred not on you but on +your ancestors who were known and who were dead! Of you, who are alive +no one has known anything. But me--!" Then he continues the contrast +between himself and Piso; for the speech is as full of his own merits as +of the other man's abominations. + +So the oration goes on to the end. He asserts, addressing himself to +Piso, that if he saw him and Gabinius crucified together, he did not +know whether he would be most delighted by the punishment inflicted on +their bodies or by the ruin of their reputation. He declares that he has +prayed for all evil on Piso and Gabinius, and that the gods have heard +him, but it has not been for death, or sickness, or for torment, that he +had prayed, but for such evils as have in truth come upon them. Two +Consuls sent with large armies into two of the grandest provinces have +returned with disgrace. That one--meaning Piso--has not dared even to +send home an account of his doings; and the other--Gabinius--has not had +his words credited by the Senate, nor any of his requests granted! He +Cicero, had hardly dared to hope for all this, but the gods had done it +for him! The most absurd passage is that in which he tells Piso that, +having lost his army--which he had done--he had brought back nothing in +safety but that "old impudent face of his."[32] Altogether it is a +tirade of abuse very inferior to Cicero's dignity. Le Clerc, the French +critic and editor, speaks the truth when he says, "Il faut avouer qu'il +manque surtout de moderation, et que la gravite d'un orateur consulaire +y fait trop souvent place a l'emportement d'un ennemi." It is, however, +full of life, and amusing as an expression of honest hatred. The reader +when reading it will of course remember that Roman manners allowed a +mode of expression among the upper classes which is altogether denied to +those among us who hope to be regarded as gentlemen. + +The games in Pompey's theatre, to the preparation of which Cicero +alludes in his speech against Piso, are described by him with his usual +vivacity and humor in a letter written immediately after them to his +friend Marius. Pompey's games, with which he celebrated his second +Consulship, seem to have been divided between the magnificent theatre +which he had just built--fragments of which still remain to us--and the +"circus maximus." This letter from Cicero is very interesting, as +showing the estimation in which these games were held, or were supposed +to be held, by a Roman man of letters, and as giving us some description +of what was done on the occasion. Marius had not come to Rome to see +them, and Cicero writes as though his friend had despised them. Cicero +himself, having been in Rome, had of course witnessed them. To have been +in Rome and not to have seen them would have been quite out of the +question. Not to come to Rome from a distance was an eccentricity. He +congratulated Marius for not having come, whether it was that he was +ill, or that the whole thing was too despicable: "You in the early +morning have been looking out upon your view over the bay while we have +been staring at puppets half asleep. Most costly games, but I should +say--judging of you by myself--that they would have been quite revolting +to you. Poor AEsopus was there acting, but so unfitted by age that all +his friends could not but wish that he had desisted. Why should I tell +you of it all? The very costliness of the affair took away all the +pleasure. Six hundred mules on the stage in the acting of Clytemnestra, +or three thousand golden goblets in The Trojan Horse--what delight could +they give you? If your slave Protogenes was reading to you something--so +that it were not one of my speeches--you were better off at any rate +than we. There were two marvellous slaughterings of beasts which lasted +for five days. Nobody denies but that they were very grand. But what +pleasure can there be to a man of letters[33] when some weak human +creature is destroyed by a sturdy beast, or when some lonely animal is +pierced through by a hunting-spear. The last day was the day of +elephants, in which there could be no delight except to the vulgar +crowd. You could not but pity them, feeling that the poor brutes had +something in common with humanity." In these combats were killed twenty +elephants and two hundred lions. The bad taste and systematical +corruption of Rome had reached its acme when this theatre was opened and +these games displayed by Pompey. + +He tells Atticus,[34] in a letter written about this time, that he is +obliged to write to him by the hand of a secretary; from which we gather +that such had not been, at any rate, his practice. He is every day in +the Forum, making speeches; and he had already composed the dialogues De +Oratore, and had sent them to Lentulus. Though he was no longer in +office, his time seems to have been as fully occupied as when he was +Praetor or Consul. + +We have records of at least a dozen speeches, made B.C. 55 and B.C. 54, +between that against Piso and the next that is extant, which was +delivered in defence of Plancius. He defended Cispius, but Cispius was +convicted. He defended Caninius Gallus, of whom we may presume that he +was condemned and exiled, because Cicero found him at Athens on his way +to Cilicia, Athens being the place to which exiled Roman oligarchs +generally betook themselves.[35] In this letter to his young friend +Caelius he speaks of the pleasure he had in meeting with Caninius at +Athens; but in the letter to Marius which I have quoted he complains of +the necessity which has befallen him of defending the man. The heat of +the summer of this year he passed in the country, but on his return to +the city in November he found Crassus defending his old enemy Gabinius. +Gabinius had crept back from his province into the city, and had been +received with universal scorn and a shower of accusations. Cicero at +first neither accused nor defended him, but, having been called on as a +witness, seems to have been unable to refrain from something of the +severity with which he had treated Piso. There was at any rate a passage +of arms in which Gabinius called him a banished criminal.[36] The Senate +then rose as one body to do honor to their late exile. He was, however, +afterward driven by the expostulations of Pompey to defend the man. At +his first trial Gabinius was acquitted, but was convicted and banished +when Cicero defended him. Cicero suffered very greatly in the constraint +thus put upon him by Pompey, and refused Pompey till Caesar's request was +added. We can imagine that nothing was more bitter to him than the +obligation thus forced upon him. We have nothing of the speech left, but +can hardly believe that it was eloquent. From this, however, there rose +a reconciliation between Crassus and Cicero, both Caesar and Pompey +having found it to their interest to interfere. As a result of this, +early in the next year Cicero defended Crassus in the Senate, when an +attempt was made to rob the late Consul of his coveted mission to Syria. +Of what he did in this respect he boasts in a letter to Crassus,[37] +which, regarded from our point of view, would no doubt be looked upon as +base. He despised Crassus, and here takes credit for all the fine things +he had said of him; but we have no right to think that Cicero could have +been altogether unlike a Roman. He speaks also in the Senate on behalf +of the people of Tenedos, who had brought their immunities and +privileges into question by some supposed want of faith. All we know of +this speech is that it was spoken in vain. He pleaded against an Asiatic +king, Antiochus of Comagene, who was befriended by Pompey, but Cicero +seems to have laughed him out of some of his petty possessions.[38] He +spoke for the inhabitants of Reate on some question of water-privilege +against the Interamnates. Interamna we now know as Terne, where a modern +Pope made a lovely water-fall, and at the same time rectified the +water-privileges of the surrounding district. Cicero went down to its +pleasant Tempe, as he calls it, and stayed there awhile with one +Axius.[39] He returned thence to Rome to undertake some case for +Fonteius, and attended the games which Milo was giving, Milo having been +elected AEdile. Here we have a morsel of dramatic criticism on Antiphon +the actor and Arbuscula the actress, which reminds one of Pepys. Then he +defended Messius, then Drusus, then Scaurus. He mentions all these cases +in the same letter, but so slightly that we cannot trouble ourselves +with their details. We only feel that he was kept as busy as a London +barrister in full practice. He also defended Vatinius--that Vatinius +with whose iniquities he had been so indignant at the trial of Sextius. +He defended him twice at the instigation of Caesar; and he does not seem +to have suffered in doing so, as he had certainly done when called upon +to stand up and plead for his late consular enemy, Gabinius. Valerius +Maximus, a dull author, often quoted but seldom read, whose task it was +to give instances of all the virtues and vices produced by mankind, +refers to these pleadings for Gabinius and Vatinius as instances of an +almost divine forgiveness of injury.[40] I think we must seek for the +good, if good is to be discovered in the proceeding, in the presumed +strength which might be added to the Republic by friendly relations +between himself and Caesar. + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, aetat. 53.] + +In the spring of the year we find Cicero writing to Caesar in apparently +great intimacy. He recommends to Caesar his young friend Trebatius, a +lawyer, who was going to Gaul in search of his fortune, and in doing so +he refers to a joking promise from Caesar that he would make another +friend, whom he had recommended, King of Gaul; or, if not that, foreman +at least to Lepta, his head of the mechanics. Lepta was an officer in +trust under Caesar, with whose name we become familiar in Cicero's +correspondence, though I do not remember that Caesar ever mentions him. +"Send me some one else that I may show my friendship," Caesar had said, +knowing well that Cicero was worth any price of the kind. Cicero +declares to Caesar that on hearing this he held up his hands in grateful +surprise, and on this account he had sent Trebatius. "Mi Caesar," he +says, writing with all affection; and then he praises Trebatius, +assuring Caesar that he does not recommend the young man loosely, as he +had some other young men who were worthless--such as Milo, for instance. +This results in much good done to Trebatius, though the young man at +first does not like the service with the army. He is a lawyer, and finds +the work in Gaul very rough. Cicero, who is anxious on his behalf, +laughs at him and bids him take the good things that come in his way. In +subsequent years Trebatius was made known to the world as the legal +pundit whom Horace pretends to consult as to the libellous nature of his +satires.[41] + +In September of this year Cicero pleaded in court for his friend Cn. +Plancius, against whom there was brought an accusation that, in +canvassing and obtaining the office of AEdile, he had been guilty of +bribery. In all these accusations, which come before us as having been +either promoted or opposed by Cicero, there is not one in which the +reader sympathizes more strongly with the person accused than in this. +Plancius had shown Cicero during his banishment the affection of a +brother, or almost of a son. Plancius had taken him in and provided for +him in Macedonia, when to do so was illegal. Cicero now took great +delight in returning the favor. The reader of this oration cannot learn +from it that Plancius had in truth done anything illegal. The complaint +really made against him was that he, filling the comparatively humble +position of a knight, had ventured to become the opposing candidate of +such a gallant young aristocrat as M. Juventius Laterensis, who was +beaten at this election, and now brought this action in revenge. There +is no tearing of any enemy to tatters in this oration, but there is much +pathos, and, as was usual with Cicero at this period of his life, an +inordinate amount of self-praise. There are many details as to the way +in which the tribes voted at elections, which the patient and curious +student will find instructive, but which will probably be caviare to all +who are not patient and curious students. There are a few passages of +peculiar force. Addressing himself to the rival of Plancius, he tells +Laterensis that, even though the people might have judged badly in +selecting Plancius, it was not the less his duty to accept the judgment +of the people.[42] Say that the people ought not to have done so; but it +should have been sufficient for him that they had done so. Then he +laughs with a beautiful irony at the pretensions of the accuser. "Let us +suppose that it was so," he says.[43] "Let no one whose family has not +soared above praetorian honors contest any place with one of consular +family. Let no mere knight stand against one with praetorian relations." +In such a case there would be no need of the people to vote at all. +Farther on he gives his own views as to the honors of the State in +language that is very grand. "It has," he says, "been my first endeavor +to deserve the high rank of the State; my second, to have been thought +to deserve it. The rank itself has been but the third object of my +desires."[44] Plancius was acquitted--it seems to us quite as a matter +of course. + +In this perhaps the most difficult period of his existence, when the +organized conspiracy of the day had not as yet overturned the landmarks +of the constitution, he wrote a long letter to his friend Lentulus,[45] +him who had been prominent as Consul in rescuing him from his exile, and +who was now Proconsul in Cilicia. Lentulus had probably taxed him, after +some friendly fashion, with going over from the "optimates" or +Senatorial party to that of the conspirators Pompey, Caesar, and Crassus. +He had been called a deserter for having passed in his earlier years +from the popular party to that of the Senate, and now the leading +optimates were doubtful of him--whether he was not showing himself too +well inclined to do the bidding of the democratic leaders. The one +accusation has been as unfair as the other. In this letter he reminds +Lentulus that a captain in making a port cannot always sail thither in a +straight line, but must tack and haul and use a slant of wind as he can +get it. Cicero was always struggling to make way against a head-wind, +and was running hither and thither in his attempt, in a manner most +perplexing to those who were looking on without knowing the nature of +the winds; but his port was always there, clearly visible to him, if he +could only reach it. That port was the Old Republic, with its well-worn +and once successful institutions. It was not to be "fetched." The winds +had become too perverse, and the entrance had become choked with sand. +But he did his best to fetch it; and, though he was driven hither and +thither in his endeavors, it should be remembered that to lookers-on +such must ever be the appearance of those who are forced to tack about +in search of their port. + +I have before me Mr. Forsyth's elaborate and very accurate account of +this letter. "Now, however," says the biographer, "the future lay dark +before him; and not the most sagacious politician at Rome could have +divined the series of events--blundering weakness on the one side and +unscrupulous ambition on the other--which led to the Dictatorship of +Caesar and the overthrow of the constitution." Nothing can be more true. +Cicero was probably the most sagacious politician in Rome; and he, +though he did understand much of the weakness--and, it should be added, +of the greed--of his own party, did not foresee the point which Caesar +was destined to reach, and which was now probably fixed before Caesar's +own eyes. But I cannot agree with Mr. Forsyth in the result at which he +had arrived when he quoted a passage from one of the notes affixed by +Melmoth to his translation of this letter: "It was fear alone that +determined his resolution; and having once already suffered in the cause +of liberty, he did not find himself to be disposed to be twice its +martyr." I should not have thought these words worthy of refutation had +they not been backed by Mr. Forsyth. How did Cicero show his fear? Had +he feared--as indeed there was cause enough, when it was difficult for a +leading man to keep his throat uncut amid the violence of the times, or +a house over his head--might he not have made himself safe by accepting +Caesar's offers? A Proconsul out of Rome was safe enough, but he would +not be a Proconsul out of Rome till he could avoid it no longer. When +the day of danger came, he joined Pompey's army against Caesar, doubting, +not for his life but for his character, as to what might be the best for +the Republic. He did not fear when Caesar was dead and only Antony +remained. When the hour came in which his throat had to be cut, he did +not fear. When a man has shown such a power of action in the face of +danger as Cicero displayed at forty-four in his Consulship, and again +at sixty-four in his prolonged struggle with Antony, it is contrary to +nature that he should have been a coward at fifty-four. + +And all the evidence of the period is opposed to this theory of +cowardice. There was nothing special for him to fear when Caesar was in +Gaul, and Crassus about to start for Syria, and Pompey for his +provinces. Such was the condition of Rome, social and political, that +all was uncertain and all was dangerous. But men had become used to +danger, and were anxious only, in the general scramble, to get what +plunder might be going. Unlimited plunder was at Cicero's +command--provinces, magistracies, abnormal lieutenancies--but he took +nothing. He even told his friend in joke that he would have liked to be +an augur, and the critics have thereupon concluded that he was ready to +sell his country for a trifle. But he took nothing when all others were +helping themselves. + +The letter to Lentulus is well worth studying, if only as evidence of +the thoughtfulness with which he weighed every point affecting his own +character. He did wish to stand well with the "optimates," of whom +Lentulus was one. He did wish to stand well with Caesar, and with Pompey, +who at this time was Caesar's jackal. He did find the difficulty of +running with the hare and hunting with the hounds. He must have surely +learned at last to hate all compromise. But he had fallen on hard times, +and the task before him was impossible. If, however, his hands were +clean when those of others were dirty, and his motives patriotic while +those of others were selfish, so much ought to be said for him. + +In the same year he defended Rabirius Postumus, and in doing so carried +on the purpose which he had been instigated to undertake by Caesar in +defending Gabinius. This Rabirius was the nephew of him whom ten years +before Cicero had defended when accused of having killed Saturninus. He +was a knight, and, as was customary with the Equites, had long been +engaged in the pursuit of trade, making money by lending money, and +such like. He had, it seems, been a successful man, but, in an evil time +for himself, had come across King Ptolemy Auletes when there was a +question of restoring that wretched sovereign to the throne of Egypt. As +Cicero was not himself much exercised in this matter, I have not +referred to the king and his affairs, wishing as far as possible to +avoid questions which concern the history of Rome rather than the life +of Cicero; but the affairs of this banished king continually come up in +the records of this time. Pompey had befriended Auletes, and Gabinius, +when Proconsul in Syria, had succeeded in restoring the king to his +throne--no doubt in obedience to Pompey, though not in obedience to the +Senate. Auletes, when in Rome, had required large sums of +money--suppliant kings when in the city needed money to buy venal +Senators--and Rabirius had supplied him. The profits to be made from +suppliant kings when in want of money were generally very great, but +this king seems so have got hold of all the money which Rabirius +possessed, so that the knight-banker found himself obliged to become one +of the king's suite when the king went back to take possession of his +kingdom. In no other way could he hang on to the vast debt that was +owing to him. In Egypt he found himself compelled to undergo various +indignities. He became no better than a head-servant among the king's +servants. One of the charges brought against him was that he, a Roman +knight, had allowed himself to be clothed in the half-feminine garb of +an Oriental attendant upon a king. It was also brought against him as +part of the accusation that he had bribed, or had endeavored to bribe, a +certain Senator. The crime nominally laid to the charge of Rabirius was +"de repetundis"--for extorting money in the position of a magistrate. +The money alluded to had been, in truth, extorted by Gabinius from +Ptolemy Auletes as the price paid for his restoration, and had come in +great part probably from out of the pocket of Rabirius himself. Gabinius +had been condemned, and ordered to repay the money. He had none to +repay, and the claim, by some clause in the law to that effect was +transferred to Rabirius as his agent. Rabirius was accused as though he +had extorted the money--which he had in fact lost, but the spirit of the +accusation lay in the idea that he, a Roman knight, had basely subjected +himself to an Egyptian king. That Rabirius had been base and sordid +there can be no doubt. That he was ruined by his transaction with +Auletes is equally certain. It is supposed that he was convicted. He was +afterward employed by Caesar, who, when in power, may have recalled him +from banishment. There are many passages in the oration to which I would +fain refer the reader had I space to do so. I will name only one in +which Cicero endeavors to ingratiate himself with his audience by +referring to the old established Roman hatred of kings: "Who is there +among us who, though he may not have tried them himself, does not know +the ways of kings? 'Listen to me here!' 'Obey my word at once!' 'Speak a +word more than you are told, and you'll see what you'll get!' 'Do that a +second time, and you die!' We should read of such things and look at +them from a distance, not only for our pleasure, but that we may know of +what we have to be aware, and what we ought to avoid."[46] + +There is a letter written in this year to Curio, another young friend +such as Caelius, of whom I have spoken. Curio also was clever, +dissipated, extravagant, and unscrupulous. But at this period of his +life he was attached to Cicero, who was not indifferent to the services +which might accrue to him from friends who might be violent and +unscrupulous on the right side. + +[Sidenote: B.C. 53, aetat. 54.] + +This letter was written to secure Curio's services for another friend +not quite so young, but equally attached, and perhaps of all the Romans +of the time the most unscrupulous and the most violent. This friend was +Milo, who was about to stand for the Consulship of the following year. +Curio was on his road from Asia Minor, where he had been Quaestor, and is +invited by Cicero in language peculiarly pressing to be the leader of +Milo's party on the occasion.[47] We cannot but imagine that the winds +which Curio was called upon to govern were the tornadoes and squalls +which were to be made to rage in the streets of Rome to the great +discomfiture of Milo's enemies during his canvass. To such a state had +Rome come, that for the first six months of this year there were no +Consuls, an election being found to be impossible. Milo had been the +great opponent of Clodius in the city rows which had taken place +previous to the exile of Cicero. The two men are called by Mommsen the +Achilles and the Hector of the streets.[48] Cicero was of course on +Milo's side, as Milo was an enemy to Clodius. In this matter his feeling +was so strong that he declares to Curio that he does not think that the +welfare and fortunes of one man were ever so dear to another as now were +those of Milo to him. Milo's success is the only object of interest he +has in the world. This is interesting to us now as a prelude to the +great trial which was to take place in the next year, when Milo, instead +of being elected Consul, was convicted of murder. + +In the two previous years Caesar had made two invasions into Britain, in +the latter of which Quintus Cicero had accompanied him. Cicero in +various letters alludes to this undertaking, but barely gives it the +importance which we, as Britons, think should have been attached to so +tremendous an enterprise. There might perhaps be some danger, he +thought, in crossing the seas, and encountering the rocky shores of the +island, but there was nothing to be got worth the getting. He tells +Atticus that he can hardly expect any slaves skilled either in music or +letters,[49] and he suggests to Trebatius that, as he will certainly +find neither gold nor slaves, he had better put himself into a British +chariot and come back in it as soon as possible.[50] In this year Caesar +reduced the remaining tribes of Gaul, and crossed the Rhine a second +time. It was his sixth year in Gaul, and men had learned to know what +was his nature. Cicero had discovered his greatness, as also Pompey must +have done, to his great dismay; and he had himself discovered what he +was himself; but two accidents occurred in this year which were perhaps +as important in Roman history as the continuance of Caesar's success. +Julia, Caesar's daughter and Pompey's wife, died in childbed. She seems +to have been loved by all, and had been idolized from the time of the +marriage by her uxorious husband, who was more than twenty-four years +her senior. She certainly had been a strong bond of union between Caesar +and Pompey; so much so that we are surprised that such a feeling should +have been so powerful among the Romans of the time. "Concordiae pignus," +a "pledge of friendship," she is called by Paterculus, who tells us in +the same sentence that the Triumvirate had no other bond to hold it +together.[51] Whether the friendship might have remained valid had Julia +lived we cannot say; but she died, and the two friends became enemies. +From the moment of Julia's death there was no Triumvirate. + +The other accident was equally fatal to the bond of union which had +bound the three men together. Late in the year, after his Consulship, +B.C. 54, Crassus had gone to his Syrian government with the double +intention of increasing his wealth and rivalling the military glories of +Caesar and Pompey. In the following year he became an easy victim to +Eastern deceit, and was destroyed by the Parthians, with his son and the +greater part of the Roman army which had been intrusted to him.[52] We +are told that Crassus at last destroyed himself. I doubt, however, +whether there was enough of patriotism alive among Romans at the time to +create the feeling which so great a loss and so great a shame should +have occasioned. As far as we can learn, the destruction of Crassus and +his legions did not occasion so much thought in Rome as the breaking up +of the Triumvirate. + +Cicero's daughter Tullia was now a second time without a husband. She +was the widow of her first husband Piso; had then, B.C. 56, married +Crassipes, and had been divorced. Of him we have heard nothing, except +that he was divorced. A doubt has been thrown on the fact whether she +was in truth ever married to Crassipes. We learn from letters, both to +his brother and to Atticus, that Cicero was contented with the match, +when it was made, and did his best to give the lady a rich dowry.[53] + +In this year Cicero was elected into the College of Augurs, to fill the +vacancy made by the death of young Crassus, who had been killed with his +father in Parthia. The reader will remember that he had in a joking +manner expressed a desire for the office. He now obtained it without any +difficulty, and certainly without any sacrifice of his principle. It had +formerly been the privilege of the augurs to fill up the vacancies in +their own college, but the right had been transferred to the people. It +was now conferred upon Cicero without serious opposition. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +_MILO._ + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 52, aetat. 55.] + +The preceding year came to an end without any consular election. It was +for the election expected to have taken place that the services of Curio +had been so ardently bespoken by Cicero on behalf of Milo. In order to +impede the election Clodius accused Milo of being in debt, and Cicero +defended him. What was the nature of the accusation we do not exactly +know. "An inquiry into Milo's debts!" Such was the name given to the +pleadings as found with the fragments which have come to us.[54] In +these, which are short and not specially interesting, there is hardly a +word as to Milo's debts; but much abuse of Clodius, with some praise of +Cicero himself, and some praise also of Pompey, who was so soon to take +up arms against Cicero, not metaphorically, but in grim reality of sword +and buckler, in this matter of his further defence of Milo. We cannot +believe that Milo's debts stood in the way of his election, but we know +that at last he was not elected. Early in the year Clodius was killed, +and then, at the suggestion of Bibulus--whom the reader will remember as +the colleague of Caesar in the Consulship when Caesar reduced his +colleague to ridiculous impotence by his violence--Pompey was elected as +sole Consul, an honor which befell no other Roman.[55] The condition of +Rome must have been very low when such a one as Bibulus thought that no +order was possible except by putting absolute power into the hands of +him who had so lately been the partner of Caesar in the conspiracy which +had not even yet been altogether brought to an end. That Bibulus acted +under constraint is no doubt true. It would be of little matter now from +what cause he acted, were it not that his having taken a part in this +utter disruption of the Roman form of government is one proof the more +that there was no longer any hope for the Republic. + +But the story of the killing of Clodius must be told at some length, +because it affords the best-drawn picture that we can get of the sort of +violence with which Roman affairs had to be managed; and also because it +gave rise to one of the choicest morsels of forensic eloquence that have +ever been prepared by the intellect and skill of an advocate. It is well +known that the speech to which I refer was not spoken, and could not +have been spoken, in the form in which it has reached us. We do not know +what part of it was spoken and what was omitted; but we do know that the +Pro Milone exists for us, and that it lives among the glories of +language as a published oration. I find, on looking through the +Institutio Oratoria of Quintilian, that in his estimation the Pro Milone +was the first in favor of all our author's orations--"facile princeps," +if we may collect the critic's ideas on the subject from the number of +references made and examples taken. Quintilian's work consists of +lessons on oratory, which he supports by quotations from the great +orators, both Greek and Latin, with whose speeches he has made himself +familiar. Cicero was to him the chief of orators; so much so that we may +almost say that Quintilian's Institutio is rather a lecture in honor of +Cicero than a general lesson. With the Roman school-master's method of +teaching for the benefit of the Roman youth of the day we have no +concern at present, but we can gather from the references made by him +the estimation in which various orations were held by others, as well as +by him, in his day. The Pro Cluentio, which is twice as long as the Pro +Milone, and which has never, I think, been a favorite with modern +readers, is quoted very frequently by Quintilian. It is the second in +the list. Quintilian makes eighteen references to it; but the Pro Milone +is brought to the reader's notice thirty-seven times. Quintilian was +certainly a good critic; and he understood how to recommend himself to +his own followers by quoting excellences which had already been +acknowledged as the best which Roman literature had afforded. + +Those who have gone before me in writing the life of Cicero have, in +telling their story as to Milo, very properly gone to Asconius for their +details. As I must do so too, I shall probably not diverge far from +them. Asconius wrote as early as in the reign of Claudius, and had in +his possession the annals of the time which have not come to us. Among +other writings he could refer to those books of Livy which have since +been lost. He seems to have done his work as commentator with no glow of +affection and with no touch of animosity, either on one side or on the +other. There can be no reason for doubting the impartiality of Asconius +as to Milo's trial, and every reason for trusting his knowledge of the +facts. + +[Sidenote: B.C. 52, aetat. 55.] + +When the year began, no Consuls had been chosen, and an interrex became +necessary--one interrex after another--to make the election of Consuls +possible in accordance with the forms of the constitution. These men +remained in office each for five days, and it was customary that an +election which had been delayed should be completed within the days of +the second or third interrex. There were three candidates, Milo, +Hypsaeus, and Q. Metellus Scipio, by all of whom bribery and violence +were used with open and unblushing profligacy. Cicero was wedded to +Milo's cause, as we have seen from his letter to Curio, but it does not +appear that he himself took any active part in the canvass. The duties +to be done required rather the services of a Curio. Pompey, on the other +hand, was nearly as warmly engaged in favor of Hypsaeus and Scipio, +though in the turn which affairs took he seems to have been willing +enough to accept the office himself when it came in his way. Milo and +Clodius had often fought in the streets of Rome, each ruffian attended +by a band of armed combatants, so that in audacity, as Asconius says, +they were equal. + +On the 20th of January Milo was returning to Rome from Lanuvium, where +he had been engaged, as chief magistrate of the town, in nominating a +friend for the municipality. He was in a carriage with his wife Fausta, +and with a friend, and was followed, as was his wont, by a large band of +armed men, among whom were two noted gladiators, Eudamus and Birria. At +Bovillae, near the temple of the Bona Dea, his cortege was met by Clodius +on horseback, who had with him some friends, and thirty slaves armed +with swords. Milo's attendants were nearly ten times as numerous. It is +not supposed by Asconius that either of the two men expected the +meeting, which may be presumed to have been fortuitous. Milo and Clodius +passed each other without words or blows--scowling, no doubt; but the +two gladiators who were at the end of the file of Milo's men began to +quarrel with certain of the followers of Clodius. Clodius interfered, +and was stabbed in the shoulder by Birria; then he was carried to a +neighboring tavern while the fight was in progress. Milo, having heard +that his enemy was there concealed--thinking that he would be greatly +relieved in his career by the death of such a foe, and that the risk +should be run though the consequences might be grave--caused Clodius to +be dragged out from the tavern and slaughtered. On what grounds Asconius +has attributed these probable thoughts to Milo we do not know. That the +order was given the jury believed, or at any rate affected to believe. + +Up to this moment Milo was no more guilty than Clodius, and neither of +them, probably, guilty of more than their usual violence. Partisans on +the two sides endeavored to show that each had prepared an ambush for +the other, but there is no evidence that it was so. There is no +evidence existing now as to this dragging out of Clodius that he might +be murdered; but we know what was the general opinion of Rome at the +time and we may conclude that it was right. The order probably was given +by Milo--as it would have been given by Clodius in similar +circumstances--at the spur of the moment, when Milo allowed his passion +to get the better of his judgment. + +The thirty servants of Clodius were either killed or had run away and +hidden themselves, when a certain Senator, S. Tedius, coming that way, +found the dead body on the road, and carrying it into the city on a +litter deposited it in the dead man's house. Before nightfall the death +of Clodius was known through the city, and the body was surrounded by a +crowd of citizens of the lower order and of slaves. With them was +Fulvia, the widow, exposing the dead man's wounds and exciting the +people to sympathy. On the morrow there was an increased crowd, among +whom were Senators and Tribunes, and the body was carried out into the +Forum, and the people were harangued by the Tribunes as to the horror of +the deed that had been done. From thence the body was borne into the +neighboring Senate-house[56] by the crowd, under the leading of Sextus +Clodius, a cousin of the dead man. Here it was burnt with a great fire +fed with the desks and benches, and even with the books and archives +which were stored there. Not only was the Senate-house destroyed by the +flames, but a temple also that was close to it. Milo's house was +attacked, and was defended by arms. We are made to understand that all +Rome was in a state of violence and anarchy. The Consuls' fasces had +been put away in one of the temples--that of Venus Libitina: these the +people seized and carried to the house of Pompey, declaring that he +should be Dictator, and he alone Consul, mingling anarchy with a +marvellous reverence for legal forms. + +But there arose in the city a feeling of great anger at the burning of +the Senate-house, which for a while seemed to extinguish the sympathy +for Clodius, so that Milo, who was supposed to have taken himself off, +came back to Rome and renewed his canvass, distributing bribes to all +the citizens--"millia assuum"--perhaps something over ten pounds to +every man. Both he and Caelius harangued the people, and declared that +Clodius had begun the fray. But no Consuls could be elected while the +city was in such a state, and Pompey, having been desired to protect the +Republic in the usual form, collected troops from all Italy. +Preparations were made for trying Milo, and the friends of each party +demanded that the slaves of the other party should be put to the torture +and examined as witnesses; but every possible impediment and legal +quibble was used by the advocates on either side. Hortensius, who was +engaged for Milo, declared that Milo's slaves had all been made free men +and could not be touched. Stories were told backward and forward of the +cruelty and violence on each side. Milo made an offer to Pompey to +abandon his canvass in favor of Hypsaeus, if Pompey would accept this as +a compromise. Pompey answered, with the assumed dignity that was common +to him, that he was not the Roman people, and that it was not for him to +interfere. + +It was then that Pompey was created sole Consul at the instigation of +Bibulus. He immediately caused a new law to be passed for the management +of the trial which was coming on, and when he was opposed in this by +Caelius, declared that if necessary he would carry his purpose by force +of arms. Pretending to be afraid of Milo's violence, he remained at +home, and on one occasion dismissed the Senate. Afterward, when Milo +entered the Senate, he was accused by a Senator present of having come +thither with arms hidden beneath his toga; whereupon he lifted his toga +and showed that there were none. Asconius tells us that upon this +Cicero declared that all the other charges made against the accused were +equally false. This is the first word of Cicero's known to us in the +matter. + +Two or three men declared that because they had been present at the +death of Clodius they had been kidnapped and kept close prisoners by +Milo; and the story, whether true or false, did Milo much harm. It seems +that Milo became again very odious to the people, and that their hatred +was for the time extended to Cicero as Milo's friend and proposed +advocate. Pompey seems to have shared the feeling, and to have declared +that violence was contemplated against himself. "But such was Cicero's +constancy," says Asconius, "that neither the alienation of the people +nor the suspicions of Pompey, no fear of what might befall himself at +the trial, no dread of the arms which were used openly against Milo, +could hinder him from going on with the defence, although it was within +his power to avoid the quarrel with the people and to renew his +friendship for Pompey by abstaining from it." Domitius AEnobarbus was +chosen as President, and the others elected as judges were, we are told, +equally good men. Milo was accused both of violence and bribery, but was +able to arrange that the former case should be tried first. The method +of the trial is explained. Fifty-one judges or jurymen were at last +chosen. Schola was the first witness examined, and he exaggerated as +best he could the horror of the murder. When Marcellus, as advocate for +Milo, began to examine Schola, the people were so violent that the +President was forced to protect Marcellus by taking him within the +barrier of the judges' seats. Milo also was obliged to demand protection +within the court. Pompey, then sitting at the Treasury, and frightened +by the clamor, declared that he himself would come down with troops on +the next day. After the hearing of the evidence the Tribune Munatius +Plancus harangued the people, and begged them to come in great numbers +on the morrow so that Milo might not be allowed to escape. On the +following day, which was the 11th of April, all the taverns were shut. +Pompey filled the Forum and every approach to it with his soldiers. He +himself remained seated at the Treasury as before, surrounded by a +picked body of men. At the trial on this day, when three of the +advocates against Milo had spoken--Appius, Marc Antony, and Valerius +Nepos--Cicero stood up to defend the criminal. Brutus had prepared an +oration declaring that the killing of Clodius was in itself a good deed, +and praiseworthy on behalf of the Republic; but to this speech Cicero +refused his consent, arguing that a man could not legally be killed +simply because his death was to be desired, and Brutus's speech was not +spoken. Witnesses had declared that Milo had lain in wait for Clodius. +This Cicero alleged to be false, contending that Clodius had lain in +wait for Milo, and he endeavored to make this point and no other. "But +it is proved," says Asconius, "that neither of the men had any design of +violence on that day; that they met by chance, and that the killing of +Clodius had come from the quarrelling of the slaves. It was well known +that each had often threatened the death of the other. Milo's slaves had +no doubt been much more numerous than those of Clodius when the meeting +took place; but those of Clodius had been very much better prepared for +fighting. When Cicero began to address the judges, the partisans of +Clodius could not be induced to abstain from riot even by fear of the +soldiery; so that he was unable to speak with his accustomed firmness." + +Such is the account as given by Asconius, who goes on to tell us that +out of the fifty-one judges thirty-eight condemned Milo and only +thirteen were for acquitting him. Milo, therefore, was condemned, and +had to retire at once into exile at Marseilles. + +It seems to have been acknowledged by the judges that Clodius had not +been wounded at first by any connivance on the part of Milo; but they +thought that Milo did direct that Clodius should be killed during the +fight which the slaves had commenced among themselves. As far as we can +take any interest in the matter we must suppose that it was so; but we +are forced to agree with Brutus that the killing of Clodius was in +itself a good deed done--and we have to acknowledge at the same time +that the killing of Milo would have been as good. Though we may doubt as +to the manner in which Clodius was killed, there are points in the +matter as to which we may be quite assured. Milo was condemned, not for +killing Clodius, but because he was opposed at the moment to the line of +politics which Pompey thought would be most conducive to his own +interests. Milo was condemned, and the death of the wretched Clodius +avenged, because Pompey had desired Hypsaeus to be Consul and Milo had +dared to stand in his way. An audience was refused to Cicero, not from +any sympathy with Clodius, but because it suited Pompey that Milo should +be condemned. Could Cicero have spoken the words which afterward were +published, the jury might have hesitated and the criminal might have +been acquitted. Caesar was absent, and Pompey found himself again lifted +into supreme power--for a moment. Though no one in Rome had insulted +Pompey as Clodius had done, though no one had so fought for Pompey as +Cicero had done, still it suited Pompey to avenge Clodius and to punish +Cicero for having taken Milo's part in regard to the consulship. Milo, +after his condemnation for the death of Clodius, was condemned in three +subsequent trials, one following the other almost instantly, for +bribery, for secret conspiracy, and again for violence in the city. He +was absent, but there was no difficulty in obtaining his conviction. +When he was gone one Saufeius, a friend of his, who had been with him +during the tumult, was put upon his trial for his share in the death of +Clodius. He at any rate was known to have been guilty in the matter. He +had been leader of the party who attacked the tavern, had killed the +tavern-keeper, and had dragged out Clodius to execution. But Saufeius +was twice acquitted. Had there been any hope of law-abiding tranquillity +in Rome, it might have been well that Clodius should be killed and Milo +banished. As it was, neither the death of the one nor the banishment of +the other could avail anything. The pity of it was--the pity--that such +a one as Cicero, a man with such intellect, such ambition, such +sympathies, and such patriotism, should have been brought to fight on +such an arena. + +[Sidenote: B.C. 52, aetat. 55.] + +We have in this story a graphic and most astounding picture of the Rome +of the day. No Consuls had been or could be elected, and the system by +which "interreges" had been enabled to superintend the election of their +successors in lieu of the Consuls of the expiring year had broken down. +Pompey had been made sole Consul in an informal manner, and had taken +upon himself all the authority of a Dictator in levying troops. Power in +Rome seems at the moment to have been shared between him and bands of +gladiators, but he too had succeeded in arming himself, and as the +Clodian faction was on his side, he was for a while supreme. For law by +this time he could have but little reverence, having been partner with +Caesar in the so-called Triumvirate for the last eight years. But yet he +had no aptitude for throwing the law altogether on one side, and making +such a coup-de-main as was now and again within his power. Beyond Pompey +there was at this time no power in Rome, except that of the gladiators, +and the owners of the gladiators, who were each intent on making plunder +out of the Empire. There were certain men, such as were Bibulus and +Cato, who considered themselves to be "optimates"--leading citizens who +believed in the Republic, and were no doubt anxious to maintain the +established order of things--as we may imagine the dukes and earls are +anxious in these days of ours. But they were impotent and bad men of +business, and as a body were too closely wedded to their "fish +ponds"--by which Cicero means their general luxuries and extravagances. +In the bosoms of these men there was no doubt an eager desire to +perpetuate a Republic which had done so much for them, and a courage +sufficient for the doing of some great deed, if the great deed would +come in their way. They went to Pharsalia, and Cato marched across the +deserts of Libya. They slew Caesar, and did some gallant fighting +afterward; but they were like a rope of sand, and had among them no +fitting leader and no high purpose. + +Outside of these was Cicero, who certainly was not a fitting leader when +fighting was necessary, and who as to politics in general was fitted +rather by noble aspirations than supported by fixed purposes. We are +driven to wonder that there should have been, at such a period and among +such a people, aspirations so noble joined with so much vanity of +expression. Among Romans he stands the highest, because of all Romans he +was the least Roman. He had begun with high resolves, and had acted up +to them. Among all the Quaestors, AEdiles, Praetors, and Consuls Rome had +known, none had been better, none honester, none more patriotic. There +had come up suddenly in those days a man imbued with the unwonted idea +that it behooved him to do his duty to the State according to the best +of his lights--no Cincinnatus, no Decius, no Camillus, no Scipio, no +pretentious follower of those half-mythic heroes, no demigod struggling +to walk across the stage of life enveloped in his toga and resolved to +impose on all eyes by the assumption of a divine dignity, but one who at +every turn was conscious of his human duty, and anxious to do it to the +best of his human ability. He did it; and we have to acknowledge that +the conceit of doing it overpowered him. He mistook the feeling of +people around him, thinking that they too would be carried away by their +admiration of his conduct. Up to the day on which he descended from his +Consul's seat duty was paramount with him. Then gradually there came +upon him the conviction that duty, though it had been paramount with +him, did not weigh so very much with others. He had been lavish in his +worship of Pompey, thinking that Pompey, whom he had believed in his +youth to be the best of citizens, would of all men be the truest to the +Republic. Pompey had deceived him, but he could not suddenly give up +his idol. Gradually we see that there fell upon him a dread that the +great Roman Republic was not the perfect institution which he had +fancied. In his early days Chrysogonus had been base, and Verres, and +Oppianicus, and Catiline; but still, to his idea, the body of the Roman +Republic had been sound. But when he had gone out from his Consulship, +with resolves strung too high that he would remain at Rome, despising +provinces and plunder, and be as it were a special providence to the +Republic, gradually he fell from his high purpose, finding that there +were no Romans such as he had conceived them to be. Then he fell away +and became the man who could condescend to waste his unequalled +intellect in attacking Piso, in praising himself, and in defending Milo. +The glory of his active life was over when his Consulship was done--the +glory was over, with the exception of that to come from his final +struggle with Antony--but the work by which his immortality was to be +achieved was yet before him. I think that after defending Milo he must +have acknowledged to himself that all partisan fighting in Rome was +mean, ignoble, and hollow. With the Senate-house and its archives burnt +as a funeral pile for Clodius, and the Forum in which he had to plead +lined with soldiers who stopped him by their clang of arms instead of +protecting him in his speech, it must have been acknowledged by Cicero +that the old Republic was dead, past all hope of resurrection. He had +said so often to Atticus; but men say words in the despondency of the +moment which they do not wish to have accepted as their established +conviction. In such humor Cicero had written to his friend; but now it +must have occurred to him that his petulant expressions were becoming +only too true. When instigating Curio to canvass for Milo, and defending +Milo as though it had been a good thing for a Roman nobleman to travel +in the neighborhood of the city with an army at his heels, he must have +ceased to believe even in himself as a Roman statesman. + +In the oration which we possess--which we must teach ourselves to +regard as altogether different from that which Cicero had been able to +pronounce among Pompey's soldiers and the Clodian rabble--the reader is +astonished by the magnificence of the language in which a case so bad in +itself could be enveloped, and is made to feel that had he been on the +jury, and had such an address been made to him, he would certainly have +voted for an acquittal. The guilt or innocence of Milo as to the murder +really turned on the point whether he did or did not direct that Clodius +should be dragged out of the tavern and slain; but here in this oration +three points are put forward, in each of which it was within the scope +of the orator to make the jury believe that Clodius had in truth +prepared an ambuscade, that Clodius was of all Romans the worst, and +that Milo was loyal and true, and, in spite of a certain fierceness of +disposition, a good citizen at heart. We agree with Milo, who declared, +when banished, that he would never have been able to enjoy the fish of +Marseilles had Cicero spoken in the Forum the speech which he afterward +composed. + +"I would not remind you," he says, "of Milo's Tribuneship, nor of all +his service to the State, unless I could make plain to you as daylight +the ambush which on that day was laid for him by his enemy. I will not +pray you to forgive a crime simply because Milo has been a good citizen; +nor, because the death of Clodius has been a blessing to us all, will I +therefore ask you to regard it as a deed worthy of praise. But if the +fact of the ambush be absolutely made evident, then I beseech you at any +rate to grant that a man may lawfully defend himself from the arrogance +and from the arms of his enemies."[57] From this may be seen the nature +of the arguments used. For the language the reader must turn to the +original. That it will be worth his while to do so he has the evidence +of all critics--especially that of Milo when he was eating sardines in +his exile, and of Quintilian when he was preparing his lessons on +rhetoric. It seems that Cicero had been twitted with using something of +a dominating tyranny in the Senate--which would hardly have been true, +as the prevailing influence of the moment was that of Pompey--but he +throws aside the insinuation very grandly. "Call it tyranny if you +please--if you think it that, rather than some little authority which +has grown from my services to the State, or some favor among good men +because of my rank. Call it what you will, while I am able to use it for +the defence of the good against the violence of the evil-minded."[58] +Then he describes the fashion in which these two men travelled on the +occasion--the fashion of travelling as it suited him to describe it. "If +you did not hear the details of the story, but could see simply a +picture of all that occurred, would it not appear which of them had +planned the attack, which of them was ignorant of all evil? One of them +was seated in his carriage, clad in his cloak, and with his wife beside +him. His garments, his clients, his companions all show how little +prepared he was for fighting. Then, as to the other, why was he leaving +his country-house so suddenly? Why should he do this so late in the +evening? Why did he travel so slowly at this time of the year? He was +going, he says, to Pompey's villa. Not that he might see Pompey, because +he knew that Pompey was at Alsium. Did he want to see the villa? He had +been there a thousand times. Why all this delay, and turning backward +and forward? Because he would not leave the spot till Milo had come up. +And now compare this ruffian's mode of travelling with that of Milo. It +has been the constant custom with Clodius to have his wife with him, but +now she was not there. He has always been in a carriage, but now he was +on horseback. His young Greek sybarites have ever been with him, even +when he went as far as Tuscany; on this occasion there were no such +trifles in his company. Milo, with whom such companions were not usual, +had his wife's singing-boys with him and a bevy of female slaves. +Clodius, who usually never moved without a crowd of prostitutes at his +heels, now had no one with him but men picked for this work in +hand."[59] What a picture we have here of the manner in which noble +Romans were wont to move about the city and the suburbs! We may imagine +that the singing-boys of Milo's wife were quite as bad as the Greek +attendants in whom Clodius usually rejoiced. Then he asks a question as +to Pompey full of beautiful irony. If Pompey could bring back Clodius +from the dead--Pompey, who is so fond of him; Pompey, who is so +powerful, so fortunate, so capable of all things; Pompey, who would be +so glad to do it because of his love for the man--do you not know that +on behalf of the Republic he would leave him down among the ghosts where +he is?[60] There is a delightful touch of satire in this when we +remember how odious Clodius had been to Pompey in days not long gone by, +and how insolent. + +The oration is ended by histrionic effects in language which would have +been marvellous had they ever been spoken, but which seem to be +incredible to us when we know that they were arranged for publication +when the affair was over. "O me wretched! O me unhappy!"[61] But these +attempts at translation are all vain. The student who wishes to +understand what may be the effect of Latin words thrown into this +choicest form should read the Milo. + +We have very few letters from Cicero in this year--four only, I think, +and they are of no special moment. In one of them he recommends Avianus +to Titus Titius, a lieutenant then serving under Pompey.[62] In this he +is very anxious to induce Titius to let Avianus know all the good +things that Cicero had said of him. In our times we sometimes send our +letters of introduction open by the hands of the person introduced, so +that he may himself read his own praise; but the Romans did not scruple +to ask that this favor might be done for them. "Do me this favor. +Titius, of being kind to Avianus; but do me also the greater favor of +letting Avianus know that I have asked you." What Cicero did to Titius +other noble Romans did in their communications with their friends in the +provinces. In another letter to Marius he expresses his great joy at the +condemnation of that Munatius Plancus who had been Tribune when Clodius +was killed. Plancus had harangued the people, exciting them against Milo +and against Cicero, and had led to the burning of the Senate-house and +of the temple next door. For this Plancus could not be accused during +his year of office, but he had been put upon his trial when that year +was over. Pompey had done his best to save him, but in vain; and Cicero +rejoices not only that the Tribune who had opposed him should be +punished, but that Pompey should have been beaten, which he attributes +altogether to the favor shown toward himself by the jury.[63] He is +aroused to true exultation that there should have been men on the bench +who, having been chosen by Pompey in order that they might acquit this +man, had dared to condemn him. Cicero had himself spoken against Plancus +on the occasion. Sextus Clodius, who had been foremost among the +rioters, was also condemned. + +[Sidenote: B.C. 52, aetat. 55.] + +This was the year in which Caesar was so nearly conquered by the Gauls at +Gergovia, and in which Vercingetorix, having shut himself up in Alesia, +was overcome at last by the cruel strategy of the Romans. The brave +Gaul, who had done his best to defend his country and had carried +himself to the last with a fine gallantry, was kept by his conqueror +six years in chains and then strangled amid the glories of that +conqueror's triumph, a signal instance of the mercy which has been +attributed to Caesar as his special virtue. In this year, too, Cicero's +dialogues with Atticus, De Legibus, were written. He seems to have +disturbed his labors in the Forum with no other work. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +_CILICIA._ + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 51, aetat. 56.] + +We cannot but think that at this time the return of Caesar was greatly +feared at Rome by the party in the State to which Cicero belonged; and +this party must now be understood as including Pompey. Pompey had been +nominally Proconsul in Spain since the year of his second Consulship, +conjointly with Crassus, B.C. 55, but had remained in Rome and had taken +upon himself the management of Roman affairs, considering himself to be +the master of the irregular powers which the Triumvirate had created; +and of this party was also Cicero, with Cato, Bibulus, Brutus, and all +those who were proud to call themselves "optimates." They were now +presumed to be desirous to maintain the old republican form of +government, and were anxious with more or less sincerity according to +the character of the men. Cato and Brutus were thoroughly in earnest, +not seeing, however, that the old form might be utterly devoid of the +old spirit. Pompey was disposed to take the same direction, thinking +that all must be well in Rome as long as he was possessed of high +office, grand names, and the appanages of Dictatorship. Cicero, too, was +anxious, loyally anxious, but anxious without confidence. Something +might perhaps be saved if these optimates could be aroused to some idea +of their duty by the exercise of eloquence such as his own. + +I will quote a few words from Mr. Froude's Caesar: "If Caesar came to Rome +as Consul, the Senate knew too well what it might expect;" and then he +adds, "Cicero had for some time seen what was coming."[64] As to these +assertions I quite agree with Mr. Froude; but I think that he has read +wrongly both the history of the time and the character of the man when +he goes on to state that "Cicero preferred characteristically to be out +of the way at the moment when he expected that the storm should break, +and had accepted the government of Cilicia and Cyprus." All the known +details of Cicero's life up to the period of his government of Cilicia, +during his government, and after his return from that province, prove +that he was characteristically wedded to a life in Rome. This he +declared by his distaste to that employment and his impatience of return +while he was absent. Nothing, I should say, could be more certain than +that he went to Cilicia in obedience to new legal enactments which he +could not avoid, but which, as they acted upon himself, were odious to +him. Mr. Froude tells us that he held the government but for two +years.[65] The period of these provincial governments had of late much +varied. The acknowledged legal duration was for one year. They had been +stretched by the governing party to three, as in the case of Verres in +Sicily; to five, as with Pompey for his Spanish government; to ten for +Caesar in Gaul. This had been done with the view of increasing the +opportunities for plunder and power, but had been efficacious of good in +enabling governors to carry out work for which one year would not have +sufficed. It may be a question whether Cicero as Proconsul in Cilicia +deserved blame for curtailing the period of his services to the Empire, +or praise for abstaining from plunder and power; but the fact is that he +remained in his province not two years but exactly one;[66] and that he +escaped from it with all the alacrity which we may presume to be +expected by a prisoner when the bars of his jail have been opened for +him. Whether we blame him or praise him, we can hardly refrain from +feeling that his impatience was grotesque. There certainly was no desire +on Cicero's part either to go to Cilicia or to remain there, and of all +his feelings that which prompted him never to be far absent from Rome +was the most characteristic of the man. + +Among various laws which Pompey had caused to be passed in the previous +year, B.C. 52, and which had been enacted with views personal to himself +and his own political views, had been one "de jure magistratuum"--as to +the way in which the magistrates of the Empire should be selected. Among +other clauses it contained one which declared that no Praetor and no +Consul should succeed to a province till he had been five years out of +office. It would be useless here to point out how absolutely subversive +of the old system of the Republic this new law would have been, had the +new law and the old system attempted to live together. The Propraetor +would have been forced to abandon his aspirations either for the +province or for the Consulship, and no consular governor would have been +eligible for a province till after his fiftieth year. But at this time +Pompey was both consul and governor, and Caesar was governor for ten +years with special exemption from another clause in the war which would +otherwise have forbidden him to stand again for the Consulship during +his absence.[67] The law was wanted probably only for the moment; but it +had the effect of forcing Cicero out of Rome. As there would naturally +come from it a dearth of candidates for the provinces it was further +decreed by the Senate that the ex-Praetors and ex-Consuls who had not yet +served as governors should now go forth and undertake the duties of +government. In compliance with this order, and probably as a specially +intended consequence of it, Cicero was compelled to go to Cilicia. Mr. +Froude has said that "he preferred characteristically to be out of the +way." I have here given what I think to be the more probable cause of +his undertaking the government of Cilicia. + +[Sidenote: B.C. 51, aetat. 56.] + +In April of this year Cicero before he started wrote the first of a +series of letters which he addressed to Appius Claudius, who was his +predecessor in the province. This Appius was the brother of the Publius +Clodius whom we have known for the last two or three years as Cicero's +pest and persecutor; but he addresses Appius as though they were dear +friends: "Since it has come to pass, in opposition to all my wishes and +to my expectations, that I must take in hand the government of a +province, I have this one consolation in my various troubles--that no +better friend to yourself than I am could follow you, and that I could +take up the government from the hands of none more disposed to make the +business pleasant to me than you will be."[68] And then he goes on: "You +perceive that, in accordance with the decree of the Senate, the province +has to be occupied." His next letter on the subject was written to +Atticus while he was still in Italy, but when he had started on his +journey. "In your farewell to me," he says, "I have seen the nature of +your love to me. I know well what is my own for you. It must, then, be +your peculiar care to see lest by any new arrangement this parting of +ours should be prolonged beyond one year."[69] Then he goes on to tell +the story of a scene that had occurred at Arcanum, a house belonging to +his brother Quintus, at which he had stopped on the road for a family +farewell. Pomponia was there, the wife of Quintus and the sister to +Atticus. There were a few words between the husband and the wife as to +the giving of the invitation for the occasion, in which the lady behaved +with much Christian perversity of temper. "Alas," says Quintus to his +brother, "you see what it is that I have to suffer every day!" Knowing +as we all do how great were the powers of the Roman paterfamilias, and +how little woman's rights had been ventilated in those days, we should +have thought that an ex-Praetor might have managed his home more +comfortably; but ladies, no doubt, have had the capacity to make +themselves disagreeable in all ages. + +I doubt whether we have any testimony whatever as to Cicero's provincial +government, except that which comes from himself and which is confined +to the letters written by him at the time.[70] Nevertheless, we have a +clear record of his doings, so full and satisfactory are the letters +which he then wrote. The truth of his account of himself has never been +questioned. He draws a picture of his own integrity, his own humanity, +and his own power of administration which is the more astonishing, +because we cannot but compare it with the pictures which we have from +the same hand of the rapacity, the cruelty, and the tyranny of other +governors. We have gone on learning from his speeches and his letters +that these were habitual plunderers, tyrants, and malefactors, till we +are taught to acknowledge that, in the low condition to which Roman +nature had fallen, it was useless to expect any other conduct from a +Roman governor; and then he gives us the account of how a man did +govern, when, as by a miracle, a governor had been found honest, +clear-headed, sympathetic, and benevolent. That man was himself; and he +gives this account of himself, as it were, without a blush! He tells the +story of himself, not as though it was remarkable! That other governors +should grind the bones of their subjects to make bread of them, and draw +the blood from their veins for drink; but that Cicero should not +condescend to take even the normal tribute when willingly offered, seems +to Cicero to have been only what the world had a right to expect from +him! A wonderful testimony is this as to the man's character; but surely +the universal belief in his own account of his own governorship is more +wonderful. "The conduct of Cicero in his command was meritorious," says +De Quincey. "His short career as Proconsul in Cilicia had procured for +him well-merited honor," says Dean Merivale.[71] "He had managed his +province well; no one ever suspected Cicero of being corrupt or unjust," +says Mr. Froude, who had, however, said (some pages before) that Cicero +was "thinking as usual of himself first, and his duty afterward."[72] +Dio Cassius, who is never tired of telling disagreeable stories of +Cicero's life, says not a word of his Cilician government, from which we +may, at any rate, argue that no stories detrimental to Cicero as a +Proconsul had come in the way of Dio Cassius. I have confirmed what I +have said as to this episode in Cicero's life by the corroborating +testimony of writers who have not been generally favorable in their +views of his character. Nevertheless, we have no testimony but his own +as to what Cicero did in Cilicia.[73] + +It has never occurred to any reader of Cicero's letters to doubt a line +in which he has spoken directly of his own conduct. His letters have +often been used against himself, but in a different manner. He has been +judged to give true testimony against himself, but not false testimony +in his own favor. His own record has been taken sometimes as meaning +what it has not meant--and sometimes as implying much more that the +writer intended. A word which has required for its elucidation an +insight into the humor of the man has been read amiss, or some trembling +admissions to a friend of shortcoming in the purpose of the moment has +been presumed to refer to a continuity of weakness. He has been injured, +not by having his own words as to himself discredited, but by having +them too well credited where they have been misunderstood. It is at any +rate the fact that his own account of his own proconsular doings has +been accepted in full, and that the present reader may be encouraged to +believe what extracts I may give to him by the fact that all other +readers before him have believed them. + +From his villa at Cumae on his journey he wrote to Atticus in high +spirits. Hortensius had been to see him--his old rival, his old +predecessor in the glory of the Forum--Hortensius, whom he was fated +never to see again. His only request to Hortensius had been that he +should assist in taking care that he, Cicero, should not be required to +stay above one year in his province. Atticus is to help him also; and +another friend, Furnius, who may probably be the Tribune for the next +year, has been canvassed for the same object. In a further letter from +Beneventum he alludes to a third marriage for his daughter Tullia, but +seems to be aware that, as he is leaving Italy, he cannot interfere in +that matter himself. He writes again from Venusia, saying that he +purports to see Pompey at Tarentum before he starts, and gives special +instructions to Atticus as to the payment of a debt which is due by him +to Caesar. He has borrowed money of Caesar, and is specially anxious that +the debt should be settled. In another letter from Tarentum he presses +the same matter. He is anxious to be relieved from the obligation.[74] + +From Athens he wrote again to his friend a letter which is chiefly +remarkable as telling us something of the quarrel between Marcus +Claudius Marcellus, who was one of the Consuls for the year, and Caesar, +who was still absent in Gaul. This Marcellus, and others of his family +who succeeded him in his office, were hotly opposed to Caesar, belonging +to that party of the State to which Cicero was attached, and to which +Pompey was returning.[75] It seems to have been the desire of the Consul +not only to injure but to insult Caesar. He had endeavored to get a +decree of the Senate for recalling Caesar at once, but had succeeded only +in having his proposition postponed for consideration in the following +year--when Caesar would naturally return. But to show how little was his +regard to Caesar, he caused to be flogged in Rome a citizen from one of +those towns of Cisalpine Gaul to which Caesar had assumed to give the +privilege of Roman citizenship. The man was present as a delegate from +his town, Novocomum[76]--the present Como--in furtherance of the +colony's claims, and the Consul had the man flogged to show thereby that +he was not a Roman. Marcellus was punished for his insolence by +banishment, inflicted by Caesar when Caesar was powerful. We shall learn +before long how Cicero made an oration in his favor; but, in the letter +written from Athens, he blames Marcellus much for flogging the man.[77] +"Fight in my behalf," he says, in the course of this letter; "for if my +government be prolonged, I shall fail and become mean." The idea of +absence from Rome is intolerable to him. From Athens also he wrote to +his young friend Caelius, from whom he had requested information as to +what was going on in Rome. But Caelius has to be again instructed as to +the nature of the subjects which are to be regarded as interesting. +"What!--do you think that I have asked you to send me stories of +gladiators, law-court adjournments, and the pilferings of +Christus--trash that no one would think of mentioning to me if I were in +Rome?"[78] But he does not finish his letter to Caelius without begging +Caelius to assist in bringing about his speedy recall. Caelius troubles +him much afterward by renewed requests for Cilician panthers wanted for +AEdilian shows. Cicero becomes very sea-sick on his journey, and then +reaches Ephesus, in Asia Minor, dating his arrival there on the five +hundred and sixtieth day from the battle of Bovilla, showing how much +the contest as to Milo still clung to his thoughts.[79] Ephesus was not +in his province, but at Ephesus all the magistrates came out to do him +honor, as though he had come among them as their governor. "Now has +arrived," he says, "the time to justify all those declarations which I +have made as to my own conduct; but I trust I can practise the lessons +which I have learned from you." Atticus, in his full admiration of his +friend's character, had doubtless said much to encourage and to +instigate the virtue which it was Cicero's purpose to employ. We have +none of the words ever written by Atticus to Cicero, but we have light +enough to show us that the one friend was keenly alive to the honor of +the other, and thoroughly appreciated its beauty. "Do not let me be more +than a year away," he exclaims; "do not let even another month be +added."[80] Then there is a letter from Caelius praying for panthers.[81] +In passing through the province of Asia to his own province, he declares +that the people everywhere receive him well. "My coming," he says, "has +cost no man a shilling."[82] His whole staff has now joined him except +one Tullius, whom he speaks of as a friend of Atticus, but afterward +tells us he had come to him from Titinius. Then he again enjoins Atticus +to have that money paid to Caesar. From Tralles, still in the province of +Asia, he writes to Appius, the outgoing governor, a letter full of +courtesies, and expressing an anxious desire for a meeting. He had +offered before to go by any route which might suit Appius, but Appius, +as appears afterward, was anxious for anything rather than to encounter +the new governor within the province he was leaving.[83] + +On 31st July he reached Laodicea, within his own boundaries, having +started on his journey on 10th May, and found all people glad to see +him; but the little details of his office harass him sadly. "The action +of my mind, which you know so well, cannot find space enough. All work +worthy of my industry is at an end. I have to preside at Laodicea while +some Plotius is giving judgment at Rome. * * * And then am I not +regretting at every moment the life of Rome--the Forum, the city itself, +my own house? Am I not always regretting you? I will endeavor to bear it +for a year; but if it be prolonged, then it will be all over with me. * +* * You ask me how I am getting on. I am spending a fortune in carrying +out this grand advice of yours. I like it hugely; but when the time +comes for paying you your debts I shall have to renew the bill. * * * To +make me do such work as this is putting a saddle upon a cow"--cutting a +block with a razor, as we should say--"clearly I am not made for it; but +I will bear it, so that it be only for one year."[84] + +From Laodicea, a town in Phrygia, he went west to Synnada. His province, +known as Cilicia, contained the districts named on the map of Asia Minor +as Phrygia, Pisidia, Pamphylia, part of Cappadocia, Cilicia, and the +island of Cyprus. He soon found that his predecessors had ruined the +people. "Know that I have come into a province utterly and forever +destroyed," he says to Atticus.[85] "We hear only of taxes that cannot +be paid, of men's chattels sold on all sides, of the groans from the +cities, of lamentations, of horrors such as some wild beast might have +produced rather than a human being. There is no room for question. Every +man is tired of his life; and yet some relief is given now, because of +me, and by my officers, and by my lieutenants. No expense is imposed on +any one. We do not take even the hay which is allowed by the Julian +law--not even the wood. Four beds to lie on is all we accept, and a roof +over our heads. In many places not even that, for we live in our tents. +Enormous crowds therefore come to us, and return, as it were, to life +through the justice and moderation of your Cicero. Appius, when he knew +that I was come, ran away to Tarsus, the farthest point of the +province." What a picture we have here of the state of a Roman +dependency under a normal Roman governor, and of the good which a man +could do who was able to abstain from plunder! In his next letter his +pride expresses itself so loudly that we have to remember that this man, +after all, is writing only his own secret thoughts to his bosom friend. +"If I can get away from this quickly, the honors which will accrue to me +from my justice will be all the greater, as happened to Scaevola, who was +governor in Asia only for nine months."[86] Then again he declares how +Appius had escaped into the farthest corner of the province--to +Tarsus--when he knew that Cicero was coming. + +He writes again to Appius, complaining. "When I compare my conduct to +yours," he says, "I own that I much prefer my own."[87] He had taken +every pains to meet Appius in a manner convenient to him, but had been +deceived on every side. Appius had, in a way unusual among Roman +governors, carried on his authority in remote parts of the province, +although he had known of his successor's arrival. Cicero assures him +that he is quite indifferent to this. If Appius will relieve him of one +month's labor out of the twelve he will be delighted. But why has Appius +taken away three of the fullest cohorts, seeing that in the entire +province the number of soldiers left has been so small? But he assures +Appius that, as he makes his journey, neither good nor bad shall hear +evil spoken by him of his predecessor. "But as for you, you seem to have +given to the dishonest reasons for thinking badly of me." Then he +describes the exact course he means to take in his further journey, thus +giving Appius full facility for avoiding him. + +From Cybistra, in Cappadocia, he writes official letters to Caius +Marcellus, who had been just chosen Consul, the brother of Marcus the +existing Consul; to an older Caius Marcellus, who was their father, a +colleague of his own in the College of Augurs, and to Marcus the +existing Consul, with his congratulations, also to AEmilius Paulus, who +had also been elected Consul for the next year. He writes, also, a +despatch to the Consuls, to the Praetors, to the Tribunes, and to the +Senate, giving them a statement as to affairs in the province. These are +interesting, rather as showing the way in which these things were done, +than by their own details. When he reaches Cilicia proper he writes them +another despatch, telling them that the Parthians had come across the +Euphrates. He writes as Wellington may have done from Torres Vedras. He +bids them look after the safety of their Eastern dominions. Though they +are too late in doing this, yet better now than never.[88] "You know," +he says, "with what sort of an army you have supported me here; and you +know also that I have undertaken this duty not in blind folly, but +because in respect for the Republic I have not liked to refuse. * * * As +for our allies here in the province, because our rule here has been so +severe and injurious, they are either too weak to help us, or so +embittered against us that we dare not trust them." + +Then there is a long letter to Appius,[89] respecting the embassy which +was to be sent from the province to Rome, to carry the praises of the +departing governor and declare his excellence as a Proconsul! This was +quite the usual thing to do! The worse the governor the more necessary +the embassy; and such was the terror inspired even by a departing Roman, +and such the servility of the allies--even of those who were about to +escape from him--that these embassies were a matter of course. There had +been a Sicilian embassy to praise Verres. Appius had complained as +though Cicero had impeded this legation by restricting the amount to be +allowed for its expenses. He rebukes Appius for bringing the charge +against him. + +The series of letters written this year by Caelius to Cicero is very +interesting as giving us a specimen of continued correspondence other +than Ciceronian. We have among the eight hundred and eighty-five letters +ten or twelve from Brutus, if those attributed to him were really +written by him; ten or twelve from Decimus Brutus, and an equal number +from Plancus; but these were written in the stirring moments of the last +struggle, and are official or military rather than familiar. We have a +few from Quintus, but not of special interest unless we are to consider +that treatise on the duties of a candidate as a letter. But these from +Caelius to his older friend are genuine and natural as those from Cicero +himself. There are seventeen. They are scattered over three or four +years, but most of them refer to the period of Cicero's provincial +government. + +The marvel to me is that Caelius should have adopted a style so near akin +to that of his master in literature. Scholars who have studied the words +can probably tell us of deficiencies in language; but the easy, graphic +tone is to my ear Ciceronian. Tiro, who was slave, secretary, freedman, +and then literary executor, may have had the handling of these letters, +and have done something toward producing their literary excellence. The +subjects selected were not always good, and must occasionally have +produced in Cicero's own mind a repetition of the reprimand which he +once expressed as to the gladiatorial shows and law-court adjournments; +but Caelius does communicate much of the political news from Rome. In one +letter, written in October of this year, he declares what the Senate has +decreed as to the recall of Caesar from Gaul, and gives the words of the +enactments made, with the names subscribed to them of the promoters--and +also the names of the Tribunes who had endeavored to oppose them.[90] +The purport of these decrees I have mentioned before. The object was to +recall Caesar, and the effect was to postpone any such recall till it +would mean nothing; but Caelius specially declares that the intention of +recalling Caesar was agreeable to Pompey, whereby we may know that the +pact of the Triumvirate was already at an end. In another letter he +speaks of the coming of the Parthians, and of Cicero's inability to +fight with them because of the inadequate number of soldiers intrusted +to him. Had there been a real Roman army, then Caelius would have been +afraid, he says, for his friend's life. As it is, he fears only for his +reputation, lest men should speak ill of him for not fighting, when to +fight was beyond his power.[91] The language here is so pretty that I am +tempted to think that Tiro must have had a hand in it. At Rome, we must +remember, the tidings as to Crassus were as yet uncertain. We cannot, +however, doubt that Caelius was in truth attached to Cicero. + +But Cicero was forced to fight, not altogether unwillingly--not with the +Parthians, but with tribes which were revolting from Roman authority +because of the Parthian success. "It has turned out as you wished it," +he says to Caelius--"a job just sufficient to give me a small coronet of +laurel." Hearing that men had risen in the Taurus range of mountains, +which divided his province from that of Syria, in which Bibulus was now +governor, he had taken such an army as he was able to collect to the +Amanus, a mountain belonging to that range, and was now writing from his +camp at Pindenissum, a place beyond his own province. Joking at his own +soldiering, he tells Caelius that he had astonished those around him by +his prowess. "Is this he whom we used to know in the city? Is this our +talkative Senator? You can understand the things they said.[92] * * * +When I got to the Amanus I was glad enough to find our friend Cassius +had beaten back the real Parthians from Antioch." But Cicero claims to +have done some gallant things: "I have harassed those men of Amanus who +are always troubling us. Many I have killed; some I have taken; the rest +are dispersed. I came suddenly upon their strongholds, and have got +possession of them. I was called 'Imperator' at the river Issus." It is +hardly necessary to explain, yet once again, that this title belonged +properly to no commander till it had been accorded to him by his own +soldiers on the field of battle.[93] He reminds Caelius that it was on +the Issus that Alexander had conquered Darius. Then he had sat down +before Pindenissum with all the machinery of a siege--with the turrets, +covered ways, and ramparts. He had not as yet quite taken the town. When +he had done so, he would send home his official account of it all; but +the Parthians may yet come, and there may be danger. "Therefore, O my +Rufus"--he was Caelius Rufus--"see that I am not left here, lest, as you +suspect, things should go badly with me." There is a mixture in all this +of earnestness and of drollery, of boasting and of laughing at what he +was doing, which is inimitable in its reality. His next letter is to his +other young friend, Curio, who has just been elected Tribune. He gives +much advice to Curio, who certainly always needed it.[94] He carries on +the joke when he tells Atticus that the "people of Pindenissum have +surrendered." "Who the mischief are these Pindenissians? you will say. I +have not even heard the name before. What would you have? I cannot make +an AEtolia out of Cilicia. With such an army as this do you expect me to +do things like a Macedonicus?[95] * * * I had my camp on the Issus, +where Alexander had his--a better soldier no doubt than you or I. I +really have made a name for myself in Syria. Then up comes Bibulus, +determined to be as good as I am; but he loses his whole cohort." The +failure made by Bibulus at soldiering is quite as much to him as his own +success. Then he goes back to Laodicea, leaving the army in +winter-quarters, under the command of his brother Quintus. + +But his heart is truly in other matters, and he bursts out, in the same +letter, with enthusiastic praise of the line of conduct which Atticus +has laid down for him: "But that which is more to me than anything is +that I should live so that even that fellow Cato cannot find fault with +me. May I die, if it could be done better. Nor do I take praise for it +as though I was doing something distasteful; I never was so happy as in +practising this moderation. The thing itself is better to me even than +the reputation of it. What would you have me say? It was worth my while +to be enabled thus to try myself, so that I might know myself as to what +I could do." + +Then there is a long letter to Cato in which he repeats the story of his +grand doings at Pindenissum. The reader will be sure that a letter to +Cato cannot be sincere and pleasant as are those to Atticus and Caelius. +"If there be one man far removed from the vulgar love of praise, it is +I," he says to Cato.[96] He tells Cato that they two are alike in all +things. They two only have succeeded in carrying the true ancient +philosophy into the practice of the Forum. Never surely were two men +more unlike than the stiff-necked Cato and the versatile Cicero. + +[Sidenote: B.C. 50, aetat. 57.] + +Lucius AEmilius Paullus and C. Clodius Marcellus were Consuls for the +next year. Cicero writes to both of them with tenders of friendship; but +from both of them he asks that they should take care to have a decree of +the Senate passed praising his doings in Cilicia.[97] With us, too, a +returning governor is anxious enough for a good word from the +Prime-minister; but he does not ask for it so openly. The next letter +from Caelius tells him that Appius has been accused as to malpractices in +his government, and that Pompey is in favor of Appius. Curio has gone +over to Caesar. But the important subject is the last handled: "It will +be mean in you if I should have no Greek panthers."[98] The next refers +to the marriages and divorces of certain ladies, and ends with an +anecdote told as to a gentleman with just such ill-natured wit as is +common in London. No one could have suspected Ocella of looking after +his neighbor's wife unless he had been detected thrice in the fact.[99] + +From Laodicea he answers a querulous letter which his predecessor had +written, complaining, among other things, that Cicero had failed to show +him personal respect. He proves that he had not done so, and then rises +to a strain of indignation. "Do you think that your grand old names will +affect me who, even before I had become great in the service of my +country, knew how to distinguish between titles and the men who bore +them?"[100] + +The next letter to Appius is full of flattery, and asking for favors, +but it begins with a sharp reproof. "Now at last I have received an +epistle worthy of Appius Claudius. The sight of Rome has restored you to +your good-humor. Those I got from you in your journey were such that I +could not read them without displeasure."[101] + +In February Cicero wrote a letter to Atticus which is, I think, more +expressive in describing the mind of the man than any other which we +have from him. In it is commenced the telling of a story respecting +Brutus--the Brutus we all know so well--and one Scaptius, of whom no one +would have heard but for this story, which, as it deeply affects the +character of Cicero, must occupy a page or two in our narrative; but I +must first refer to his own account of his own government as again +given here. Nothing was ever so wonderful to the inhabitants of a +province as that they should not have been put to a shilling of expense +since he had entered it. Not a penny had been taken on his own behalf or +on that of the Republic by any belonging to him, except on one day by +one Tullius, and by him indeed under cover of the law. This dirty fellow +was a follower with whom Titinius had furnished him. When he was passing +from Tarsus back into the centre of his province wondering crowds came +out to him, the people not understanding how it had been that no letters +had been sent to them exacting money, and that none of his staff had +been quartered on them. In former years during the winter months they +had groaned under exactions. Municipalities with money at their command +had paid large sums to save themselves from the quartering of soldiers +on them. The island of Cyprus, which on a former occasion had been made +to pay nearly L50,000 on this head,[102] had been asked for nothing by +him. He had refused to have any honors paid to him in return for this +conduct. He had prohibited the erection of statues, shrines, and bronze +chariots in his name--compliments to Roman generals which had become +common. The harvest that year was bad; but so fully convinced were the +people of his honest dealing, that they who had saved up corn--the +regraters--brought it freely into market at his coming. As some scourge +from hell must have been the presence of such governors as Appius and +his predecessors among a people timid but industrious like these Asiatic +Greeks. Like an unknown, unexpected blessing, direct from heaven, must +have been the coming of a Cicero. + +Now I will tell the story of Brutus and Scaptius and their +money--premising that it has been told by Mr. Forsyth with great +accuracy and studied fairness. Indeed, there is not a line in Mr. +Forsyth's volume which is not governed by a spirit of justice. He, +having thought that Cicero had been too highly praised by Middleton, and +too harshly handled by subsequent critics, has apparently written his +book with the object of setting right these exaggerations. But in his +comments on this matter of Brutus and Scaptius he seems to me not to +have considered the difference in that standard of honor and honesty +which governs himself, and that which prevailed in the time of Cicero. +Not seeing, as I think, how impossible it was for a Roman governor to +have achieved that impartiality of justice with which a long course of +fortunate training has imbued an English judge, he accuses Cicero of +"trifling with equity." The marvel to me is that one man such as +Cicero--a man single in his purpose--should have been able to raise his +own ideas of justice so high above the level prevailing with the best of +those around him. It had become the nature of a Roman aristocrat to +pillage an ally till hardly the skin should be left to cover the man's +bones. Out of this nature Cicero elevated himself completely. In his own +conduct he was free altogether from stain. The question here arose how +far he could dare to go on offending the instincts, the habits, the +nature, of other noble Romans, in protecting from their rapacity the +poor subjects who were temporarily beneath his charge. It is easy for a +judge to stand indifferent between a great man and a little when the +feelings of the world around him are in favor of such impartiality; but +it must have been hard enough to do so when such conduct seemed to the +noblest Romans of the day to be monstrous, fanatical, and pretentious. + +In this case Brutus, our old friend whom all English readers have so +much admired because he dared to tell his brother-in-law Cassius that he +was + + "Much condemned to have an itching palm," + +appears before us in the guise of an usurious money-lender. It would be +hard in the history of usury to come across the well-ascertained details +of a more grasping, griping usurer. His practice had been of the kind +which we may have been accustomed to hear rebuked with the scathing +indignation of our just judges. But yet Brutus was accounted one of the +noblest Romans of the day, only second, if second, to Cato in general +virtue and philosophy. In this trade of money-lending the Roman nobleman +had found no more lucrative business than that of dealing with the +municipalities of the allies. The cities were peopled by a money-making, +commercial race, but they were subjected to the grinding impositions of +their governors. Under this affliction they were constantly driven to +borrow money, and found the capitalists who supplied it among the class +by whom they were persecuted and pillaged. A Brutus lent the money which +an Appius exacted--and did not scruple to do so at forty-eight per +cent., although twelve per cent. per annum, or one per cent. per month, +was the rate of interest permitted by law. + +But a noble Roman such as Brutus did not carry on his business of this +nature altogether in his own name. Brutus dealt with the municipality of +Salamis in the island of Cyprus, and there had two agents, named +Scaptius and Matinius, whom he specially recommended to Cicero as +creditors of the city of Salamis, praying Cicero, as governor of the +province, to assist these men in obtaining the payment of their +debts.[103] This was quite usual, but it was only late in the +transaction that Cicero became aware that the man really looking for his +money was the noble Roman who gave the recommendation. Cicero's letter +tells us that Scaptius came to him, and that he promised that for +Brutus's sake he would take care that the people of Salamis should pay +their debt.[104] Scaptius thanked him, and asked for an official +position in Salamis which would have given him the power of compelling +the payment by force. Cicero refused, explaining that he had determined +to give no such offices in his province to persons engaged in trade. He +had refused such requests already--even to Pompey and to Torquatus. +Appius had given the same man a military command in Salamis--no doubt +also at the instance of Brutus--and the people of Salamis had been +grievously harassed. Cicero had heard of this, and had recalled the man +from Cyprus. Of this Scaptius had complained bitterly, and at last he +and delegates from Salamis who were willing to pay their debt, if they +could only do it without too great extortion, went together to Cicero +who was then at Tarsus, in the most remote part of his province. Here he +was called upon to adjudicate in the matter, Scaptius trusting to the +influence which Brutus would naturally have with his friend the +governor, and the men of Salamis to the reputation for justice which +Cicero had already created for himself in Cilicia. The reader must also +be made to understand that Cicero had been entreated by Atticus to +oblige Brutus, who was specially the friend of Atticus. He must remember +also that this narrative is sent by Cicero to Atticus, who exhorted his +correspondent, even with tears in his eyes, to be true to his honor in +the government of his province.[105] He is appealing from Atticus to +Atticus. I am bound to oblige you--but how can I do so in opposition to +your own lessons? That is his argument to Atticus. + +Then there arises a question as to the amount of money due. The +principal is not in dispute, but the interest. The money has been +manifestly lent on an understanding that four per cent. per month, or +forty-eight per cent. per annum, should be charged on it. But there has +been a law passed that higher interest than one per cent. per month, or +twelve per cent. per annum, shall not be legal. There has, however, been +a counter decree made in regard to these very Salaminians, and made +apparently at the instigation of Brutus, saying that any contract with +them shall be held in force, notwithstanding the law. But Cicero again +has made a decree that he will authorize no exaction above twelve per +cent. in his province. The exact condition of the legal claim is less +clear to me than to Mr. Forsyth, who has the advantage of being a +lawyer. Be that as it may, Cicero decides that twelve per cent. shall be +exacted, and orders the Salaminians to pay the amount. To his request +they demur, but at last agree to obey, alleging that they are enabled to +do so by Cicero's own forbearance to them, Cicero having declined to +accept the presents which had been offered to him from the island.[106] +They will therefore pay this money in some sort, as they say, out of the +governor's own pocket. + +But when the sum is fixed, Scaptius, finding that he cannot get it +over-reckoned after some fraudulent scheme of his own, declines to +receive it. If with the assistance of a friendly governor he cannot do +better than that for himself and his employer, things must be going +badly with Roman noblemen. But the delegates are now very anxious to pay +this money, and offer to deposit it. Scaptius begs that the affair shall +go no farther at present, no doubt thinking that he may drive a better +bargain with some less rigid future governor. The delegates request to +be allowed to place their money as paid in some temple, by doing which +they would acquit themselves of all responsibility; but Cicero begs them +to abstain. "Impetravi ab Salaminiis ut silerent," he says. "I shall be +grieved, indeed, that Brutus should be angry with me," he writes; "but +much more grieved that Brutus should have proved himself to be such as I +shall have found him." + +Then comes the passage in his letter on the strength of which Mr. +Forsyth has condemned Cicero, not without abstract truth in his +condemnation: "They, indeed, have consented"--that is the +Salaminians--"but what will befall them if some such governor as Paulus +should come here? And all this I have done for the sake of Brutus!" +AEmilius Paulus was the Consul, and might probably have Cilicia as a +province, and would no doubt give over the Salaminians to Brutus and his +myrmidons without any compunction. In strictness--with that assurance in +the power of law by means of which our judges are enabled to see that +their righteous decisions shall be carried out without detriment to +themselves--Cicero should have caused the delegates from Salamis +instantly to have deposited their money in the temple. Instead of doing +so, he had only declared the amount due according to his idea of +justice--in opposition to all Romans, even to Atticus--and had then +consented to leave the matter, as for some further appeal. Do we not +know how impossible it is for a man to abide strictly by the right, when +the strict right is so much in advance of all around him as to appear to +other eyes than his own as straitlaced, unpractical, fantastic, and +almost inhuman? Brutus wanted his money sorely, and Brutus was becoming +a great political power on the same side with Pompey, and Cato, and the +other "optimates." Even Atticus was interfering for Brutus. What other +Roman governor of whom we have heard would have made a question on the +subject? Appius had lent a guard of horse-soldiers to this Scaptius with +which he had outraged all humanity in Cyprus--had caused the councillors +of the city to be shut up till they would come to obedience, in doing +which he had starved five of them to death! Nothing had come of this, +such being the way with the Romans in their provinces. Yet Cicero, who +had come among these poor wretches as an unheard-of blessing from +heaven, is held up to scorn because he "trifled with equity!" Equity +with us runs glibly on all fours. With Appius in Cilicia it was utterly +unknown. What are we to say of the man who, by the strength of his own +conscience and by the splendor of his own intellect, could advance so +far out of the darkness of his own age, and bring himself so near to the +light of ours! + +Let us think for a moment of our own Francis Bacon, a man more like to +Cicero than any other that I can remember in history. They were both +great lawyers, both statesmen, both men affecting the _omne scibile_, +and coming nearer to it than perhaps any other whom we can name; both +patriots, true to their conceived idea of government, each having risen +from obscure position to great power, to wealth, and to rank; each from +his own education and his nature prone to compromise, intimate with +human nature, not over-scrupulous either as to others or as to himself. +They were men intellectually above those around them, to a height of +which neither of them was himself aware. To flattery, to admiration, to +friendship, and to love each of them was peculiarly susceptible. But one +failed to see that it behooved him, because of his greatness, to abstain +from taking what smaller men were grasping; while the other swore to +himself from his very outset that he would abstain--and kept the oath +which he had sworn. I am one who would fain forgive Bacon for doing what +I believe that others did around him; but if I can find a man who never +robbed, though all others around him did--in whose heart the "auri sacra +fames" had been absolutely quenched, while the men with whom he had to +live were sickening and dying with an unnatural craving--then I seem to +have recognized a hero. + +Another complaint is made against Cicero as to Ariobarzanes, the King of +Cappadocia, and is founded, as are all complaints against Cicero, on +Cicero's own telling of the story in question. Why there should have +been complaint in this matter I have not been able to discover. +Ariobarzanes was one of those Eastern kings who became milch cows to +the Roman nobles, and who, in their efforts to satisfy the Roman nobles, +could only fleece their own subjects. The power of this king to raise +money seems to have been limited to about L8000 a month.[107] Out of +this he offered a part to Cicero as the Proconsul who was immediately +over him. This Cicero declined, but pressed the king to pay the money to +the extortionate Brutus, who was a creditor, and who endeavored to get +this money through Cicero. But Pompey also was a creditor, and Pompey's +name was more dreadful to the king than that of Brutus. Pompey, +therefore, got it all, though we are told that it was not enough to pay +him his interest; but Pompey, getting it all, was graciously pleased to +be satisfied "Cnaeus noster clementer id fert." "Our Cicero puts up with +that, and asks no questions about the capital," says Cicero, ironically. +Pompey was too wise to kill the goose that laid such golden eggs. +Nevertheless, we are told that Cicero, in this case, abused his +proconsular authority in favor of Brutus. Cicero effected nothing for +Brutus; but, when there was a certain amount of plunder to be divided +among the Romans, refused any share for himself. Pompey got it all, but +not by Cicero's aid. + +There is another long letter, in which Cicero again, for the third time, +tells the story of Brutus and Scaptius.[108] I mention it, as he +continues to describe his own mode of doing his work. He has been at +Laodicea from February to May, deciding questions that had been there +brought before him from all parts of his province except Cilicia proper. +The cities which had been ground down by debt have been enabled to free +themselves, and then to live under their own laws. This he has done by +taking nothing from them for his own expenses--not a farthing. It is +marvellous to see how the municipalities have sprung again into life +under this treatment. "He has been enabled by this to carry on justice +without obstruction and without severity. Everybody has been allowed +approach to him--a custom which has been unknown in the provinces. There +has been no back-stairs influence. He has walked openly in his own +courts, as he used to do when a candidate at home. All this has been +grateful to the people, and much esteemed; nor has it been too laborious +to himself, as he had learned the way of it in his former life." It was +thus that Cicero governed Cilicia. + +There are further letters to Appius and Caelius, written from various +parts of the province, which cannot fail to displease us because we feel +that Cicero is endeavoring to curry favor. He wishes to stand well with +those who might otherwise turn against him on his reappearance in Rome. +He is afraid lest Appius should be his enemy and lest Pompey should not +be his friend. The practice of justice and of virtue would, he knew, +have much less effect in Rome than the friendship and enmity of such +men. But to Atticus he bursts out into honest passion against Brutus. +Brutus had recommended to him one Gavius, whom, to oblige Brutus, he +appointed to some office. Gavius was greedy, and insolent when his greed +was not satisfied. "You have made me a prefect," said Gavius; "where am +I to go for my rations?" Cicero tells him that as he has done no work he +will get no pay; whereupon Gavius, quite unaccustomed to such treatment, +goes off in a huff. "If Brutus can be stirred by the anger of such a +knave as this," he says to Atticus, "you may love him, if you will, +yourself; you will not find me a rival for his friendship."[109] Brutus, +however, became a favorite with Cicero, because he had devoted himself +to literature. In judging these two men we should not lean too heavily +on Brutus, because he did no worse than his neighbors. But then, how are +we to judge of Cicero? + +In the latter months of his government there began a new trouble, in +which it is difficult to sympathize with him, because we are unable to +produce in our own minds a Roman's estimation of Roman things. With true +spirit he had laughed at his own military doings at Pindenissum; but not +the less on that account was he anxious to enjoy the glories of a +triumph, and to be dragged through the city on a chariot, with military +trophies around him, as from time immemorial the Roman conquerors had +been dragged when they returned from their victories. + +For the old barbaric conquerors this had been fine enough. A display of +armor--of helmets, of shields, and of swords--a concourse of chariots, +of trumpets, and of slaves, of victims kept for the Tarpeian rock, the +spoils and rapine of battle, the self-asserting glory of the big +fighting hero, the pride of bloodshed, and the boasting over fallen +cities, had been fit for men who had in their hearts conceived nothing +greater than military renown. Our sympathies go along with a Camillus or +a Scipio steeped in the blood of Rome's enemies. A Marius, a Pompey, and +again a few years afterward a Caesar, were in their places as they were +dragged along the Via Sacra up to the Capitol amid the plaudits of the +city, in commemoration of their achievements in arms; but it could not +be so with Cicero. "Concedat laurea linguae" had been the watchword of +his life. "Let the ready tongue and the fertile brain be held in higher +honor than the strong right arm." That had been the doctrine which he +had practised successfully. To him it had been given to know that the +lawyer's gown was raiment worthier of a man than the soldier's +breastplate. How, then, could it be that he should ask for so small a +thing as a triumph in reward for so small a deed as that done at +Pindenissum? But it had become the way with all Proconsuls who of late +years had been sent forth from Rome into the provinces. Men to whose +provincial government a few cohorts were attached aspired to be called +"Imperator" by their soldiers after mock battles, and thought that, as +others had followed up their sham victories with sham triumphs, it +should be given to them to do the same. If Bibulus triumphed it would be +a disgrace to Cicero not to triumph. We measure our expected rewards not +by our own merits but by the good things which have been conceded to +others. To have returned from Pindenissum and not to be allowed the +glory of trumpets would be a disgrace, in accordance with the theory +then prevailing in Rome on such matters; therefore Cicero demanded a +triumph. + +In such a matter it was in accordance with custom that the General +should send an immediate account of his victorious doings, demand a +"supplication," and have the triumph to be decreed to him or not after +his return home. A supplication was in form a thanksgiving to the gods +for the great favor shown by them to the State, but in fact took the +guise of public praise bestowed upon the man by whose hands the good had +been done. It was usually a reward for military success, but in the +affair of Catiline a supplication had been decreed to Cicero for saving +the city, though the service rendered had been of a civil nature. Cicero +now applied for a supplication, and obtained it. Cato opposed it, and +wrote a letter to Cicero explaining his motives--upon high republican +principles. Cicero might have endured this more easily had not Cato +voted for a supplication in honor of Bibulus, whose military +achievements had, as Cicero thought, been less than his own. One Hirrus +opposed it also, but in silence, having intended to allege that the +numbers slain by Cicero in his battles were not sufficient to justify a +supplication. We learn that, according to strict rule, two thousand dead +men should have been left on the field. Cicero's victims had probably +been much fewer; nevertheless the supplication was granted, and Cicero +presumed that the triumph would follow as a matter of course. Alas, +there came grievous causes to interfere with the triumph! + +Of all that went on at Rome Caelius continued to send Cicero accounts. +The Triumvirate was now over. Caelius says that Pompey will not attack +Caesar openly, but that he does all he can to prevent Caesar from being +elected Consul before he shall have given up his province and his +army.[110] For details Caelius refers him to a Commentarium--a word which +has been translated as meaning "newspaper" in this passage--by Melmoth. +I think that there is no authority for this idea, and that the +commentary was simply the compilation of Caelius, as were the +commentaries we so well know the compilation of Caesar. The Acta Diurna +were published by authority, and formed an official gazette. These no +doubt reached Cicero, but were very different in their nature from the +private record of things which he obtained from his friend. + +There are passages in Greek, in two letters[111] written about this time +to Atticus, which refer to the matter from which probably arose his +quarrel with his wife, and her divorce. He makes no direct allusion to +his wife, but only to a freedman of hers, Philotomus. When Milo was +convicted, his goods were confiscated and sold as a part of his +punishment. Philotomus is supposed to have been a purchaser, and to have +made money out of the transaction--taking advantage of his position to +acquire cheap bargains--as should not have been done by any one +connected with Cicero, who had been Milo's friend. The cause of Cicero's +quarrel with his wife has never been absolutely known, but it is +supposed to have arisen from her want of loyalty to him in regard to +money. She probably employed this freedman in filling her pockets at the +expense of her husband's character. + +[Sidenote: B.C. 50, aetat. 57.] + +In his own letters he tells of preparations made for his return, and +allusions are made as to his expected triumph. He is grateful to Caelius +as to what has been done as to the supplication, and expresses his +confidence that all the rest will follow.[112] He is so determined to +hurry away that he will not wait for the nomination of a successor, and +resolves to put the government into the hands of any one of his officers +who may be least unfit to hold it. His brother Quintus was his +lieutenant, but if he left Quintus people would say of him that in doing +so he was still keeping the emoluments in his own hands. At last he +determines to intrust it to a young Quaestor named C. Caelius--no close +connection of his friend Caelius, as Cicero finds himself obliged to +apologize for the selection to his friend. "Young, you will say. No +doubt; but he had been elected Quaestor, and is of noble birth."[113] So +he gives over the province to the young man, having no one else fitter. + +Cicero tells us afterward, when at Athens on his way home, that he had +considerable trouble with his own people on withholding certain plunder +which was regarded by them as their perquisite. He had boasted much of +their conduct--having taken exception to one Tullius, who had demanded +only a little hay and a little wood. But now there came to be +pickings--savings out of his own proconsular expenses--to part with +which at the last moment was too hard upon them. "How difficult is +virtue," he exclaims; "how doubly difficult to pretend to act up to it +when it is not felt!"[114] There had been a certain sum saved which he +had been proud to think that he would return to the treasury. But the +satellites were all in arms: "Ingemuit nostra cohors." Nevertheless, he +disregarded the "cohort," and paid the money into the treasury. + +As to the sum thus saved, there has been a dispute which has given rise +to some most amusing literary vituperation. The care with which MSS. +have been read now enables us to suppose that it was ten hundred +thousand sesterces--thus expressed, "H.S.X."--amounting to something +over L8000. We hear elsewhere, as will be mentioned again, that Cicero +realized out of his own legitimate allowance in Cilicia a profit of +about L18,000; and we may imagine that the "cohort" should think itself +aggrieved in losing L8000 which they expected to have divided among +them. Middleton has made a mistake, having supposed the X to be +CI[C] or M--a thousand instead of ten--and quotes the sum +saved as having amounted to eight hundred thousand instead of eight +thousand pounds. We who have had so much done for us by intervening +research, and are but ill entitled to those excuses for error which may +fairly be put forward on Middleton's behalf, should be slow indeed in +blaming him for an occasional mistake, seeing how he has relieved our +labors by infinite toil on his part; but De Quincey, who has been very +rancorous against Cicero, has risen to a fury of wrath in his +denunciation of Cicero's great biographer. "Conyers Middleton," he says, +"is a name that cannot be mentioned without an expression of disgust." +The cause of this was that Middleton, a beneficed clergyman of the +Church of England, and a Cambridge man, differed from other Cambridge +clergymen on controversial points and church questions. Bentley was his +great opponent--and as Bentley was a stout fighter, so was Middleton. +Middleton, on the whole, got the worst of it, because Bentley was the +stronger combatant; but he seems to have stood in good repute all his +life, and when advanced in years was appointed Professor of Natural +History. He is known to us, however, only as the biographer of Cicero. +Of this book, Monk, the biographer of Middleton's great opponent, +Bentley, declares that, "for elegance, purity, and ease, Middleton's +style yields to none in the English language." De Quincey says of it +that, by "weeding away from it whatever is colloquial, you would strip +it of all that is characteristic"--meaning, I suppose, that the work +altogether wants dignity of composition. This charge is, to my thinking, +so absolutely contrary to the fact, that it needs only to be named to be +confuted by the opinion of all who have read the work. De Quincey +pounces upon the above-named error with profoundest satisfaction, and +tells us a pleasant little story about an old woman who thought that +four million people had been once collected at Caernarvon. Middleton had +found the figure wrongly deciphered and wrongly copied for him, and had +translated it as he found it, without much thought. De Quincey thinks +that the error is sufficient to throw over all faith in the book: "It is +in the light of an evidence against Middleton's good-sense and +thoughtfulness that I regard it as capital." That is De Quincey's +estimate of Middleton as a biographer. I regard him as a laborer who +spared himself no trouble, who was enabled by his nature to throw +himself with enthusiasm into his subject, who knew his work as a writer +of English, and who, by a combination of erudition, intelligence, and +industry, has left us one of those books of which it may truly be said +that no English library should be without it. + +The last letter written by Cicero in Asia was sent to Atticus from +Ephesus the day before he started--on the last day, namely, of September. +He had been delayed by winds and by want of vessels large enough to carry +him and his suite. News here reached him from Rome--news which was not +true in its details, but true enough in its spirit. In a letter to +Atticus he speaks of "miros terrores Caesarianos"[115]--"dreadful reports +as to outrages by Caesar;" that he would by no means dismiss his army; +that he had with him the Praetors elect, one of the Tribunes, and even one +of the Consuls; and that Pompey had resolved to leave the city. Such were +the first tidings presaging Pharsalia. Then he adds a word about his +triumph. "Tell me what you think about this triumph, which my friends +desire me to seek. I should not care about it if Bibulus were not also +asking for a triumph--Bibulus, who never put a foot outside his own doors +as long as there was an enemy in Syria!" Thus Cicero had to suffer untold +misery because Bibulus was asking for a triumph! + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +_THE WAR BETWEEN CAESAR AND POMPEY._ + + +What official arrangements were made for Proconsuls in regard to money, +when in command of a province, we do not know. The amounts allowed were +no doubt splendid, but it was not to them that the Roman governor looked +as the source of that fortune which he expected to amass. The means of +plunder were infinite, but of plunder always subject to the danger of an +accusation. We remember how Verres calculated that he could divide his +spoil into three sufficient parts--one for the lawyers, one for the +judges, so as to insure his acquittal, and then one for himself. This +plundering was common--so common as to have become almost a matter of +course; but it was illegal, and subjected some unfortunate culprits to +exile, and to the disgorging of a part of what they had taken. No +accusation was made against Cicero. As to others there were constantly +threats, if no more than threats. Cicero was not even threatened. But he +had saved out of his legitimate expenses a sum equal to L18,000 of our +money--from which we may learn how noble were the appanages of a Roman +governor. The expenses of all his staff passed through his own hands, +and many of those of his army. Any saving effected would therefore be to +his own personal advantage. On this money he counted much when his +affairs were in trouble, as he was going to join Pompey at Pharsalia in +the following year. He then begged Atticus to arrange his matters for +him, telling him that the sum was at his call in Asia,[116] but he +never saw it again: Pompey borrowed it--or took it; and when Pompey had +been killed the money was of course gone. + +His brother Quintus was with him in Cilicia, but of his brother's doings +there he says little or nothing. We have no letters from him during the +period to his wife or daughter. The latter was married to her third +husband, Dolabella, during his absence, with no opposition from Cicero, +but not in accordance with his advice. He had purposed to accept a +proposition for her hand made to him by Tiberius Nero, the young Roman +nobleman who afterward married that Livia whom Augustus took away from +him even when she was pregnant, in order that he might marry her +himself, and who thus became the father of the Emperor Tiberius. It is +worthy of remark at the same time that the Emperor Tiberius married the +granddaughter of Atticus. Cicero when in Cilicia had wished that Nero +should be chosen; but the family at home was taken by the fashion and +manners of Dolabella, and gave the young widow to him as her third +husband when she was yet only twenty-five. This marriage, like the +others, was unfortunate. Dolabella, though fashionable, nobly born, +agreeable, and probably handsome, was thoroughly worthless. He was a +Roman nobleman of the type then common--heartless, extravagant, and +greedy. His country, his party, his politics were subservient, not to +ambition or love of power, but simply to a desire for plunder. Cicero +tried hard to love him, partly for his daughter's sake, more perhaps +from the necessity which he felt for supporting himself by the power and +strength of the aristocratic party to which Dolabella belonged. + +I cannot bring him back to Rome, and all that he suffered there, without +declaring that much of his correspondence during his government, +especially during the latter months of it, and the period of his journey +home, is very distressing. I have told the story of his own doings, I +think, honestly, and how he himself abstained, and compelled those +belonging to him to do so; how he strove to ameliorate the condition of +those under his rule; how he fully appreciated the duty of doing well by +others, so soon to be recognized by all Christians. Such humanity on the +part of a Roman at such a period is to me marvellous, beautiful, almost +divine; but, in eschewing Roman greed and Roman cruelty, he was unable +to eschew Roman insincerity. I have sometimes thought that to have done +so it must have been necessary for him altogether to leave public life. +Why not? my readers will say. But in our days, when a man has mixed +himself for many years with all that is doing in public, how hard it is +for him to withdraw, even though, in withdrawing he fears no violence, +no punishment, no exile, no confiscation. The arguments, the prayers, +the reproaches of those around him draw him back; and the arguments, the +reproaches from within are more powerful even than those from his +friends. To be added to these is the scorn, perhaps the ridicule, of his +opponents. Such are the difficulties in the way of the modern politician +who thinks that he has resolved to retire; but the Roman ex-Consul, +ex-Praetor, ex-Governor had entered upon a mode of warfare in which his +all, his life, his property, his choice of country, his wife, his +children, were open to the ready attacks of his eager enemies. To have +deserved well would be nothing, unless he could keep a party round him +bound by mutual interests to declare that he had deserved well. A rich +man, who desired to live comfortably beyond the struggle of public life, +had to abstain, as Atticus had done, from increasing the sores, from +hurting the ambition, from crushing the hopes of aspirants. Such a man +might be safe, but he could not be useful; such, at any rate, had not +been Cicero's life. In his earlier days, till he was Consul, he had kept +himself free from political interference in doing the work of his life; +but since that time he had necessarily put himself into competition with +many men, and had made many enemies by the courage of his opinions. He +had found even those he had most trusted opposed to him. He had aroused +the jealousy not only of the Caesars and the Crassuses and the Pisos, +but also of the Pompeys and Catos and Brutuses. Whom was he not +compelled to fear? And yet he could not escape to his books; nor, in +truth, did he wish it. He had made for himself a nature which he could +not now control. + +He had not been long in Cilicia before he knew well how cruel, how +dishonest, how greedy, how thoroughly Roman had been the conduct of his +predecessor Appius. His letters to Atticus are full of the truths which +he had to tell on that matter. His conduct, too, with regard to Appius +was mainly right. As far as in him lay he endeavored to remedy the evils +which the unjust Proconsul had done, and to stop what further evil was +still being done. He did not hesitate to offend Appius when it was +necessary to do so by his interference. But Appius was a great nobleman, +one of the "optimates," a man with a strong party at his back in Rome. +Appius knew well that Cicero's good word was absolutely necessary to +save him from the ruin of a successful accusation. Cicero knew also that +the support of Appius would be of infinite service to him in his Roman +politics. Knowing this, he wrote to Appius letters full of +flattery--full of falsehood, if the plain word can serve our purpose +better. Dolabella, the new son-in-law, had taken upon himself, for some +reason as to which it can hardly be worth our while to inquire, to +accuse Appius of malversation in his province. That Appius deserved +condemnation there can be no doubt; but in these accusations the +contests generally took place not as to the proof of the guilt, but as +to the prestige and power of the accuser and the accused. Appius was +tried twice on different charges, and was twice acquitted; but the fact +that his son-in-law should be the accuser was fraught with danger to +Cicero. He thought it necessary for the hopes which he then entertained +to make Appius understand that his son-in-law was not acting in concert +with him, and that he was desirous that Appius should receive all the +praise which would have been due to a good governor. So great was the +influence of Appius at Rome that he was not only acquitted, but shortly +afterward elected Censor. The office of Censor was in some respects the +highest in Rome. The Censors were elected only once in four years, +remaining in office for eighteen months. The idea was that powers so +arbitrary as these should be in existence only for a year and a half out +of each four years. Questions of morals were considered by them. Should +a Senator be held to have lived as did not befit a Senator, a Censor +could depose him. As Appius was elected Censor immediately after his +acquittal, together with that Piso whom Cicero had so hated, it may be +understood that his influence was very great.[117] It was great enough +to produce from Cicero letters which were flattering and false. The man +who had been able to live with a humanity, a moderation, and an honesty +befitting a Christian, had not risen to that appreciation of the beauty +of truth which an exercise of Christianity is supposed to exact. + +"Sed quid agas? Sic vivitur!"[118]--"What would you have me do? It is +thus we live now!" This he exclaims in a letter to Caelius, written a +short time before he left the province. "What would you say if you read +my last letter to Appius?" You would open your eyes if you knew how I +have flattered Appius--that was his meaning. "Sic vivitur!"--"It is so +we live now." When I read this I feel compelled to ask whether there was +an opportunity for any other way of living. Had he seen the baseness of +lying as an English Christian gentleman is expected to see it, and had +adhered to truth at the cost of being a martyr, his conduct would have +been high though we might have known less of it; but, looking at all the +circumstances of the period, have we a right to think that he could have +done so? + +From Athens on his way home Cicero wrote to his wife, joining Tullia's +name with hers. "Lux nostra," he calls his daughter; "the very apple of +my eye!" He had already heard from various friends that civil war was +expected. He will have to declare himself on his arrival--that is, to +take one side or the other--and the sooner he does so the better. There +is some money to be looked for--a legacy which had been left to him. He +gives express directions as to the persons to be employed respecting +this, omitting the name of that Philotomus as to whose honesty he is +afraid. He calls his wife "suavissima et optatissima Terentia," but he +does not write to her with the true love which was expressed by his +letters when in exile. From Athens, also, where he seems to have stayed +nearly two months, he wrote in December. He is easy, he says, about his +triumph unless Caesar should interfere--but he does not care much about +his triumph now. He is beginning to feel the wearisomeness of the +triumph; and indeed it was a time in which the utter hollowness of +triumphal pretensions must have made the idea odious to him. But to have +withdrawn would have been to have declared his own fears, his own +doubts, his own inferiority to the two men who were becoming declared as +the rival candidates for Roman power. We may imagine that at such a time +he would gladly have gone in quiet to his Roman mansion or to one of his +villas, ridding himself forever of the trouble of his lictors, his +fasces, and all the paraphernalia of imperatorial dignity; but a man +cannot rid himself of such appanages without showing that he has found +it necessary to do so. It was the theory of a triumph that the +victorious Imperator should come home hot (as it were) from the +battle-field, with all his martial satellites around him, and have +himself carried at once through Rome. It was barbaric and grand, as I +have said before, but it required the martial satellites. Tradition had +become law, and the Imperator intending to triumph could not dismiss his +military followers till the ceremony was over. In this way Cicero was +sadly hampered by his lictors when, on his landing at Brundisium, he +found that Italy was already preparing for her great civil war. + +[Sidenote: B.C. 50, aetat. 57.] + +Early in this year it had been again proposed in the Senate that Caesar +should give up his command. At this time the two Consuls, L. AEmilius +Paulus and C. Claudius Marcellus, were opposed to Caesar, as was also +Curio, who had been one of Cicero's young friends, and was now Tribune. +But two of these Caesar managed to buy by the payment of enormous bribes. +Curio was the more important of the two, and required the larger bribe. +The story comes to us from Appian,[119] but the modern reader will find +it efficiently told by Mommsen.[120] The Consul had fifteen hundred +talents, or about L500,000! The sum named as that given by Caesar to +Curio was something greater, because he was so deeply in debt! Bribes to +the amount of above a million of money, such as money is to us now, +bestowed upon two men for their support in the Senate! It was worth a +man's while to be a Consul or a Tribune in those days. But the money was +well earned--plunder, no doubt, extracted from Gaul. The Senate decided +that both Pompey and Caesar should be required to abandon their +commands--or rather they adopted a proposal to that effect without any +absolute decree. But this sufficed for Caesar, who was only anxious to be +relieved from the necessity of obeying any order from the Senate by the +knowledge that Pompey also was ordered, and also was disobedient. Then +it was--in the summer of this year--that the two commanders were desired +by the Senate to surrender each of them a legion, or about three +thousand men, under the pretence that the forces were wanted for the +Parthian war. The historians tell us that Pompey had lent a legion to +Caesar, thus giving us an indication of the singular terms on which +legions were held by the proconsular officers who commanded them. Caesar +nobly sends up to Rome two legions, the one as having been ordered to be +restored by himself, and the other as belonging to Pompey. He felt, no +doubt, that a show of nobleness in this respect would do him better +service than the withholding of the soldiers. The men were stationed at +Capua, instead of being sent to the East, and no doubt drifted back into +Caesar's hands. The men who had served under Caesar would not willingly +find themselves transferred to Pompey. + +Caesar in the summer came across the Alps into Cisalpine Gaul, which as +yet had not been legally taken from him, and in the autumn sat himself +down at Ravenna, which was still within his province. It was there that +he had to meditate the crossing of the Rubicon and the manifestation of +absolute rebellion. Matters were in this condition when Cicero returned +to Italy, and heard the corroboration of the news as to the civil war +which had reached him at Athens. + +In a letter written from Athens, earlier than the one last quoted, +Cicero declared to Atticus that it would become him better to be +conquered with Pompey than to conquer with Caesar.[121] The opinion here +given may be taken as his guiding principle in politics till Pompey was +no more. Through all the doubts and vacillations which encumbered him, +this was the rule not only of his mind but of his heart. To him there +was no Triumvirate: the word had never been mentioned to his ears. Had +Pompey remained free from Caesar it would have been better. The two men +had come together, and Crassus had joined them. It was better for him to +remain with them and keep them right, than to stand away, angry and +astray, as Cato had done. The question how far Caesar was justified in +the position which he had taken up by certain alleged injuries, affected +Cicero less than it has done subsequent inquirers. Had an attempt been +made to recall Caesar illegally? Was he subjected to wrong by having his +command taken away from him before the period had passed for which the +people had given it? Was he refused indulgences to which the greatness +of his services entitled him--such as permission to sue for the +Consulship while absent from Rome--while that, and more than that, had +been granted to Pompey? All these questions were no doubt hot in debate +at the time, but could hardly have affected much the judgment of Cicero, +and did not at all affect his conduct. Nor, I think, should they +influence the opinions of those who now attempt to judge the conduct of +Caesar. Things had gone beyond the domain of law, and had fallen +altogether into that of potentialities. Decrees of the Senate or votes +of the people were alike used as excuses. Caesar, from the beginning of +his career, had shown his determination to sweep away as cobwebs the +obligations which the law imposed upon him. It is surely vain to look +for excuses for a man's conduct to the practice of that injustice +against him which he has long practised against others. Shall we forgive +a house-breaker because the tools which he has himself invented are used +at last upon his own door? The modern lovers of Caesar and of Caesarism +generally do not seek to wash their hero white after that fashion. To +them it is enough that the man has been able to trample upon the laws +with impunity, and to be a law not only to himself but to all the world +around him. There are some of us who think that such a man, let him be +ever so great--let him be ever so just, if the infirmities of human +nature permit justice to dwell in the breast of such a man--will in the +end do more harm than good. But they who sit at the feet of the great +commanders admire them as having been law-breaking, not law-abiding. +To say that Caesar was justified in the armed position which he took in +Northern Italy in the autumn of this year, is to rob him of his praise. +I do not suppose that he had meditated any special line of policy during +the years of hard work in Gaul, but I think that he was determined not +to relinquish his power, and that he was ready for any violence by which +he might preserve it. + +If such was Cicero's idea of this man--if such the troubled outlook +which he took into the circumstances of the Empire--he thought probably +but little of the legality of Caesar's recall. What would the Consuls do, +what would Curio do, what would Pompey do, and what Caesar? It was of +this that he thought. Had law-abiding then been possible, he would have +been desirous to abide by the law. Some nearest approach to the law +would be the best. Caesar had ignored all laws, except so far as he could +use them for his own purposes. Pompey, in conspiring with Caesar, had +followed Caesar's lead; but was desirous of using the law against Caesar +when Caesar outstripped him in lawlessness. But to Cicero there was still +some hope of restraining Pompey. Pompey, too, had been a conspirator, +but not so notorious a conspirator as Caesar. With Pompey there would be +some bond to the Republic; with Caesar there could be none; therefore it +was better for him to fall with Pompey than to rise with Caesar. That was +his conviction till Pompey had altogether fallen. + +His journey homeward is made remarkable by letters to Tiro, his slave +and secretary. Tiro was taken ill, and Cicero was obliged to leave him +at Patrae, in Greece. Whence he had come to Cicero we do not know, or +when; but he had not probably fallen under his master's peculiar notice +before the days of the Cilician government, as we find that on his +arrival at Brundisium he writes to Atticus respecting him as a person +whom Atticus had not much known.[122] But his affection for Tiro is very +warm, and his little solicitudes for the man whom he leaves are +charming. He is to be careful as to what boat he takes, and under what +captain he sails. He is not to hurry. The doctor is to be consulted and +well paid. Cicero himself writes various letters to various persons, in +order to secure that attention which Tiro could not have insured unless +so assisted. + +Early in January Cicero reached the city, but could not enter it because +of his still unsettled triumph, and Caesar crossed the little river which +divided his province from the Roman territory. The 4th of January is the +date given for the former small event. For the latter I have seen no +precise day named, I presume that it was after the 6th, as on that day +the Senate appointed Domitian as his successor in his province. On this +being done, the two Tribunes, Antony and Cassius, hurried off to Caesar, +and Caesar then probably crossed the stream. Cicero was appointed to a +command in Campania--that of raising levies, the duties of which were +not officially repugnant to his triumph. + +His doings during the whole of this time were but little to his credit; +but who is there whose doings were to his credit at that period? The +effect had been to take all power out of his hand. Caesar had given him +up. Pompey could not do so, but we can imagine how willing Pompey would +have been that he should have remained in Cilicia. He had been sent +there, out of the way, but had hurried home again. If he would only have +remained and plundered! If he would only have remained there and have +been honest--so that he would be out of the way! But here he was--back +in Italy, an honest, upright man! No one so utterly unlike the usual +Roman, so lost amid the self-seekers of Rome, so unnecessarily +clean-handed, could be found! Cato was honest, foolishly honest for his +time; but with Cato it was not so difficult to deal as with Cicero. We +can imagine Cato wrapping himself up in his robe and being savagely +unreasonable. Cicero was all alive to what was going on in the world, +but still was honest! In the mean time he remained in the neighborhood +of Naples, writing to his wife and daughter, writing to Tiro, writing to +Atticus, and telling us all those details which we now seem to know so +well--because he has told us. In one of his letters to Atticus at this +time he is sadly in earnest. He will die with Pompey in Italy, but what +can he do by leaving it? He has his "lictors" with him still. Oh, those +dreadful lictors! His friendship for Cnaeus! His fear of having to join +himself with the coming tyrant! "Oh that you would assist me with your +counsel!"[123] He writes again, and describes the condition of +Pompey--of Pompey who had been Magnus. "See how prostrate he is. He has +neither courage, counsel, men, nor industry! Put aside those things; +look at his flight from the city, his cowardly harangues in the towns, +his ignorance of his own strength and that of his enemy! * * * Caesar in +pursuit of Pompey! Oh, sad! * * * Will he kill him?" he exclaims. Then, +still to Atticus, he defends himself. He will die for Pompey, but he +does not believe that he can do any good either to Pompey or to the +Republic by a base flight. Then there is another cause for staying in +Italy as to which he cannot write. This was Terentia's conduct. At the +end of one of his letters he tells Atticus that with the same lamp by +which he had written would he burn that which Atticus had sent to him. +In another he speaks of a Greek tutor who has deserted him, a certain +Dionysius, and he boils over with anger. His letters to Atticus about +the Greek tutor are amusing at this distance of time, because they show +his eagerness. "I never knew anything more ungrateful; and there is +nothing worse than ingratitude."[124] + +He heaps his scorn upon Pompey: "It is true, indeed, that I said that it +was better to be conquered with him than to conquer with those others. I +would indeed. But of what Pompey was it that I so spoke? Was it of this +one who flies he knows not what, nor whom, nor whither he will +fly?"[125] He writes again the same day: "Pompey had fostered Caesar, and +then had feared him. He had left the city; he had lost Picenum by his +own fault, he had betaken himself to Apulia! Then he went into Greece, +leaving us in the dark as to his plans!" He excuses a letter of his own +to Caesar. He had written to Caesar in terms which might be pleasing to +the great man. He had told Caesar of Caesar's admirable wisdom. Was it not +better so? He was willing that his letter should be read aloud to all +the people, if only those of Pompey might also be read aloud. Then +follow copies of a correspondence between him and Pompey. In the last he +declares[126] that "when he had written from Canusium he had not dreamed +that Pompey was about to cross the sea. He had known that Pompey had +intended to treat for peace--for peace even under unjust conditions--but +he had never thought that Pompey was meditating a retreat out of Italy." +He argues well and stoutly, and does take us along with him. Pompey had +been beaten back from point to point, never once rallying himself +against Caesar. He had failed, and had slipped away, leaving a man here +and there to stand up for the Republic. Pompey was willing to risk +nothing for Rome. It had come to pass at last that he was being taught +Caesarism by Caesar, and when he died was more imperial than his master. + +At this time Cicero's eyes were bad. "Mihi molestior lippitudo erat +etiam quam ante fuerat." And again, "Lippitudinis meae signum tibi sit +librarii manus." But we may doubt whether any great men have lived so +long with so little to tease them as to their health. And yet the amount +of work he got through was great. He must have so arranged his affairs +as to have made the most he could of his hours, and have carried in his +memory information on all subjects. When we remember the size of the +books which he read, their unwieldy shapes, their unfitness for such +work as that of ours, there seems to have been a continuation of study +such as we cannot endure. Throughout his life his hours were early, but +they must also have been late. Of his letters we have not a half, of +his speeches not a half, of his treatises not more than a half. When he +was abroad during his exile, or in Cilicia during his government, he +could not have had his books with him. That Caesar should have been +Caesar, or Pompey Pompey, does not seem to me a matter so difficult as +that Cicero should have been Cicero. Then comes that letter of which I +spoke in my first chapter, in which he recapitulates the Getae, the +Armenians, and the men of Colchis. "Shall I, the savior of the city, +assist to bring down upon that city those hordes of foreign men? Shall I +deliver it up to famine and to destruction for the sake of one man who +is no more than mortal?"[127] It was Pompey as to whom he then asked the +question. For Pompey's sake am I to let in these crowds? We have been +told, indeed, by Mr. Froude that the man was Caesar, and that Cicero +wrote thus anxiously with the special object of arranging his death! + +"Now, if ever, think what we shall do," he says. "A Roman army sits +round Pompey and makes him a prisoner within valley and rampart--and +shall we live? The city stands; the Praetors give the law, the AEdiles +keep up the games, good men look to their principal and their interest. +Shall I remain sitting here? Shall I rush hither and thither madly, and +implore the credit of the towns? Men of substance will not follow me. +The revolutionists will arrest me. Is there any end to this misery? +People will point at me and say, 'How wise he was not to go with him.' I +was not wise. Of his victory I never wished to be the comrade--yet now I +do of his sorrow."[128] + +[Sidenote: B.C. 49, aetat. 58.] + +Pompey had crossed the sea from Brundisium, and Caesar had retreated +across Italy to Capua. As he was journeying he saw Cicero, and asked him +to go to Rome. This Cicero refused, and Caesar passed on. "I must then +use other counsels," said Caesar, thus leaving him for the last time +before the coming battle. Cicero went on to Arpinum, and there heard the +nightingales. From that moment he resolved. He had not thought it +possible that when the moment came he should have been able to prevail +against Caesar's advice; but he had done so. He had feared that Caesar +would overcome him; but when the moment came he was strong against even +Caesar. He gave his boy his toga, or, as we should say, made a man of +him. He was going after Pompey, not for the sake of Pompey, not for the +sake of the Republic, but for loyalty. He was going because Atticus had +told him to go. But as he is going there came fresh ground for grief. He +writes to Atticus about the two boys, his son and nephew. The one is +good by nature, and has not yet gone astray. The other, the elder and +his nephew, has been encouraged by this uncle's indulgence, and has +openly adopted evil ways. In other words, he has become Caesarian--for a +reward.[129] The young Quintus has shown himself to be very false. +Cicero is so bound together with his family in their public life that +this falling off of one of them makes him unhappy. Then Curio comes the +way, and there is a most interesting conversation. It seems that Curio, +who is fond of Cicero, tells him everything; but Cicero, who doubts him, +lets him pass on. Then Caelius writes to him. Caelius implores him, for +the sake of his children, to bear in mind what he is doing. He tells him +much of Caesar's anger, and asks him if he cannot become Caesarian; at any +rate to betake himself to some retreat till the storm shall pass by and +quieter days should come. But Caelius, though it had suited Cicero to +know him intimately, had not read the greatness of the man's mind. He +did not understand in the least the difficulty which pervaded Cicero. To +Caelius it was play--play in which a man might be beaten, or banished, or +slaughtered; but it was a game in which men were fighting each for +himself. That there should be a duty in the matter, beyond that, was +inexplicable to Caelius. And his children, too--his anger against young +Quintus and his forgiveness of Marcus! He thinks that Quintus had been +purchased by a large bribe on Caesar's side, and is thankful that it is +no worse with him. What can have been worse to a young man than to have +been open to such payment? Antony is frequently on the scene, and +already disgusts us by the vain frivolity and impudence of his life. And +then Cicero's eyes afflict him, and he cannot see. Servius Sulpicius +comes to him weeping. For Servius, who is timid and lachrymose, +everything has gone astray. And then there is that Dionysius who had +plainly told him that he desired to follow some richer or some readier +master. At the last comes the news of his Tullia's child's birth. She is +brought to bed of a son. He cannot, however, wait to see how the son +thrives. From the midst of enemies, and with spies around him, he +starts. There is one last letter written to his wife and daughter from +on board the ship at Caieta, sending them many loves and many careful +messages, and then he is off. + +It was now the 11th of June, the third day before the ides, B.C. 49, and +we hear nothing special of the events of his journey. When he reached +the camp, which he did in safety, he was not well received there. He had +given his all to place himself along with Pompey in the republican +quarters, and when there the republicans were unwilling to welcome him. +Pompey would have preferred that he should have remained away, so as to +be able to say hereafter that he had not come. + +Of what occurred to Cicero during the great battle which led to the +solution of the Roman question we know little or nothing. We hear that +Cicero was absent, sick at Dyrrachium, but there are none of those +tirades of abuse with which such an absence might have been greeted. We +hear, indeed, from other sources, very full accounts of the +fighting--how Caesar was nearly conquered, how Pompey might have +prevailed had he had the sense to take the good which came in his way, +how he failed to take it, how he was beaten, and how, in the very +presence of his wife, he was murdered at last at the mouth of the Nile +by the combined energies of a Roman and a Greek. + +We can imagine how the fate of the world was decided on the Pharsalus +where the two armies met, and the victory remained with Caesar. Then +there were weepings and gnashings of teeth, and there were the +congratulations and self-applause of the victors. In all Cicero's +letters there is not a word of it. There was terrible suffering before +it began, and there is the sense of injured innocence on his return, but +nowhere do we find any record of what took place. There is no mourning +for Pompey, no turning to Caesar as the conqueror. Petra has been lost, +and Pharsalia has been won, but there is no sign. + +[Sidenote: B.C. 48, aetat. 59.] + +Cicero, we know, spent the time at Dyrrachium close to which the battle +of Petra was fought, and went from thence to Corcyra. There invitation +was made to him, as the senior consular officer present, to take the +command of the beaten army, but that he declined. We are informed that +he was nearly killed in the scuffle which took place. We can imagine +that it was so--that in the confusion and turmoil which followed he +should have been somewhat roughly told that it behooved him to take the +lead and to come forth as the new commander; that there should be a time +at last in which no moment should be allowed him for doubt, but that he +should doubt, and, after more or less of reticence, pass on. Young +Pompey would have it so. What name would be so good to bind together the +opponents of Caesar as that of Cicero? But Cicero would not be led. It +seems that he was petulant and out of sorts at the time; that he had +been led into the difficulty of the situation by his desire to be true +to Pompey, and that he was only able to escape from it now that Pompey +was gone. We can well imagine that there should be no man less able to +fight against Caesar, though there was none whose name might be so +serviceable to use as that of Cicero. At any rate, as far as we are +concerned, there was silence on the subject on his part. He wrote not a +word to any of the friends whom Pompey had left behind him, but returned +to Italy dispirited, silent, and unhappy. He had indeed met many men +since the battle of the Pharsalus, but to none of whom we are conversant +had he expressed his thoughts regarding that great campaign. + +Here we part from Pompey, who ran from the fighting-ground of Macedonia +to meet his doom in the roads of Alexandria. Never had man risen so high +in his youth to be extinguished so ingloriously in his age. He was born +in the same year with Cicero, but had come up quicker into the +management of the world's affairs, so as to have received something from +his equals of that which was due to age. Habit had given him that ease +of manners which enabled him to take from those who should have been his +compeers the deference which was due not to his age but to his +experience. When Cicero was entering the world, taking up the cudgels to +fight against Sulla, Pompey had already won his spurs, in spite of Sulla +but by means of Sulla. Men in these modern days learn, as they grow old +in public life, to carry themselves with indifference among the +backslidings of the world. In reading the life of Cicero, we see that it +was so then. When defending Amerinus, we find the same character of man +as was he who afterward took Milo's part. There is the same readiness, +the same ingenuity, and the same high indignation; but there is not the +same indifference as to results. With Amerinus it is as though all the +world depended on it; with Milo he felt it to be sufficient to make the +outside world believe it. When Pompey triumphed, 70 B.C., and was made +Consul for the second time, he was already old in glory--when Cicero had +not as yet spoken those two orations against Verres which had made the +speaking of another impossible. Pompey, we may say, had never been +young. Cicero was never old. There was no moment in his life in which +Cicero was not able to laugh with the Curios and the Caeliuses behind the +back of the great man. There was no moment in which Pompey could have +done so. He who has stepped from his cradle on to the world's high +places has lost the view of those things which are only to be seen by +idle and luxurious young men of the day. Cicero did not live for many +years beyond Pompey, but I doubt whether he did not know infinitely more +of men. To Pompey it had been given to rule them; but to Cicero to live +with them. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +_AFTER THE BATTLE._ + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 48, aetat. 59.] + +In the autumn of this year Cicero had himself landed at Brundisium. He +remained nearly a year at Brundisium, and it is melancholy to think how +sad and how long must have been the days with him. He had no country +when he reached the nearest Italian port; it was all Caesar's, and Caesar +was his enemy. There had been a struggle for the masterdom between two +men, and of the two the one had beaten with whom Cicero had not ranged +himself. He had known how it would be. All the Getae, and the men of +Colchis, and the Armenians, all the lovers of the fish-ponds and those +who preferred the delicacies of Baiae to the work of the Forum, all who +had been taught to think that there were provinces in order that they +might plunder, men who never dreamed of a country but to sell it, all +those whom Caesar was determined either to drive out of Italy or keep +there in obedience to himself, had been brought together in vain. We +already know, when we begin to read the story, how it will be with them +and with Caesar. On Caesar's side there is an ecstasy of hope carried to +the very brink of certainty; on the other is that fainting spirit of +despair which no battalions can assuage. We hear of no Scaeva and of no +Crastinus on Pompey's side. Men change their nature under such leading +as was that of Caesar. The inferior men become heroic by contact with the +hero; but such heroes when they come are like great gouts of blood +dabbled down upon a fair cloth. Who that has eyes to see can look back +upon the career of such a one and not feel an agony of pain as the +stern man passes on without a ruffled face, after ordering the right +hands of those who had fought at Uxellodunum to be chopped off at the +wrist, in order that men might know what was the penalty of fighting for +their country? + +There are men--or have been, from time to time, in all ages of the +world--let loose, as it were, by the hand of God to stop the iniquities +of the people, but in truth the natural product of those iniquities. +They have come and done their work, and have died, leaving behind them +the foul smell of destruction. An Augustus followed Caesar, and him +Tiberius, and so on to a Nero. It was necessary that men should suffer +much before they were brought back to own their condition. But they who +can see a Cicero struggling to avoid the evil that was coming--not for +himself but for the world around him--and can lend their tongues, their +pens, their ready wits to ridicule his efforts, can hardly have been +touched by the supremacy of human suffering. + +It must have been a sorry time with him at Brundisium. He had to stay +there waiting till Caesar's pleasure had been made known to him, and +Caesar was thinking of other things. Caesar was away in Egypt and the +East, encountering perils at Alexandria which, if all be true that we +have heard, imply that he had lived to be past fear. Grant that a man +has to live as Caesar did, and it will be well that he should be past +fear. At any rate he did not think of Cicero, or thinking of him felt +that he was one who must be left to brood in silence over the choice he +had made. Cicero did brood--not exactly in silence--over the things that +fate had done for him and for his country. For himself, he was living in +Italy, and yet could not venture to betake himself to one of the +eighteen villas which, as Middleton tells us, he had studded about the +country for his pastime. There were those at Tusculum, Antium, Astura, +Arpinum--at Formiae, at Cumae, at Puteoli, and at Pompeii. Those who tell +us of Cicero's poverty are surely wandering, carried away by their +erroneous notions of what were a Roman nobleman's ideas as to money. At +no period of his life do we find Cicero not doing what he was minded to +do for want of money, and at no period is there a hint that he had +allowed himself in any respect to break the law. It has been argued that +he must have been driven to take fees and bribes and indirect payments, +because he says that he wanted money. It was natural that he should +occasionally want money, and yet be in the main indifferent. The +incoming of a regular revenue was not understood as it is with us. A man +here and there might attend to his money, as did Atticus. Cicero did +not; and therefore, when in want of it, he had to apply to a friend for +relief. But he always applies as one who knows well that the trouble is +not enduring. Is it credible that a man so circumstanced should have +remained with those various sources of extravagance which it would have +been easy for him to have avoided or lessened? We are led to the +conviction that at no time was it expedient to him to abandon his +villas, though in the hurry-scurry of Roman affairs it did now and again +become necessary for him to apply to Atticus for accommodation. Let us +think what must have been Caesar's demands for money. Of these we hear +nothing, because he was too wise to have an Atticus to whom he wrote +everything, or too wary to write letters upon business which should be +treasured for the curiosity of after-ages. + +To be hopeful and then tremulous; to be eager after success and then +desponding; to have believed readily every good and then, as readily, +evil; to have relied implicitly on a man's faith, and then to have +turned round and declared how he had been deceived; to have been very +angry and then to have forgiven--this seems to have been Cicero's +nature. Verres, Catiline, Clodius, Piso, and Vatinius seem to have +caused his wrath; but was there one of them against whom, though he did +not forgive him, his anger did not die out? Then, at last, he was moved +to an internecine fight with Antony. Is there any one who has read the +story which we are going to tell who will not agree with us that, if +after Mutina Octavius had thought fit to repudiate Antony and to follow +Cicero's counsels, Antony would not have been spared? + +Nothing angers me so much in describing Cicero as the assertion that he +was a coward. It has sprung from a wrong idea of what constitutes +cowardice. He did not care to fight; but are all men cowards who do not +care to fight when work can be so much better done by talking? He saw +that fighting was the work fit for men of common clay, or felt it if he +did not see it. When men rise to such a pitch as that which he filled, +and Caesar and Pompey, and some few others around them, their greatest +danger does not consist in fighting. A man's tongue makes enemies more +bitter than his sword. But Cicero, when the time came, never shirked his +foe. Whether it was Verres or Catiline, or Clodius or Antony, he was +always there, ready to take that foe by the throat, and ready to offer +his own in return. At moments such as that there was none of the fear +which stands aghast at the wrath of the injured one, and makes the man +who is a coward quail before the eyes of him who is brave. + +His friendship for Pompey is perhaps, of all the strong feelings of his +life, the one most requiring excuse, and the most difficult to excuse. +For myself I can see why it was so; but I cannot do that without +acknowledging in it something which derogated from his greatness. Had he +risen above Pompey, he would have been great indeed; for I look upon it +as certain that he did see that Pompey was as untrue to the Republic as +Caesar. He saw it occasionally, but it was not borne in upon him at all +times that Pompey was false. Caesar was not false. Caesar was an open foe. +I doubt whether Pompey ever saw enough to be open. He never realized to +himself more than men. He never rose to measures--much less to the +reason for them. When Caesar had talked him over, and had induced him to +form the Triumvirate, Pompey's politics were gone. Cicero never +blanched. Whether, full of new hopes, he attacked Chrysogonus with all +the energy of one to whom his injured countrymen were dear, or, with +the settled purpose of his life, he accused Verres in the teeth of the +coming Consul Hortensius; whether in driving out Catiline, or in +defending Milo; whether, even, in standing up before Caesar for +Marcellus, or in his final onslaught upon Antony, his purpose was still +the same. As time passed on he took to himself coarser weapons, and went +down into the arena and fought the beasts at Ephesus. Alas, it is so +with mankind! Who can strive to do good and not fight beasts? And who +can fight them but after some fashion of their own? He was fighting +beasts at Ephesus when he was defending Milo. He was an oligarch, but he +wanted the oligarchy round him to be true and honest! It was impossible. +These men would not be just, and yet he must use them. Milo and Caelius +and Curio were his friends. He knew them to be bad, but he could not +throw off from him all that were bad men. If by these means he could win +his way to something that might be good, he would pardon their evil. As +we make our way on to the end of his life we find that his character +becomes tarnished, and that his high feelings are blunted by the party +which he takes and the men with whom he associates. + +He did not, indeed, fall away altogether. The magistracy offered to him, +the lieutenancy offered to him, the "free legation" offered to him, the +last appeal made to him that he would go to Rome and speak a few +words--or that he would stay away and remain neutral--did not move him. +He did not turn conspirator and then fight for the prize, as Pompey had +done. But he had, for so many years, clung to Pompey as the leader of a +party; had had it so dinned into his ears that all must depend on +Pompey; had found himself so bound up with the man who, when appealed to +as to his banishment, had sullenly told him he could only do as Caesar +would have him; whom he had felt to be mean enough to be stigmatized as +Sampsiceramus, him of Jerusalem, the hero of Arabia; whom he knew to be +desirous of doing with his enemies as Sulla had done with his--that, in +spite of it all, he clung to him still! + +I cannot but blame Cicero for this, but yet I can excuse it. It is hard +to have to change your leader after middle life, and Cicero could only +have changed his by becoming a leader himself. We can see how hopeless +it was. Would it not have been mean had he allowed those men to go and +fight in Macedonia without him? Who would have believed in him had he +seemed to be so false? Not Cato, not Brutus, not Bibulus, not Scipio, +not Marcellus. Such men were the leaders of the party of which he had +been one. Would they not say that he had remained away because he was +Caesar's man? He must follow either Caesar or Pompey. He knew that Pompey +was beaten. There are things which a man knows, but he cannot bring +himself to say so even to himself. He went out to fight on the side +already conquered; and when the thing was done he came home with his +heart sad, and lived at Brundisium, mourning his lot. + +From thence he wrote to Atticus, saying that he hardly saw the advantage +of complying with advice which had been given to him that he should +travel incognito to Rome. But it is the special reason given which +strikes us as being so unlike the arguments which would prevail to-day: +"Nor have I resting-places on the way sufficiently convenient for me to +pass the entire daytime within them."[130] The "diversorium" was a place +by the roadside which was always ready should the owner desire to come +that way. It must be understood that he travelled with attendants, and +carried his food with him, or sent it on before. We see at every turn +how much money could do; but we see also how little money had done for +the general comfort of the people. Brundisium is above three hundred +miles from Rome, and the journey is the same which Horace took +afterward, going from the city.[131] Much had then been done to make +travelling comfortable, or at any rate cheaper than it had been +four-and-twenty years before. But now the journey was not made. He +reminds Atticus in the letter that if he had not written through so long +an interval it was not because there had been a dearth of subjects. It +had been no doubt prudent for a man to be silent when so many eyes and +so many ears were on the watch. He writes again some days later, and +assures Atticus that Caesar thinks well of his "lictors!" Oh those +eternal lictors! "But what have I to do with lictors," he says, "who am +almost ordered to leave the shores of Italy?"[132] And then Caesar had +sent angry messages. Cato and Metellus had been said to have come home. +Caesar did not choose that this should be so, and had ordered them away. +It was clearly manifest to every man alive now that Caesar was the actual +master of Italy. + +During the whole of this winter he is on terms with Terentia, but he +writes to her in the coldest strain. There are many letters to Terentia, +more in number than we have ever known before, but they are all of the +same order. I translate one here to show the nature of his +correspondence: "If you are well, I am so also. The times are such that +I expect to hear nothing from yourself, and on my part have nothing to +write. Nevertheless, I look for your letters, and I write to you when a +messenger is going to start. Voluminia ought to have understood her duty +to you, and should have done what she did do better. There are other +things, however, which I care for more, and grieve for more bitterly--as +those have wished who have driven me from my own opinion."[133] Again he +writes to Atticus, deploring that he should have been born--so great are +his troubles--or, at any rate, that one should have been born after him +from the same mother. His brother has addressed him in anger--his +brother, who has desired to make his own affairs straight with Caesar, +and to swim down the stream pleasantly with other noble Romans of the +time. I can imagine that with Quintus Cicero there was nothing much +higher than the wealth which the day produced. I can fancy that he was +possessed of intellect, and that when it was fair sailing with our +Consul it was all well with Quintus Cicero; but I can see also that, +when Caesar prevailed, it was occasionally a matter of doubt with Quintus +whether his brother should not be abandoned among other things which +were obtrusive and vain. He could not quite do it. His brother compelled +him into propriety, and carried him along within the lines of the +oligarchy. Then Caesar fell, and Quintus saw that the matter was right; +but Caesar, though he fell, did not altogether fall, and therefore +Quintus after all turned out to be in the wrong. I fancy that I can see +how things went ill with Quintus. + +[Sidenote: B.C. 47, aetat. 60.] + +Caesar, after the battle of the Pharsalia, had followed Pompey, but had +failed to catch him. When he came upon the scene in the roadstead at +Alexandria, the murder had been effected. He then disembarked, and +there, as circumstances turned out, was doomed to fight another campaign +in which he nearly lost his life. It is not a part of my plan to write +the life of Caesar, nor to meddle with it further than I am driven to do +in seeking after the sources of Cicero's troubles and aspiration; but +the story must be told in a few words. Caesar went from Alexandria into +Asia, and, flashing across Syria, beat Pharnaces, and then wrote his +famous "Veni, vidi, vici," if those words were ever written. Surely he +could not have written them and sent them home! Even the subservience of +the age would not have endured words so boastful, nor would the glory of +Caesar have so tarnished itself. He hurried back to Italy, and quelled +the mutiny of his men by a masterpiece of stage-acting. Simply by +addressing them as "Quirites," instead of "Milites," he appalled them +into obedience. On this journey into Italy he came across Cicero. If he +could be cruel without a pang--to the arranging the starvation of a +townful of women, because they as well as the men must eat--he could be +magnificent in his treatment of a Cicero. He had hunted to the death his +late colleague in the Triumvirate, and had felt no remorse; though +there seems to have been a moment when in Egypt the countenance of him +who had so long been his superior had touched him. He had not ordered +Pompey's death. On no occasion had he wilfully put to death a Roman +whose name was great enough to leave a mark behind. He had followed the +convictions of his countrymen, who had ever spared themselves. To him a +thousand Gauls, or men of Eastern origin, were as nothing to a single +Roman nobleman. Whether there can be said to have been clemency in such +a course it is useless now to dispute. To Caesar it was at any rate +policy as well. If by clemency he meant that state of mind in which it +is an evil to sacrifice the life of men to a spirit of revenge, Caesar +was clement. He had moreover that feeling which induces him who wins to +make common cause--in little things--with those who lose. We can see +Caesar getting down from his chariot when Cicero came to meet him, and, +throwing his arms round his neck, walking off with him in pleasant +conversation; and we can fancy him talking to Cicero pleasantly of the +greatness which, in times yet to come, pursuits such as his would show +in comparison with those of Caesar's. "Cedant arma togae; concedat laurea +linguae," we can hear Caesar say, with an irony expressed in no tone of +his voice, but still vibrating to the core of his heart, as he thought +so much of his own undoubted military supremacy, and absolutely nothing +of his now undoubted literary excellence. + +[Sidenote: B.C. 47, aetat. 60.] + +But to go back a little; we shall find Cicero still waiting at +Brundisium during August and September. In the former of these months he +reminds Atticus that "he cannot at present sell anything, but that he +can put by something so that it may be in safety when the ruin shall +fall upon him."[134] From this may be deduced a state of things very +different to that above described, but not contradicting it. I gather +from this unintelligible letter, written, as he tells us, for the most +part in his own handwriting, that he was at the present moment under +some forfeiture of the law to Caesar. It may well be that, as one +adjudged to be a rebel to his country, his property should not be +salable. If that were so, Caesar in some of these bland moments must have +revoked the sentence--and at such a time all sentences were within +Caesar's control--because we know that on his return Cicero's villas were +again within his own power. But he is in sad trouble now about his wife. +He has written to her to send him twelve thousand sesterces, which he +had as it were in a bag, and she sends him ten, saying that no more is +left. If she would deduct something from so small a sum, what would she +do if it were larger?[135] Then follow two letters for his wife--a mere +word in each--not a sign of affection nor of complaint in either of +them. In the first he tells her she shall be informed when Caesar is +coming--in the latter, that he is coming. When he has resolved whether +to go and meet him or to remain where he is till Caesar shall have come +upon him, he will again write. Then there are three to Atticus, and two +more to Terentia. In the first he tells him that Caesar is expected. Some +ten or twelve days afterward he is still full of grief as to his brother +Quintus, whose conduct has been shameful. Caesar he knows is near at +hand, but he almost hopes that he will not come to Brundisium. In the +third, as indeed he has in various others, he complains bitterly of the +heat: it is of such a nature that it adds to his grief. Shall he send +word to Caesar that he will wait upon him nearer to Rome?[136] He is +evidently in a sad condition. Quintus, it must be remembered, had been +in Gaul with Caesar, and had seen the rising sun. On his return to Italy +he had not force enough to declare a political conviction, and to go +over to Caesar boldly. He had indeed become lieutenant to his brother +when in Cilicia, having left Caesar for the purpose. He afterward went +with his brother to the Pharsalus, assuring the elder Cicero that they +two would still be of the same party. Then the great catastrophe had +come, when Cicero returned from that wretched campaign to Brundisium, +and remained there in despair as at some penal settlement. Quintus +followed Caesar into Asia with his son, and there pleaded his own cause +with him at the expense of his brother. Of Caesar we must all admit that, +though indifferent to the shedding of blood, arrogant, without principle +in money and without heart in love, he was magnificent, and that he +injured none from vindictive motives. He passed on, leaving Quintus +Cicero, who as a soldier had been true to him, without, as we can fancy, +many words. Cicero afterward interceded for his brother who had reviled +him, and Quintus will ever after have to bear the stain of his +treachery. Then came the two letters for his wife, with just a line in +each. If her messenger should arrive, he will send her word back as to +what she is to do. After an interval of nearly a month, there is the +other--ordering, in perfectly restored good-humor, that the baths shall +be ready at the Tusculan villa: "Let the baths be all ready, and +everything fit for the use of guests; there will probably be many of +them."[137] It is evident that Caesar has passed on in a good-humor, and +has left behind him glad tidings, such as should ever brighten the feet +of the conqueror. + +It is singular that, with a correspondence such as that of Cicero's, of +which, at least through the latter two or three years of his life, every +letter of his to his chief friend has been preserved, there should have +been nothing left to us from that friend himself. It must have been the +case, as Middleton suggests, that Atticus, when Cicero was dead, had the +handling of the entire MS., and had withdrawn his own; either that, or +else Cicero and Atticus mutually agreed to the destruction of their +joint labors, and Atticus had been untrue to his agreement, knowing +well the value of the documents he preserved. That there is no letter +from a woman--not even a line to Cicero from his dear daughter--is much +to be regretted. And yet there are letters--many from Caelius, who is +thus brought forward as almost a second and a younger Atticus--and from +various Romans of the day. When we come to the latter days of his life, +in which he had taken upon himself the task of writing to Plancus and +others as to their supposed duty to the State, they become numerous. +There are ten such from Plancus, and nine from Decimus Brutus; and there +is a whole mass of correspondence with Marcus Brutus--to be taken for +what it is worth. With a view to history, they are doubtless worth much; +but as throwing light on Cicero's character, except as to the vigor that +was in the man to the last, they are not of great value. How is it that +a correspondence, which is for its main purpose so full, should have +fallen so short in many of its details? There is no word, no allusion +derogatory to Atticus in these letters, which have come to us from +Caelius and others. We have Atticus left to us for our judgment, free +from the confession of his own faults, and free also from the +insinuations of others. Of whom would we wish that the familiar letters +of another about ourselves should be published? Would those +objectionable epithets as to Pompey have been allowed to hold their +ground had Pompey lived and had they been in his possession? + +But, in reading histories and biographies, we always accept with a bias +in favor of the person described the anecdotes of those who talk of +them. We know that the ready wit of the surrounding world has taken up +these affairs of the moment and turned them into ridicule--then as they +do now. We discount the "Hierosolymarius." We do not quite believe that +Bibulus never left the house while an enemy was to be seen; but we think +that a man may be expected to tell the truth of himself; at any rate, to +tell no untruth against himself. We think that Cicero of all men may be +left to do so--Cicero, who so well understood the use of words, and +could use them in his own defence so deftly. I maintain that it has been +that very deftness which has done him all the harm. Not one of those +letters of the last years would have been written as it is now had +Cicero thought, when writing it, that from it would his conduct have +been judged after two thousand years. "No," will say my readers, "that +is their value; they would not have otherwise been true, as they are. We +should not then have learned his secrets." I reply, "It is a hard +bargain to make: others do not make such bargains on the same terms. But +be sure, at any rate, that you read them aright: be certain that you +make the necessary allowances. Do not accuse him of falsehood because he +unsays on a Tuesday the words he said on the Monday. Bear in mind on his +behalf all the temporary ill that humanity is heir to. Could you, living +at Brundisium during the summer months, 'when you were scarcely able to +endure the weight of the sun,'[138] have had all your intellects about +you, and have been able always to choose your words?" No, indeed! These +letters, if truth is to be expected from them, have to be read with all +the subtle distinctions necessary for understanding the frame of mind in +which they were written. His anger boils over here, and he is hot. Here +tenderness has mastered him, and the love of old days. He is weak in +body just now, and worn out in spirit; he is hopeless, almost to the +brink of despair; he is bright with wit, he is full of irony, he is +purposely enigmatic--all of which require an Atticus who knew him and +the people among whom he had lived, and the times in which the events +took place, for their special reading. Who is there can read them now so +as accurately to decipher every intended detail? Then comes some critic +who will not even attempt to read them--who rushes through them by the +light of some foregone conclusion, and missing the point at which the +writer subtly aims, tells us of some purpose of which he was altogether +innocent! Because he jokes about the augurship, we are told how +miserably base he was, and how ready to sell his country! + +During the whole of the last year he must have been tortured by various +turns of mind. Had he done well in joining himself to Pompey? and having +done so, had he done well in severing himself, immediately on Pompey's +death, from the Pompeians? Looking at the matter as from a stand-point +quite removed from it, we are inclined to say that he had done well in +both. He could not without treachery have gone over to Caesar when Caesar +had come to the gate of Italy, and, as it were with a blast of his +trumpet, had demanded the Consulship, a triumph, the use of his legions, +and the continuance of his military power. "Let Pompey put down his, and +I will put down mine," he had said. Had Pompey put down his, Pompey and +Cicero, Cato and Brutus, and Bibulus would all have had to walk at the +heels of Caesar. When Pompey declared that he would contest the point, he +declared for them all. Cicero was bound to go to Pharsalia. But when, by +Pompey's incompetence, Caesar was the victor; when Pompey had fallen at +the Nile, and all the lovers of the fish-ponds, and the intractable +oligarchs, and the cutthroats of the Empire, such as young Pompey had +become, had scattered themselves far and wide, some to Asia, some to +Illyricum, some to Spain, and more to Africa--as a herd of deer shall be +seen to do when a vast hound has appeared among them, with his jaws +already dripping with blood--was Cicero then to take his part with any +of them? I hold that he did what dignity required, and courage also. He +went back to Italy, and there he waited till the conqueror should come. + +It must have been very bitter. Never to have become great has nothing in +it of bitterness for a noble spirit. What matters it to the unknown man +whether a Caesar or a Pompey is at the top of all things? Or if it does +matter--as indeed that question of his governance does matter to every +man who has a soul within him to be turned this way or that--which way +he is turned, though there may be inner regrets that Caesar should become +the tyrant, perhaps keener regrets, if the truth were all seen, that +Pompey's hands should be untrammelled, who sees them? I can walk down to +my club with my brow unclouded, or, unless I be stirred to foolish wrath +by the pride of some one equally vain, can enjoy myself amid the +festivities of the hour. It is but a little affair to me. If it come in +my way to do a thing, I will do my best, and there is an end of it. The +sense of responsibility is not there, nor the grievous weight of having +tried but failed to govern mankind. But to have clung to high places; to +have sat in the highest seat of all with infinite honor; to have been +called by others, and, worse still, to have called myself, the savior of +my country; to have believed in myself that I was sufficient, that I +alone could do it, that I could bring back, by my own justice and +integrity, my erring countrymen to their former simplicity--and then to +have found myself fixed in a little town, just in Italy, waiting for the +great conqueror, who though my friend in things social was opposed to me +body and soul as to rules of life--that, I say, must have been beyond +the bitterness of death. + +During this year he had made himself acquainted with the details of that +affair, whatever it might be, which led to his divorce soon after his +return to Rome. He had lived about thirty years with his wife, and the +matter could not but have been to him the cause of great unhappiness. +Terentia was not only the mother of his children, but she had been to +him also the witness of his rise in life and the companion of his fall. +He was one who would naturally learn to love those with whom he was +conversant. He seems to have projected himself out of his own time into +those modes of thought which have come to us with Christianity, and such +a separation from this woman after an intercourse of so many years must +have been very grievous to him. All married Romans underwent divorce +quite as a matter of course. There were many reasons. A young wife is +more agreeable to the man's taste than one who is old. A rich wife is +more serviceable than a poor. A new wife is a novelty. A strange wife is +an excitement. A little wife is a relief to one overburdened with the +flesh; a buxom wife to him who has become tired of the pure spirit. +Xanthippe asks too much, while Griselda is too tranquil. And then, as a +man came up in the world, causes for divorce grew without even the +trouble of having to search for faults. Caesar required that his wife +should not be ill spoken of, and therefore divorced her. Pompey cemented +the Triumvirate with a divorce. We cannot but imagine that, when men had +so much the best of it in the affairs of life, a woman had always the +worst of it in these enforced separations. But as the wind is tempered +to the shorn lamb, so were divorces made acceptable to Roman ladies. No +woman was disgraced by a divorce, and they who gave over their husbands +at the caprice of a moment to other embraces would usually find +consolation. Terentia when divorced from Cicero was at least fifty, and +we are told she had the extreme honor of having married Sallust after +her break with Cicero. They say that she married twice again after +Sallust's death, and that having lived nearly through the reign of +Augustus, she died at length at the age of a hundred and three. Divorce +at any rate did not kill her. But we cannot conceive but that so sudden +a disruption of all the ties of life must have been grievous to Cicero. +We shall find him in the next chapter marrying a young ward, and then, +too, divorcing her; but here we have only to deal with the torments +Terentia inflicted on him. What those torments were we do not know, and +shall never learn unless by chance the lost letters of Atticus should +come to light. But the general idea has been that the lady had, in +league with a freedman and steward in her service, been guilty of fraud +against her husband. I do not know that we have much cause to lament the +means of ascertaining the truth. It is sad to find that the great men +with whose name we are occupied have been made subject to those "whips +and scorns of time" which we thought to be peculiar to ourselves, +because they have stung us. Terentia, Cicero's wife two thousand years +ago, sent him word that he had but L100 left in his box at home, when he +himself knew well that there must be something more. That would have +gone for nothing had there not been other things before that, many other +things. So, in spite of his ordering at her hands the baths and various +matters to be got ready for his friends at his Tusculum, a very short +time after his return there he had divorced her. + +During this last year he had been engaged on what has since been found +to be the real work of his life. He had already written much, but had +written as one who had been anxious to fill up vacant spaces of time as +they came in his way. From this time forth he wrote as does one who has +reconciled himself to the fact that there are no more days to be lost if +he intends, before the sun be set, to accomplish an appointed task. He +had already compiled the De Oratore, the De Republica, and the De +Legibus. Out of the many treatises which we have from Cicero's hands, +these are they which are known as the works of his earlier years. He +commenced the year with an inquiry, De Optimo Genere Oratorum, which he +intended as a preface to the translations which he made of the great +speeches of AEschines and Demosthenes, De Corona. These translations are +lost, though the preface remains. He then translated, or rather +paraphrased the Timaeus of Plato, of which a large proportion has come +down to us, and the Protagoras, of which we have lost all but a sentence +or two. We have his Oratoriae Partitiones, in which, in a dialogue +between himself and his son, he repeats the lessons on oratory which he +has given to the young man. It is a recapitulation, in short, of all +that had been said on a subject which has since been made common, and +which owed its origin to the work of much earlier years. It is but dull +reading, but I can imagine that even in these days it may be useful to a +young lawyer. There is a cynical morsel among these precepts which is +worth observing, "Cito enim arescit lachryma praesertim in alienis +malis;"[139] and another grandly simple, "Nihil enim est aliud +eloquentia nisi copiose loquens sapientia." Can we fancy anything more +biting than the idea that the tears caused by the ills of another soon +grow dry on the orator's cheek, or more wise than that which tells us +that eloquence is no more than wisdom speaking eloquently? Then he wrote +the six Paradoxes addressed to Brutus--or rather he then gave them to +the world, for they were surely written at an earlier date. They are +short treatises on trite subjects, put into beautiful language, so as to +arrest the attention of all readers by the unreasonableness of their +reasoning. The most remarkable is the third, in which he endeavored to +show that a man cannot be wise unless he be all-wise, a doctrine which +he altogether overturns in his De Amicitia, written but four years +afterward. Cicero knew well what was true, and wrote his paradox in +order to give a zest to the subject. In the fourth and the sixth are +attacks upon Clodius and Crassus, and are here republished in what would +have been the very worst taste amid the politeness of our modern times. +A man now may hate and say so while his foe is still alive and strong; +but with the Romans he might continue to hate, and might republish the +words which he had written, eight years after the death of his victim. + +I know nothing of Cicero's which so much puts us in mind of the +struggles of the modern authors to make the most of every word that has +come from them, as do these paradoxes. They remind us of some writer of +leading articles who gets together a small bundle of essays and then +gives them to the world. Each of them has done well at its time, but +that has not sufficed for his ambition; therefore they are dragged out +into the light and put forward with a separate claim for attention, as +though they could stand well on their own legs. But they cannot stand +alone, and they fall from having been put into a position other than +that for which they were intended when written. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +_MARCELLUS, LIGARIUS, AND DEIOTARUS._ + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 46, aetat. 61.] + +The battle of Thapsus, in Africa, took place in the spring of this year, +and Cato destroyed himself with true stoical tranquillity, determined +not to live under Caesar's rule. If we may believe the story which, +probably, Hirtius has given us, in his account of the civil war in +Africa, and which has come down to us together with Caesar's +Commentaries, Cato left his last instructions to some of his officers, +and then took his sword into his bed with him and stabbed himself. +Cicero, who, in his dream of Scipio, has given his readers such +excellent advice in regard to suicide, has understood that Cato must be +allowed the praise of acting up to his own principles. He would die +rather than behold the face of the tyrant who had enslaved him.[140] To +Cato it was nothing that he should leave to others the burden of living +under Caesar; but to himself the idea of a superior caused an unendurable +affront. The "Catonis nobile letum" has reconciled itself to the poets +of all ages. Men, indeed, have refused to see that he fled from a danger +which he felt to be too much for him, and that in doing so he had lacked +something of the courage of a man. Many other Romans of the time did the +same thing, but to none has been given all the honor which has been +allowed to Cato. + +Cicero felt as others have done, and allowed all his little jealousies +to die away. It was but a short time before that Cato had voted against +the decree of the Senate giving Cicero his "supplication." Cicero had +then been much annoyed; but now Cato had died fighting for the Republic, +and was to be forgiven all personal offences. Cicero wrote a eulogy of +Cato which was known by the name of Cato, and was much discussed at Rome +at the time. It has now been lost. He sent it to Caesar, having been bold +enough to say in it whatever occurred to him should be said in Cato's +praise. We may imagine that, had it not pleased him to be generous--had +he not been governed by that feeling of "De mortuis nil nisi bonum," +which is now common to us all--he might have said much that was not +good. Cato had endeavored to live up to the austerest rules of the +Stoics--a mode of living altogether antagonistic to Cicero's views. But +we know that he praised Cato to the full--and we know also that Caesar +nobly took the praise in good part, as coming from Cicero, and answered +it in an Anti-Cato, in which he stated his reasons for differing from +Cicero. We can understand how Caesar should have shown that the rigid +Stoic was not a man likely to be of service to his country. + +There came up at this period a question which made itself popular among +the "optimates" of Rome, as to the return of Marcellus. The man of Como, +whom Marcellus had flogged, will be remembered--the Roman citizen who +had first been made a citizen by Caesar. This is mentioned now not as the +cause of Caesar's enmity, who did not care much probably for his citizen, +but as showing the spirit of the man. He, Marcellus, had been Consul +four years since, B.C. 51, and had then endeavored to procure Caesar's +recall from his province. He was one of the "optimates," an oligarch +altogether opposed to Caesar, a Roman nobleman of fairly good repute, who +had never bent to Caesar, but had believed thoroughly in his order, and +had thought, till the day of Pharsalia came, that the Consuls and the +Senate would rule forever. The day of Pharsalia did come, and Marcellus +went into voluntary banishment in Mitylene. After Pharsalia, Caesar's +clemency began to make itself known. There was a pardon for almost every +Roman who had fought against him, and would accept it. No spark of anger +burnt in Caesar's bosom, except against one or two, of whom Marcellus was +one. He was too wise to be angry with men whose services he might +require. It was Caesar's wish not to drive out the good men but to induce +them to remain in Rome, living by the grace of his favor. Marcellus had +many friends, and it seems that a public effort was made to obtain for +him permission to come back to Rome. We must imagine that Caesar had +hitherto refused, probably with the idea of making his final concession +the more valuable. At last the united Senators determined to implore his +grace, and the Consulares rose one after another in their places, and +all, with one exception,[141] asked that Marcellus might be allowed to +return. Cicero, however, had remained silent to the last. There must +have been, I think, some plot to get Cicero on to his legs. He had gone +to meet Caesar at Brundisium when he came back from the East, had +returned to Rome under his auspices, and had lived in pleasant +friendship with Caesar's friends. Pardon seems to have been accorded to +Cicero without an effort. As far as he was concerned, that hostile +journey to Dyrrachium--for he did not travel farther toward the +camp--counted for nothing with Caesar. He was allowed to live in peace, +at Rome or at his villas, as he might please, so long as Caesar might +rule. The idea seems to have been that he should gradually become +absorbed among Caesar's followers. But hitherto he had remained silent. +It was now six years since his voice had been heard in Rome. He had +spoken for Milo--or had intended to speak--and, in the same affair, for +Munatius Plancus, and for Saufeius, B.C. 52. He had then been in his +fifty-fifth year, and it might well be that six years of silence at such +a period of his life would not be broken. It was manifestly his +intention not to speak again, at any rate in the Senate; though the +threats made by him as to his total retirement should not be taken as +meaning much. Such threats from statesmen depend generally on the wishes +of other men. But he held his place in the Senate, and occasionally +attended the debates. When this affair of Marcellus came on, and all the +Senators of consular rank--excepting only Volcatius and Cicero--had +risen, and had implored Caesar in a few words to condescend to be +generous; when Claudius Marcellus had knelt at Caesar's feet to ask for +his brother's liberty, and Caesar himself, after reminding them of the +bitterness of the man, had still declared that he could not refuse the +prayers of the Senate, then Cicero, as though driven by the magnanimity +of the conqueror, rose from his place, and poured forth his thanks in +the speech which is still extant. + +That used to be the story till there came the German critic Wolf, who at +the beginning of this century told us that Cicero did not utter the +words attributed to him, and could not have uttered them. According to +Wolf, it would be doing Cicero an egregious wrong to suppose him capable +of having used such words, which are not Latin, and which were probably +written by some ignoramus in the time of Tiberius. Such a verdict might +have been taken as fatal--for Wolf's scholarship and powers of criticism +are acknowledged--in spite of La Harpe, the French scholar and critic, +who has named the Marcellus as a thing of excellence, comparing it with +the eulogistic speeches of Isocrates. The praise of La Harpe was +previous to the condemnation of Wolf, and we might have been willing to +accede to the German as being the later and probably the more accurate. +Mr. Long, the British editor of the Orations--Mr. Long, who has so +loudly condemned the four speeches supposed to have been made after +Cicero's return from exile--gives us no certain guidance. Mr. Long, at +any rate, has not been so disgusted by the Tiberian Latin as to feel +himself bound to repudiate it. If he can read the Pro Marcello, so can +I, and so, my reader, might you do probably without detriment. But these +differences among the great philologic critics tend to make us, who are +so infinitely less learned, better contented with our own lot. I, who +had read the Pro Marcello without stumbling over its halting Latinity, +should have felt myself crushed when I afterward came across Wolf's +denunciations, had I not been somewhat comforted by La Harpe. But when I +found that Mr. Long, in his introduction to the piece, though he +discusses Wolf's doctrine, still gives to the orator the advantage, as +it may be, of his "imprimatur," I felt that I might go on, and not be +ashamed of myself.[142] + +This is the story that has now to be told of the speech Pro Marcello. At +the time the matter ended very tragically. As soon as Caesar had yielded, +Cicero wrote to Marcellus giving him strong reasons for coming home. +Marcellus answered him, saying that it was impossible. He thanks Cicero +shortly; but, with kindly dignity, he declines. "With the comforts of +the city I can well dispense," he says.[143] Then Cicero urges him again +and again, using excellent arguments for his return--which at length +prevail. In the spring of the next year Marcellus, on his way back to +Rome, is at Athens. There Servius Sulpicius spends a day with him; but, +just as Sulpicius is about to pass on, there comes a slave to him who +tells him that Marcellus has been murdered. His friend Magius Chilo had +stabbed him overnight, and had then destroyed himself. It was said that +Chilo had asked Marcellus to pay his debts for him, and that Marcellus +had refused. It seems to be more probable that Chilo had his own +reasons for not choosing that his friend should return to Rome. + +Looking back at my own notes on the speech--it would make with us but a +ten minutes' after-dinner speech--I see that it is said "that it is +chiefly remarkable for the beauty of the language, and the abjectness of +the praise of Caesar." This was before I had heard of Wolf. As to the +praise, I doubt whether it should be called abject, regard being had to +the feelings of the moment in which it was delivered. Cicero had risen +to thank Caesar--on whose breath the recall of Marcellus depended--for +his unexpected courtesy. In England we should not have thanked Caesar as +Cicero did: "O Caesar, there is no flood of eloquence, no power of the +tongue or of the pen, no richness of words, which may emblazon, or even +dimly tell the story of your great deeds."[144] Such language is unusual +with us--as it would also be unusual to abuse our Pisos and our +Vatiniuses, as did Cicero. It was the Southerner and the Roman who spoke +to Southerners and to Romans. But, undoubtedly, there was present to the +mind of Cicero the idea of saying words which Caesar might receive with +pleasure. He was dictator, emperor, lord of all things--king. Cicero +should have remained away, as Marcellus had done, were he not prepared +to speak after this fashion. He had long held aloof from speech. At +length the time had come when he was, as it were, caught in a trap, and +compelled to be eloquent. + +[Sidenote: B.C. 46, aetat. 61.] + +The silence had been broken, and in the course of the autumn he spoke on +behalf of Ligarius, beseeching the conqueror to be again merciful. This +case was by no means similar to that of Marcellus, who was exiled by no +direct forfeiture of his right to live in Italy, but who had expatriated +himself. In this case Ligarius had been banished with others; but it +seems that the punishment had been inflicted on him, not from the +special ill-will of Caesar, but from the malice of certain enemies who, +together with Ligarius, had found themselves among Pompey's followers +when Caesar crossed the Rubicon. Ligarius had at this time been left as +acting governor in Africa. In the confusion of the times an unfortunate +Pompeian named Varus had arrived in Africa, and to him, as being +superior in rank, Ligarius had given up the government. Varus had then +gone, leaving Ligarius still acting, and one Tubero had come with his +son, and had demanded the office. Ligarius had refused to give it up, +and the two Tuberos had departed, leaving the province in anger, and had +fought at the Pharsalus. After the battle they made their peace with +Caesar, and in the scramble that ensued Ligarius was banished. Now the +case was brought into the courts, in which Caesar sat as judge. The +younger Tubero accused Ligarius, and Cicero defended him. It seems that, +having been enticed to open his mouth on behalf of Marcellus, he found +himself launched again into public life. But how great was the +difference from his old life! It is not to the Judices, or Patres +Conscripti, or to the Quirites that he now addresses himself, determined +by the strength of his eloquence to overcome the opposition of stubborn +minds, but to Caesar, whom he has to vanquish simply by praise. Once +again he does the same thing when pleading for Deiotarus, the King of +Galatia, and it is impossible to deny, as we read the phrases, that the +orator sinks in our esteem. It is not so much that we judge him to be +small, as that he has ceased to be great. He begins his speech for +Ligarius by saying, "My kinsman Tubero has brought before you, O Caesar, +a new crime, and one not heard of up to this day--that Ligarius has been +in Africa."[145] The commencement would have been happy enough if it had +not been addressed to Caesar; for he was addressing a judge not appointed +by any form, but self-assumed--a judge by military conquest. We cannot +imagine how Caesar found time to sit there, with his legions round him +still under arms, and Spain not wholly conquered. But he did do so, and +allowed himself to be persuaded to the side of mercy. Ligarius came back +to Rome, and was one of those who plunged their daggers into him. But I +cannot think that he should have been hindered by this trial and by +Caesar's mercy from taking such a step, if by nothing else. Brutus and +Cassius also stabbed him. The question to be decided is whether, on +public grounds, these men were justified in killing him--a question as +to which I should be premature in expressing an opinion here. + +There are some beautiful passages in this oration. "Who is there, I +ask," he says, "who alleges Ligarius to have been in fault because he +was in Africa? He does so who himself was most anxious to be there, and +now complains that he was refused admittance by Ligarius, he who was in +arms against Caesar. What was your sword doing, Tubero, in that +Pharsalian army? Whom did you seek to kill then? What was the meaning of +your weapon? What was it that you desired so eagerly, with those eyes +and hands, with that passion in your heart? I press him too much; the +young man seems to be disturbed. I will speak of myself, then, for I +also was in that army."[146] This was in Caesar's presence, and no doubt +told with Caesar. We were all together in the same cause--you, and I, and +Ligarius. Why should you and I be pardoned and not Ligarius? The oration +is for the most part simply eulogistic. At any rate it was successful, +and became at Rome, for the time, extremely popular. He writes about it +early in the following year to Atticus, who has urged him to put +something into it, before it was published, to mitigate the feeling +against Tubero. Cicero says in his reply to Atticus that the copies have +already been given to the public, and that, indeed, he is not anxious on +Tubero's behalf. + +Early in this year he had divorced Terentia, and seems at once to have +married Publilia. Publilia had been his ward, and is supposed to have +had a fortune of her own. He explains his own motives very clearly in a +letter to his friend Plancius. In these wretched times he would have +formed no new engagement, unless his own affairs had been as sad for him +as were those of the Republic; but when he found that they to whom his +prosperity should have been of the greatest concern were plotting +against him within his own walls, he was forced to strengthen himself +against the perfidy of his old inmates by placing his trust in new.[147] +It must have been very bad with him when he had recourse to such a step +as this. Shortly after this letter just quoted had been written, he +divorced Publilia also--we are told because Publilia had treated Tullia +with disrespect. We have no details on the subject, but we can well +understand the pride of the young woman who declined to hear the +constant praise of her step-daughter, and thought herself to be quite as +good as Tullia. At any rate, she was sent away quickly from her new +home, having remained there only long enough to have made not the most +creditable episode in Cicero's life. + +At this time Dolabella, who assumed the Consulship upon Caesar's death, +and Hirtius, who became Consul during the next year, used to attend upon +Cicero and take lessons in elocution. So at least the story has been +told, from a letter written in this year to his friend Poetus; but I +should imagine that the lessons were not much in earnest. "Why do you +talk to me of your tunny-fish, your pilot-fish, and your cheese and +sardines? Hirtius and Dolabella preside over my banquets, and I teach +them in return to make speeches."[148] From this we may learn that +Caesar's friends were most anxious to be also Cicero's friends. It may be +said that Dolabella was his son-in-law; but Dolabella was at this moment +on the eve of being divorced. It was in spite of his marriage that +Dolabella still clung to Cicero. All Caesar's friends in Rome did the +same; so that I am disposed to think that for this year, just till +Tullia's death, he was falling, not into a happy state, but to the +passive contentment of those who submit themselves to be ruled over by a +single master. He had struggled all his life, and now finding that he +must yield, he thought that he might as well do so gracefully. It was so +much easier to listen to the State secrets of Balbus, and hear from +Oppius how the money was spent, and then to dine with Hirtius or +Dolabella, than to sit ever scowling at home, as Cato would have done +had Cato lived. But with his feelings about the Republic at heart, how +sad it must have been! Cato was gone, and Pompey, and Bibulus; and +Marcellus was either gone or just about to go. Old age was creeping on. +It was better to write philosophy, in friendship with Caesar's friends, +than to be banished again whither he could not write it at all. Much, no +doubt, he did in preparation for all those treatises which the next +eighteen months were to bring forth. + +Caesar, just at the end of the year, had been again called to Spain, B.C. +46, to quell the last throbbings of the Pompeians, and then to fight the +final battle of Munda. It would seem odd to us that so little should +have been said about such an event by Cicero, and that the little should +depend on the education of his son, were it not that if we look at our +own private letters, written to-day to our friends, we find the same +omission of great things. To Cicero the doings of his son were of more +immediate moment than the doings of Caesar. The boy had been anxious to +enlist for the Spanish war. Quintus, his cousin, had gone, and young +Marcus was anxious to flutter his feathers beneath the eyes of royalty. +At his age it was nothing to him that he had been taken to Pharsalia and +made to bear arms on the opposite side. Caesar had become Caesar since he +had learned to form his opinion on politics, and on Caesar's side all +things seemed to be bright and prosperous. The lad was anxious to get +away from his new step-mother, and asked his father for the means to go +with the army to Spain. It appears by Cicero's letter to Atticus on the +subject[149] that, in discussing the matter with his son, he did yield. +These Roman fathers, in whose hands we are told were the very lives of +their sons, seem to have been much like Christian fathers of modern days +in their indulgences. The lad was now nineteen years old, and does not +appear to have been willing, at the first parental attempt, to give up +his military appanages and that swagger of the young officer which is so +dear to the would-be military mind. Cicero tells him that if he joined +the army he would find his cousin treated with greater favor than +himself. Young Quintus was older, and had been already able to do +something to push himself with Caesar's friends. "Sed tamen +permisi"--"Nevertheless, I told him he might go," said Cicero, sadly. +But he did not go. He was allured, probably, by the promise of a +separate establishment at Athens, whither he was sent to study with +Cratippus. We find another proof of Cicero's wealth in the costliness of +his son's household at Athens, as premeditated by the father. He is to +live as do the sons of other great noblemen. He even names the young +noblemen with whom he is to live. Bibulus was of the Calpurnian "gens." +Acidinus of the Manlian, and Messala of the Valerian, and these are the +men whom Cicero, the "novus homo" from Arpinum, selects as those who +shall not live at a greater cost than his son.[150] "He will not, +however, at Athens want a horse." Why not? Why should not a young man so +furnished want a horse at Athens? "There are plenty here at home for the +road," says Cicero. So young Cicero is furnished, and sent forth to +learn philosophy and Greek. But no one has essayed to tell us why he +should not want the horse. Young Cicero when at Athens did not do well. +He writes home in the coming year, to Tiro, two letters which have been +preserved for us, and which seem to give us but a bad account, at any +rate, of his sincerity. "The errors of his youth," he says, "have +afflicted him grievously." Not only is his mind shocked, but his ears +cannot bear to hear of his own iniquity.[151] "And now," he says, "I +will give you a double joy, to compensate all the anxiety I have +occasioned you. Know that I live with Cratippus, my master, more like a +son than a pupil. I spend all my days with him, and very often part of +the night." But he seems to have had some wit. Tiro has been made a +freedman, and has bought a farm for himself. Young Marcus--from whom +Tiro has asked for some assistance which Marcus cannot give him--jokes +with him as to his country life, telling him that he sees him saving the +apple-pips at dessert. Of the subsequent facts of the life of young +Marcus we do not know much. He did not suffer in the proscriptions of +Antony and Augustus, as did his father and uncle and his cousin. He did +live to be chosen as Consul with Augustus, and had the reputation of a +great drinker. For this latter assertion we have only the authority of +Pliny the elder, who tells us an absurd story, among the wonders of +drinking which he adduces.[152] Middleton says a word or two on behalf +of the young Cicero, which are as well worthy of credit as anything else +that has been told. One last glance at him which we can credit is given +in that letter to Tiro, and that we admit seems to us to be +hypocritical. + +[Sidenote: B.C. 45, aetat. 62.] + +In the spring of the year Cicero lost his daughter Tullia. We have first +a letter of his to Lepta, a man with whom he had become intimate, saying +that he had been kept in Rome by Tullia's confinement, and that now he +is still detained, though her health is sufficiently confirmed, by the +expectation of obtaining from Dolabella's agents the first repayment of +her dowry. The repayment of the divorced lady's marriage portion was a +thing of every-day occurrence in Rome, when she was allowed to take away +as much as she had brought with her. Cicero, however, failed to get back +Tullia's dowry. But he writes in good spirits. He does not think that +he cares to travel any more. He has a house at Rome better than any of +his villas in the country, and greater rest than in the most desert +region. His studies are now never interrupted. He thinks it probable +that Lepta will have to come to him before he can be induced to go to +Lepta. In the mean time let the young Lepta take care and read his +Hesiod.[153] + +Then he writes in the spring to Atticus a letter from Antium, and we +first hear that Tullia is dead. She had seemed to recover from +childbirth; but her strength did not suffice, and she was no more.[154] +A boy had been born, and was left alive. In subsequent letters we find +that Cicero gives instructions concerning him, and speaks of providing +for him in his will.[155] But of the child we hear nothing more, and +must surmise that he also died. Of Tullia's death we have no further +particulars; but we may well imagine that the troubles of the world had +been very heavy on her. The little stranger was being born at the moment +of her divorce from her third husband. She was about thirty-two years of +age, and it seems that Cicero had taken consolation in her misfortunes +from the expected pleasure of her companionship. She was now dead, and +he was left alone. + +She had died in February, and we know nothing of the first outbreak of +his sorrow. It appears that he at first buried himself for a while in a +villa belonging to Atticus, near Rome, and that he then retreated to his +own at Astura. From thence, and afterward from Antium, there are a large +number of letters, all dealing with the same subject. He declares +himself to be inconsolable; but he does take consolation from two +matters--from his books on philosophy, and from an idea which occurs to +him that he will perpetuate the name of Tullia forever by the erection +of a monument that shall be as nearly immortal as stones and bricks can +make it. + +His letters to Atticus at this time are tedious to the general reader, +because he reiterates so often his instructions as to the purchase of +the garden near Rome in which the monument is to be built; but they are +at the same time touching and natural. "Nothing has been written," he +says, "for the lessening of grief which I have not read at your house; +but my sorrow breaks through it all."[156] Then he tells Atticus that he +too has endeavored to console himself by writing a treatise on +Consolation. "Whole days I write; not that it does any good." In that he +was wrong. He could find no cure for his grief; but he did know that +continued occupation would relieve him, and therefore he occupied +himself continually. "Totos dies scribo." By doing so, he did contrive +not to break his heart. In a subsequent letter he says, "Reading and +writing do not soften it, but they deaden it."[157] + +On the Appian Way, a short distance out of Rome, the traveller is shown +a picturesque ancient building, of enormous strength, called the Mole of +Caecilia Metella. It is a castle in size, but is believed to have been +the tomb erected to the memory of Caecilia, the daughter of Metellus +Creticus, and the wife of Crassus the rich. History knows of her nothing +more, and authentic history hardly knows so much of the stupendous +monument. There it stands, however, and is supposed to be proof of what +might be done for a Roman lady in the way of perpetuating her memory. +She was, at any rate, older than Tullia, having been the wife of a man +older than Tullia's father. If it be the case that this monument be of +the date named, it proves to us, at least, that the notion of erecting +such monuments was then prevalent. Some idea of a similar kind--of a +monument equally stupendous, and that should last as long--seems to have +taken a firm hold of Cicero's mind. He has read all the authors he could +find on the subject, and they agree that it shall be done in the fashion +he points out. He does not, he says, consult Atticus on that matter, +nor on the architecture, for he has already settled on the design of one +Cluatius. What he wants Atticus to do for him now is to assist him in +buying the spot on which it shall be built. Many gardens near Rome are +named. If Drusus makes a difficulty, Atticus must see Damasippus. Then +there are those which belong to Sica and to Silius! But at last the +matter dies away, and even the gardens are not bought. We are led to +imagine that Atticus has been opposed to the monument from first to +last, and that the immense cost of constructing such a temple as Cicero +had contemplated is proved to him to be injudicious. There is a charming +letter written to him at this time by his friend Sulpicius, showing the +great feeling entertained for him. But, as I have said before, I doubt +whether that or any other phrases of consolation were of service to him. +It was necessary for him to wait and bear it, and the more work that he +did when he was bearing it, the easier it was borne. Lucceius and +Torquatus wrote to him on the same subject, and we have his answers. + +[Sidenote: B.C. 45, aetat. 62.] + +In September Caesar returned from Spain, having at last conquered the +Republic. All hope for liberty was now gone. Atticus had instigated +Cicero to write something to Caesar as to his victories--something that +should be complimentary, and at the same time friendly and familiar; but +Cicero had replied that it was impossible. "When I feel," he said, "that +to draw the breath of life is in itself base, how base would be my +assent to what has been done![158] But it is not only that. There are +not words in which such a letter ever can be written. Do you not know +that Aristotle, when he addressed himself to Alexander, wrote to a youth +who had been modest; but then, when he had once heard himself called +king, he became proud, cruel, and unrestrained? How, then, shall I now +write in terms which shall suffice for his pride to the man who has +been equalled to Romulus?" It was true; Caesar had now returned inflated +with such pride that Brutus, and Cassius, and Casca could no longer +endure him. He came back, and triumphed over the five lands in which he +had conquered not the enemies of Rome, but Rome itself. He triumphed +nominally over the Gauls, the Egyptians, the Asiatics of Pontus, over +the Africans, and the Spaniards; but his triumph was, in truth, over the +Republic. There appears from Suetonius to have been five separate +triumphal processions, each at the interval of a few days.[159] Amid the +glory of the first Vercingetorix was strangled. To the glory of the +third was added--as Suetonius tells us--these words, "Veni, vidi, vici," +displayed on a banner. This I think more likely than that he had written +them on an official despatch. We are told that the people of Rome +refused to show any pleasure, and that even his own soldiers had enough +in them of the Roman spirit to feel resentment at his assumption of the +attributes of a king. Cicero makes but little mention of these gala +doings in his letters. He did not see them, but wrote back word to +Atticus, who had described it all. "An absurd pomp," he says, alluding +to the carriage of the image of Caesar together with that of the gods; +and he applauds the people who would not clap their hands, even in +approval of the Goddess of Victory, because she had shown herself in +such bad company.[160] There are, however, but three lines on the +subject, showing how little there is in that statement of Cornelius +Nepos that he who had read Cicero's letters carefully wanted but little +more to be well informed of the history of the day. + +Caesar was not a man likely to be turned away from his purpose of ruling +well by personal pride--less likely, we should say, than any self-made +despot dealt with in history. He did make efforts to be as he was +before. He endeavored to live on terms of friendship with his old +friends; but the spirit of pride which had taken hold of him was too +much for him. Power had got possession of him, and he could not stand +against it. It was sad to see the way in which it compelled him to make +himself a prey to the conspirators, were it not that we learn from +history how impossible it is that a man should raise himself above the +control of his fellow-men without suffering. + +[Sidenote: B.C. 45, aetat. 62.] + +During these days Cicero kept himself in the country, giving himself up +to his philosophical writings, and indulging in grief for Tullia. +Efforts were repeatedly made to bring him to Rome, and he tells Atticus +in irony that if he is wanted there simply as an augur, the augurs have +nothing to do with the opening of temples. In the same letter he speaks +of an interview he has just had with his nephew Quintus, who had come to +him in his disgrace. He wants to go to the Parthian war, but he has not +money to support him. Then Cicero uses, as he says, the eloquence of +Atticus, and holds his tongue.[161] We can imagine how very unpleasant +the interview must have been. Cicero, however, decides that he will go +up to the city, so that he may have Atticus with him on his birthday. +This letter was written toward the close of the year, and Cicero's +birthday was the 3d of January. + +He then goes to Rome, and undertakes to plead the cause of Deiotarus, +the King of Galatia, before Caesar. This very old man had years ago +become allied with Pompey, and, as far as we can judge, been singularly +true to his idea of Roman power. He had seen Pompey in all his glory +when Pompey had come to fight Mithridates. The Tetrarchs in Asia Minor, +of whom this Deiotarus was one, had a hard part to play when the Romans +came among them. They were forced to comply, either with their natural +tendency to resist their oppressors, or else were obliged to fleece +their subjects in order to satisfy the cupidity of the invaders. We +remember Ariobarzanes, who sent his subjects in gangs to Rome to be +sold as slaves in order to pay Pompey the interest on his debt. +Deiotarus had similarly found his best protection in being loyal to +Pompey, and had in return been made King of Armenia by a decree of the +Roman Senate. He joined Pompey at the Pharsalus, and, when the battle +was over, returned to his own country to look for further forces +wherewith to aid the Republic. Unfortunately for him, Caesar was the +conqueror, and Deiotarus found himself obliged to assist the conqueror +with his troops. Caesar seems never to have forgiven him his friendship +for Pompey. He was not a Roman, and was unworthy of forgiveness. Caesar +took away from him the kingdom of Armenia, but left him still titular +King of Galatia. But this enmity was known in the king's own court, and +among his own family. His own daughter's son, one Castor, became +desirous of ruining his grandfather, and brought a charge against the +king. Caesar had been the king's compelled guest in his journey in quest +of Pharnaces, and had passed quickly on. Now, when the war was over and +Caesar had returned from his five conquered nations, Castor came forward +with his accusation. Deiotarus, according to his grandson, had +endeavored to murder Caesar while Caesar was staying with him. At this +distance of time and place we cannot presume to know accurately what the +circumstances were; but it appears to have been below the dignity of +Caesar to listen to such a charge. He did do so, however, and heard more +than one speech on the subject delivered in favor of the accused. Brutus +spoke on behalf of the aged king, and spoke in vain. Cicero did not +speak in vain, for Caesar decided that he would pronounce no verdict till +he had himself been again in the East, and had there made further +inquiries. He never returned to the East; but the old king lived to +fight once more, and again on the losing side. He was true to the party +he had taken, and ranged himself with Brutus and Cassius at the field of +Philippi. + +The case was tried, if tried it can be called, in Caesar's private +house, in which the audience cannot have been numerous. Caesar seems to +have admitted Cicero to say what could be said for his friend, rather +than as an advocate to plead for his client, so that no one should +accuse him, Caesar, of cruelty in condemning the criminal. The speech +must have occupied twenty minutes in the delivery, and we are again at a +loss to conceive how Caesar should have found the time to listen to it. +Cicero declares that he feels the difficulty of pleading in so unusual a +place--within the domestic walls of a man's private house, and without +any of those accustomed supports to oratory which are to be found in a +crowded law court. "But," he says, "I rest in peace when I look into +your eyes and behold your countenance." The speech is full of flattery, +but it is turned so adroitly that we almost forgive it.[162] + +There is a passage in which Cicero compliments the victor on his +well-known mercy in his victories--from which we may see how much Caesar +thought of the character he had achieved for himself in this particular. +"Of you alone, O Caesar, is it boasted that no one has fallen under your +hands but they who have died with arms in their hands."[163] All who had +been taken had been pardoned. No man had been put to death when the +absolute fighting was brought to an end. Caesar had given quarter to all. +It is the modern, generous way of fighting. When our country is invaded, +and we drive back the invaders, we do not, if victorious, slaughter +their chief men. Much less, when we invade a country, do we kill or +mutilate all those who have endeavored to protect their own homes. Caesar +has evidently much to boast, and among the Italians he has caused it to +be believed. It suited Cicero to assert it in Caesar's ears. Caesar wished +to be told of his own clemency among the men of his own country. But +because Caesar boasted, and Cicero was complaisant, posterity is not to +run away with the boast, and call it true. For all that is great in +Caesar's character I am willing to give him credit; but not for mercy; +not for any of those divine gifts the loveliness of which was only +beginning to be perceived in those days by some few who were in advance +of their time. It was still the maxim of Rome that a "supplicatio" +should be granted only when two thousand of the enemy should have been +left on the field. We have something still left of the pagan cruelty +about us when we send triumphant words of the numbers slain on the field +of battle. We cannot but remember that Caesar had killed the whole Senate +of the Veneti, a nation dwelling on the coast of Brittany, and had sold +all the people as slaves, because they had detained the messengers he +had sent to them during his wars in Gaul. "Gravius vindicandum +statuit"[164]--"He had thought it necessary to punish them somewhat +severely." Therefore he had killed the entire Senate, and enslaved the +entire people. This is only one of the instances of wholesale horrible +cruelty which he committed throughout his war in Gaul--of cruelty so +frightful that we shudder as we think of the sufferings of past ages. +The ages have gone their way, and the sufferings are lessened by +increased humanity. But we cannot allow Cicero's compliment to pass idly +by. The "nemo nisi armatus" referred to Italians, and to Italians, we +may take it, of the upper rank--among whom, for the sake of dramatic +effect, Deiotarus was placed for the occasion. + +This was the last of Cicero's casual speeches. It was now near the end +of the year, and on the ides of March following it was fated that Caesar +should die. After which there was a lull in the storm for a while, and +then Cicero broke out into that which I have called his final scream of +liberty. There came the Philippics--and then the end. This speech of +which I have given record as spoken Pro Rege Deiotaro was the last +delivered by him for a private purpose. Forty-two he has spoken +hitherto, of which something of the story has been told; the Philippics +of which I have got to speak are fourteen in number, making the total +number of speeches which we possess to be fifty-six. But of those spoken +by him we have not a half, and of those which we possess some have been +declared by the great critics to be absolutely spurious. The great +critics have perhaps been too hard upon them: they have all been +polished. Cicero himself was so anxious for his future fame that he led +the way in preparing them for the press. Quintilian tells us that Tiro +adapted them.[165] Others again have come after him and have retouched +them, sometimes, no doubt, making them smoother, and striking out +morsels which would naturally become unintelligible to later readers. We +know what he himself did to the Milo. Others subsequently may have +received rougher usage, but still from loving hands. Bits have been +lost, and other bits interpolated, and in this way have come to us the +speeches which we possess. But we know enough of the history of the +times, and are sufficient judges of the language, to accept them as upon +the whole authentic. The great critic, when he comes upon a passage +against which his very soul recoils, on the score of its halting +Latinity, rises up in his wrath and tears the oration to tatters, till +he will have none of it. One set of objectionable words he encounters +after another, till the whole seems to him to be damnable, and the +oration is condemned. It has been well to allude to this, because in +dealing with these orations it is necessary to point out that every word +cannot be accepted as having been spoken as we find it printed. Taken +collectively, we may accept them as a stupendous monument of human +eloquence and human perseverance. + +[Sidenote: B.C. 45, aetat. 62.] + +Late in the year, on the 12th before the calends of January, or the 21st +of December, there took place a little party at Puteoli, the account of +which interests us. Cicero entertained Caesar at supper. Though the date +is given as above, and though December had originally been intended to +signify, as it does with us, a winter month, the year, from want of +proper knowledge, had run itself out of order, and the period was now +that of October. The amendment of the calendar, which was made under +Caesar's auspices, had not as yet been brought into use, and we must +understand that October, the most delightful month of the year, was the +period in question. Cicero was staying at his Puteolan villa, not far +from Baiae, close upon the sea-shore--the corner of the world most loved +by all the great Romans of the day for their retreat in autumn.[166] +Puteoli, we may imagine, was as pleasant as Baiae, but less fashionable, +and, if all that we hear be true, less immoral. Here Cicero had one of +his villas, and here, a few months before his death, Caesar came to visit +him. He gives, in a very few lines to Atticus, a graphic account of the +entertainment. Caesar had sent on word to say that he was coming, so that +Cicero was prepared for him. But the lord of all the world had already +made himself so evidently the lord, that Cicero could not entertain him +without certain of those inner quakings of the heart which are common to +us now when some great magnate may come across our path and demand +hospitality for a moment. Cicero jokes at his own solicitude, but +nevertheless we know that he has felt it when, on the next morning, he +sent Atticus an account of it. His guest has been a burden to him +indeed, but still he does not regret it, for the guest behaved himself +so pleasantly! We must remark that Cicero did not ostensibly shake in +his shoes before him. Cicero had been Consul, and has had to lead the +Senate when Caesar was probably anxious to escape himself as an +undetected conspirator. Caesar has grown since, but only by degrees. He +has not become, as Augustus did, "facile princeps." He is aware of his +own power, but aware also that it becomes him to ignore his own +knowledge. And Cicero is also aware of it, but conscious at the same +time of a nominal equality. Caesar is now Dictator, has been Consul four +times, and will be Consul again when the new year comes on. But other +Romans have been Dictator and Consul. All of which Caesar feels on the +occasion, and shows that he feels it. Cicero feels it also, and +endeavors, not quite successfully, to hide it. + +Caesar has come accompanied by troops. Cicero names two thousand +men--probably at random. When Cicero hears that they have come into the +neighborhood, he is terribly put about till one Barba Cassius, a +lieutenant in Caesar's employment, comes and reassures him. A camp is +made for the men outside in the fields, and a guard is put on to protect +the villa. On the following day, about one o'clock, Caesar comes. He is +shut up at the house of one Philippus, and will admit no one. He is +supposed to be transacting accounts with Balbus. We can imagine how +Cicero's cooks were boiling and stewing at the time. Then the great man +walked down upon the sea-shore. Rome was the only recognized nation in +the world. The others were provinces of Rome, and the rest were outlying +barbaric people, hardly as yet fit to be Roman provinces. And he was now +lord of Rome. Did he think of this as he walked on the shore of +Puteoli--or of the ceremony he was about to encounter before he ate his +dinner? He did not walk long, for at two o'clock he bathed, and heard +"that story about Mamurra" without moving a muscle. Turn to your +Catullus, the 57th Epigram, and read what Caesar had read to him on this +occasion, without showing by his face the slightest feeling. It is short +enough, but I cannot quote it even in a note, even in Latin. Who told +Caesar of the foul words, and why were they read to him on this +occasion? He thought but little about them, for he forgave the author +and asked him afterward to supper. This was at the bath, we may suppose. +He then took his siesta, and after that "[Greek: emetiken] agebat." How +the Romans went through the daily process and lived, is to us a marvel. +I think we may say that Cicero did not practise it. Caesar, on this +occasion, ate and drank plenteously and with pleasure. It was all well +arranged, and the conversation was good of its kind, witty and pleasant. +Caesar's couch seems to have been in the midst, and around him lay +supping, at other tables, his freedmen, and the rest of his suite. It +was all very well; but still, says Cicero, he was not such a guest as +you would welcome back--not one to whom you would say, "Come again, I +beg, when you return this way." Once is enough. There were no politics +talked--nothing of serious matters. Caesar had begun to find now that no +use could be made of Cicero for politics. He had tried that, and had +given it up. Philology was the subject--the science of literature and +languages. Caesar could talk literature as well as Cicero, and turned the +conversation in that direction. Cicero was apt, and took the desired +part, and so the afternoon passed pleasantly, but still with a little +feeling that he was glad when his guest was gone.[167] + +Caesar declared, as he went, that he would spend one day at Puteoli and +another at Baiae. Dolabella had a villa down in those parts, and Cicero +knows that Caesar, as he passed by Dolabella's house, rode in the midst +of soldiers--in state, as we should say--but that he had not done this +anywhere else. He had already promised Dolabella the Consulship. + +Was Cicero mean in his conduct toward Caesar? Up to this moment there had +been nothing mean, except that Roman flattery which was simply Roman +good manners. He had opposed him at Pharsalia--or rather in Macedonia. +He had gone across the water--not to fight, for he was no fighting +man--but to show on which side he had placed himself. He had done this, +not believing in Pompey, but still convinced that it was his duty to let +all men know that he was against Caesar. He had resisted every attempt +which Caesar had made to purchase his services. Neither with Pompey nor +with Caesar did he agree. But with the former--though he feared that a +second Sulla would arise should he be victorious--there was some touch +of the old Republic. Something might have been done then to carry on the +government upon the old lines. Caesar had shown his intention to be lord +of all, and with that Cicero could hold no sympathy. Caesar had seen his +position, and had respected it. He would have nothing done to drive such +a man from Rome. Under these circumstances Cicero consented to live at +Rome, or in the neighborhood, and became a man of letters. It must be +remembered that up to the ides of March he had heard of no conspiracy. +The two men, Caesar and Cicero, had agreed to differ, and had talked of +philology when they met. There has been, I think, as yet, nothing mean +in his conduct. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +_CAESAR'S DEATH._ + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 44, aetat. 63.] + +After the dinner-party at Puteoli, described in the last chapter, Cicero +came up to Rome, and was engaged in literary pursuits. Caesar was now +master and lord of everything. In January Cicero wrote to his friend +Curio, and told him with disgust of the tomfooleries which were being +carried on at the election of Quaestors. An empty chair had been put +down, and was declared to be the Consul's chair. Then it was taken away, +and another chair was placed, and another Consul was declared. It wanted +then but a few hours to the end of the consular year--but not the less +was Caninius, the new Consul, appointed, "who would not sleep during his +Consulship," which lasted but from mid-day to the evening. "If you saw +all this you would not fail to weep," says Cicero![168] After this he +seems to have recovered from his sorrow. We have a correspondence with +Poetus which always typifies hilarity of spirits. There is a +discussion, of which we have but the one side, on "double entendre" and +plain speaking. Poetus had advocated the propriety of calling a spade +a spade, and Cicero shows him the inexpediency. Then we come suddenly +upon his letter to Atticus, written on the 7th of April, three weeks +after the fall of Caesar. + +Mommsen endeavors to explain the intention of Caesar in the adoption of +the names by which he chose to be called, and in his acceptance of those +which, without his choosing, were imposed upon him.[169] He has done it +perhaps with too great precision, but he leaves upon our minds a correct +idea of the resolution which Caesar had made to be King, Emperor, +Dictator, or what not, before he started for Macedonia, B.C. 49,[170] +and the disinclination which moved him at once to proclaim himself a +tyrant. Dictator was the title which he first assumed, as being +temporary, Roman, and in a certain degree usual. He was Dictator for an +indefinite period, annually, for ten years, and, when he died, had been +designated Dictator for life. He had already been, for the last two +years, named "Imperator" for life; but that title--which I think to have +had a military sound in men's ears, though it may, as Mommsen says, +imply also civil rule--was not enough to convey to men all that it was +necessary that they should understand. Till the moment of his triumph +had come, and that "Veni, vidi, vici" had been flaunted in the eyes of +Rome--till Caesar, though he had been ashamed to call himself a king, had +consented to be associated with the gods--Brutus, Cassius, and those +others, sixty in number we are told, who became the conspirators, had +hardly realized the fact that the Republic was altogether at an end. A +bitter time had come upon them; but it was softened by the personal +urbanity of the victor. But now, gradually, the truth was declaring +itself, and the conspiracy was formed. I am inclined to think that +Shakspeare has been right in his conception of the plot. "I do fear the +people choose Caesar for their king," says Brutus. "I had as lief not be, +as live to be in awe of such a thing as I myself," says Cassius.[171] It +had come home to them at length that Caesar was to be king, and therefore +they conspired. + +It would be a difficult task in the present era to recommend to my +readers the murderers of Caesar as honest, loyal politicians, who did +for their country, in its emergency, the best that the circumstances +would allow. The feeling of the world in regard to murder has so changed +during the last two thousand years, that men, hindered by their sense of +what is at present odious, refuse to throw themselves back into the +condition of things a knowledge of which can have come to them only from +books. They measure events individually by the present scale, and refuse +to see that Brutus should be judged by us now in reference to the +judgment that was formed of it then. In an age in which it was +considered wise and fitting to destroy the nobles of a barbarous +community which had defended itself, and to sell all others as slaves, +so that the perpetrator simply recorded the act he had done as though +necessary, can it have been a base thing to kill a tyrant? Was it +considered base by other Romans of the day? Was that plea ever made even +by Caesar's friends, or was it not acknowledged by them all that "Brutus +was an honorable man," even when they had collected themselves +sufficiently to look upon him as an enemy? It appears abundantly in +Cicero's letters that no one dreamed of regarding them as we regard +assassins now, or spoke of Caesar's death as we look upon assassination. +"Shall we defend the deeds of him at whose death we are rejoiced?" he +says: and again, he deplores the feeling of regret which was growing in +Rome on account of Caesar's death, "lest it should be dangerous to those +who have slain the tyrant for us."[172] We find that Quintilian, among +his stock lessons in oratory, constantly refers to the old established +rule that a man did a good deed who had killed a tyrant--a lesson which +he had taken from the Greek teachers.[173] We are, therefore, bound to +accept this murder as a thing praiseworthy according to the light of the +age in which it was done, and to recognize the fact that it was so +regarded by the men of the day. + +We are told now that Cicero "hated" Caesar. There was no such hatred as +the word implies. And we are told of "assassins," with an intention to +bring down on the perpetrators of the deed the odium they would have +deserved had the deed been done to-day; but the word has, I think, been +misused. A king was abominable to Roman ears, and was especially +distasteful to men like Cicero, Brutus, and the other "optimates" who +claimed to be peers. To be "primus inter pares" had been Cicero's +ambition--to be the leading oligarch of the day. Caesar had gradually +mounted higher and still higher, but always leaving some +hope--infinitesimally small at last--that he might be induced to submit +himself to the Republic. Sulla had submitted. Personally there was no +hatred; but that hope had almost vanished, and therefore, judging as a +Roman, when the deed was done, Cicero believed it to have been a +glorious deed. There can be no doubt on that subject. The passages in +which he praises it are too numerous for direct quotation; but there +they are, interspersed through the letters and the Philippics. There was +no doubt of his approval. The "assassination" of Caesar, if that is to be +the word used, was to his idea a glorious act done on behalf of +humanity. The all-powerful tyrant who had usurped dominion over his +country had been made away with, and again they might fall back upon the +law. He had filched the army. He had run through various provinces, and +had enriched himself with their wealth. He was above all law; he was +worse than a Marius or a Sulla, who confessed themselves, by their open +violence, to be temporary evils. Caesar was creating himself king for all +time. No law had established him. No plebiscite of the nation had +endowed him with kingly power. With his life in his hands, he had dared +to do it, and was almost successful. It is of no purpose to say that he +was right and Cicero was wrong in their views as to the government of so +mean a people as the Romans had become. Cicero's form of government, +under men who were not Ciceros, had been wrong, and had led to a state +of things in which a tyrant might for the time be the lesser evil; but +not on that account was Cicero wrong to applaud the deed which removed +Caesar. Middleton in his life (vol. ii, p. 435) gives us the opinion of +Suetonius on this subject, and tells us that the best and wisest men in +Rome supposed Caesar to have been justly killed. Mr. Forsyth generously +abstains from blaming the deed, as to which he leaves his readers to +form their own opinion. Abeken expresses no opinion concerning its +morality, nor does Morabin. It is the critics of Cicero's works who have +condemned him without thinking much, perhaps, of the judgment they have +given. + +But Cicero was not in the conspiracy, nor had he even contemplated +Caesar's death. Assertions to the contrary have been made both lately and +in former years, but without foundation. I have already alluded to some +of these, and have shown that phrases in his letters have been +misinterpreted. A passage was quoted by M. Du Rozoir--Ad Att., lib. x., +8--"I don't think that he can endure longer than six months. He must +fall, even if we do nothing." How often might it be said that the murder +of an English minister had been intended if the utterings of such words +be taken as a testimony! He quotes again--Ad Att., lib. xiii., 40--"What +good news could Brutus hear of Caesar, unless that he hung himself?" This +is to be taken as meditating Caesar's death, and is quoted by a French +critic, after two thousand years, in proof of Cicero's fatal +ill-will![174] The whole tenor of Cicero's letters proves that he had +never entertained the idea of Caesar's destruction. + +How long before the time the conspiracy may have been in existence we +have no means of knowing; but we feel that Cicero was not a man likely +to be taken into the plot. He would have dissuaded Brutus and Cassius. +Judging from what we know of his character, we think that he would have +distrusted its success. Though he rejoiced in it after it was done, he +would have been wretched while burdened with the secret. At any rate, we +have the fact that he was not so burdened. The sight of Caesar's +slaughter, when he saw it, must have struck him with infinite surprise, +but we have no knowledge of what his feelings may have been when the +crowd had gathered round the doomed man. Cicero has left us no +description of the moment in which Caesar is supposed to have gathered +his toga over his face so that he might fall with dignity. It certainly +is the case that when you take your facts from the chance correspondence +of a man you lose something of the most touching episodes of the day. +The writer passes these things by, as having been surely handled +elsewhere. It is always so with Cicero. The trial of Milo, the passing +of the Rubicon, the battle of the Pharsalus, and the murder of Pompey +are, with the death of Caesar, alike unnoticed. "I have paid him a visit +as to whom we spoke this morning. Nothing could be more forlorn."[175] +It is thus the next letter begins, after Caesar's death, and the person +he refers to is Matius, Caesar's friend; but in three weeks the world had +become used to Caesar's death. The scene had passed away, and the +inhabitants of Rome were already becoming accustomed to his absence. But +there can be no doubt as to Cicero's presence at Caesar's fall. He says +so clearly to Atticus.[176] Morabin throws a doubt upon it. The story +goes that Brutus, descending from the platform on which Caesar had been +seated, and brandishing the bloody dagger in his hand, appealed to +Cicero. Morabin says that there is no proof of this, and alleges that +Brutus did it for stage effect. But he cannot have seen the letter above +quoted, or seeing it, must have misunderstood it.[177] + +It soon became evident to the conspirators that they had scotched the +snake, and not killed it. Cassius and others had desired that Antony +also should be killed, and with him Lepidus. That Antony would be +dangerous they were sure. But Marcus Brutus and Decimus overruled their +counsels. Marcus had declared that the "blood of the tyrant was all that +the people required."[178] The people required nothing of the kind. They +were desirous only of ease and quiet, and were anxious to follow either +side which might be able to lead them and had something to give away. +But Antony had been spared; and though cowed at the moment by the death +of Caesar, and by the assumption of a certain dignified forbearance on +the part of the conspirators, was soon ready again to fight the battle +for the Caesareans. It is singular to see how completely he was cowed, +and how quickly he recovered himself. + +Mommsen finishes his history with a loud paean in praise of Caesar, but +does not tell us of his death. His readers, had they nothing else to +inform them, might be led to suppose that he had gone direct to heaven, +or at any rate had vanished from the world, as soon as he had made the +Empire perfect. He seems to have thought that had he described the work +of the daggers in the Senate-house he would have acknowledged the +mortality of his godlike hero. We have no right to complain of his +omissions. For research, for labor, and for accuracy he has produced a +work almost without parallel. That he should have seen how great was +Caesar because he accomplished so much, and that he should have thought +Cicero to be small because, burdened with scruples of justice, he did so +little, is in the idiosyncrasy of the man. A Caesar was wanted, +impervious to clemency, to justice, to moderation--a man who could work +with any tools. "Men had forgotten what honesty was. A person who +refused a bribe was regarded not as an upright man but as a personal +foe."[179] Caesar took money, and gave bribes, when he had the money to +pay them, without a scruple. It would be absurd to talk about him as +dishonest. He was above honesty. He was "supra grammaticam." It is well +that some one should have arisen to sing the praises of such a man--some +two or three in these latter days. To me the character of the man is +unpleasant to contemplate, unimpressionable, very far from divine. There +is none of the human softness necessary for love; none of the human +weakness needed for sympathy. + +On the 15th of March Caesar fell. When the murder had been effected. +Brutus and the others concerned in it went out among the people +expecting to be greeted as saviors of their country. Brutus did address +the populace, and was well received; but some bad feeling seems to have +been aroused by hard expressions as to Caesar's memory coming from one of +the Praetors. For the people, though they regarded Caesar as a tyrant, and +expressed themselves as gratified when told that the would-be king had +been slaughtered, still did not endure to hear ill spoken of him. He had +understood that it behooved a tyrant to be generous, and appealed among +them always with full hands--not having been scrupulous as to his mode +of filling them. Then the conspirators, frightened at menacing words +from the crowd, betook themselves to the Capitol. Why they should have +gone to the Capitol as to a sanctuary I do not think that we know. The +Capitol is that hill to a portion of which access is now had by the +steps of the church of the Ara Coeli in front, and from the Forum in +the rear. On one side was the fall from the Tarpeian rock down which +malefactors were flung. On the top of it was the temple to Jupiter, +standing on the site of the present church. And it was here that Brutus +and Cassius and the other conspirators sought for safety on the evening +of the day on which Caesar had been killed. Here they remained for the +two following days, till on the 18th they ventured down into the city. +On the 17th Dolabella claimed to be Consul, in compliance with Caesar's +promise, and on the same day the Senate, moved by Antony, decreed a +public funeral to Caesar. We may imagine that the decree was made by +them with fainting hearts. There were many fainting hearts in Rome +during those days, for it became very soon apparent that the +conspirators had carried their plot no farther than the death of Caesar. + +Brutus, as far as the public service was concerned, was an unpractical, +useless man. We know nothing of public work done by him to much purpose. +He was filled with high ideas as to his own position among the +oligarchs, and with especial notions as to what was due by Rome to men +of his name. He had a fierce conception of his own rights--among which +to be Praetor, and Consul, and Governor of a province were among the +number. But he had taken early in life to literature and philosophy, and +eschewed the crowd of "Fish-ponders," such as were Antony and Dolabella, +men prone to indulge the luxury of their own senses. His idea of liberty +seems to have been much the same as Cicero's--the liberty to live as one +of the first men in Rome; but it was not accompanied, as it was with +Cicero, by an innate desire to do good to those around him. To maintain +the Praetors, Consuls, and Governors so that each man high in position +should win his way to them as he might be able to obtain the voices of +the people, and not to leave them to be bestowed at the call of one man +who had thrust himself higher than all--that seems to have been his +_beau ideal_ of Roman government. It was Cicero's also--with the +addition that when he had achieved his high place he should serve the +people honestly. Brutus had killed Caesar, but had spared Antony, +thinking that all things would fall into their accustomed places when +the tyrant should be no more. But he found that Caesar had been tyrant +long enough to create a lust for tyranny; and that though he might +suffice to kill a king, he had no aptitude for ruling a people. + +It was now that those scenes took place which Shakspeare has described +with such accuracy--the public funeral, Antony's oration, and the rising +of the people against the conspirators. Antony, when he found that no +plan had been devised for carrying on the government, and that the men +were struck by amazement at the deed they had themselves done, collected +his thoughts and did his best to put himself in Caesar's place. Cicero +had pleaded in the Senate for a general amnesty, and had carried it as +far as the voice of the Senate could do so. But the amnesty only +intended that men should pretend to think that all should be forgotten +and forgiven. There was no forgiving, as there could be no forgetting. +Then Caesar's will was brought forth. They could not surely dispute his +will or destroy it. In this way Antony got hold of the dead man's +papers, and with the aid of the dead man's private secretary or +amanuensis, one Fabricius, began a series of most unblushing forgeries. +He procured, or said that he procured, a decree to be passed confirming +by law all Caesar's written purposes. Such a decree he could use to any +extent to which he could carry with him the sympathies of the people. He +did use it to a great extent, and seems at this period to have +contemplated the assumption of dictatorial power in his own hands. +Antony was nearly being one of the greatest rascals the world has known. +The desire was there, and so was the intellect, had it not been weighted +by personal luxury and indulgence. + +Now young Octavius came upon the scene. He was the great-nephew of +Caesar, whose sister Julia had married one Marcus Atius. Their daughter +Atia had married Caius Octavius, and of that marriage Augustus was the +child. When Octavius, the father, died, Atia, the widow, married Marcius +Philippus, who was Consul B.C. 56. Caesar, having no nearer heir, took +charge of the boy, and had, for the last years of his life, treated him +as his son, though he had not adopted him. At this period the youth had +been sent to Apollonia, on the other side of the Adriatic, in Macedonia, +to study with Apollodorus, a Greek tutor, and was there when he heard of +Caesar's death. He was informed that Caesar had made him his heir and at +once crossed over into Italy with his friend Agrippa. On the way up to +Rome he met Cicero at one of his southern villas, and in the presence +of the great orator behaved himself with becoming respect. He was then +not twenty years old, but in the present difficulty of his position +conducted himself with a caution most unlike a boy. He had only come, he +said for what his great-uncle had left him; and when he found that +Antony had spent the money, does not appear to have expressed himself +immediately in anger. He went on to Rome, where he found that Antony and +Dolabella and Marcus Brutus and Decimus Brutus and Cassius were +scrambling for the provinces and the legions. Some of the soldiers came +to him, asking him to avenge his uncle's death; but he was too prudent +as yet to declare any purpose of revenge. + +Not long after Caesar's death Cicero left Rome, and spent the ensuing +month travelling about among his different villas. On the 14th of April +he writes to Atticus, declaring that whatever evil might befall him he +would find comfort in the ides of March. In the same letter he calls +Brutus and the others "our heroes," and begs his friend to send him +news--or if not news, then a letter without news.[180] In the next he +again calls them his heroes, but adds that he can take no pleasure in +anything but in the deed that had been done. Men are still praising the +work of Caesar, and he laments that they should be so inconsistent. +"Though they laud those who had destroyed Caesar, at the same time they +praise his deeds."[181] In the same letter he tells Atticus that the +people in all the villages are full of joy. "It cannot be told how eager +they are--how they run out to meet me, and to hear my accounts of what +was done. But the Senate passes no decree!"[182] He speaks of going into +Greece to see his son--whom he never lived to see again--telling him of +letters from the lad from Athens, which, he thinks, however, may be +hypocritical, though he is comforted by finding their language to be +clear. He has recovered his good-humor, and can be jocose. One Cluvius +has left him a property at Puteoli, and the house has tumbled down; but +he has sent for Chrysippus, an architect. But what are houses falling to +him? He can thank Socrates and all his followers that they have taught +him to disregard such worldly things. Nevertheless, he has deemed it +expedient to take the advice of a certain friend as to turning the +tumble-down house into profitable shape.[183] A little later he +expresses his great disgust that Caesar, in the public speeches in Rome, +should be spoken of as that "great and most excellent man."[184] And yet +he had said, but a few months since, in his oration for King Deiotarus, +in the presence of Caesar, "that he looked only into his eyes, only into +his face--that he regarded only him." The flattery and the indignant +reprobation do, in truth, come very near upon each other, and induce us +to ask whether the fact of having to live in the presence of royalty be +not injurious to the moral man. Could any of us have refused to speak to +Caesar with adulation--any of us whom circumstances compelled to speak to +him? Power had made Caesar desirous of a mode of address hardly becoming +a man to give or a man to receive. Does not the etiquette of to-day +require from us certain courtesies of conversation, which I would call +abject were it not that etiquette requires them? Nevertheless, making +the best allowance that I can for Cicero, the difference of his language +within a month or two is very painful. In the letter above quoted +Octavius comes to him, and we can see how willing was the young aspirant +to flatter him. + +He sees already that, in spite of the promised amnesty, there must be +internecine feud. "I shall have to go into the camp with young +Sextus"--Sextus Pompeius--"or perhaps with Brutus, a prospect at my +years most odious." Then he quotes two lines of Homer, altering a word: +"To you, my child, is not given the glory of war; eloquence, charming +eloquence, must be the weapon with which you will fight." We hear of his +contemplated journey into Greece, under the protection of a free +legation. He was going for the sake of his son; but would not people say +that he went to avoid the present danger? and might it not be the case +that he should be of service if he remained?[185] We see that the old +state of doubt is again falling upon him. [Greek: Aideomai Troas.] +Otherwise he could go and make himself safe in Athens. There is a +correspondence between him and Antony, of which he sends copies to +Atticus. Antony writes to him, begging him to allow Sextus Clodius to +return from his banishment. This Sextus had been condemned because of +the riot on the death of his uncle in Milo's affair, and Antony wishes +to have him back. Cicero replies that he will certainly accede to +Antony's views. It had always been a law with him, he says, not to +maintain a feeling of hatred against his humbler enemies. But in both +these letters we see the subtilty and caution of the writers. Antony +could have brought back Sextus without Cicero, and Cicero knew that he +could do so. Cicero had no power over the law. But it suited Antony to +write courteously a letter which might elicit an uncivil reply. Cicero, +however, knew better, and answered it civilly. + +He writes to Tiro telling him that he has not the slightest intention of +quarrelling with his old friend Antony, and will write to Antony, but +not till he shall have seen him, Tiro; showing on what terms of +friendship he stands with his former slave, for Tiro had by this time +been manumitted.[186] He writes to Tiro quite as he might have written +to a younger Atticus, and speaks to him of Atticus with all the +familiarity of confirmed friendship. There must have been something very +sweet in the nature of the intercourse which bound such a man as Cicero +to such another as Tiro. + +Atticus applies to him, desiring him to use his influence respecting a +certain question of importance as to Buthrotum. Buthrotum was a town in +Epirus opposite to the island of Corcyra, in which Atticus had an +important interest. The lands about the place were to be divided, and to +be distributed to Roman soldiers--much, as we may suppose to the injury +of Atticus. He has earnestly begged the interference of Cicero for the +protection of the Buthrotians, and Cicero tells him that he wishes he +could have seen Antony on the subject, but that Antony is too much +busied looking after the soldiers in the Campagna. Cicero fails to have +the wishes of Atticus carried out, and shortly the subject becomes lost +in the general confusion. But the discussion shows of how much +importance at the present moment Cicero's interference with Antony is +considered. It shows also that up to this period, a few months previous +to the envenomed hatred of the second Philippic, Antony and Cicero were +presumed to be on terms of intimate friendship. + +The worship of Caesar had been commenced in Rome, and an altar had been +set up to him in the Forum as to a god. Had Caesar, when he perished, +been said to have usurped the sovereign authority, his body would have +been thrown out as unworthy of noble treatment. Such treatment the +custom of the Republic required. It had been allowed to be buried, and +had been honored, not disgraced. Now, on the spot where the funeral pile +had been made, the altar was erected, and crowds of men clamored round +it, worshipping. That this was the work of Antony we cannot doubt. But +Dolabella, Cicero's repudiated son-in-law, who in furtherance of a +promise from Caesar had seized the Consulship, was jealous of Antony and +caused the altar to be thrown down and the worshippers to be dispersed. +Many were killed in the struggle--for, though the Republic was so +jealous of the lives of the citizens as not to allow a criminal to be +executed without an expression of the voice of the entire people, any +number might fall in a street tumult, and but little would be thought +about it. Dolabella destroyed the altar, and Cicero was profuse in his +thanks.[187] For though Tullia had been divorced, and had since died, +there was no cause for a quarrel. Divorces were so common that no family +odium was necessarily created. Cicero was at this moment most anxious to +get back from Dolabella his daughter's dowry. It was never repaid. +Indeed, a time was quickly coming in which such payments were out of the +question, and Dolabella soon took a side altogether opposed to the +Republic--for which he cared nothing. He was bought by Antony, having +been ready to be bought by any one. He went to Syria as governor before +the end of the year, and at Smyrna, on his road, he committed one of +those acts of horror on Trebonius, an adverse governor, in which the +Romans of the day would revel when liberated from control. Cassius came +to avenge his friend Trebonius, and Dolabella, finding himself worsted, +destroyed himself. He had not progressed so far in corruption as Verres, +because time had not permitted it--but that was the direction in which +he was travelling. At the present moment, however, no praise was too +fervid to be bestowed upon him by Cicero's pen. That turning of Caesar +into a god was opposed to every feeling of his heart, both, as to men +and as to gods. + +A little farther on[188] we find him complaining of the state of things +very grievously: "That we should have feared this thing, and not have +feared the other!"--meaning Caesar and Antony. He declares that he must +often read, for his own consolation, his treatise on old age, then just +written and addressed to Atticus. "Old age is making me bitter," he +says; "I am annoyed at everything. But my life has been lived. Let the +young look to the future." We here meet the name of Caerellia in a letter +to his friend. She had probably been sent to make up the quarrel between +him and his young wife Publilia. Nothing came of it, and it is mentioned +only because Caerellia's name has been joined so often with that of +Cicero by subsequent writers. In the whole course of his correspondence +with Atticus I do not remember it to occur, except in one or two letters +at this period. I imagine that some story respecting the lady was handed +down, and was published by Dio Cassius when the Greek historian found +that it served his purpose to abuse Cicero. + +On June 22nd he sent news to Atticus of his nephew. Young Quintus had +written home to his father to declare his repentance. He had been in +receipt of money from Antony, and had done Antony's dirty work. He had +been "Antoni dextella"--"Antony's right hand"--according to Cicero, and +had quarrelled absolutely with his father and his uncle. He now +expresses his sorrow, and declares that he would come himself at once, +but that there might be danger to his father. And there is money to be +expected if he will only wait. "Did you ever hear of a worse knave?" +Cicero adds. Probably not; but yet he was able to convince his father +and his uncle, and some time afterward absolutely offered to prosecute +Antony for stealing the public money out of the treasury. He thought, as +did some others, that the course of things was going against Antony. As +a consequence of this he was named in the proscriptions, and killed, +with his father. In the same letter Cicero consults Atticus as to the +best mode of going to Greece. Brundisium is the usual way, but he has +been told by Tiro that there are soldiers in the town.[189] He is now at +Arpinum, on his journey, and receives a letter from Brutus inviting him +back to Rome, to see the games given by Brutus. He is annoyed to think +that Brutus should expect this. "These shows are now only honorable to +him who is bound to give them," he says; "I am not bound to see them, +and to be present would be dishonorable."[190] Then comes his parting +with Atticus, showing a demonstrative tenderness foreign to the +sternness of our northern nature. "That you should have wept when you +had parted from me, has grieved me greatly. Had you done it in my +presence, I should not have gone at all."[191] "Nonis Juliis!"[192] he +exclaims. The name of July had already come into use--the name which has +been in use ever since--the name of the man who had now been destroyed! +The idea distresses him. "Shall Brutus talk of July?" It seems that some +advertisement had been published as to his games in which the month was +so called. + +Writing from one of his villas in the south, he tells Atticus that his +nephew has again been with him, and has repented him of all his sins. I +think that Cicero never wrote anything vainer than this: "He has been so +changed," he says, "by reading some of my writings which I happened to +have by me, and by my words and precepts, that he is just such a citizen +as I would have him."[193] Could it be that he should suppose that one +whom he had a few days since described as the biggest knave he knew +should be so changed by a few words well written and well pronounced? +Young Quintus must in truth have been a clever knave. In the same letter +Cicero tells us that Tiro had collected about seventy of his letters +with a view to publication. We have at present over seven hundred +written before that day. + +Just as he is starting he gives his friend a very wide commission: "By +your love for me, do manage my matters for me. I have left enough to pay +everything that I owe. But it will happen, as it often does, that they +who owe me will not be punctual. If anything of that kind should happen, +only think of my character. Put me right before the world by borrowing, +or even by selling, if it be necessary."[194] This is not the language +of a man in distress, but of one anxious that none should lose a +shilling by him. He again thinks of starting from Brundisium, and +promises, when he has arrived there, instantly to begin a new work. He +has sent his De Gloria to Atticus; a treatise which we have lost. We +should be glad to know how he treated this most difficult subject. We +are astonished at his fecundity and readiness. He was now nearly +sixty-three, and, as he travels about the country, he takes with him all +the adjuncts necessary for the writing of treatises such as he composed +at this period of his life! His Topica, containing Aristotelian +instructions as to a lawyer's work, he put together on board ship, +immediately after this, for the benefit of Trebatius, to whom it had +been promised. + +July had come, and at last he resolved to sail from Pompeii and to coast +round to Sicily. He lands for a night at Velia, where he finds Brutus, +with whom he has an interview. Then he writes a letter to Trebatius, who +had there a charming villa, bought no doubt with Gallic spoils. He is +reminded of his promise, and going on to Rhegium writes his Topica, +which he sends to Trebatius from that place. Thence he went across to +Syracuse, but was afraid to stay there, fearing that his motions might +be watched, and that Antony would think that he had objects of State in +his journey. He had already been told that some attributed his going to +a desire to be present at the Olympian games; but the first notion seems +to have been that he had given the Republic up as lost, and was seeking +safety elsewhere. From this we are made to perceive how closely his +motions were watched, and how much men thought of them. From Syracuse he +started for Athens--which place, however, he was doomed never to see +again. He was carried back to Leucopetra on the continent; and though he +made another effort, he was, he says, again brought back. There, at the +villa of his friend Valerius, he learned tidings which induced him to +change his purpose, and hurry off to Rome. Brutus and Cassius had +published a decree of the Senate, calling all the Senators, and +especially the Consulares, to Rome. There was reason to suppose that +Antony was willing to relax his pretensions. They had strenuously +demanded his attendance, and whispers were heard that he had fled from +the difficulties of the times. "When I heard this, I at once abandoned +my journey, with which, indeed, I had never been well pleased."[195] +Then he enters into a long disquisition with Atticus as to the advice +which had been given to him, both by Atticus and by Brutus, and he says +some hard words to Atticus. But he leaves an impression on the reader's +mind that Brutus had so disturbed him by what had passed between them at +Velia, that from that moment his doubts as to going, which had been +always strong, had overmastered him. It was not the winds at Leucopetra +that hindered his journey, but the taunting words which Brutus had +spoken. It was suggested to him that he was deserting his country. The +reproach had been felt by him to be heavy, for he had promised to +Atticus that he would return by the first of January; yet he could not +but feel that there was something in it of truth. The very months during +which he would be absent would be the months of danger. Indeed, looking +out upon the political horizon then, it seemed as though the nearest +months, those they were then passing, would be the most dangerous. If +Antony could be got rid of, be made to leave Italy, there might be +something for an honest Senator to do--a man with consular authority--a +something which might not jeopardize his life. When men now call a +politician of those days a coward for wishing to avoid the heat of the +battle, they hardly think what it is for an old man to leave his retreat +and rush into the Forum, and there encounter such a one as Antony, and +such soldiers as were his soldiers. Cicero, who had been brave enough in +the emergencies of his career, and had gone about his work sometimes +regardless of his life, no doubt thought of all this. It would be +pleasant to him again to see his son, and to look upon the rough doings +of Rome from amid the safety of Athens; but when his countrymen told him +that he had not as yet done enough--when Brutus, with his cold, bitter +words, rebuked him for going--then his thoughts turned round on the +quick pivot on which they were balanced, and he hurried back to the +fight. + +He travelled at once up to Rome, which he reached on the last of August, +and there received a message from Antony demanding his presence in the +Senate on the next day. He had been greeted on his journey once again by +the enthusiastic welcome of his countrymen, who looked to receive some +especial advantage from his honesty and patriotism. Once again he was +made proud by the clamors of a trusting people. But he had not come to +Rome to be Antony's puppet. Antony had some measure to bring before the +Senate in honor of Caesar which it would not suit Cicero to support or to +oppose. He sent to say that he was tired after his journey and would not +come. Upon this the critics deal hardly with him, and call him a coward. +"With an incredible pusillanimity," says M. Du Rozoir, "Cicero excused +himself, alleging his health and the fatigue of his voyage." "He +pretended that he was too tired to be present," says Mr Long. It appears +to me that they who have read Cicero's works with the greatest care have +become so enveloped by the power of his words as to expect from them an +unnatural weight. If a politician of to-day, finding that it did not +suit him to appear in the House of Commons on a certain evening, and +that it would best become him to allow a debate to pass without his +presence, were to make such an excuse, would he be treated after the +same fashion? Pusillanimity, and pretence, in regard to those Philippics +in which he seems to have courted death by every harsh word that he +uttered! The reader who has begun to think so must change his mind, and +be prepared, as he progresses, to find quite another fault with Cicero. +Impetuous, self-confident, rash; throwing down the gage with internecine +fury; striving to crush with his words the man who had the command of +the legions of Rome; sticking at nothing which could inflict a blow; +forcing men by his descriptions to such contempt of Antony that they +should be induced to leave the stronger party, lest they too should +incur something of the wrath of the orator--that they will find to be +the line which Cicero adopted, and the demeanor he put on during the +next twelve months! He thundered with his Philippics through Rome, +addressing now the Senate and now the people with a hardihood which you +may condemn as being unbecoming one so old, who should have been taught +equanimity by experience; but pusillanimity and pretence will not be the +offences you will bring against him. + +Antony, not finding that Cicero had come at his call, declared in the +Senate that he would send his workmen to dig him out from his house. +Cicero alludes to this on the next day without passion.[196] Antony was +not present, and in this speech he expresses no bitterness of anger. It +should hardly have been named one of the Philippics, which title might +well have been commenced with the second. The name, it should be +understood, has been adopted from a jocular allusion by Cicero to the +Philippics of Demosthenes, made in a letter to Brutus. We have at least +the reply of Brutus, if indeed the letter be genuine, which is much to +be doubted.[197] But he had no purpose of affixing his name to them. For +many years afterward they were called Antonianae, and the first general +use of the term by which we know them has probably been comparatively +modern. The one name does as well as another, but it is odd that +speeches from Demosthenes should have given a name to others so well +known as these made by Cicero against Antony. Plutarch, however, +mentions the name, saying that it had been given to the speeches by +Cicero himself. + +In this, the first, he is ironically reticent as to Antony's violence +and unpatriotic conduct. Antony was not present, and Cicero tells his +hearers with a pleasant joke that to Antony it may be allowed to be +absent on the score of ill-health, though the indulgence had been +refused to him. Antony is his friend, and why had Antony treated him so +roughly? Was it unusual for Senators to be absent? Was Hannibal at the +gate, or were they dealing for peace with Pyrrhus, as was the case when +they brought the old blind Appius down to the House? Then he comes to +the question of the hour, which was, nominally, the sanctioning as law +those acts of Caesar's which he had decreed by his own will before his +death. When a tyrant usurps power for a while and is then deposed, no +more difficult question can be debated. Is it not better to take the law +as he leaves it, even though the law has become a law illegally, than +encounter all the confusion of retrograde action? Nothing could have +been more iniquitous than some of Sulla's laws, but Cicero had opposed +their abrogation. But here the question was one not of Caesar's laws, but +of decrees subsequently made by Antony and palmed off upon the people as +having been found among Caesar's papers. Soon after Caesar's death a +decision had been obtained by Antony in favor of Caesar's laws or acts, +and hence had come these impudent forgeries under the guise of which +Antony could cause what writings he chose to be made public. "I think +that Caesar's acts should be maintained," says Cicero, "not as being in +themselves good, for that no one can assert. I wish that Antony were +present here without his usual friends," he adds, alluding to his armed +satellites. "He would tell us after what manner he would maintain those +acts of Caesar's. Are they to be found in notes and scraps and small +documents brought forward by one witness, or not brought forward at all +but only told to us? And shall those which he engraved in bronze, and +which he wished to be known as the will of the people and as perpetual +laws--shall they go for nothing?"[198] Here was the point in dispute. +The decree had been voted soon after Caesar's death, giving the sanction +of the Senate to his laws. For peace this had been done, as the best way +out of the difficulty which oppressed the State. But it was intolerable +that, under this sanction, Antony should have the power of bringing +forth new edicts day after day, while the very laws which Caesar had +passed were not maintained. "What better law was there, or more often +demanded in the best days of the Republic, than that law," passed by +Caesar, "under which the provinces were to be held by the Praetors only +for one year, and by the Consuls for not more than two? But this law is +abolished. So it is thus that Caesar's acts are to be maintained?"[199] +Antony, no doubt, and his friends, having an eye to the fruition of the +provinces, had found among Caesar's papers--or said they had found--some +writing to suit their purpose. All things to be desired were to be found +among Caesar's papers. "The banished are brought back from banishment, +the right of citizenship is given not only to individuals but to whole +nations and provinces, exceptions from taxations are granted, by the +dead man's voice."[200] Antony had begun, probably, with some one or two +more modest forgeries, and had gone on, strengthened in impudence by his +own success, till Caesar dead was like to be worse to them than Caesar +living. The whole speech is dignified, patriotic, and bold, asserting +with truth that which he believed to be right, but never carried into +invective or dealing with expressions of anger. It is very short, but I +know no speech of his more closely to its purpose. I can see him now, +with his toga round him, as he utters the final words: "I have lived +perhaps long enough--both as to length of years and the glory I have +won. What little may be added, shall be, not for myself, but for you and +for the Republic." The words thus spoken became absolutely true. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +_THE PHILIPPICS._ + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 44, aetat. 63.] + +Cicero was soon driven by the violence of Antony's conduct to relinquish +the idea of moderate language, and was ready enough to pick up the +gauntlet thrown down for him. From this moment to the last scene of his +life it was all the fury of battle and the shout of victory, and then +the scream of despair. Antony, when he read Cicero's speech, the first +Philippic, the language of which was no doubt instantly sent to him, +seems to have understood at once that he must either vanquish Cicero or +be vanquished by him. He appreciated to the letter the ironically +cautious language in which his conduct was exposed. He had not chosen to +listen to Cicero, but was most anxious to get Cicero to listen to him. +Those "advocates" of whom Cicero had spoken would be around him, and at +a nod, or perhaps without a nod, would do to Cicero as Brutus and +Cassius had done to Caesar. The last meeting of the Senate had been on +the 2d of September. When it was over, Antony, we are told, went down to +his villa at Tivoli, and there devoted himself for above a fortnight to +the getting up of a speech by which he might silence, or at any rate +answer Cicero. Nor did he leave himself to his own devices, but took to +himself a master of eloquence who might teach him when to make use of +his arms, where to stamp his feet, and in what way to throw his toga +about with a graceful passion. He was about forty at this time,[201] and +in the full flower of his manhood, yet, for such a purpose, he did not +suppose himself to know all that lessons would teach him in the art of +invective. There he remained, mouthing out his phrases in the presence +of his preceptor, till he had learned by heart all that the preceptor +knew. Then he summoned Cicero to meet him in the Senate on the 19th. +This Cicero was desirous of doing, but was prevented by his friends, who +were afraid of the "advocates." There is extant a letter from Cicero to +Cassius in which he states it to be well known in Rome that Antony had +declared that he, Cicero, had been the author of Caesar's death, in order +that Caesar's old soldiers might slay him.[202] There were other +Senators, he says, who did not dare to show themselves in the +Senate-house--Piso, and Servilius, and Cotta. Antony came down and made +his practised oration against Cicero. The words of his speech have not +been preserved, but Cicero has told us the manner of it, and some of the +phrases which he used. The authority is not very good, but we may +imagine from the results that his story is not far from the truth. From +first to last it was one violent tirade of abuse which he seemed to +vomit forth from his jaws, rather than to "speak after the manner of a +Roman Consular." Such is Cicero's description. + +It has been said of Antony that we hear of him only from his enemies. He +left behind him no friend to speak for him, and we have heard of him +certainly from one enemy; but the tidings are of a nature to force upon +us belief in the evil which Cicero spoke of him. Had he been a man of +decent habits of life, and of an honest purpose, would Cicero have dared +to say to the Romans respecting him the words which he produced, not +only in the second Philippic, which was unspoken, but also in the twelve +which followed? The record of him, as far as it goes, is altogether bad. +Plutarch tells us that he was handsome, and a good soldier, but +altogether vicious. Plutarch is not a biographer whose word is to be +taken as to details, but he is generally correct in his estimate of +character. Tacitus tells us but little about him as direct history, but +mentions him ever in the same tone. Tacitus knew the feeling of Rome +regarding him. Paterculus speaks specially of his fraud, and breaks out +into strong repudiation of the murder of Cicero.[203] Valerius Maximus, +in his anecdotes, mentions him slightingly, as an evil man is spoken of +who has forced himself into notice. Virgil has stamped his name with +everlasting ignominy. "Sequiturque nefas Egyptia conjux." I can think of +no Roman writer who has named him with honor. He was a Roman of the +day--what Rome had made him--brave, greedy, treacherous, and +unpatriotic. + +Cicero again was absent from the Senate, but was in Rome when Antony +attacked him. We learn from a letter to Cornificius that Antony left the +city shortly afterward, and went down to Brundisium to look after the +legions which had come across from Macedonia, with which Cicero asserts +that he intends to tyrannize over them all in Rome.[204] He then tells +his correspondent that young Octavius has just been discovered in an +attempt to have Antony murdered, but that Antony, having found the +murderer in his house, had not dared to complain. He seems to think that +Octavius had been right! The state of things was such that men were used +to murder; but this story was probably not true. He passes on to declare +in the next sentence that he receives such consolation from philosophy +as to be able to bear all the ills of fortune. He himself goes to +Puteoli, and there he writes the second Philippic. It is supposed to be +the most violent piece of invective ever produced by human ingenuity and +human anger. The readers of it must, however, remember that it was not +made to be spoken--was not even written, as far as we are aware, to be +shown to Antony, or to be published to the world. We do not even know +that Antony ever saw it. There has been an idea prevalent that Antony's +anger was caused by it, and that Cicero owed to it his death; but the +surmise is based on probability--not at all on evidence. Cicero, when he +heard what Antony had said of him, appears to have written all the evil +he could say of his enemy, in order that he might send it to Atticus. It +contained rather what he could have published than what he did intend to +publish. He does, indeed, suggest, in the letter which accompanied the +treatise when sent to Atticus, in some only half-intelligible words, +that he hopes the time may come when the speech "shall find its way +freely even into Sica's house;"[205] but we gather even from that his +intention that it should have no absolutely public circulation. He had +struggled to be as severe as he knew how, but had done it, as it were, +with a halter round his neck; and for Antony's anger--the anger which +afterward produced the proscription--there came to be cause enough +beyond this. Before that day he had endeavored to stir up the whole +Empire against Antony, and had all but succeeded. + +It has been alleged that Cicero again shows his cowardice by writing +and not speaking his oration, and also by writing it only for private +distribution. If he were a coward, why did he write it at all? If he +were a coward, why did he hurry into this contest with Antony? If he be +blamed because his Philippic was anonymous, how do the anonymous writers +of to-day escape? If because he wrote it, and did not speak it, what +shall be said of the party writers of to-day? He was a coward, say his +accusers, because he avoided a danger. Have they thought of the danger +which he did run when they bring those charges against him? of what was +the nature of the fight? Do they remember how many Romans in public life +had been murdered during the last dozen years? We are well aware how far +custom goes, and that men became used to the fear of violent death. +Cicero was now habituated to that fear, and was willing to face it. But +not on that account are we to imagine that, with his eyes open, he was +to be supposed always ready to rush into immediate destruction. To write +a scurrilous attack, such as the second Philippic, is a bad exercise for +the ingenuity of a great man; but so is any anonymous satire. It is so +in regard to our own times, which have received the benefit of all +antecedent civilization. Cicero, being in the midst of those heartless +Romans, is expected to have the polished manners and high feelings of a +modern politician! I have hardly a right to be angry with his critics +because by his life he went so near to justify the expectation. + +He begins by asking his supposed hearers how it has come to pass that +during the last twenty years the Republic had had no enemy who was not +also his enemy. "And you, Antony, whom I have never injured by a word, +why is it that, more brazen-faced than Catiline, more fierce than +Clodius, you should attack me with your maledictions? Will your enmity +against me be a recommendation for you to every evil citizen in Rome? +* * * Why does not Antony come down among us to-day?" he says, as though +he were in the Senate and Antony were away. "He gives a birthday fete in +his garden: to whom, I wonder? I will name no one. To Phormio, perhaps, +or Gnatho, or Ballion? Oh, incredible baseness; lust and impudence not +to be borne!" These were the vile knaves of the Roman comedy--the Nyms. +Pistols, and Bobadils. "Your Consulship no doubt will be salutary; but +mine did only evil! You talk of my verses," he says--Antony having +twitted him with the "cedant arma togae." "I will only say that you do +not understand them or any other. Clodius was killed by my counsels--was +he? What would men have said had they seen him running from you through +the Forum--you with your drawn sword, and him escaping up the stairs of +the bookseller's shop?[206] * * * It was by my advice that Caesar was +killed! I fear, O conscript fathers, lest I should seem to have employed +some false witness to flatter me with praises which do not belong to me. +Who has ever heard me mentioned as having been conversant with that +glorious affair? Among those who did do the deed, whose name has been +hidden--or, indeed, is not most widely known? Some had been inclined to +boast that they were there, though they were absent; but not one who was +present has ever endeavored to conceal his name." + +"You deny that I have had legacies? I wish it were true, for then my +friends might still be living. But where have you learned that, seeing +that I have inherited twenty million sesterces?[207] I am happier in +this than you. No one but a friend has made me his heir. Lucius Rubrius +Cassinas, whom you never even saw, has named you." He here refers to a +man over whose property Antony was supposed to have obtained control +fraudulently. "Did he know of you whether you were a white man or a +negro? * * * Would you mind telling me what height Turselius stood?" +Here he names another of whose property Antony is supposed to have +obtained possession illegally. "I believe all you know of him is what +farms he had. * * * Do you bear in mind," he says, "that you were a +bankrupt as soon as you had become a man? Do you remember your early +friendship with Curio, and the injuries you did his father?" Here it is +impossible to translate literally, but after speaking as he had done +very openly, he goes on: "But I must omit the iniquities of your private +life. There are things I cannot repeat here. You are safe, because the +deeds you have done are too bad to be mentioned. But let us look at the +affairs of your public life. I will just go through them;" which he +does, laying bare as he well knew how to do, every past act. "When you +had been made Quaestor you flew at once to Caesar. You knew that he was +the only refuge for poverty, debt, wickedness, and vice. Then, when you +had gorged upon his generosity and your plunderings--which indeed you +spent faster than you got it--you betook yourself instantly to the +Tribunate. * * * It is you, Antony, you who supplied Caesar with an +excuse for invading his country." Caesar had declared at the Rubicon that +the Tribunate had been violated in the person of Antony. "I will say +nothing here against Caesar, though nothing can excuse a man for taking +up arms against his country. But of you it has to be confessed that you +were the cause. * * * He has been a very Helen to us Trojans. * * * He +has brought back many a wretched exile, but has forgotten altogether his +own uncle"--Cicero's colleague in the Consulship, who had been banished +for plundering his province. "We have seen this Tribune of the people +carried through the town on a British war-chariot. His lictors with +their laurels went before him. In the midst, on an open litter, was +carried an actress. When you come back from Thessaly with your legions +to Brundisium you did not kill me! Oh, what a kindness! * * * You with +those jaws of yours, with that huge chest, with that body like a +gladiator, drank so much wine at Hippea's marriage that in the sight of +all Rome you were forced to vomit.* * * When he had seized Pompey's +property he rejoiced like some stage-actor who in a play is as poor as +Poverty, and then suddenly becomes rich. All his wine, the great weight +of silver, the costly furniture and rich dresses, in a few days where +were they all? A Charybdis do I call him? He swallowed them all like an +entire ocean!" Then he accuses him of cowardice and cruelty in the +Pharsalian wars, and compares him most injuriously with Dolabella. "Do +you remember how Dolabella fought for you in Spain, when you were +getting drunk at Narbo? And how did you get back from Narbo? He has +asked as to my return to the city. I have explained to you, O conscript +fathers, how I had intended to be here in January, so as to be of some +service to the Republic. You inquire how I got back. In daylight--not in +the dark, as you did; with Roman shoes on and a Roman toga--not in +barbaric boots and an old cloak.* * * When Caesar returned from Spain you +again pushed yourself into his intimacy--not a brave man, we should say, +but still strong enough for his purposes. Caesar did always this--that if +there were a man ruined, steeped in debt, up to his ears in poverty--a +base, needy, bold man--that was the man whom he could receive into his +friendship." This as to Caesar was undoubtedly true. "Recommended in this +way, you were told to declare yourself Consul." Then he describes the +way in which he endeavored to prevent the nomination of Dolabella to the +same office. Caesar had said that Dolabella should be Consul, but when +Caesar was dead this did not suit Antony. When the tribes had been called +in their centuries to vote, Antony, not understanding what form of words +he ought to have used as augur to stop the ceremony, had blundered. +"Would you not call him a very Laelius?" says Cicero. Laelius had made for +himself a name among augurs for excellence. + +"Miserable that you are, you throw yourself at Caesar's feet asking only +permission to be his slave. You sought for yourself that state of +slavery which it has ever been easy for you to endure. Had you any +command from the Roman people to ask the same for them? Oh, that +eloquence of yours; when naked you stood up to harangue the people! Who +ever saw a fouler deed than that, or one more worthy scourges?" "Has +Tarquin suffered for this; have Spurius Cassius, Melius, and Marcus +Manlius suffered, that after many ages a king should be set up in Rome +by Marc Antony?" With abuse of a similar kind he goes on to the end of +his declamation, when he again professes himself ready to die at his +post in defence of the Republic. That he now made up his mind so to die, +should it become necessary, we may take for granted, but we cannot bring +ourselves to approve of the storm of abuse under which he attempted to +drown the memory and name of his antagonist. So virulent a torrent of +words, all seeming, as we read them, to have been poured out in rapid +utterances by the keen energy of the moment, astonish us, when we +reflect that it was the work of his quiet moments. That he should have +prepared such a task in the seclusion of his closet is marvellous. It +has about it the very ring of sudden passion; but it must be +acknowledged that it is not palatable. It is more Roman and less English +than anything we have from Cicero--except his abuse of Piso, with whom +he was again now half reconciled. + +But it was solely on behalf of his country that he did it. He had +grieved when Caesar had usurped the functions of the government; but in +his grief he had respected Caesar, and had felt that he might best carry +on the contest by submission. But, when Caesar was dead, and Antony was +playing tyrant, his very soul rebelled. Then he sat down to prepare his +first instalment of keen personal abuse, adding word to word and phrase +to phrase till he had built up this unsavory monument of vituperation. +It is by this that Antony is now known to the world. Plutarch makes no +special mention of the second Philippic. In his life of Antony he does +not allude to these orations at all, but in that of Cicero he tells us +how Antony had ordered that right hand to be brought to him with which +Cicero had written his Philippics. + +The "young Octavius" of Shakespeare had now taken the name of +Octavianus--Caius Julius Caesar Octavianus--and had quarrelled to the +knife with Antony. He had assumed that he had been adopted by Caesar, and +now demanded all the treasures his uncle had collected as his own. +Antony, who had already stolen them, declared that they belonged to the +State. At any rate there was cause enough for quarrelling among them, +and they were enemies. Each seems to have brought charges of murder +against the other, and each was anxious to obtain possession of the +soldiery. Seen as we see now the period in Rome of which we are +writing--every safeguard of the Republic gone, all law trampled under +foot, Consuls, Praetors, and Tribunes not elected but forced upon the +State, all things in disorder, the provinces becoming the open prey of +the greediest plunderer--it is apparent enough that there could be no +longer any hope for a Cicero. The marvel is that the every-day affairs +of life should have been carried on with any reference to the law. When +we are told that Antony stole Caesar's treasures and paid his debts with +them, we are inclined to ask why he had paid his debts at all. But +Cicero did hope. In his whole life there is nothing more remarkable than +the final vitality with which he endeavored to withstand the coming +deluge of military despotism. Nor in all history is there anything more +wonderful than the capacity of power to re-establish itself, as is shown +by the orderly Empire of Augustus growing out of the disorder left by +Caesar. One is reminded by it of the impotency of a reckless heir to +bring to absolute ruin the princely property of a great nobleman brought +together by the skill of many careful progenitors. A thing will grow to +be so big as to be all but indestructible. It is like that tower of +Caecilia Metella against which the storms of twenty centuries have beaten +in vain. Looking at the state of the Roman Empire when Cicero died, who +would not declare its doom? But it did "retrick its beams," not so much +by the hand of one man, Augustus, as by the force of the concrete power +collected within it--"Quod non imber edax non aquilo impotens Possit +diruere."[208] Cicero with patriotic gallantry thought that even yet +there might be a chance for the old Republic--thought that by his +eloquence, by his vehemence of words, he could turn men from fraud to +truth, and from the lust of plundering a province to a desire to +preserve their country. Of Antony now he despaired, but he still hoped +that his words might act upon this young Caesar's heart. The youth was as +callous as though he had already ruled a province for three years. No +Roman was ever more cautious, more wise, more heartless, more able to +pick his way through blood to a throne, than the young Augustus. Cicero +fears Octavian--as we must now call him--and knows that he can only be +restrained by the keeping of power out of his hands. Writing to Atticus +from Arpinum, he says, "I agree altogether with you. If Octavian gets +power into his hands he will insist upon the tyrant's decrees much more +thoroughly than he did when the Senate sat in the temple of Tellus. +Everything then will be done in opposition to Brutus. But if he be +conquered, then see how intolerable would be the dominion of +Antony."[209] In the same letter he speaks of the De Officiis, which he +has just written. In his next and last epistle to his old friend he +congratulates himself on having been able at last to quarrel with +Dolabella. Dolabella had turned upon him in the end, bought by Antony's +money. He then returns to the subject of Octavian, and his doubts as to +his loyalty. He has been asked to pledge himself to Octavian, but has +declined till he shall see how the young man will behave when Casea +becomes candidate for the Tribunate. If he show himself to be Casea's +enemy, Casea having been one of the conspirators, Cicero will know that +he is not to be trusted. Then he falls into a despairing mood, and +declares that there is no hope. "Even Hippocrates was unwilling to +bestow medicine on those to whom it could avail nothing." But he will go +to Rome, into the very jaws of the danger. "It is less base for such as +I am to fall publicly than privately." With these words, almost the last +written by him to Atticus, this correspondence is brought to an end: the +most affectionate, the most trusting, and the most open ever published +to the world as having come from one man to another. No letters more +useful to the elucidation of character were ever written; but when read +for that purpose they should be read with care, and should hardly be +quoted till they have been understood. + +[Sidenote: B.C. 44, aetat. 63.] + +The struggles for the provinces were open and acknowledged. Under Caesar, +Decimus Brutus had been nominated for Cisalpine Gaul, Marcus Brutus for +Macedonia, and Cassius for Syria. It will be observed that these three +men were the most prominent among the conspirators. Since that time +Antony and Dolabella had obtained votes of the people to alter the +arrangement. Antony was to go to Macedonia, and Dolabella to Syria. This +was again changed when Antony found that Decimus had left Rome to take +up his command. He sent his brother Caius to Macedonia, and himself +claimed to be Governor of Cisalpine Gaul. Hence there were two Roman +governors for each province; and in each case each governor was +determined to fight for the possession. Antony hurried out of Rome +before the end of the year with the purpose of hindering Decimus from +the occupation of the north of Italy, and Cicero went up to Rome, +determined to take a part in the struggle which was imminent. The Senate +had been summoned for the 19th of December, and attended in great +numbers. Then it was that he spoke the third Philippic, and in the +evening of the same day he spoke the fourth to the people. It should be +understood that none of these speeches were heard by Antony. Cicero had +at this time become the acknowledged chief of the Republican party, +having drifted into the position which Pompey had so long filled. Many +of Caesar's friends, frightened by his death, or rather cowed by the +absence of his genius, had found it safer to retreat from the Caesarean +party, of which the Antonys, with Dolabella, the cutthroats and +gladiators of the empire, had the command. Hirtius and Pansa, with +Balbus and Oppius, were among them. They, at this moment, were powerful +in Rome. The legions were divided--some with Antony, some with Octavian, +and some with Decimus Brutus. The greater number were with Antony, whom +they hated for his cruelty; but were with him because the mantle of +Caesar's power had fallen on to his shoulders. It was felt by Cicero that +if he could induce Octavian to act with him the Republic might be again +established. He would surely have influence enough to keep the lad from +hankering after his great uncle's pernicious power. He was aware that +the dominion did in fact belong to the owner of the soldiers, but he +thought that he could control this boy-officer, and thus have his +legions at the command of the Republic. + +The Senate had been called together, nominally for the purpose of +desiring the Consuls of the year to provide a guard for its own safety. +Cicero makes it an occasion for perpetuating the feeling against Antony, +which had already become strong in Rome. He breaks out into praise of +Octavian, whom he calls "this young Caesar--almost a boy;" tells them +what divine things the boy had already done, and how he had drawn away +from the rebels those two indomitable legions, the Martia and the +Fourth. Then he proceeds to abuse Antony. Tarquinius, the man whose name +was most odious to Romans, had been unendurable as a tyrant, though +himself not a bad man; but Antony's only object is to sell the Empire, +and to spend the price. Antony had convoked the Senate for November, +threatening the Senators with awful punishments should they absent +themselves; but, when the day came, Antony, the Consul, had himself +fled. He not only pours out the vials of his wrath but of his ridicule +upon Antony's head, and quotes his bungling words. He gives instances of +his imprudence, and his impotence, and of his greed. Then he again +praises the young Caesar, and the two Consuls for the next year, and the +two legions, and Decimus Brutus, who is about to fight the battle of the +Republic for them in the north of Italy, and votes that the necessary +guard be supplied. In the same evening he addresses the people in his +fourth Philippic. He again praises the lad and the two legions, and +again abuses Antony. No one can say after this day that he hid his +anger, or was silent from fear. He congratulates the Romans on their +patriotism--vain congratulations--and encourages them to make new +efforts. He bids them rejoice that they have a hero such as Decimus +Brutus to protect their liberties, and, almost, that they have such an +enemy as Antony to conquer. It seems that his words, few as they +were--perhaps because they were so few--took hold of the people's +imaginations; so that they shouted to him that he had on that day a +second time saved his country, as he reminds them afterward.[210] + +From this time forward we are without those intimate and friendly +letters which we have had with us as our guide through the last +twenty-one years of Cicero's life. For though we have a large body of +correspondence written during the last year of his life, which are +genuine, they are written in altogether a different style from those +which have gone before. They are for the most part urgent appeals to +those of his political friends to whom he can look for support in his +views--often to those to whom he looked in vain. They are passionate +prayers for the performance of a public duty, and as such are altogether +to the writer's credit. His letters to Plancus are beautiful in their +patriotism, as are also those to Decimus Brutus. When we think of his +age, of his zeal, of his earnestness, and of the dangers which he ran, +we hardly know how sufficiently to admire the public spirit with which +at such a crisis he had taken on himself to lead the party. But our +guide to his inner feelings is gone. There are no further letters to +tell us of every doubt at his heart. We think of him as of some stalwart +commander left at home to arrange the affairs of the war, while the less +experienced men were sent to the van. + +There is also a book of letters published as having passed between +Cicero and Junius Brutus. The critics have generally united in +condemning them as spurious. They are at, any rate, if genuine, cold and +formal in their language. + +[Sidenote: B.C. 43, aetat. 64.] + +Antony had proceeded into Cisalpine Gaul to drive out of the province +the Consul named by the people to govern it. The nomination of Decimus +had in truth been Caesar's nomination; but the right of Decimus to rule +was at any rate better than that of any other claimant. He had been +appointed in accordance with the power then in existence, and his +appointment had been confirmed by the decree of the Senate sanctioning +all Caesar's acts. It was, after all, a question of simple power, for +Caesar had overridden every legal form. It became necessary, however, +that they who were in power in Rome should decide. The Consuls Hirtius +and Pansa had been Caesar's friends, and had also been the friends of +Antony. They had not the trust in Antony which Caesar had inspired; but +they were anxious to befriend him--or rather not to break with him. When +the Senate met, they called on one Fufius Calenus--who was Antony's +friend and Pansa's father-in-law--first to offer his opinion. He had +been one of Caesar's Consuls, appointed for a month or two, and was now +chosen for the honorable part of first spokesman, as being a Consular +Senator. He was for making terms with Antony, and suggested that a +deputation of three Senators should be sent to him with a message +calling upon him to retire. The object probably was to give Antony time, +or rather to give Octavian time, to join with Antony if it suited him. +Others spoke in the same sense, and then Cicero was desired to give his +opinion. This was the fifth Philippic. He is all for war with Antony--or +rather he will not call it war, but a public breach of the peace which +Antony has made. He begins mildly enough, but warms with his subject as +he goes on: "Should they send ambassadors to a traitor to his country? +* * * Let him return from Mutina." I keep the old Latin name, which is +preserved for us in that of Modena. "Let him cease to contend with +Decimus. Let him depart out of Gaul. It is not fit that we should send +to implore him to do so. We should by force compel him. * * * We are not +sending messengers to Hannibal, who, if Hannibal would not obey, might +be desired to go on to Carthage. Whither shall the men go if Antony +refuses to obey them?" But it is of no use. With eloquent words he +praises Octavian and the two legions and Decimus. He praises even the +coward Lepidus, who was in command of legions, and was now Governor of +Gaul beyond the Alps and of Northern Spain, and proposes that the people +should put up to him a gilt statue on horseback--so important was it to +obtain, if possible, his services. Alas! it was impossible that such a +man should be moved by patriotic motives. Lepidus was soon to go with +the winning side, and became one of the second triumvirate with Antony +and Octavian. + +Cicero's eloquence was on this occasion futile. At this sitting the +Senate came to no decision, but on the third day afterward they decreed +that the Senators, Servius Sulpicius, Lucius Piso, and Lucius Philippus, +should be sent to Antony. The honors which he had demanded for Lepidus +and the others were granted, but he was outvoted in regard to the +ambassadors. On the 4th of January Cicero again addressed the people in +the Forum. His task was very difficult. He wished to give no offence to +the Senate, and yet was anxious to stir the citizens and to excite them +to a desire for immediate war. The Senate, he told them, had not behaved +disgracefully, but had--temporized. The war, unfortunately, must be +delayed for those twenty days necessary for the going and coming of the +ambassadors. The ambassadors could do nothing. But still they must wait. +In the mean time he will not be idle. For them, the Roman people, he +will work and watch with all his experience, with diligence almost above +his strength, to repay them for their faith in him. When Caesar was with +them they had had no choice but obedience--so much the times were out of +joint. If they submit themselves to be slaves now, it will be their own +fault. Then in general language he pronounces an opinion--which was the +general Roman feeling of the day: "It is not permitted to the Roman +people to become slaves--that people whom the immortal gods have willed +to rule all nations of the earth."[211] So he ended the sixth Philippic, +which, like the fourth, was addressed to the people. All the others were +spoken in the Senate. + +He writes to Decimus at Mutina about this time a letter full of hope--of +hope which we can see to be genuine. "Recruits are being raised in all +Italy--if that can be called recruiting which is in truth a spontaneous +rushing into arms of the entire population."[212] He expects letters +telling him what "our Hirtius" is doing, and what "my young Caesar." +Hirtius and Pansa, the Consuls of the year, though they had been Caesar's +party, and made Consuls by Caesar, were forced to fight for the Republic. +They had been on friendly terms with Cicero, and they doubted Antony. +Hirtius had now followed the army, and Pansa was about to do so. They +both fell in the battle that was fought at Mutina, and no one can now +accuse them of want of loyalty. But "my Caesar," on whose behalf Cicero +made so many sweet speeches, for whose glory he was so careful, whose +early republican principles he was so anxious to direct, made his terms +with Antony on the first occasion. At that time Cicero wrote to Plancus. +Consul elect for the next year, and places before his eyes a picture of +all that he can do for the Republic. "Lay yourself out--yes, I pray +you, by the immortal gods--for that which will bring you to the height +of glory and renown."[213] + +At the end of January or beginning of February he again addressed the +Senate on the subject of the embassy--a matter altogether foreign from +that which it had been convoked to discuss. To Cicero's mind there was +no other subject at the present moment fit to occupy the thoughts of a +Roman Senator. "We have met together to settle something about the +Appian Way, and something about the coinage. The mind revolts from such +little cares, torn by greater matters." The ambassadors are expected +back--two of them at least, for Sulpicius had died on his road. He +cautions the Senate against receiving with quiet composure such an +answer as Antony will probably send them. "Why do I--I who am a man of +peace--refuse peace? Because it is base, because it is full of +danger--because peace is impossible." Then he proceeds to explain that +it is so. "What a disgrace would it be that Antony, after so many +robberies, after bringing back banished comrades, after selling the +taxes of the State, putting up kingdoms to auction, shall rise up on the +consular bench and address a free Senate! * * * Can you have an assured +peace while there is an Antony in the State--or many Antonys? Or how can +you be at peace with one who hates you as does he; or how can he be at +peace with those who hate him as do you? * * * You have such an +opportunity," he says at last, "as never fell to the lot of any. You are +able, with all senatorial dignity, with all the zeal of the knights, +with all the favor of the Roman people, now to make the Republic free +from fear and danger, once and forever." Then he thus ends his speech. +"About those things which have been brought before us, I agree with +Servilius." That is the seventh Philippic. + +In February the ambassadors returned, but returned laden with bad +tidings. Servius Sulpicius, who was to have been their chief spokesman, +died just as they reached Antony. The other two immediately began to +treat with him, so as to become the bearers back to Rome of conditions +proposed by him. This was exactly what they had been told not to do. +They had carried the orders of the Senate to their rebellious officer, +and then admitted the authority of that rebel by bringing back his +propositions. They were not even allowed to go into Mutina so as to see +Decimus; but they were, in truth, only too well in accord with the +majority of the Senate, whose hearts were with Antony. Anything to those +lovers of their fish-ponds was more desirable than a return to the +loyalty of the Republic. The Deputies were received by the Senate, who +discussed their embassy, and on the next day they met again, when Cicero +pronounced his eighth Philippic. Why he did not speak on the previous +day I do not know. Middleton is somewhat confused in his account. +Morabin says that Cicero was not able to obtain a hearing when the +Deputies were received. The Senate did on that occasion come to a +decision; against which act of pusillanimity Cicero on the following day +expressed himself very vehemently. They had decided that this was not to +be called a war, but rather a tumult, and seem to have hesitated in +denouncing Antony as a public enemy. The Senate was convoked on the next +day to decide the terms of the amnesty to be accorded to the soldiers +who had followed Antony, when Cicero, again throwing aside the minor +matter, burst upon them in his wrath. He had hitherto inveighed against +Antony; now his anger is addressed to the Senate. "Lucius Caesar," he +said, "has told us that he is Antony's uncle, and must vote as such. Are +you all uncles to Antony?" Then he goes on to show that war is the only +name by which this rebellion can be described. "Has not Hirtius, who has +gone away, sick as he is, called it a war? Has not young Caesar, young as +he is, prompted to it by no one, undertaken it as a war?" He repeats the +words of a letter from Hirtius which could only have been used in war: +"I have taken Claterna. Their cavalry has been put to flight. A battle +has been fought. So many men have been killed. This is what you call +peace!" Then he speaks of other civil wars, which he says have grown +from difference of opinion--"except that last between Pompey and Caesar, +as to which I will not speak. I have been ignorant of its cause, and +have hated its ending." But in this war all men are of one opinion who +are worthy of the name of Romans. "We are fighting for the temples of +our gods, for our walls, our homes, for the abode of the Roman people, +for their Penates, their altars, their hearths for the graves of +ancestors--and we are fighting only against Antony. * * * Fufius Calenus +tells us of peace--as though I of all men did not know that peace was a +blessing. But tell me, Calenus, is slavery peace?" He is very angry with +Calenus. Although he has called him his friend, he was in great wrath +against him. "I am fighting for Decimus and you for Antony. I wish to +preserve a Roman city; you wish to see it battered to the ground. Can +you deny this, you who are creating all means of delays by which Decimus +may be weakened and Antony made strong?" + +"I had consoled myself with this," he says, "that when these ambassadors +had been sent and had returned despised, and had told the Senate that +not only had Antony refused to leave Gaul but was besieging Mutina, and +would not let them even see Decimus--that then, in our passion and our +rage, we should have gone forth with our arms, and our horses, and our +men, and at once have rescued our General. But we--since we have seen +the audacity, the insolence, and the pride of Antony--we have become +only more cowardly than before." Then he gives his opinion about the +amnesty: "Let any of those who are now with Antony, but shall leave him +before the ides of March and pass to the armies of the Consuls, or of +Decimus, or of young Caesar, be held to be free from reproach. If one +should quit their ranks through their own will, let them be rewarded and +honored as Hirtius and Pansa, our Consuls, may think proper." This was +the eighth Philippic, and is perhaps the finest of them all. It does not +contain the bitter invective of the second, but there is in it a true +feeling of patriotic earnestness. The ninth also is very eloquent, +though it is rather a paean sung on behalf of his friend Sulpicius, who +in bad health had encountered the danger of the journey, and had died in +the effort, than one of these Philippics which are supposed to have been +written and spoken with the view of demolishing Antony. It is a specimen +of those funereal orations delivered on behalf of a citizen who had died +in the service of his country which used to be common among the Romans. + +The tenth is in praise of Marcus Junius Brutus. Were I to attempt to +explain the situation of Brutus in Macedonia, and to say how he had come +to fill it, I should be carried away from my purpose as to Cicero's +life, and should be endeavoring to write the history of the time. My +object is simply to illustrate the life of Cicero by such facts as we +know. In the confusion which existed at the time, Brutus had obtained +some advantages in Macedonia, and had recovered for himself the legions +of which Caius Antonius had been in possession, and who was now a +prisoner in his hands. At this time young Marcus Cicero was his +lieutenant, and it is told us how one of those legions had put +themselves under his command. Brutus had at any rate written home +letters to the Senate early in March, and Pansa had called the Senate +together to receive them. + +Again he attacks Fufius Calenus, Pansa's father-in-law, who was the only +man in the Senate bold enough to stand up against him; though there were +doubtless many of those foot Senators--men who traversed the house +backward and forward to give their votes--who were anxious to oppose +him. He thanks Pansa for calling them so quickly, seeing that when they +had parted yesterday they had not expected to be again so soon convoked. +We may gather from this the existence of a practice of sending +messengers round to the Senators' houses to call them together. He +praises Brutus for his courage and his patience. It is his object to +convince his hearers, and through them the Romans of the day, that the +cause of Antony is hopeless. Let us rise up and crush him. Let us all +rise, and we shall certainly crush him. There is nothing so likely to +attain success as a belief that the success has been already attained. +"From all sides men are running together to put out the flames which he +has lighted. Our veterans, following the example of young Caesar, have +repudiated Antony and his attempts. The 'Legio Martia' has blunted the +edge of his rage, and the 'Legio Quarta' has attacked him. Deserted by +his own troops, he has broken through into Gaul, which he has found to +be hostile to him with its arms and opposed to him in spirit. The armies +of Hirtius and of young Caesar are upon his trail; and now Pansa's levies +have raised the heart of the city and of all Italy. He alone is our +enemy, although he has along with him his brother Lucius, whom we all +regret so dearly, whose loss we have hardly been able to endure! What +wild beast do you know more abominable than that, or more monstrous--who +seems to have been created lest Marc Antony himself should be of all +things the most vile?" He concludes by proposing the thanks of the +Senate to Brutus, and a resolution that Quintus Hortensius, who had held +the province of Macedonia against Caius Antonius, should be left there +in command. The two propositions were carried. + +As we read this, all appears to be prospering on behalf of the Republic; +but if we turn to the suspected correspondence between Brutus and +Cicero, we find a different state of things. And these letters, though +we altogether doubt their authenticity--for their language is cold, +formal, and un-Ciceronian--still were probably written by one who had +access to those which Cicero had himself penned: "As to what you write +about wanting men and money, it is very difficult to give you advice. I +do not see how you are to raise any except by borrowing it from the +municipalities"--in Macedonia--"according to the decree of the Senate. +As to men, I do not know what to propose. Pansa is so far from sparing +men from his army, that he begrudges those who go to you as volunteers. +Some think that he wishes you to be less strong than you are--which, +however. I do not suspect myself."[214] A letter might fall into the +hands of persons not intended to read it, and Cicero was forced to be on +his guard in communicating his suspicions--Cicero or the pseudo-Cicero. +In the next Brutus is rebuked for having left Antony live when Caesar was +slain. "Had not some god inspired Octavian," he says, "we should have +been altogether in the power of Antony, that base and abominable man. +And you see how terrible is our contest with him." And he tries to +awaken him to the necessity of severity. "I see how much you delight in +clemency. That is very well. But there is another place, another time, +for clemency. The question for us is whether we shall any longer exist +or be put out of the world." These, which are intended to represent his +private fears, deal with the affairs of the day in a tone altogether +different from that of his public speeches. Doubt, anxiety, occasionally +almost despair, are expressed in them. But not the less does he thunder +on in the Senate, aware that to attain success he must appear to have +obtained it. + +The eleventh Philippic was occasioned by the news which had arrived in +Rome of the death of Trebonius. Trebonius had been surprised in Smyrna +by a stratagem as to which alone no disgrace would have fallen on +Dolabella, had he not followed up his success by killing Trebonius. How +far the bloody cruelty, of which we have the account in Cicero's words, +was in truth executed, it is now impossible to say. The Greek historian +Appian gives us none of these horrors, but simply intimates that +Trebonius, having been taken in the snare, had his head cut off.[215] +That Cicero believed the story is probable. It is told against his +son-in-law, of whom he had hitherto spoken favorably. He would not have +spoken against the man except on conviction. Dolabella was immediately +declared an enemy to the Republic. Cicero inveighs against him with all +his force, and says that such as Dolabella is, he had been made by the +cruelty of Antony. But he goes on to philosophize, and declare how much +more miserable than Trebonius was Dolabella himself, who is so base that +from his childhood those things had been a delight to him which have +been held as disgraceful by other children. Then he turns to the +question which is in dispute, whether Brutus should be left in command +of Macedonia, and Cassius of Syria--Cassius was now on his way to avenge +the death of Trebonius--or whether other noble Romans, Publius +Servilius, for instance, or that Hirtius and Pansa, the two Consuls, +when they can be spared from Italy, shall be sent there. It is necessary +here to read between the lines. The going of the Consuls would mean the +withdrawing of the troops from Italy, and would leave Rome open to the +Caesarean faction. At present Decimus and Cicero, and whoever else there +might be loyal to the Republic, had to fight by the assistance of other +forces than their own. Hirtius and Pansa were constrained to take the +part of the Republic by Cicero's eloquence, and by the action of those +Senators who felt themselves compelled to obey Cicero. But they did not +object to send the Consuls away, and the Consular legions, under the +plea of saving the provinces. This they were willing enough to do--with +the real object of delivering Italy over to those who were Cicero's +enemies but were not theirs. All this Cicero understood, and, in +conducting the contest, had to be on his guard, not only against the +soldiers of Antony but against the Senators also, who were supposed to +be his own friends, but whose hearts were intent on having back some +Caesar to preserve for them their privileges. + +Cicero in this matter talked some nonsense. "By what right, by what +law," he asks, "shall Cassius go to Syria? By that law which Jupiter +sanctioned when he ordained that all things good for the Republic should +be just and legal." For neither had Brutus a right to establish himself +in Macedonia as Proconsul nor Cassius in Syria. This reference to +Jupiter was a begging of the question with a vengeance. But it was +perhaps necessary, in a time of such confusion, to assume some pretext +of legality, let it be ever so poor. Nothing could now be done in true +obedience to the laws. The Triumvirate, with Caesar at its head, had +finally trodden down all law; and yet every one was clamoring for legal +rights! Then he sings the praises of Cassius, but declares that he does +not dare to give him credit in that place for the greatest deed he had +done. He means, of course, the murder of Caesar. + +Paterculus tells us that all these things were decreed by the +Senate.[216] But he is wrong. The decree of the Senate went against +Cicero, and on the next day, amid much tumult, he addressed himself to +the people on the subject. This he did in opposition to Pansa, who +endeavored to hinder him from speaking in the Forum, and to Servilia, +the mother-in-law of Cassius, who was afraid lest her son-in-law should +encounter the anger of the Consuls. He went so far as to tell the people +that Cassius would not obey the Senate, but would take upon himself, on +such an emergency, to act as best he could for the Republic.[217] There +was no moment in this stirring year, none, I think, during Cicero's +life, in which he behaved with greater courage than now in appealing +from the Senate to the people, and in the hardihood with which he +declared that the Senate's decree should be held as going for nothing. +Before the time came in which it could be carried out both Hirtius and +Pansa were dead. They had fallen in relieving Decimus at Mutina. His +address on this occasion to the people was not made public, and has not +been preserved. + +Then there came up the question of a second embassy, to which Cicero at +first acceded. He was induced to do so, as he says, by news which had +arrived of altered circumstances on Antony's part. Calenus and Piso had +given the Senate to understand that Antony was desirous of peace. Cicero +had therefore assented, and had agreed to be one of the deputation. The +twelfth Philippic was spoken with the object of showing that no such +embassy should be sent. Cicero's condition at this period was most +peculiar and most perilous. The Senate would not altogether oppose his +efforts, but they hated them. They feared that, if Antony should +succeed, they who had opposed Antony would be ruined. Those among them +who were the boldest openly reproached Cicero with the danger which they +were made to incur in fighting his battles.[218] To be rid of Cicero was +their desire and their difficulty. He had agreed to go on this +embassy--who can say for what motives? To him it would be a mission of +especial peril. It was one from which he could hardly hope ever to come +back alive. It may be that he had agreed to go with his life in his +hand, and to let them know that he at any rate had been willing to die +for the Republic. It may be that he had heard of some altered +circumstances. But he changed his mind and resolved that he would not +go, unless driven forth by the Senate. There seems to have been a +manifest attempt to get him out of Rome and send him where he might have +his throat cut. But he declined; and this is the speech in which he did +so. "It is impossible," says the French critic, speaking of the twelfth +Philippic, "to surround the word 'I fear' with more imposing oratorical +arguments." It has not occurred to him that Cicero may have thought +that he might even yet do something better with the lees and dregs of +his life than throw them away by thus falling into a trap. Nothing is so +common to men as to fear to die--and nothing more necessary, or men +would soon cease to live. To fear death more than ignominy is the +disgrace--a truth which the French critic does not seem to have +recognized when he twits the memory of Cicero with his scornful sneer. +"J'ai peur." Did it occur to the French critic to ask himself for what +purpose should Cicero go to Antony's camp, where he would probably be +murdered, and by so doing favor the views of his own enemies in Rome? +The deputation was not sent; but in lieu of the deputation Pansa, the +remaining Consul, led his legions out of Rome at the beginning of April. + +[Sidenote: B.C. 43, aetat. 64.] + +Lepidus, who was Proconsul in Gaul and Northern Spain, wrote a letter at +this time to the Senate recommending them to make peace with Antony. +Cicero in his thirteenth Philippic shows how futile such a peace would +be. That Lepidus was a vain, inconstant man, looking simply to his own +advantage in the side which he might choose, is now understood; but when +this letter was received he was supposed to have much weight in Rome. He +had, however, given some offence to the Senate, not having acknowledged +all the honors which had been paid to him. The advice had been rejected, +and Cicero shows how unfit the man was to give it. This, however, he +still does with complimentary phrases, though from a letter written by +him to Lepidus about this time the nature of his feeling toward the man +is declared: "You would have done better, in my judgment, if you had +left alone this attempt at making peace, which approves itself neither +to the Senate nor to the people, not to any good man."[219] When we +remember the ordinary terms of Roman letter-writing, we must acknowledge +that this was a plain and not very civil attempt to silence Lepidus. He +then goes on in the Philippic to read a letter which Antony had sent to +Hirtius and to young Caesar, and which they had sent on to the Senate. +The letter is sufficiently bold and abusive--throwing it in their teeth +that they would rather punish the murderer of Trebonius than those of +Caesar. Cicero does this with some wit, but we feel compelled to observe +that as much is to be said on the one side as on the other. Brutus, +Cassius, with Trebonius and others, had killed Caesar. Dolabella, perhaps +with circumstances of great cruelty, had killed Trebonius. Cicero had +again and again expressed his sorrow that Antony had been spared when +Caesar was killed. We have to go back before the first slaughter to +resolve who was right and who was wrong, and even afterward can only +take the doings of each in that direction as part of the internecine +feud. Experience has since explained to us the results of introducing +bloodshed into such quarrels. The laws which recognize war are and were +acknowledged. But when A kills B because he thinks B to have done evil. +A can no longer complain of murder. And Cicero's criticism is somewhat +puerile. "And thou, boy," Antony had said in addressing Octavian--"Et +te, puer!" "You shall find him to be a man by-and-by," says Cicero. +Antony's Latin is not Ciceronian. "Utrum sit elegantius," he asks, +putting some further question about Caesar and Trebonius. "As if there +could be anything elegant in this war," demands Cicero. He goes through +the letter in the same way, turning Antony into ridicule in a manner +which must have riveted in the heart of Fulvia, Antony's wife, who was +in Rome, her desire to have that bitter-speaking tongue torn out of his +mouth. Such was the thirteenth Philippic. + +On the 21st of April was spoken the fourteenth and the last. Pansa early +in the month had left Rome, and marched toward Mutina with the intention +of relieving Decimus. Antony, who was then besieging Mutina after such a +fashion as to prevent all egress or ingress, and had all but brought +Decimus to starvation, finding himself about to be besieged, put his +troops into motion, and attacked those who were attacking him. Then was +fought the battle in which Antony was beaten, and Pansa, one of the +Consuls, so wounded that he perished soon afterward. Antony retreated to +his camp, but was again attacked by Hirtius and Octavian, and by +Decimus, who sallied out of the town. He was routed, and fled, but +Hirtius was killed in the battle. Suetonius tells us that in his time a +rumor was abroad that Augustus, then Octavian, had himself killed +Hirtius with his own hands in the fight--Hirtius having been his +fellow-general, and fighting on the same side; and that he had paid +Glyco, Pansa's doctor, to poison him while dressing his wounds.[220] +Tacitus had already made the story known.[221] It is worth repeating +here only as showing the sort of conduct which a grave historian and a +worthy biographer were not ashamed to attribute to the favorite Emperor +of Rome. + +It was on the receipt of the news in Rome of the first battle, but +before the second had been fought, that the last Philippic was spoken. +Pansa was not known to have been mortally wounded, nor Hirtius killed, +nor was it known that Decimus had been relieved; but it was understood +that Antony had received a check. Servilius had proposed a supplication, +and had suggested that they should put away their saga and go back to +their usual attire. The "sagum" was a common military cloak, which the +early Romans wore instead of the toga when they went out to war. In +later days, when the definition between a soldier and a civilian became +more complete, they who were left at home wore the sagum, in token of +their military feelings, when the Republic was fighting its battles near +Rome. I do not suppose that when Crassus was in Parthia, or Caesar in +Gaul, the sagum was worn. It was not exactly known when the distant +battles were being fought. But Cicero had taken care that the sagum +should be properly worn, and had even put it on himself--to do which as +a Consular was not required of him. Servilius now proposed that they +should leave off their cloaks, having obtained a victory; but Cicero +would not permit it. Decimus, he says, has not been relieved, and they +had taken to their cloaks as showing their determination to succor their +General in his distress. And he is discontented with the language used: +"You have not even yet called Antony a 'public enemy.'" Then he again +lashes out against the horror of Antony's proceedings: "He is waging +war, a war too dreadful to be spoken of, against four Roman Consuls"--he +means Hirtius and Pansa, who were already Consuls, and in truth already +dead, and Decimus and Plancus, who were designated as Consuls for the +next year. Plancus, however, joined his legions afterward with those of +Antony, and insisted in establishing the Second Triumvirate. "Rushing +from one scene of slaughter to another, he causes wherever he goes +misery, desolation, bloodshed, and agony." The language is so fine that +it is worth our while to see the words.[222] "Is he not responsible for +the horrors of Dolabella? What he would do in Rome, were it not for the +protection of Jupiter, may be seen from the miseries which his brother +has inflicted on those poor men of Parma--that Lucius, whom all men +hate, and the gods too would hate, if they hated as they ought. In what +city was Hannibal as cruel as Antony at Parma; and shall we not call him +an enemy?" Servilius had asked for a supplication, but had only asked +for one of moderate length. And Servilius had not called the generals +Imperatores. Who should be so called but they who have been valiant, and +lucky, and successful? Cicero forgets the meaning of the title, and that +even Bibulus had been called Imperator in Syria. Here he runs off from +his subject, and at some length praises himself. It seems that Rome was +in a tumult at the time, and that Antony's enemies did all they could to +support him, and also to turn his head. He had been carried into the +Senate-house in triumph, and had been thanked by the whole city. After +lauding the different generals, and calling them all Imperatores, he +desires the Senate to decree them a supplication for fifty days. Fifty +days are to be devoted to thanksgiving to the gods, though it had +already been declared how very little they have done for which to be +thankful, as Decimus had not yet been liberated. + +Fifty days are granted for the battle of Mutina, which as yet was +supposed to have been but half fought. When we hear the term +"supplicatio" first mentioned in Livy one day was granted. It had grown +to twenty when the gods were thanked for the victory over Vercingetorix. +Now for this half-finished affair fifty was hardly enough. When the time +was over, Antony and Lepidus had joined their forces triumphantly. Pansa +and Hirtius were dead, and Decimus Brutus had fled, and had probably +been murdered. Nothing increases so out of proportion to the occasion as +the granting of honors. Stars, when they fall in showers, pale their +brilliancy, and turn at last to no more than a cloud of dust. Honors are +soon robbed of all their honor when once the first step downward has +been taken. The decree was passed, and Cicero finished his last speech +on so poor an occasion. But though the thing itself then done be small +and trivial to us now, it was completed in magnificent language.[223] +The passage of which I give the first words below is very fine in the +original, though it does not well bear translation. Thus he ended his +fourteenth Philippic, and the silver tongue which had charmed Rome so +often was silent forever. + +We at least have no record of any further speech; nor, as I think, did +he again take the labor of putting into words which should thrill +through all who heard them, not the thoughts but the passionate feelings +of the moment. + +I will venture to quote from a contemporary his praise of the +Philippics. Mr. Forsyth says: "Nothing can exceed the beauty of the +language, the rhythmical flow of the periods, and the harmony of the +style. The structure of the Latin language, which enables the speaker or +writer to collocate his words, not, as in English, merely according to +the order of thought, but in the manner best calculated to produce +effect, too often baffles the powers of the translator who seeks to give +the force of the passage without altering the arrangement. Often again, +as is the case with all attempts to present the thoughts of the ancient +in a modern dress, a periphrasis must be used to explain the meaning of +an idea which was instantly caught by the Greek or Roman ear. Many +allusions which flashed like lightning upon the minds of the Senators +must be explained in a parenthesis, and many a home-thrust and caustic +sarcasm are now deprived of their sting, which pierced sharply at the +moment of their utterance some twenty centuries ago. + +"But with all such disadvantages I hope that even the English reader +will be able to recognize in these speeches something of the grandeur of +the old Roman eloquence. The noble passages in which Cicero strove to +force his countrymen for very shame to emulate the heroic virtues of +their forefathers, and urged them to brave every danger and welcome +death rather than slavery in the last struggle for freedom, are radiant +with a glory which not even a translation can destroy. And it is +impossible not to admire the genius of the orator whose words did more +than armies toward recovering the lost liberty of Rome." + +His words did more than armies, but neither could do anything lasting +for the Republic. What was one honest man among so many? We remember +Mommsen's verdict: "On the Roman oligarchy of this period no judgment +can be passed save one of inexorable and remorseless condemnation." The +farther we see into the facts of Roman history in our endeavors to read +the life of Cicero, the more apparent becomes its truth. But Cicero, +though he saw far toward it, never altogether acknowledged it. In this +consists the charm of his character, though at the same time the +weakness of his political aspirations; his weakness--because he was vain +enough to imagine that he could talk men back from their fish-ponds; its +charm--because he was able through it all to believe in honesty. The +more hopeless became the cause, the sweeter, the more impassioned, the +more divine, became his language. He tuned his notes to still higher +pitches of melody, and thought that thus he could bring back public +virtue. Often in these Philippics the matter is small enough. The men he +has to praise are so little; and Antony does not loom large enough in +history to have merited from Cicero so great a meed of vituperation! Nor +is the abuse all true, in attributing to him motives so low. But Cicero +was true through it all, anxious, all on fire with anxiety to induce +those who heard him to send men to fight the battles to which he knew +them, in their hearts, to be opposed. + +The courage, the persistency, and the skill shown, in the attempt were +marvellous. They could not have succeeded, but they seem almost to have +done so. I have said that he was one honest man among many. Brutus was +honest in his patriotism, and Cassius, and all the conspirators. I do +not doubt that Caesar was killed from a true desire to restore the Roman +Republic. They desired to restore a thing that was in itself evil--the +evils of which had induced Caesar to see that he might make himself its +master. But Cicero had conceived a Republic in his own mind--not +Utopian, altogether human and rational--a Republic which he believed to +have been that of Scipio, of Marcellus, and Laelius: a Republic which +should do nothing for him but require his assistance, in which the +people should vote, and the oligarchs rule in accordance with the +established laws. Peace and ease, prosperity and protection, it would +be for the Rome of his dream to bestow upon the provinces. Law and +order, education and intelligence, it would be for her rulers to bestow +upon Rome. In desiring this, he was the one honest man among many. In +accordance with that theory he had lived, and I claim for him that he +had never departed from it. In his latter days, when the final struggle +came, when there had arisen for him the chance of Caesar's death, when +Antony was his chief enemy, when he found himself in Rome with authority +sufficient to control legions, when the young Caesar had not +shown--probably had not made--his plans, when Lepidus and Plancus and +Pollio might still prove themselves at last true men, he was once again +alive with his dream. There might yet be again a Scipio, or a Cicero as +good as Scipio, in the Republic; one who might have lived as gloriously, +and die--not amid the jealousies but with the love of his countrymen. + +It was not to be. Looking back at it now, we wonder that he should have +dared to hope for it. But it is to the presence within gallant bosoms of +hope still springing, though almost forlorn, of hope which has in its +existence been marvellous, that the world is indebted for the most +beneficial enterprises. It was not given to Cicero to stem the tide and +to prevent the evil coming of the Caesars; but still the nature of the +life he had led, the dreams of a pure Republic, those aspirations after +liberty have not altogether perished. We have at any rate the record of +the great endeavors which he made. + +Nothing can have been worse managed than the victory at Mutina. The two +Consuls were both killed; but that, it may be said, was the chance of +war. Antony with all his cavalry was allowed to escape eastward toward +the Cottian Alps. Decimus Brutus seems to have shown himself deficient +in all the qualities of a General, except that power of endurance which +can hold a town with little or no provision. He wrote to Cicero saying +that he would follow Antony. He makes a promise that Antony shall not +be allowed to remain in Italy. He beseeches Cicero to write to that +"windy fellow Lepidus," to prevent him from joining the enemy. Lepidus +will never do what is right unless made to do so by Cicero. As to +Plancus, Decimus has his doubts, but he thinks that Plancus will be true +to the Republic now that Antony is beaten.[224] In his next letter he +speaks of the great confusion which has come among them from the death +of the two Consuls. He declares also how great has been Antony's energy +in already recruiting his army. He has opened all the prisons and +workhouses, and taken the men he found there. Ventidius has joined him +with his army, and he still fears Lepidus. And young Caesar, who is +supposed to be on their side, will obey no one, and can make none obey +him. He, Decimus, cannot feed his men. He has spent all his own money +and his friends'. How is he to support seven legions?[225] On the next +day he writes again, and is still afraid of Plancus and of Lepidus and +of Pollio. And he bids Cicero look after his good name: "Stop the evil +tongues of men if you can."[226] A few days afterward Cicero writes him +a letter which he can hardly have liked to receive. What business had +Brutus to think the senate cowardly?[227] Who can be afraid of Antony +conquered who did not fear him in his strength? How should Lepidus doubt +now when victory had declared for the Republic? Though Antony may have +collected together the scrapings of the jails, Decimus is not to forget +that he, Decimus, has the whole Roman people at his back. + +Cicero was probably right to encourage the General, and to endeavor to +fill him with hope. To make a man victorious you should teach him to +believe in victory. But Decimus knew the nature of the troops around +him, and was aware that every soldier was so imbued with an idea of the +power of Caesar that, though Caesar was dead, they could fight with only +half a heart against soldiers who had been in his armies. The name and +authority and high office of the two Consuls had done something with +them, and young Caesar had been with the Consuls. But both the Consuls +had been killed--which was in itself ominous--and Antony was still full +of hope, and young Caesar was not there, and Decimus was unpopular with +the men. It was of no use that Cicero should write with lofty ideas and +speak of the spirit of the Senate. Antony had received a severe check, +but the feeling of military rule which Caesar had engendered was still +there, and soldiers who would obey their officers were not going to +submit themselves to "votes of the people." Cicero in the mean time had +his letters passing daily between himself and the camps, thinking to +make up by the energy of his pen for the weakness of his party. Lepidus +sends him an account of his movements on the Rhone, declaring how he was +anxious to surround Antony. Lepidus was already meditating his +surrender. "I ask from you, my Cicero, that if you have seen with what +zeal I have in former times served the Republic, you should look for +conduct equal to it, or surpassing it for the future; and, that you +should think me the more worthy of your protection, the higher are my +deserts."[228] He was already, when writing that letter, in treaty with +Antony. Plancus writes to him at the same time apologizing for his +conduct in joining Lepidus. It was a service of great danger for him. +Plancus, but it was necessary for Lepidus that this should be done. We +are inclined to doubt them all, knowing whither they were tending. +Lepidus was false from the beginning. Plancus doubled for a while, and +then yielded himself. + +The reader, I think, will have had no hope for Cicero and the Republic +since the two Consuls were killed; but as he comes upon the letters +which passed between Cicero and the armies he will have been altogether +disheartened. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +_CICERO'S DEATH._ + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 43, aetat. 64.] + +What other letters from Cicero we possess were written almost +exclusively with the view of keeping the army together, and continuing +the contest against Antony. There are among them a few introductory +letters of little or no interest. And these military despatches, though +of importance as showing the eager nature of the man, seem, as we read +them, to be foreign to his nature. He does not understand war, and +devotes himself to instigating men to defend the Republic, of whom we +suspect that they were not in the least affected by the words they +received from him. The correspondence as to this period of his life +consists of his letters to the Generals, and of theirs to him. There are +nearly as many of the one as of the other, and the reader is often +inclined to doubt whether Cicero be writing to Plancus or Plancus to +Cicero. He remained at Rome, and we can only imagine him as busy among +the official workshops of the State, writing letters, scraping together +money for the troops, struggling in vain to raise levies, amid a crowd +of hopeless, doubting, disheartened Senators, whom he still kept +together by his eloquence as Republicans, though each was eager to +escape. + +But who can be made Consuls in the place of Pansa and Hirtius? Octavian, +who had not left Italy after the battle of Mutina, was determined to be +one; but the Senate, probably under the guidance of Cicero, for a time +would not have him. There was a rumor that Cicero had been elected--or +is said to have been such a rumor. Our authority for it comes from that +correspondence with Marcus Brutus on the authenticity of which we do not +trust, and the date of which we do not know.[229] "When I had already +written my letter, I heard that you had been made Consul. When that is +done I shall believe that we shall have a true Republic, and one +supported by its own strength." But probably neither was the rumor true, +nor the fact that there was such a rumor. It was not thus that Octavian +meant to play his part. He had been passed over by Cicero when a General +against Antony was needed. Decimus had been used, and Hirtius and Pansa +had been employed as though they had been themselves strong as were the +Consuls of old. So they were to Cicero--in whose ears the very name of +Consul had in it a resonance of the magnificence of Rome. Octavian +thought that Pansa and Hirtius were but Caesar's creatures, who at +Caesar's death had turned against him. But even they had been preferred +to him. In those days he was very quick to learn. He had been with the +army, and with Caesar's soldiers, and was soon instructed in the steps +which it was wise that he should take. He put aside, as with a sweep of +his hand, all the legal impediments to his holding the Consulship. Talk +to him of age! He had already heard that word "boy" too often. He would +show them what a boy would do. He would let them understand that there +need be no necessity for him to canvass, to sue for the Consulship cap +in hand, to have morning levees and to know men's names--as had been +done by Cicero. His uncle had not gone through those forms when he had +wanted the Consulship. Octavian sent a military order by a band of +officers, who, marching into the Senate, demanded the office. When the +old men hesitated, one Cornelius, a centurion, showed them his sword, +and declared that by means of that should his General be elected Consul. +The Greek biographers and historians, Plutarch, Dio, and Appian, say +that he was minded to make Cicero his fellow-Consul, promising to be +guided by him in everything; but it could hardly have been so, with the +feelings which were then hot against Cicero in Octavian's bosom. Dio +Cassius is worthy of little credit as to this period, and Appian less +so, unless when supported by Latin authority. And we find that Plutarch +inserts stories with that freedom which writers use who do not suppose +that others coming after them will have wider sources of information +than their own. Octavian marched into Rome with his legions, and had +himself chosen Consul in conjunction with Quintius Pedius, who had also +been one of the coheirs to Caesar's will. This happened in September. +Previous to this Cicero had sent to Africa for troops; but the troops +when they came all took part with the young Caesar. + +A story is told which appears to have been true, and to have assisted in +creating that enmity which at last induced Octavian to assent to +Cicero's death. He was told that Cicero had said that "the young man was +to be praised, and rewarded, and elevated!"[230] The last word, +"tollendum," has a double meaning; might be elevated to the skies--or to +the "gallows." In English, if meaning the latter, we should say that +such a man must be "put out of the way." Decimus Brutus told this to +Cicero as having been repeated by Sigulius, and Cicero answers him, +heaping all maledictions upon Sigulius. But he does not deny the words, +or their intention--and though he is angry, he is angry half in joke. He +had probably allowed himself to use the witticism, meaning little or +nothing--choosing the phrase without a moment's thought, because it +contained a double meaning. No one can conceive that he meant to imply +that young Caesar should be murdered. "Let us reward him, but for the +moment let us be rid of him." And then, too, he had in the same sentence +called him a boy. As far as evidence goes, we know that the words were +spoken. We can trust the letter from Decimus to Cicero, and the answer +from Cicero to Decimus. And we know that, a short time afterward, +Octavian, sitting in the island near Bologna with Antony, consented that +Cicero's name should be inserted in the fatal list as one of those +doomed to be murdered. + +In the mean time Lepidus had taken his troops over to Antony, and Pollio +joined them soon afterward with his from Spain. After that it was hardly +to be expected that Plancus should hesitate. There has always been a +doubt whether Plancus should or should not be regarded as a traitor. He +held out longer than the others, and is supposed to have been true in +those assurances which he made to Cicero of Republican fervor. Why was +he bound to obey Cicero, who was then at Rome, sending out his orders +without official authority? While the Consuls had been alive he could +obey the Consuls; and at the Consuls' death he could for a while follow +the spirit of their instructions. But as that spirit died away he found +himself without orders other than Cicero's. In this condition was it not +better for him to go with the other Generals of the Empire rather than +to perish with a falling party? In addition to this it will happen at +such a time that the soldiers themselves have a will of their own. With +them the name of Caesar was still powerful, and to their thinking Antony +was fighting on dead Caesar's side. When we read the history of this +year, the fact becomes clear that out of Rome Caesar's name was more +powerful than Cicero's eloquence. Governed by such circumstances, driven +by events which he could not control, Plancus has the merit of having +been the last among the doubtful Generals to desert the cause which +Cicero had at heart. Cassius and Brutus in the East were still +collecting legions for the battle of Philippi. With that we shall have +no trouble here. In the West, Plancus found himself bound to follow the +others, and to join Antony and Lepidus in spite of the protestations he +had made. To those who read Cicero's letters of this year the question +must often arise whether Plancus was a true man. I have made his excuse +to the reader with all that I can say in his favor. The memory of the +man is, however, unpleasant to me. + +Decimus, when he found himself thus alone, endeavored to force his way +with his army along the northern shore of the Adriatic, so as to join +Marcus Brutus in Macedonia. To him, as one of those who had slain Caesar, +no power was left of deserting. He was doomed unless he was victorious. +He was deserted by his soldiers, who left him in batches, and at last +was taken alive, when wandering through the country, and sent (dead) to +Antony. Marcus Brutus and Cassius seem to have turned a deaf ear to all +Cicero's entreaties that they should come to his rescue. Cicero in his +last known letter--which however was written as far back as in July--is +very eager with Cassius: "Only attempts are heard of your army, very +great in themselves, but we expect to hear of deeds. * * * Nothing can +be grander or more noble than yourself, and therefore it is that we are +longing for you here in Rome. * * * Believe me that everything depends +on you and Brutus--that we are waiting for both of you. For Brutus we +are waiting constantly."[231] This was after Lepidus had gone, but while +Plancus was supposed to be as yet true--or rather, not yet false. He +did, no doubt, write letters to Brutus urging him in the same way. Alas, +alas! it was his final effort made for the Republic. + +In September Octavian marched into Rome as a conqueror, at the head of +those troops from Africa which had been sent as a last resource to help +the Republicans. Then we may imagine that Cicero recognized the fact +that there was left nothing further for which to struggle. The Republic +was done, his dream was over, and he could only die. Brutus and Cassius +might still carry on the contest; but Rome had now fallen a second time, +in spite of his efforts, and all hope must have fled from him. When +Caesar had conquered at Pharsalia, and on his return from the East had +graciously met him at Brundisium, and had generously accorded to him +permission to live under the shadow of his throne, the time for him must +have been full of bitterness. But he had not then quite realized the +meaning of a tyrant's throne. He had not seen how willingly the people +would submit themselves, how little they cared about their liberty; nor +had he as yet learned the nature of military despotism. Rome had lived +through Sulla's time, and the Republic had been again established. It +might live through Caesar's period of command. When Caesar had come to him +and supped with him, as a prince with one of his subjects, his misery +had been great. Still there was a hope, though he knew not from whence. +Those other younger men had felt as he had felt--and Caesar had fallen. +To his eyes it was as though some god had interfered to restore to him, +a Roman, his ancient form of government. Caesar was now dead, and all +would be right--only that Antony was left alive. There was need for +another struggle before Consuls, Praetors, and AEdiles could be elected in +due order; and when he found that the struggle was to be made under his +auspices, he girded up his loins and was again happy. No man can be +unhappy who is pouring out his indignation in torrents, and is drinking +in the applause of his audience. Every hard word hurled at Antony, and +every note of praise heard in return, was evidence to him of his own +power. He did believe, while the Philippics were going on, that he was +stirring up a mighty power to arouse itself and claim its proper +dominion over the world. There were moments between in which he may have +been faint-hearted--in which he may have doubted as to young Caesar--in +which he feared that Pansa might escape from him, or that Decimus would +fall before relief could reach him; but action lent a pleasantness and a +grace to it all. It is sweet to fight with the hope of victory. But now, +when young Caesar had marched into Rome with his legions, and was +doubtless prepared to join himself to Antony, there was no longer +anything for Cicero to do in this world. + +It is said, but not as I think on good authority, that Cicero went out +to meet Caesar--and if to meet him, then also to congratulate him. Appian +tells us that in the Senate Cicero hastened to congratulate Caesar, +assuring him how anxious he had been to secure the Consulship for him, +and how active. Caesar smiled, and said that Cicero had perhaps been a +little late in his friendship.[232] Dio Cassius only remarks that Caesar +was created Consul by the people in the regular way, two Consuls having +been chosen; and adds that the matter was one of great glory to Caesar, +seeing that he had obtained the Consulship at an unusually early +age.[233] But, as I have said above, their testimony for many reasons is +to be doubted. Each wrote in the interest of the Caesars, and, in dealing +with the period before the Empire, seems only to have been anxious to +make out some connected story which should suit the Emperor's views. +Young Caesar left Rome still with the avowed purpose of proceeding +against Antony as against one declared by the Senate to be an enemy; but +the purpose was only avowed. Messengers followed him on the road, +informing him that the ban had been removed, and he was then at liberty +to meet his friend on friendly terms. Antony had sent word to him that +it was not so much his duty as young Caesar's to avenge the death of his +uncle, and that unless he would assist him, he, Antony, would take his +legions and join Brutus and Cassius.[234] I prefer to believe with Mr. +Forsyth that Cicero had retired with his brother Quintus to one of his +villas. Plutarch tells us that he went to his Tusculan retreat, and that +on receiving news of the proscriptions he determined to remove to +Astura, on the sea-side, in order that he might be ready to escape into +Macedonia. Octavian, in the mean time, having caused a law to be passed +by Pedius condemning all the conspirators to death, went northward to +meet Antony and Lepidus at Bononia, the Bologna of to-day. Here it was +necessary that the terms of the compact should be settled by which the +spoils of the world should be divided among them; and here they met, +these three men, on a small river island, remote from the world--where, +as it is supposed, each might think himself secure from the other. +Antony and Lepidus were men old in craft--Antony in middle life, and +Lepidus somewhat older. Caesar was just twenty-one; but from all that we +have been able to gather as to that meeting, he was fully able to hold +his own with his elders. What each claimed as his share in the Empire is +not so much matter of history as the blood which each demanded. +Paterculus says that the death-warrants which were then signed were all +arranged in opposition to Caesar.[235] But Paterculus wrote as the +servant of Tiberius, and had been the servant of Augustus. It was his +object to tell the story as much in favor of Augustus as it could be +told. It is said that, debating among themselves the murders which each +desired for his own security, young Caesar, on the third day only, gave +up Cicero to the vengeance of Antony. It may have been so. It is +impossible that we should have a record of what took place from day to +day on that island. But we do know that there Cicero's death was +pronounced, and to that doom young Caesar assented. It did not occur to +them, as it would have done to Julius Caesar at such a time, that it +would be better that they should show their mercy than their hatred. +This proscription was made by hatred and not by fear. It was not Brutus +and Cassius against whom it was directed--the common enemies of the +three Triumviri. Sulla had attempted to stamp out a whole faction, and +so far succeeded as to strike dumb with awe the remainder. But here the +bargain of death was made by each against the other's friends. "Your +brother shall go," said Antony to Lepidus. "If so, your uncle also," +said Lepidus to Antony. So the one gave up his brother and the other his +uncle, to indulge the private spleen of his partner; and Cicero must go +to appease both. As it happened, though Cicero's fate was spoken, the +two others escaped their doom. "Nothing so bad was done in those days," +says Paterculus, "that Caesar should have been compelled to doom any one +to death, or that such a one as Cicero should have been doomed by +any."[236] Middleton thinks, and perhaps with fair reason, that Caesar's +objection was feigned, and that his delay was made for show. A slight +change in quoting the above passage, unintentionally made, favors his +view; "Or that Cicero should have been proscribed by him," he says, +turning "ullo" into "illo." The meaning of the passage seems to be, that +it was sad that Caesar should have been forced to yield, or that any one +should have been there to force him. As far as Caesar is concerned, it is +palliative rather than condemnatory. Suetonius, indeed, declares that +though Augustus for a time resisted the proscription, having once taken +it in hand he pursued it more bloodily than the others.[237] It is said +that the list when completed contained the names of three hundred +Senators and two thousand Knights; but their fate was for a time +postponed, and most of them ultimately escaped. We have no word of their +deaths, as would have been the case had they all fallen. Seventeen were +named for instant execution, and against these their doom went forth. We +can understand that Cicero's name should have been the first on the +list. + +We are told that when the news reached Rome the whole city was struck +with horror. During the speaking of the Philippics the Republican party +had been strong and Cicero had been held in favor. The soldiers had +still clung to the memory of Caesar; but the men of mark in the city, +those who were indolent and rich and luxurious, the "fish-ponders" +generally, had thought that, now Caesar was dead, and especially as +Antony had left Rome, their safest course would be to join the Republic. +They had done so, and had found their mistake. Young Caesar had first +come to Rome and they had been willing enough to receive him, but now he +had met Antony and Lepidus, and the bloody days of Sulla were to come +back upon them. All Rome was in such a tumult of horror and dismay that +Pedius, the new Consul, was frightened out of his life by the clamor. +The story goes that he ran about the town trying to give comfort, +assuring one and another that he had not been included in the lists, +till, as the result of it all, he himself, when the morning came, died +from the exertion and excitement. + +There is extant a letter addressed to Octavian--supposed to have been +written by Cicero, and sometimes printed among his works--which, if +written by him, must have been composed about this time. It no doubt was +a forgery, and probably of a much later date; but it serves to show what +were the feelings presumed to have been in Cicero's bosom at the time. +It is full of abuse of Antony, and of young Caesar. I can well imagine +that such might have been Cicero's thoughts as he remembered the praise +with which he had laden the young man's name; how he had decreed to him +most unusual honors and voted statues for him. It had all been done in +order that the Republic might be preserved, but had all been done in +vain. It must have distressed him sorely at this time as he reflected +how much eulogy he had wasted. To be sneered at by the boy when he came +back to Rome to assume the Consulship, and to be told, with a laugh, +that he had been a little late in his welcome! And to hear that the boy +had decreed his death in conjunction with Antony and Lepidus! This was +all that Rome could do for him at the end--for him who had so loved +her, suffered so much for her, and been so valiant on her behalf! Are +you not a little late to welcome me as one of my friends? the boy had +said when Cicero had bowed and smiled to him. Then the next tidings that +reached him contained news that he was condemned! Was this the youth of +whom he had declared, since the year began, that "he knew well all the +boy's sentiments; that nothing was dearer to the lad than the Republic, +nothing more reverent than the dignity of the Senate?" Was it for this +that he had bade the Senate "fear nothing" as to young Octavian, "but +always still look for better and greater things?" Was it for this that +he had pledged his faith for him with such confident words--"I promise +for him, I become his surety, I engage myself, conscript fathers, that +Caius Caesar will always be such a citizen as he has shown himself +to-day?"[238] And thus the young man had redeemed his tutor's pledges on +his behalf! "A little late to welcome me, eh?" his pupil had said to +him, and had agreed that he should be murdered. But, as I have said, the +story of that speech rests on doubtful authority. + +Had not Cicero too rejoiced at the uncle's murder? And having done so, +was he not bound to endure the enmity he had provoked? He had not indeed +killed Caesar, or been aware that he was to be killed; but still it must +be said of him that, having expressed his satisfaction at what had been +done, he had identified himself with those who had killed him, and must +share their fate. The slaying of a tyrant was almost by law enjoined +upon Romans--was at any rate regarded as a virtue rather than a crime. +There of course arises the question, who is to decide whether a man be a +tyrant? and the idea being radically wrong, becomes enveloped in +difficulty out of which there is no escape. But there remains as a fact +the existence of the feeling which was at the time held to have +justified Brutus--and also Cicero. A man has to inquire of his own heart +with what amount of criminality he can accuse the Cicero of the day, or +the young Augustus. Can any one say that Cicero was base to have +rejoiced that Caesar had been killed? Can any one not regard with horror +the young Consul, as he sat there in the privacy of the island, with +Antony on one side and Lepidus on the other, and then in the first days +of his youth, with the down just coming on his cheeks, sending forth his +edict for slaughtering the old friend of the Republic? + +[Sidenote: B.C. 43, aetat. 64.] + +It is supposed that Cicero left Rome in company with his brother +Quintus, and that at first they went to Tusculum. There was no bar to +their escaping from Italy had they so chosen, and probably such was +their intention as soon as tidings reached them of the proscription. It +is pleasant to think that they should again have become friends before +they died. In truth, Marcus the elder was responsible for his brother's +fate. Quintus had foreseen the sun rising in the political horizon, and +had made his adorations accordingly. He, with others of his class, had +shown himself ready to bow down before Caesar. With his brother's assent +he had become Caesar's lieutenant in Gaul, such employment being in +conformity with the practice of the Republic. When Caesar had returned, +and the question as to power arose at once between Caesar and Pompey, +Quintus, who had then been with his brother in Cilicia, was restrained +by the influence of Marcus; but after Pharsalia the influence of Marcus +was on the wane. We remember how young Quintus had broken away and had +joined Caesar's party. He had sunk so low that he had become "Antony's +right hand." In that direction lay money, luxury, and all those good +things which the government of the day had to offer. Cicero was so much +in Caesar's eyes, that Caesar despised the elder and the younger Quintus +for deserting their great relative, and would hardly have them. The +influence of the brother and the uncle sat heavily on them. The shame of +being Caesarean while he was Pompeian, the shame of siding with Antony +while he sided with the Republic, had been too great for them. While he +was speaking his Philippics they could not but be enthusiastic on the +same side. And now, when he was proscribed, they were both proscribed +with him. As the story goes, Quintus returned from Tusculum to Rome to +seek provision for their journey to Macedonia, there met his son, and +they both died gallantly. Antony's hirelings came upon the two together, +or nearly together, and, finding the son first, put him to the torture, +so to learn from him the place of his father's concealment; then the +father, hearing his son's screams, rushed out to his aid, and the two +perished together. But this story also comes to us from Greek sources, +and must be taken for what it is worth. + +Marcus, alone in his litter, travelled through the country to his +sea-side villa at Astura. Then he went on to Formiae, sick with doubt, +not knowing whether to stay and die, or encounter the winter sea in such +boat as was provided for him. Should he seek the uncomfortable refuge of +Brutus's army? We can remember his bitter exclamations as to the +miseries of camp life. He did go on board; but was brought back by the +winds, and his servants could not persuade him to make another attempt. +Plutarch tells us that he was minded to go to Rome, to force his way +into young Caesar's house and there to stab himself, but that he was +deterred from this melodramatic death by the fear of torture. The story +only shows how great had been the attention given to every detail of his +last moments, and what the people in Rome had learned to say of them. +The same remark applies to Plutarch's tale as to the presuming crows who +pecked at the cordage of his sails when his boat was turned to go back +to the land, and afterward with their beaks strove to drag the +bedclothes from off him when he lay waiting his fate the night before +the murderers came to him. + +He was being carried down from his villa at Formiae to the sea-side when +Antony's emissaries came upon him in his litter. There seem to have been +two of them--both soldiers and officers in the pay of Antony--Popilius +Laenas and Herennius. They overtook him in the wood, through which paths +ran from the villa down to the sea-shore. On arriving at the house they +had not found Cicero, but were put upon his track by a freedman who had +belonged to Quintus, named Philologus. He could hardly have done a +kinder act than to show the men the way how they might quickly release +Cicero from his agony. They went down to the end of the wood, and there +met the slaves bearing the litter. The men were willing to fight for +their master; but Cicero, bidding them put down the chair, stretched out +his neck and received his death-blow. Antony had given special orders to +his servants. They were to bring Cicero's head and his hands--the hands +which had written the Philippics, and the tongue which had spoken +them--and his order was obeyed to the letter. Cicero was nearly +sixty-four when he died, his birthday being on the 3d of January +following. It would be hardly worth our while to delay ourselves for a +moment with the horrors of Antony's conduct, and those of his wife +Fulvia--Fulvia the widow of Clodius and the wife of Antony--were it +not that we may see what were the manners to which a great Roman lady +had descended in those days in which the Republic was brought to an end. +On the rostra was stuck up the head and the hands as a spectacle to the +people, while Fulvia specially avenged herself by piercing the tongue +with her bodkin. That is the story of Cicero's death as it has been +generally told. + +We are told also that Rome heard the news and saw the sight with +ill-suppressed lamentation. We can easily believe that it should have +been so. I have endeavored, as I have gone on with my work, to compare +him to an Englishman of the present day; but there is no comparing +English eloquence to his, or the ravished ears of a Roman audience to +the pleasure taken in listening to our great orators. The world has +become too impatient for oratory, and then our Northern senses cannot +appreciate the melody of sounds as did the finer organs of the Roman +people. We require truth, and justice, and common-sense from those who +address us, and get much more out of our public speeches than did the +old Italians. We have taught ourselves to speak so that we may be +believed--or have come near to it. A Roman audience did not much care, +I fancy, whether the words spoken were true. But it was indispensable +that they should be sweet--and sweet they always were. Sweet words were +spoken to them, with their cadences all measured, with their rhythm all +perfect; but no words had ever been so sweet as those of Cicero. I even, +with my obtuse ears, can find myself sometimes lifted by them into a +world of melody, little as I know of their pronunciation and their tone. +And with the upper classes--those who read--his literature had become +almost as divine as his speech. He had come to be the one man who could +express himself in perfect language. As in the next age the Eclogues of +Virgil and the Odes of Horace became dear to all the educated classes +because of the charm of their expression, so in their time, I fancy, +had become the language of Cicero. It is not surprising that men should +have wept when they saw that ghastly face staring at them from the +rostra, and the protruding tongue and the outstretched hands. The +marvel is that, seeing it, they should still have borne with Antony. + +That which Cicero has produced in literature is, as a rule, admitted to +be excellent; but his character as a man has been held to be tarnished +by three faults--dishonesty, cowardice, and insincerity. As to the +first, I have denied it altogether, and my denial is now submitted to +the reader for his judgment. It seems to have been brought against him +not in order to make him appear guilty, but because it has appeared to +be impossible that, when others were so deeply in fault, he should have +been innocent. That he should have asked for nothing, that he should +have taken no illicit rewards, that he should not have submitted to be +feed, but that he should have kept his hands clean while all around him +were grasping at everything--taking money, selling their aid for +stipulated payments, grinding miserable creditors--has been too much for +men to believe. I will not take my readers back over the cases brought +against him, but will ask them to ask themselves whether there is one +supported by evidence fit to go before a jury. The accusations have been +made by men clean-handed themselves; but to them it has appeared +unreasonable to believe that a Roman oligarch of those days should be an +honest gentleman. + +As to his cowardice, I feel more doubt as to my power of carrying my +readers with me, though no doubt as to Cicero's courage. Cowardice in a +man is abominable. But what is cowardice? and what courage? It is a +matter in which so many errors are made! Tinsel is so apt to shine like +gold and dazzle the sight! In one of the earlier chapters of this book, +when speaking of Catiline, I have referred to the remarks of a +contemporary writer: "The world has generally a generous word for the +memory of a brave man dying for his cause!" "All wounded in front," is +quoted by this author from Sallust. "Not a man taken alive! Catiline +himself gasping out his life ringed around with corpses of his friends." +That is given as a picture of a brave man dying for his cause, who +should excite our admiration even though his cause were bad. In the +previous lines we have an intended portrait of Cicero, who, "thinking, +no doubt, that he had done a good day's work for his patrons, declined +to run himself into more danger." Here is one story told of courage, and +another of fear. Let us pause for a moment and regard the facts. +Catiline, when hunted to the last gasp, faced his enemy and died +fighting like a man--or a bull. Who is there cannot do so much as that? +For a shilling or eighteen-pence a day we can get an army of brave men +who will face an enemy--and die, if death should come. It is not a great +thing, nor a rare, for a man in battle not to run away. With regard to +Cicero the allegation is that he would not be allowed to be bribed to +accuse Caesar, and thus incur danger. The accusation which is thus +brought against him is borrowed from Sallust, and is no doubt false; but +I take it in the spirit in which it is made. Cicero feared to accuse +Caesar, lest he should find himself enveloped, through Caesar's means, in +fresh danger. Grant that he did so. Was he wrong at such a moment to +save his life for the Republic--and for himself? His object was to +banish Catiline, and not to catch in his net every existing conspirator. +He could stop the conspiracy by securing a few, and might drive many +into arms by endeavoring to encircle all. Was this cowardice? During all +those days he had to live with his life in his hands, passing about +among conspirators who he knew were sworn to kill him, and in the midst +of his danger he could walk and talk and think like a man. It was the +same when he went down into the court to plead for Milo, with the +gladiators of Clodius and the soldiery of Pompey equally adverse to him. +It was the same when he uttered Philippic after Philippic in the +presence of Antony's friends. True courage, to my thinking, consists +not in facing an unavoidable danger. Any man worthy of the name can do +that. The felon that will be hung to-morrow shall walk up to the +scaffold and seem ready to surrender the life he cannot save. But he +who, with the blood running hot through his veins, with a full desire of +life at his heart, with high aspirations as to the future, with +everything around him to make him happy--love and friendship and +pleasant work--when he can willingly imperil all because duty requires +it, he is brave. Of such a nature was Cicero's courage. + +As to the third charge--that of insincerity--I would ask of my readers +to bethink themselves how few men are sincere now? How near have we +approached to the beauty of truth, with all Christ's teaching to guide +us? Not by any means close, though we are nearer to it than the Romans +were in Cicero's days. At any rate we have learned to love it dearly, +though we may not practise it entirely. He also had learned to love it, +but not yet to practise it quite so well as we do. When it shall be said +of men truly that they are thoroughly sincere, then the millennium will +have come. We flatter, and love to be flattered. Cicero flattered men, +and loved it better. We are fond of praise, and all but ask for it. +Cicero was fond of it, and did ask for it. But when truth was demanded +from him, truth was there. + +Was Cicero sincere to his party, was he sincere to his friends, was he +sincere to his family, was he sincere to his dependents? Did he offer to +help and not help? Did he ever desert his ship, when he had engaged +himself to serve? I think not. He would ask one man to praise him to +another--and that is not sincere. He would apply for eulogy to the +historian of his day--and that is not sincere. He would speak ill or +well of a man before the judge, according as he was his client or his +adversary--and that perhaps is not sincere. But I know few in history on +whose positive sincerity in a cause his adherents could rest with +greater security. Look at his whole life with Pompey--as to which we see +his little insincerities of the moment because we have his letters to +Atticus; but he was true to his political idea of a Pompey long after +that Pompey had faded from his dreams. For twenty years we have every +thought of his heart; and because the feelings of one moment vary from +those of another, we call him insincere. What if we had Pompey's +thoughts and Caesar's, would they be less so? Could Caesar have told us +all his feelings? Cicero was insincere: I cannot say otherwise. But he +was so much more sincere than other Romans as to make me feel that, when +writing his life, I have been dealing with the character of one who +might have been a modern gentleman. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +_CICERO'S RHETORIC._ + + +It is well known that Cicero's works are divided into four main parts. +There are the Rhetoric, the Orations, the Epistles, and the Philosophy. +There is a fifth part, indeed--the Poetry; but of that there is not +much, and of the little we have but little is esteemed. There are not +many, I fear, who think that Cicero has deserved well of his country by +his poetry. His prose works have been divided as I have stated them. Of +these, two portions have been dealt with already--as far as I am able to +deal with them. Of the Orations and Epistles I have spoken as I have +gone on with my task, because the matter there treated has been +available for the purposes of biography: the other two, the Rhetoric and +the Philosophy, have been distinct from the author's life.[239] They +might have been good or bad, and his life would have been still the +same; therefore it is necessary to divide them from his life, and to +speak of them separately. They are the work of his silent chamber, as +the others were the enthusiastic outpourings of his daily spirit, or the +elaborated arguments of his public career. Who has left behind him so +widely spread a breadth of literature? Who has made so many efforts, and +has so well succeeded in them all? I do not know that it has ever been +given to any one man to run up and down the strings of knowledge, and +touch them all as though each had been his peculiar study, as Cicero has +done. + +His rhetoric has been always made to come first, because, upon the +whole, it was first written. It may be as well here to give a list of +his main works, with their dates--premising, however, that we by no +means in that way get over the difficulty as to time, even in cases as +to which we are sure of our facts. A treatise may have been commenced +and then put by, or may have been written some time previously to +publication. Or it may be, as were those which are called the Academica, +that it was remodelled, and altered in its shape and form. The Academica +were written at the instance of Atticus. We now have the altered edition +of a fragment of the first book, and the original of the second book. In +this manner there have come discrepancies which nearly break the heart +of him who would fain make his list clear. But here, on the whole, is +presented to the reader with fair accuracy a list of the works of +Cicero, independent of that continual but ever-changing current of his +thought which came welling out from him daily in his speeches and his +letters. Again, however, we must remember that here are omitted all +those which are either wholly lost or have come to us only in fragments +too abruptly broken for the purposes of continuous study. Of these I +will not even attempt to give the names, though when we remember some of +the subjects--the De Gloria, the De Re Militari--he could not go into +the army for a month or two without writing a book about it--the De +Auguriis, the De Philosophia, the De Suis Temporibus, the De Suis +Consiliis, the De Jure Civili, and the De Universo, we may well ask +ourselves what were the subjects on which he did not write. In addition +to these, much that has come to us has been extracted, as it were +unwillingly, from palimpsests, and is, from that and from other causes, +fragmentary. We have indeed only fragments of the essays De Republica. +De Legibus, De Natura Deorum, De Divinatione, and De Fato, in addition +to the Academica. + +The list of the works of which it is my purpose to give some shortest +possible account in the following chapters is as follows: + + NATURE OF THE WORK. + TITLES OF Those as to Rhetoric are marked [a] THE DATE + THE WORKS. " " Philosophy " [b] OF + The Moral Essays " [c] PUBLICATION. + + + Rheticorum { Four books, giving lessons in Rhetoric; } + ad C. { supposed to have been written, not by Cicero, } B.C. + Herennium. { but by one Cornificius.[a][240] } 87, 86. + } AEtat. + De { Four books, giving lessons in Rhetoric, } 20, 21. + Inventione. { supposed to have been translated from the } + { Greek. Two out of four have come to us.[a] } + + { Three dialogues, in three books--supposed to } + { have been held under a plane-tree, in the } + De Oratore. { garden at Tusculum belonging to Crassus, } B.C. 55. + { forty years before--in which are laid down } AEtat. 52. + { instructions for the making of an orator.[a] } + + { Six political discussions--supposed to have } + De { been held seventy-five years before the date } B.C. 53. + Republica. { at which they were written--on the best mode } AEtat. 54. + { of governance. We have but a fragment of them. } + { [c] } + + { Three out of six books as to the best laws for } + { governing the Republic. They are carried on } + De Legibus. { between Atticus, Quintus, and Marcus. They } B.C. 52. + { are supposed to have been written B.C. 52 } AEtat. 55. + { (aetat. 55), but were not published till after } + { his death.[c] } + + De Optimo { A preface to the translation of the speeches } + Genere { of AEschines and of Demosthenes for and against } B.C. 52. + Oratorum. { Ctesiphon--in the matter of the Golden Crown. } AEtat. 55. + { [a] } + + De { Instructions by questions and answers, } + Partitione { supposed to have been previously given to his } B.C. 46. + Oratoria. { son in Greek, on the art of speaking in public.} AEtat. 61. + { [a] } + + { Treatises, in which he deals with the various } + { phases of Philosophy taught by the Academy. It } + The { has been altered, and we have only a part of } B.C. 45. + Academica. { the first book of the altered portion and the } AEtat. 62. + { second part of the treatise before it was } + { altered. In its altered form it is addressed } + { to Varro.[b] } + + De Finibus { A treatise in five books, in the form of } + Bonorum et { dialogues, as to the results to be looked for } B.C. 45. + Malorum. { in inquiries as to what is good and what is } AEtat. 62. + { evil. It is addressed to Brutus.[b] } + + Brutus: or, { A treatise on the most perfect orators of past } + De Claris { times. It is addressed to Brutus, and has, in } B.C. 45. + Oratoribus. { a peculiar manner, been always called by his } AEtat. 62. + { name.[a] } + + Orator. { A treatise, addressed to Brutus, to show what } B.C. 45. + { the perfect orator should be.[a] } AEtat. 62. + + { Or the Tusculan Inquiries, supposed to have } + Tusculanae { been held with certain friends in his Tusculan } + Disputa- { villa, as to contempt of Death and Pain and } B.C. 45. + tiones. { Sorrow, as to conquering the Passions, and the } AEtat. 62. + { happiness to be derived from Virtue. They are } + { addressed to Brutus.[a] } + + { Three books addressed to Brutus. Velleius, } + De Natura { Balbus, and Cotta discuss the relative merits } B.C. 44. + Deorum. { of the Epicurean, Stoic, and Academic Schools. } AEtat. 63 + { [b] } + + { He discusses with his brother Quintus the } + De { property of the gods to "divine," or rather } B.C. 44. + Divinatione.{ to enable men to read prophecies. It is a } AEtat. 63. + { continuation of a former work.[b] } + + De Fato. { The part only of a book on Destiny.[b] } B.C. 44. + { } AEtat. 63. + + The Topica. { A so-called translation from Aristotle. It is } B.C. 44. + { addressed to Trebatius.[a] } AEtat. 63. + + De { A treatise on Old Age, addressed to Atticus, } B.C. 44. + Senectute. { and called Cato Major.[c] } AEtat. 63. + + De { A treatise on Friendship, addressed also to } B.C. 44. + Amicitia. { Atticus, and called Laelius.[c] } AEtat. 63. + + { To his son. Treating of the Moral Duties of } + De { Life. Containing three books-- } B.C. 44. + Officiis. { I. On Honesty } AEtat. 63. + { II. On Expediency } + { III. Comparing Honesty and Expediency. } + +It is to be observed from this list that for thirty years of his life +Cicero was silent in regard to literature--for those thirty years in +which the best fruits of a man's exertion are expected from him. +Indeed, we may say that for the first fifty-two years of his life he +wrote nothing but letters and speeches. Of the two treatises with which +the list is headed, the first, in all probability, did not come from his +pen, and the second is no more than a lad's translation from a Greek +author. As to the work of translation, it must be understood that the +Greek and Latin languages did not stand in reference to each other as +they do now to modern readers. We translate in order that the pearls +hidden under a foreign language may be conveyed to those who do not read +it, and admit, when we are so concerned, that none can truly drink the +fresh water from a fountain so handled. The Romans, in translating from +the Greek, thinking nothing of literary excellence, felt that they were +bringing Greek thought into a form of language in which it could be thus +made useful. There was no value for the words, but only for the thing to +be found in it. Thence it has come that no acknowledgment is made. We +moderns confess that we are translating, and hardly assume for ourselves +a third-rate literary place. When, on the other hand, we find the +unexpressed thought floating about the world, we take it, and we make it +our own when we put it into a book. The originality is regarded as being +in the language, not in the thought. But to the Roman, when he found the +thought floating about the world in the Greek character, it was free for +him to adopt it and to make it his own. Cicero, had he done in these +days with this treatise as I have suggested, would have been guilty of +gross plagiarism, but there was nothing of the kind known then. This +must be continually remembered in reading his essays. You will find +large portions of them taken from the Greek without acknowledgment. +Often it shall be so, because it suits him to contradict an assertion or +to show that it has been allowed to lead to false conclusions. This +general liberty of translation has been so frequently taken by the Latin +poets--by Virgil and Horace, let us say, as being those best known--that +they have been regarded by some as no more than translations. To them to +have been translators of Homer, or of Pindar and Stesichorus, and to +have put into Latin language ideas which were noble, was a work as +worthy of praise as that of inventing. And it must be added that the +forms they have used have been perfect in their kind. There has been no +need to them for close translation. They have found the idea, and their +object has been to present it to their readers in the best possible +language. He who has worked amid the bonds of modern translation well +knows how different it has been with him. There is not much in the +treatise De Inventione to arrest us. We should say, from reading it, +that the matter it contains is too good for the production of a youth of +twenty-one, but that the language in which it is written is not +peculiarly fine. The writer intended to continue it--or wrote as though +he did--and therefore we may imagine that it has come to us from some +larger source. It is full of standing cases, or examples of the law +courts, which are brought up to show the way in which these things are +handled. We can imagine that a Roman youth should be practised in such +matters, but we cannot imagine that the same youth should have thought +of them all, and remembered them all, and should have been able to +describe them. + +The following is an example: "A certain man on his journey encountered a +traveller going to make a purchase, having with him a sum of money. They +chatted along the road together, and, as happens on such occasions, they +became intimate. They went to the same inn, where they supped, and said +that they would sleep together. Having supped they went to bed; when the +landlord--for this was told after it had all been found out, and he had +been taken for another offence--having perceived that one man had money, +in the middle of the night, knowing how sound they would sleep from +fatigue, crept up to them, and having taken out of its scabbard the +sword of him that was without the money as it lay by his side, he killed +the other man, put back the sword, and then went to his bed. But he +whose sword had been used rose long before daylight and called loudly to +his companion. Finding that the man slumbered too heavily to be stirred, +he took himself and his sword and the other things he had brought away +with him and started alone. But the landlord soon raised the +hue-and-cry, 'A man has been killed!' and, with some of the guests, +followed him who had gone off. They took the man on the road, and +dragged his sword out of its sheath, which they found all bloody. They +carried him back to the city, and he was accused." In this cause there +is the declaration of the crime alleged, "You killed the man." There is +the defence, "I did not kill him." Thence arises the issue. The question +to be judged is one of conjecture. "Did he kill him?"[241] We may judge +from the story that the case was not one which had occurred in life, but +had been made up. The truculent landlord creeping in and finding that +everything was as he wished it; and the moneyless man going off in the +dark, leaving his dead bedfellow behind him--as the landlord had +intended that he should--form all the incidents of a stock piece for +rehearsal rather than the occurrence of a true murder. The same may be +said of other examples adduced, here as afterward, by Quintilian. They +are well-known cases, and had probably been handed down from one student +to another. They tell us more of the manners of the people than of the +rudiments of their law. + +From this may be seen the nature of the work. From thence we skip over +thirty years and come at once to B.C. 55. The days of the Triumvirate +had come, and the quarrel with Clodius--of Cicero's exile and his +return, together with the speeches which he had made, in the agony of +his anger, against his enemies. And all this had taken place since those +halcyon days in which he had risen, on the voices of his countrymen, to +be Quaestor, AEdile, Praetor, and Consul. He had first succeeded as a +public man, and then, having been found too honest, he had failed. There +can be no doubt that he had failed because he had been too honest. I +must have told the story of his political life badly if I have not shown +that Caesar had retired from the assault because Cicero was Consul, but +had retired only as a man does who steps back in order that his next +spring forward may be made with more avail. He chose well the time for +his next attack, and Cicero was driven to decide between three +things--he must be Caesarean, or must be quiet, or he must go. He would +not be Caesarean, he certainly could not be quiet, and he went. The +immediate effect of his banishment was on him so great that he could not +employ himself. But he returned to Rome, and, with too evident a +reliance on a short-lived popularity, he endeavored to replace himself +in men's eyes; but it must have been clear to him that he had struggled +in vain. Then he looked back upon his art, his oratory, and told himself +that, as the life of a man of action was no longer open to him, he could +make for himself a greater career as a man of letters. He could do so. +He has done so. But I doubt whether he had ever a confirmed purpose as +to the future. Had some grand Consular career been open to him--had it +been given to him to do by means of the law what Caesar did by ignoring +the law--this life of him would not have been written. There would, at +any rate, have been no need of these last chapters to show how +indomitable was the energy and how excellent the skill of him who could +write such books, because--he had nothing else to do. + +The De Oratore is a work in three divisions, addressed to his brother +Quintus, in which it has undoubtedly been Cicero's object to convince +the world that an orator's employment is the highest of all those given +to a man to follow; and this he does by showing that, in all the matters +which an orator is called upon to touch, there is nothing which he +cannot adorn by the possession of some virtue or some knowledge. To us, +in these days, he seems to put the cart before the horse, and to fail +from the very beginning, by reason of the fact that the orator, in his +eloquence, need never tell the truth. It is in the power of man so to +praise--constancy, let us say--as to make it appear of all things the +best. But he who sings the praise of it may be the most inconstant of +mankind, and may know that he is deceiving his hearers as to his own +opinions--at any rate, as to his own practice. The virtue should come +first, and then the speech respecting it. Cicero seems to imply that, if +the speech be there, the virtue may be assumed. + +But it has to be acknowledged, in this and in all his discourses as to +the perfect orator, that it is here as it has been in all the inquirers +after the [Greek: to kalon].[242] We must recognize the fact that the +Romans have adopted a form of inquiry from the Greeks, and, having +described a more than human perfection, have instigated men to work up +toward it by letting it be known how high will be the excellence, should +it ever be attained. It is so in the De Oratore, as to which we must +begin by believing that the speech-maker wanted is a man not to be found +in any House of Commons. No Conservative and no Liberal need fear that +he will be put out of court by the coming of this perfectly eloquent +man. But this Cicero of whom we are speaking has been he who has been +most often quoted for his perfections.[243] The running after an +impossible hero throws a damp over the whole search. When no one can +expect to find the thing sought for, who can seek diligently? By degrees +the ambitious student becomes aware that it is impossible, and is then +carried on by a desire to see how he is to win a second or a third +place, if so much may be accorded to him. In his inquiries he will find +that the Cicero, if he look to Quintilian or Tacitus--or the Crassus, if +he look to Cicero--is so set before him as the true model; and with that +he may be content. + +The De Oratore is by far the longest of his works on rhetoric, and, as I +think, the pleasantest to read. It was followed, after ten years, by the +Brutus, or De Claris Oratoribus, and then by the Orator. But in all of +them he charms us rather by his example than instructs us by his +precepts. He will never make us believe, for instance, that a man who +talks well will on that account be better than a man who thinks well; +but he does make us believe that a man who talks as Cicero knew how to +do must have been well worth hearing, and also that to read his words, +when listening to them is no longer possible, is a great delight. Having +done that, he has no doubt carried his object. He was too much a man of +the world to have an impracticable theory on which to expend himself. +Oratory had come uppermost with him, and had indeed made itself, with +the Romans, the only pursuit to be held in rivalry with that of +fighting. Literature had not as yet assumed its place. It needed Cicero +himself to do that for her. It required the writing of such an essay as +this to show, by the fact of its existence, that Cicero the writer stood +quite as high as Cicero the orator. And then the written words remain +when the sounds have died away. We believe that Cicero spoke divinely. +We can form for ourselves some idea of the rhythm of his periods. Of the +words in which Cicero spoke of himself as a speaker we have the entire +charm. + +Boccaccio, when he takes his queen into a grassy meadow and seats her in +the midst of her ladies, and makes her and them and their admirers tell +their stories, seems to have given rise to the ideas which Cicero has +used when introducing his Roman orators lying under a plane-tree in the +garden of Tusculum, and there discussing rhetoric; so much nearer to us +appear the times of Cicero, with all the light that has been thrown upon +them by their own importance, than does the middle of the fourteenth +century in the same country. But the practice in this as in all matters +of social life was borrowed from the Greeks, or perhaps rather the +pretence of the practice. We can hardly believe that Romans of an +advanced age would so have arranged themselves for the sake of +conversation. It was a manner of bringing men together which had its +attraction for the mind's eye; and Cicero, whose keen imagination +represented to him the pleasantness of the picture, has used the form of +narrative with great effect. He causes Crassus and Antony to meet in the +garden of Crassus at Tusculum, and thither he brings, on the first day, +old Mucius Scaevola the augur, and Sulpicius and Cotta, two rising +orators of the period. On the second day Scaevola is supposed to be too +fatigued to renew the intellectual contest, and he retires; but one +Caesar comes in with Quintus Lutatius Catulus, and the conversation is +renewed. Crassus and Antony carry it on in chief, but Crassus has the +leading voice. Caesar, who must have been the wag among barristers of his +day, undertakes to give examples of that Attic salt by which the +profundity of the law courts is supposed to have been relieved. The +third conversation takes place on the afternoon of the second day, when +they had refreshed themselves with sleep; though Crassus, we are +specially told, had given himself up to the charms of no mid-day siesta. +His mind had been full of the greatness of the task before him, but he +will show neither fatigue nor anxiety. The art, the apparent ease with +which it is all done, the grace without languor, the energy without +exertion, are admirable. It is as though, they were sitting by running +water, or listening to the music of some grand organ. They remove +themselves to a wood a little farther from the house, and there they +listen to the eloquence of Crassus. Cotta and Sulpicius only hear and +assent, or imply a modified dissent in doubting words. + +It is Crassus who insists that the orator shall be omniscient, and +Antony who is supposed to contest the point with him. But they differ in +the sweetest language; and each, though he holds his own, does it with a +deference that is more convincing than any assertion. It may be as well, +perhaps, to let it be understood that Crassus and Caesar are only related +by distant family ties--or perhaps only by ties of adoption--to the two +of the First Triumvirate whose names they bear; whereas Antony was the +grandfather of that Cleopatra's lover against whom the Philippics were +hurled. + +No one, as I have said before, will read these conversations for the +sake of the argument they contain; but they are, and will be, studied as +containing, in the most appropriate language, a thousand sayings +respecting the art of speech. "No power of speaking well can belong to +any but to him who knows the subjects on which he has to speak;"[244] a +fact which seems so clear that no one need be troubled with stating it, +were it not that men sin against it every day. "How great the +undertaking to put yourself forward among a crowd of men as being the +fittest of all there to be heard on some great subject!"[245] "Though +all men shall gnash their teeth, I will declare that the little book of +the twelve tables surpasses in authority and usefulness all the +treatises of all the philosophers."[246] Here speaks the Cicero of the +Forum, and not that Cicero who amused himself among the philosophers. +"Let him keep his books of philosophy for some Tusculum idleness such +as is this of ours, lest, when he shall have to speak of justice, he +must go to Plato and borrow from him, who, when he had to express him in +these things, created in his books some new Utopia."[247] For in truth, +though Cicero deals much, as we shall see by-and-by, with the +philosophers, and has written whole treatises for the sake of bringing +Greek modes of thought among the Romans, he loved the affairs of the +world too well to trust them to philosophy. There has been some talk of +old age, and Antony, before the evening has come, declares his view. "So +far do I differ from you," he says, "that not only do I not think that +any relief in age is to be found in the crowd of them who may come to me +for advice, but I look to its solitude as a harbor. You indeed may fear +it, but to me it will be most welcome."[248] + +Then Cicero begins the second book with a renewal of the assertion as to +oratory generally, not putting the words into the mouth of any of his +party, but declaring it as his own belief: "This is the purpose of this +present treatise, and of the present time, to declare that no one has +been able to excel in eloquence, not merely without capacity for +speaking, but also without acquired knowledge of all kinds."[249] But +Antony professes himself of another opinion: "How can that be when +Crassus and I often plead opposite causes, and when one of us can only +say the truth? Or how can it be possible, when each of us must take the +cause as it comes to him?"[250] Then, again, he bursts into praise of +the historian, as though in opposition to Crassus: "How worthy of an +orator's eulogy is the writing of history, whether greatest in the flood +of its narrative or in its variety! I do not know that we have ever +treated it separately, but it is there always before our eyes. For who +does not know that the first law of the historian is that he must not +dare to say what is false: the next, that he must not dare to suppress +what is true."[251] We wonder, when Cicero was writing this, whether he +remembered his request to Lucceius, made now two years ago. He gives a +piece of advice to young advocates, apologizing, indeed, for thinking it +necessary; but he has found it to be necessary, and he gives it: "Let me +teach this to them all; when they intend to plead, let them first study +their causes."[252] It is not only here that we find that the advice +which is useful now was wanted then. "Read your cases!" The admonition +was wanted in Rome as it has been since in London. + +But the great mistake of the whole doctrine creeps out at every page as +we go on, and disproves the idea on which the De Oratore is founded. All +Cicero's treatises on the subject, and Quintilian's, and those of the +pseudo-Tacitus, and of the first Greek from which they have come, fall +to the ground as soon as we are told that it must be the purport of the +orator to turn the mind of those who hear him either to the right or to +the left, in accordance with the drift of the cause.[253] The mind +rejects the idea that it can be the part of a perfect man to make +another believe that which he believes to be false. If it be necessary +that an orator should do so, then must the orator be imperfect. We have +the same lesson taught throughout. It is the great gift of the orator, +says Antony, to turn the judge's mind so that he shall hate or love, +shall fear or hope, shall rejoice or grieve, or desire to pity or desire +to punish.[254] No doubt it is a great power. All that is said as to +eloquence is true. It may be necessary that to obtain the use of it you +shall educate yourself with more precision than for any other purpose. +But there will be the danger that they who have fitted the dagger to the +hand will use it. It cannot be right to make another man believe that +which you think to be false. + +In the use of raillery in eloquence the Roman seems to have been very +backward; so much so that it is only by the examples given of it by +themselves as examples that we learn that it existed. They can appall us +by the cruelty which they denounce. They can melt us by their appeals +to our pity. They can terrify; they can horrify; they can fill us with +fear or hope, with anger, with despair, or with rage; but they cannot +cause us to laugh. Their attempts at a joke amuse us because we +recognize the attempt. Here Caesar is put forward to give us the benefit +of his wit. We are lost in surprise when we find how miserable are his +jokes, and take a pride in finding that in one line we are the masters +of the Romans. I will give an instance, and I pick it out as the best +among those selected by Cicero. Nasica goes to call upon Ennius, and is +informed by the maid-servant that her master is not at home. Ennius +returns the visit, and Nasica halloos out from the window that he is not +within. "Not within!" says Ennius; "don't I know your voice?" Upon which +Nasica replies, "You are an impudent fellow! I had the grace to believe +your maid, and now you will not believe me myself."[255] How this got +into a law-case we do not know; it is told, however, just as I have told +it. But there are enough of them here to make a small Joe Miller; and +yet, in the midst of language that is almost divine in its expressions, +they are given as having been worthy of all attention. + +The third book is commenced by the finest passage in the whole treatise. +Cicero remembers that Crassus is dead, and then tells the story of his +death. And Antony is dead, and the Caesars. The last three had fallen in +the Marian massacres. There is but little now in the circumstances of +their death to excite our tears. Who knows aught of that Crassus, or of +that Antony, or of those Caesars? But Cicero so tells it in his pretended +narrative as almost to make us weep. The day was coming when a greater +than either of them was to die the same death as Antony, by the order of +another Antony--to have his tongue pierced, and his bloody head thrust +aloft upon the rostra. But no Roman has dared to tell us of it as Cicero +has told the story of those others. Augustus had done his work too well, +and it was much during his reign that Romans who could make themselves +heard should dare to hold their tongues. + +It would be useless in me here to attempt to give any notion of the laws +as to speech which Cicero lays down. For myself I do not take them as +laws, feeling that the interval of time has been too great to permit +laws to remain as such. No orator could, I feel sure, form himself on +Cicero's ideas. But the sweetness of the language is so great as to +convince us that he, at any rate, knew how to use language as no one has +done since: "But there is a building up of words, and a turning of them +round, and a nice rendering. There is the opposing and the loosening. +There is the avoiding, the holding back, the sudden exclamation, and the +dropping of the voice; and the taking an argument from the case at large +and bringing it to bear on a single point; and the proof and the +propositions together. And there is the leave given; and then a +doubting, and an expression of surprise. There is the counting up, the +setting right; the utter destruction, the continuation, the breaking +off, the pretence, the answer made to one's self, the change of names, +the disjoining and rejoining of things--the relation, the retreat, and +the curtailing."[256] Who can translate all these things when Quintilian +himself has been fain to acknowledge that he has attempted and has +failed to handle them in fitting language? + +And then at last there comes that most lovely end to these most charming +discourses: "His autem de rebus sol me ille admonuit, ut brevior essem, +qui ipse jam praecipitans, me quoque hac praecipitem paene evolvere +coegit."[257] These words are so charming in their rhythm that I will +not rob them of their beauty by a translation. The setting sun requires +me also to go to rest: that is their simple meaning. At the end of the +book he introduces a compliment to Hortensius, who during his life had +been his great rival, and who was still living when the De Oratore was +written. + +[Sidenote: B.C. 52, aetat. 55.] + +The next on the list is the De Optimo Genere Oratorum--a preliminary +treatise written as a preface to a translation made by himself on the +speeches of AEschines and Demosthenes against Ctesiphon in the matter of +the Golden Crown. We have not the translations; but we have his reasons +for translating them--namely, that he might enable readers only of Latin +to judge how far AEschines and Demosthenes had deserved, either of them, +the title of "Optimus orator." For they had spoken against each other +with the most bitter abuse, and each spokesman was struggling for the +suppression of the other. Each was speaking with the knowledge that, if +vanquished, he would have to pay heavily in his person and his pocket. +He gives the palm to neither; but he tells his readers that the Attic +mode of speaking is gone--of which, indeed, the glory is known, but the +nature unknown. But he explains that he has not translated the two +pieces verbatim, as an interpreter, but in the spirit, as an orator, +using the same figures, the same forms, the same strength of ideas. We +have to acknowledge that we do not see how in this way he can have done +aught toward answering the question De Optimo Genere Oratorum; but he +may perhaps have done something to prove that he himself, in his +oratory, had preserved the best known Grecian forms. + +The De Partitione Oratoria Dialogus follows, of which we have already +spoken, written when he was an old man, and was in the sixty-first year +of his life. It was the year in which he had divorced Terentia, and had +been made thoroughly wretched in private and in public affairs. But he +was not on that account disabled from preparing for his son these +instructions, in the form of questions and answers, on the art of +speaking. + +We next come to the Brutus; or, De Claris Oratoribus, a dialogue +supposed to have been held between Brutus, Atticus, and Cicero himself. +It is a continuation of the three books De Oratore. He there describes +what is essential to the character of the optimus orator. He here looks +after the special man, going back over the results of past ages, and +bringing before the reader's eyes all Greek and Roman orators, till he +comes down to Cicero. I cannot but say that the feeling is left with the +reader that the orator optimus has been reached at last in Cicero's +mind. + +We must remark, in the first place, that he has chosen for his friend, +to whom to address his piece, one whom he has only known late in life. +It was when he went to Cilicia as governor, when he was fifty-six years +old, that he was thrown by Atticus into close relations with Brutus. Now +he has, next to Atticus, become his most chosen friend. His three next +treatises, the Orator, the Tusculan Disquisitions, and the De Natura +Deorum, have all been graced, or intended to be graced, by the name of +Brutus. And yet, from what we know, we can hardly imagine two men less +likely to be brought together by their political ambition. The one +compromising, putting up with the bad rather than with a worse, knowing +that things were evil, and contented to accept those that were the least +so; the other strict, uncompromising, and one who had learned lessons +which had taught him that there was no choice among things that were +bad! And Brutus, too, had told Cicero that his lessons in oratory were +not to his taste. There was a something about Cicero which enabled him +to endure such rebukes while there was aught worthy of praise in the man +who rebuked him; and it was to this something that his devotion was +paid. We know that Brutus was rapacious after money with all the greed +of a Roman nobleman, and we know also that Cicero was not. Cicero could +keep his hands clean with thousands around him, and with thousands going +into the pockets of other men. He could see the vice of Brutus, but he +did not hate it. He must have borne, too, with something from Atticus of +the same kind. The truth seems to me that to Cicero there was no horror +as to greediness, except to greed in himself. He could hate it for +himself and yet tolerate it in others, as a man may card-playing, or +rackets, or the turf. But he must have known that Brutus had made +himself the owner of all good gifts in learning, and took him to his +heart in consequence. In no other way can I explain to myself the +feeling of subservience to Brutus which Cicero so generally expresses: +it exists in none other of his relations of life. Political subservience +there is to Pompey; but he can laugh at Pompey, and did not dedicate to +him his treatises De Republica, or De Legibus. To Appius Claudius he was +very courteous. He thought badly of Appius, but hardly worse than he +ought to have done of Brutus. Of Caelius he was fond, of Curio, of +Trebatius. To Paetus he was attached, to Sulpicius and Marcellus. But to +none of them did he ever show that deference which he did to Brutus. I +could have understood this feeling as evinced in the political letters +at the end of his life, and have explained it to myself by saying that +the "ipsissima verba" have not probably come to us. But I cannot say +that the name of Brutus does not stand there, written in imperishable +letters on the title-pages of his most chosen pieces. If this be so, +Brutus has owed more to his learning than the respect of Cicero. All +ages since have felt it, and Shakespeare has told us that "Brutus is an +honorable man." + +There is a dispute as to the period of the authorship of this treatise. +Cicero in it tells us of Cato and of Marcellus, and therefore we must +suppose that it was written when they were alive. Indeed, he so compares +Caesar and Marcellus as he could not have done had they not both been +alive. But Cato and Marcellus died B.C. 46, and how then could the +treatise have been written in B.C. 45? It should, however, be remembered +that a written paper may be altered and rewritten, and that the date of +authorship and that of publication cannot be exactly the same. But the +time is of but little matter to those who can take delight in the +discourse. He begins by telling us how he had grieved when, on his +return from Cilicia, he had heard that Hortensius was dead. Hortensius +had brought him into the College of Augurs, and had there stood to him +in the place of a parent. And he had lamented Hortensius also on behalf +of Rome. Hortensius had gone. Then he goes on to say that, as he was +thinking of these things while walking in his portico, Brutus had come +to him and Pomponius Atticus. He says how pleasantly they greeted each +other; and then gradually they go on, till Atticus asks him to renew the +story he had before been telling. "In truth, Pomponius," he says, "I +remember it right well, for then it was that I heard Deiotarus, that +truest and best of kings, defended by our Brutus here," Deiotarus was +that Eastern king whose defence by Cicero himself I have mentioned when +speaking of his pleadings before Caesar. Then he rushes off into his +subject, and discusses at length his favorite idea. It must still be +remembered that neither here are to be traced any positive line of +lessons in oratory. There is no beginning, no middle, and no end to this +treatise. Cicero runs on, charming us rather by his language than by his +lessons. He says of Eloquence that "she is the companion of peace, and +the associate of ease."[258] He tells us of Cato, that he had read a +hundred and fifty of his speeches, and had "found them all replete with +bright words and with great matter; * * * and yet no one in his days +read Cato's speeches!"[259] This, of course, was Cato the elder. Then we +hear how Demosthenes said that in oratory action was everything: it was +the first thing, the second, and the third. "For there is nothing like +it to penetrate into the minds of the audience--to teach them, to turn +them, and to form them, till the orator shall be made to appear exactly +that which he wishes to be thought.[260] * * * The man who listens to one +who is an orator believes what he hears; he thinks everything to be +true, he approves of all."[261] No doubt! In his power of describing the +orator and his work Cicero is perfect; but he does not describe the man +doing that which he is bound to do by his duty. + +He tells us that nothing is worse than half a dozen advocates--which +certainly is true.[262] Further on he comes to Caesar, and praises him +very highly. But here Brutus is made to speak, and tells us how he has +read the Commentaries, and found them to be "bare in their beauty, +perfect in symmetry, but unadorned, and deprived of all outside +garniture."[263] They are all that he has told us, nor could they have +been described in truer words. Then he names Hortensius, and speaks of +him in language which is graceful and graphic; but he reserves his +greatest strength for himself, and at last, declaring that he will say +nothing in his own praise, bursts out into a string of eulogy, which he +is able to conceal beneath dubious phrases, so as to show that he +himself has acquired such a mastery over his art as to have made +himself, in truth, the best orator of them all.[264] + +Perhaps the chief charm of this essay is to be found in the lightness of +the touch. It is never heavy, never severe, rarely melancholic. If read +without reference to other works, it would leave on the reader's mind +the impression that though now and again there had come upon him the +memory of a friend who had gone, and some remembrance of changes in the +State to which, as an old man, he could not give his assent; +nevertheless, it was written by a happy man, by one who was contented +among his books, and was pleased to be reminded that things had gone +well with him. He writes throughout as one who had no great sorrow at +his heart. No one would have thought that in this very year he was +perplexed in his private affairs, even to the putting away of his wife; +that Caesar had made good his ground, and, having been Dictator last +year, had for the third time become Consul; that he knew himself to be +living, as a favor, by Caesar's pleasure. Cicero seems to have written +his Brutus as one might write who was well at ease. Let a man have +taught himself aught, and have acquired the love of letters, it is easy +for him then, we might say, to carry on his work. What is it to him that +politicians are cutting each other's throats around him? He has not gone +into that arena and fought and bled there, nor need he do so. Though +things may have gone contrary to his views, he has no cause for anger, +none for personal disappointment, none for personal shame; but with +Cicero, on every morning as he rose he must have remembered Pompey and +have thought of Caesar. And though Caesar was courteous to him, the +courtesy of a ruler is hard to be borne by him who himself has ruled. +Caesar was Consul; and Cicero, who remembered how majestically he had +walked when a few years since he was Consul by the real votes of the +people, how he had been applauded for doing his duty to the people, how +he had been punished for stretching the laws on the people's behalf, how +he had refused everything for the people, must have had bitter feelings +in his heart when he sat down to write this conversation with Brutus and +with Atticus. Yet it has all the cheerfulness which might have been +expected from a happy mind. But we must remark that at its close--in its +very final words--he does allude with sad melancholy to the state of +affairs, and that then it breaks off abruptly. Even in the middle of a +sentence it is brought to a close, and the reader is left to imagine +that something has been lost, or that more might have been added. + +The last of these works is the Orator. We have passed in review the De +Oratore, and the Brutus; or, De Claris Oratoribus. We have now to +consider that which is commonly believed to be the most finished piece +of the three. Such seems to have become the general idea of those +scholars who have spoken and written on the subject. He himself says +that there are in all five books. There are the three De Oratore; the +fourth is called the Brutus, and the fifth the Orator.[265] In some MSS. +this work has a second title, De Optimo Genere Dicendi--as though the +five books should run on in a sequence, the first three being on oratory +in general, the fourth as to famous orators, while the last concluding +work is on the best mode of oratory. Readers who may wish to carry these +in their minds must exclude for the moment from their memory the few +pages which he wrote as a preface to the translations from AEschines and +Demosthenes. The purport is to show how that hitherto unknown hero of +romance may be produced--the perfect orator. + +Here as elsewhere we shall find the greatest interest lies in a certain +discursive treatment of his subject, which enables him to run hither and +thither, while he always pleases us, whatever attitude he may assume, +whatever he may say, and in whatever guise he may speak to us. But here, +in the last book, there does seem to be some kind of method in his +discourse. He distinguishes three styles of eloquence--the simple, the +moderate, and the sublime, and explains that the orator has three duties +to perform. He must learn what on any subject he has to say; he must +place his arguments in order, and he must know how to express them. He +explains what action should achieve for the orator, and teaches that +eloquence depends wholly on elocution. He tells us that the +philosophers, the historians, and the poets have never risen to his +ideas of eloquence; but that he alone does so who can, amid the heat and +work of the Forum, turn men's minds as he wishes. Then he teaches us how +each of the three styles should be treated--the simple, the moderate, +and the sublime--and shows us how to vary them. He informs us what laws +we should preserve in each, what ornaments, what form, and what +metaphors. He then considers the words we should use, and makes us +understand how necessary it is to attend to the minutest variety of +sound. In this matter we have to acknowledge that he, as a Roman, had to +deal with instruments for listening infinitely finer than are our +British ears; and I am not sure that we can follow him with rapture +into all the mysteries of the Poeon, the Dochmius, and the Dichoreus. +What he says of rhythm we are willing to take to be true, and we wonder +at the elaborate study given to it; but I doubt whether we here do not +read of it as a thing beyond us, by descending into which we should be +removing ourselves farther from the more wholesome pursuits of our +lives. + +There are, again, delightful morsels here. He tells us, for instance, +that he who has created a beautiful thing must have beauty in his +soul,[266]--a charming idea, as to which we do not stop to inquire +whether it be true or not. He gives us a most excellent caution against +storing up good sayings, and using them from the storehouse of our +memory: "Let him avoid these studied things, not made of the moment, but +brought from the closet."[267] Then he rises into a grand description of +the perfect orator: "But that third man is he, rich, abundant, +dignified, and instructed, in whom there is a divine strength. This is +he whose fulness and culture of speech the nations have admired, and +whose eloquence has been allowed to prevail over the people.[268] * * * +Then will the orator make himself felt more abundantly. Then will he +rule their minds and turn their hearts. Then will he do with them as he +would wish."[269] + +But in the teeth of all this it did not please Brutus himself. "When I +wrote to him," he said to Atticus, "in obedience to his wishes, 'De +Optimo Genere Dicendi,' he sent word, both to you and me, that that +which pleased me did not satisfy him."[270] "Let every man kiss his own +wife," says Cicero in his letter in the next words to those we have +quoted; and we cannot but love the man for being able to joke when he is +telling of the rebuff he has received. It must have been an additional +pang to him, that he for whom he had written his book should receive it +with stern rebuke. + +At last we come to the Topica; the last instructions which Cicero gives +on the subject of oratory. The Romans seem to have esteemed much the +lessons which are here conveyed, but for us it has but little +attraction. He himself declares it to have been a translation from +Aristotle, but declares also that the translation has been made from +memory. He has been at sea, he says, in the first chapter, and has there +performed his task, and has sent it as soon as it has been done. There +is something in this which is unintelligible to us. He has translated a +treatise of Aristotle from memory--that is, without having the original +before him--and has done this at sea, on his intended journey to +Greece![271] I do not believe that Cicero has been false in so writing. +The work has been done for his young friend Trebatius, who had often +asked it, and was much too clever when he had received it not to +recognize its worth. But Cicero has, in accordance with his memory, +reduced to his own form Aristotle's idea as to "invention" in logic. +Aristotle's work is, I am informed, in eight books: here is a bagatelle +in twenty-five pages. There is an audacity in the performance--especially +in the doing it on board ship; but we must remember that he had spent his +life in achieving a knowledge of these things, and was able to write down +with all the rapidity of a practised professor the doctrines on the +matter which he wished to teach Trebatius. + +This later essay is a recapitulation of the different sources to which +an orator, whether as lawyer, advocate, philosopher, or statesman, may +look for his arguments. That they should have been of any great use to +Trebatius, in the course of his long life as attorney-general about the +court of Augustus, I cannot believe. I do not know that he rose to +special mark as an orator, though he was well known as a counsellor; +nor do I think that oratory, or the powers of persuasion, can be so +brought to book as to be made to submit itself to formal rules. And here +they are given to us in the form of a catalogue. It is for modern +readers perhaps the least interesting of all Cicero's works. + +There is left upon us after reading these treatises a general idea of +the immense amount of attention which, in the Roman educated world, was +paid to the science of speaking. To bring his arguments to bear at the +proper moment--to catch the ideas that are likely to be rising in the +minds of men--to know when the sympathies may be expected and when +demanded, when the feelings may be trusted and when they have been too +blunted to be of service--to perceive from an instinctive outlook into +those before him when he may be soft, when hard, when obdurate and when +melting--this was the business of a Roman orator. And this was to be +achieved only by a careful study of the characters of men. It depended +in no wise on virtue, on morals, or on truth, though very much on +education. How he might please the multitude--this was everything to +him. It was all in all to him to do just that which here in our prosaic +world in London we have been told that men ought not to attempt. They do +attempt it, but they fail--through the innate honesty which there is in +the hearts of men. In Italy, in Cicero's time, they attempted it, and +did not fail. But we can see what were the results. + +The attention which Roman orators paid to their voices was as serious, +and demanded the same restraint, as the occupations of the present +athlete. We are inclined to doubt whether too much of life is not +devoted to the purpose. It could not be done but by a people so greedy +of admiration as to feel that all other things should be abandoned by +those who desire to excel. The actor of to-day will do it, but it is his +business to act; and if he so applies himself to his profession as to +succeed, he has achieved his object. But oratory in the law court, as in +Parliament, or in addressing the public, is only the means of imbuing +the minds of others with the ideas which the speaker wishes to implant +there. To have those ideas, and to have the desire to teach them to +others, is more to him than the power of well expressing them. To know +the law is better than to talk of knowing it. But with the Romans so +great was the desire to shine that the reality was lost in its +appearance; and so prone were the people to indulge in the delight of +their senses that they would sacrifice a thing for a sound, and +preferred lies in perfect language to truth in halting syllables. This +feeling had sunk deep into Cicero's heart when he was a youth, and has +given to his character the only stain which it has. He would be +patriotic: to love his country was the first duty of a Roman. He would +be honest: so much was indispensable to his personal dignity. But he +must so charm his countrymen with his voice as to make them feel while +they listened to him that some god addressed them. In this way he became +permeated by the love of praise, till it was death to him not to be +before the lamps. + +The "perfect orator" is, we may say, a person neither desired nor +desirable. We, who are the multitude of the world, and have been born to +hold our tongues and use our brains, would not put up with him were he +to show himself. But it was not so in Cicero's time; and this was the +way he took to sing the praises of his own profession and to magnify his +own glory. He speaks of that profession in language so excellent as to +make us who read his words believe that there was more in it than it did +in truth hold. But there was much in it, and the more so as the +performers reacted upon their audience. The delicacy of the powers of +expression had become so great, that the powers of listening and +distinguishing had become great also. As the instruments became fine, so +did the ears which were to receive their music. Cicero, and Quintilian +after him, tell us this. The latter, in speaking of the nature of the +voice, gives us a string of epithets which it would be hopeless to +attempt to translate: "Nam est et candida, et fusca, et plena, et +exilis, et levis, et aspera, et contracta, et fusa, et dura, et +flexibilis, et clara, et obtusa; spiritus etiam longior, +breviorque."[272] And the remarkable thing was, that every Roman who +listened would understand what the orator intended, and would know too, +and would tell him of it, if by error he had fallen into some cadence +which was not exactly right. To the modes of raising the voice, which +are usually divided into three--the high or treble, the low or bass, and +that which is between the two, the contralto and tenor--many others are +added. There are the eager and the soft, the higher and the lower notes, +the quicker and the slower. It seems little to us, who know that we can +speak or whisper, hammer our words together, or drawl them out. But then +every listener was critically alive to the fact whether the speaker +before him did or did not perform his task as it should be done. No +wonder that Cicero demanded who was the optimus orator. Then the +strength of body had to be matured, lest the voice should fall to "a +sick, womanly weakness, like that of an eunuch." This must be provided +by exercise, by anointing, by continence, by the easy digestion of the +food--which means moderation; and the jaws must be free, so that the +words must not strike each other. And as to the action of the orator, +Cicero tells us that it should speak as loudly and as plainly as do the +words themselves. In all this we find that Quintilian only follows his +master too closely. The hands, the shoulders, the sides, the stamping of +the foot, the single step or many steps--every motion of the body, +agreeing with the words from his mouth, are all described.[273] He +attributes this to Antony--but only because, as he thinks of it, some +movement of Antony's has recurred to his memory. + +To make the men who heard him believe in him was the one gift which +Cicero valued; not to make them know him to be true, but to believe him +to be so. This it was, in Cicero's time, to be the optimus orator. + +Since Cicero's time there has been some progress in the general conduct +of men. They are less greedy, less cruel, less selfish--greedy, cruel, +and selfish though they still are. The progress which the best among us +have made Cicero in fact achieved; but he had not acquired that +theoretic aversion to a lie which is the first feeling in the bosom of a +modern gentleman; therefore it was that he still busied himself with +finding the optimus orator. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +_CICERO'S PHILOSOPHY._ + + +It will have been observed that in the list given in the previous +chapter the works commonly published as Cicero's Philosophy have been +divided. Some are called his Philosophy and some his Moral Essays. It +seems to be absurd to put forward to the world his Tusculan Inquiries, +written with the declared object of showing that death and pain were not +evils, together with a moral essay, such as that De Officiis, in which +he tells us what it may become a man of the world to do. It is as though +we bound up Lord Chesterfield's letters in a volume with Hume's essays, +and called them the philosophy of the eighteenth century. It might be +true, but it would certainly be absurd. There might be those who regard +the letters as philosophical, and those who would so speak of the +essays; but their meaning would be diametrically opposite. It is so with +Cicero, whose treatises have been lumped together under this name with +the view of bringing them under one appellation. It had been found +necessary to divide his works and to describe them. The happy man who +first thought to put the De Natura Deorum and the De Amicitia into +boards together, and to present them to the world under the name of his +philosophy, perhaps found the only title that could unite the two. But +he has done very much to mislead the world, and to teach readers to +believe that Cicero was in truth one who endeavored to live in +accordance with the doctrine of any special school of philosophy. + +He was too honest, too wise, too civilized, too modern for that. He +knew, no one better, that the pleasure of the world was pleasant, and +that the ills are the reverse. When his wife betrayed him, he grieved. +When his daughter died, he sorrowed. When his foe was strong against +him, he hated him. He avoided pain when it came near him, and did his +best to have everything comfortable around him. He was so far an +Epicurean, as we all are. He did not despise death, or pain, or grief. +He was a modern-minded man--if I make myself understood--of robust +tendencies, moral, healthy, and enduring; but he was anything but a +philosopher in his life. Let us remember the way in which he laughs at +the idea of bringing philosophy into real life in the De Oratore. He is +speaking of the manner in which the lawyers would have had to behave +themselves in the law courts if philosophy had been allowed to prevail: +"No man could have grieved aloud. No patron would have wept. No one +would have sorrowed. There would have been no calling of the Republic to +witness; not a man would have dared to stamp his foot, lest it should +have been told to the Stoics."[274] "You should keep the books of the +philosophers for your Tusculan ease," he had said in the preceding +chapter; and he speaks, in the same page, of "Plato's fabulous State." + +Then why, it may be asked, did he write so many essays on +philosophy--enough to have consumed the energies of many laborious +years? There can be no doubt that he did write the Philosophy, though we +have ample reason to know that it was not his philosophy. All those +treatises, beginning with the Academica--written when he was sixty-two, +two years only before his death, and carried on during twelve months +with indomitable energy--the De Finibus, the Tusculan Disputations, the +De Natura Deorum, the De Divinatione, and the De Fato--were composed +during the time named. To those who have regarded Cicero as a +philosopher--as one who has devoted his life to the pursuits of +philosophy--does it not appear odd that he should have deferred his +writing on the subject and postponed his convictions till now? At this +special period of his life why should he have rushed into them at once, +and should so have done it as to be able to leave them aside at another +period? Why has all this been done within less than two years? Let any +man look to the last year of his life, when the Philippics were coming +hot from his brain and eager from his mouth, and ask himself how much of +Greek philosophy he finds in them. Out of all the sixty-four years of +his life he devoted one to this philosophy, and that not the last, but +the penultimate; and so lived during all these years, even including +that one, as to show how little hold philosophy had upon his conduct. +[Greek: Aideomai Troas]. Was that Greek philosophy? or the eager +exclamation of a human spirit, in its weakness and in its strength, +fearing the breath of his fellow-men, and yet knowing that the truth +would ultimately be expressed by it? + +Nor is the reason for this far to seek, though the character which could +avail itself of such a reason requires a deep insight. To him literature +had been everything. We have seen with what attention he had studied +oratory--rhetoric rather--so as to have at his fingers'-ends the names +of those who had ever shone in it, and the doctrines they had taught. We +know how well read he was in Homer and the Greek tragedians; how he knew +by heart his Ennius, his Naevius, his Pacuvius, and the others who had +written in his own tongue. As he was acquainted with the poets and +rhetoricians, so also was he acquainted with those writers who have +handled philosophy. His incredible versatility was never at fault. He +knew them all from the beginning, and could interest himself in their +doctrines. He had been in the schools at Athens, and had learned it all. +In one sense he believed in it. There was a great battle of words +carried on, and in regard to that battle he put his faith in this set or +in the other. But had he ever been asked by what philosophical process +he would rule the world, he would have smiled. Then he would have +declared himself not to be an Academician, but a Republican. + +It was with him a game of play, ornamented with all the learning of past +ages. He had found the schools full of it at Athens, and had taken his +part in their teaching. It had been pleasant to him to call himself a +disciple of Plato, and to hold himself aloof from the straitness of the +Stoics, and from the mundane theories of the followers of Epicurus. It +had been well for him also to take an interest in that play. But to +suppose that Cicero, the modern Cicero, the Cicero of the world--Cicero +the polished gentleman, Cicero the soft hearted, Cicero the hater, +Cicero the lover, Cicero the human--was a believer in Greek +philosophy--that he had taken to himself and fed upon those shreds and +tatters and dry sticks--that he had ever satisfied himself with such a +mode of living as they could promise to him--is indeed to mistake the +man. His soul was quiveringly alive to all those instincts which now +govern us. Go among our politicians, and you shall find this man and the +other, who, in after-dinner talk, shall call himself an Epicurean, or +shall think himself to be an Academician. He has carried away something +of the learning of his college days, and remembers enough of his school +exercises for that; but when he has to make a speech for or against +Protection, then you will find out where lies his philosophy. + +And so it was with Cicero during this the penultimate year of his life. +He poured forth during this period such an amount of learning on the +subject, that when men took it up after the lapse of centuries they +labelled it all as his philosophy. When he could no longer talk +politics, nor act them--when the Forum was no longer open to him, nor +the meetings of the people or of the Senate--when he could no longer +make himself heard on behalf of the State--then he took to discussions +on Carneades. And his discussions are wonderful. How could he lay his +mind to work when his daughter was dead, and write in beautiful language +four such treatises as came from his pen while he was thinking of the +temple which was to be built to her memory? It is a marvel that at such +a period, at such an age, he should have been equal to the labor. But it +was thus that he amused himself, consoled himself, distracted himself. +It is hard to believe that, in the sad evening of his life, such a power +should have remained with him; but easier, I think, than to imagine that +in that year of his life he had suddenly become philosophical. + +In describing the Academica, the first of these works in point of time, +it is necessary to explain that by reason of an alteration in his plan +of publishing, made by Cicero after he had sent the first copy to +Atticus, and by the accident that the second part has been preserved of +the former copy and the first part of the second, a confusion has +arisen. Cicero had felt that he might have done better by his friends +than to bring Hortensius, Catulus, and Lucullus discussing Greek +philosophy before the public. They were, none of them, men who when +alive had interested themselves in the matter. He therefore rewrote the +essays, or altered them, and again sent them forth to his friend Varro. +Time has been so far kind to them as to have preserved portions of the +first book as altered, and the second of the four which constituted the +first edition. It is that which has been called Lucullus. The Catulus +had come first, but has been lost. Hortensius and Cicero were the last +two. We may perceive, therefore, into what a length of development he +carried his purpose. It must be of course understood that he dictated +these exercises, and assisted himself by the use of all mechanical means +at his disposal. The men who worked for him were slaves, and these +slaves were always willing to keep in their own hands the good things +which came to them by the exercise of their own intelligence and +adroitness. He could not multiply his own hands or brain, but he could +multiply all that might assist them. He begins by telling Varro that he +has long since desired to illustrate in Latin letters the philosophy +which Socrates had commended, and he asks Varro why he, who was so much +given to writing, had not as yet written about any of these things. As +Varro boasted afterward that he was the author of four hundred and +ninety books, there seems to be a touch of irony in this. Be that as it +may, Varro is made to take up the gauntlet and to rush away at once amid +the philosophers. But here on the threshold, as it were, of his +inquiries, we have Cicero's own reasons given in plain language: "But +now, hit hard by the heavy blow of fortune, and freed as I am from +looking after the State, I seek from philosophy relief from my pain." He +thinks that he may in this way perhaps best serve the public, or even +"if it be not so, what else is there that he may find to do?"[275] As he +goes on, however, we find that what he writes is about the philosophers +rather than philosophy. + +Then we come to the Lucullus. It seems odd that the man whose name has +come down to us as a by-word for luxury, and who is laden with the +reproach of overeating, should be thus brought forward as a philosopher. +It was perhaps the subsequent feeling on Cicero's part that such might +be the opinion of men which induced him to alter his form--in vain, as +far as we are concerned. But Lucullus had lived with Antiochus, a Greek +philosopher, who had certain views of his own, and he is made to defend +them through this book. + +Here as elsewhere it is not the subject which delights us so much as the +manner in which he handles certain points almost outside the subject: +"How many things do those exercised in music know which escape us! Ah, +there is Antiope, they say; that is Andromache."[276] What can be truer, +or less likely, we may suppose, to meet us in a treatise on philosophy, +and, therefore, more welcome? He is speaking of evidence: "It is +necessary that the mind shall yield to what is clear, whether it wish it +or no, as the dish in a balance must give way when a weight is put upon +it.[277] * * * You may snore, if you will, as well as sleep," says +Carneades; "what good will it do you?"[278] And then he gives the +guesses of some of the old philosophers as to the infinite. Thales has +said that water is the source of everything. Anaximander would not agree +to this, for he thought that all had come from space. Anaximenes had +affirmed that it was air. Anaxagoras had remarked that matter was +infinite. Xenophanes had declared that everything was one whole, and +that it was a god, everlasting, eternal, never born and never dying, but +round in his shape! Parmenides thought that it was fire that moved the +earth. Leucippus believed it to be "plenum et inane." What "full and +empty" may mean I cannot tell; but Democritus could, for he believed in +it--though in other matters he went a little farther! Empedocles sticks +to the old four elements. Heraclitus is all for fire. Melissus imagines +that whatever exists is infinite and immutable, and ever has been and +ever will be. Plato thinks that the world has always existed, while the +Pythagoreans attribute everything to mathematics.[279] "Your wise man," +continues Cicero, "will know one whom to choose out of all these. Let +the others, who have been repudiated, retire." + +"They are all concealed, these things--hidden in thick darkness, so +that no human eye can have power enough to look up into the heavens or +down on to the earth. We do not know our own bodies, or the nature or +strength of their component parts. The doctors themselves, who have +opened them and looked at them, are ignorant. The Empirics declare that +they know nothing; because, as soon as looked at, they may change. * * * +Hicetas, the Syracusan, as Theophrastus tells us, thinks that the +heavens and the sun and the moon and the stars all stand still, and that +nothing in all the world moves but the earth. Now what do you, followers +of Epicurus, say to this?"[280] I need not carry the conversation on any +farther to show that Cicero is ridiculing the whole thing. This Hicetas, +the Syracusan, seems to have been nearer the mark than the others, +according to the existing lights, which had not shone out as yet in +Cicero's days. "But what was the meaning of it all? Who knows anything +about it? How is a man to live by listening to such trash as this?" It +is thus that Cicero means to be understood. I will agree that Cicero +does not often speak out so clearly as he does here, turning the whole +thing into ridicule. He does generally find it well to say something in +praise of these philosophers. He does not quite declare the fact that +nothing is to be made of them; or, rather, there is existing in it all +an under feeling that, were he to do so, he would destroy his character +and rob himself of his amusement. But we remember always his character +of a philosopher, as attributed to Cato, in his speech during his +Consulship for Murena. I have told the story when giving an account of +the speech. "He who cuts the throat of an old cock when there is no +need, has sinned as deeply as the parricide when breaking his father's +neck,"[281] says Cicero, laughing at the Stoics. There he speaks out the +feelings of his heart--there, and often elsewhere in his orations. Here, +in his Academica, he is eloquent on the same side. We cannot but rejoice +at the plainness of his words; but it has to be acknowledged that we do +not often find him so loudly betraying himself when dealing with the old +discussions of the Greek philosophers. + +Very quickly after his Academica, in B.C. 45, came the five books, De +Finibus Bonorum et Malorum, written as though with the object of +settling the whole controversy, and declaring whether the truth lay with +the Epicureans, the Stoics, or the Academics. What, at last, is the good +thing, and what the evil thing, and how shall we gain the one and avoid +the other? If he will tell us this, he will have proved himself to be a +philosopher to some purpose. But he does nothing of the kind. At the end +of the fifth book we find Atticus, who was an Epicurean, declaring to +Quintus Cicero that he held his own opinion just as firmly as ever, +although he had been delighted to hear how well the Academician Piso had +talked in Latin. He had hitherto considered that these were things which +would not sound well unless in the Greek language. + +It is again in the form of a dialogue, and, like all his writings at +this time, is addressed to Brutus. It is in five books. The first two +are supposed to have been held at Cumae, between Cicero, Torquatus, and +Triarius. Here, after a prelude in favor of philosophy and Latin +together, Torquatus is allowed to make the best excuse he can for +Epicurus. The prelude contains much good sense; for, whether he be right +or not in what he says, it is good for every man to hold his own +language in respect. "I have always thought and said that the Latin +language is not poor as it is supposed to be, but even richer than the +Greek."[282] "Let us learn," says Torquatus, who has happened to call +upon him at Cumae with Triarius, a grave and learned youth, as we are +told, "since we have found you at your house, why it is that you do not +approve of Epicurus--he who, alive, seems to have freed the minds of men +from error, and to have taught them everything which could tend to make +them happy."[283] Then Torquatus goes to work and delivers a most +amusing discourse on the wisdom of Democritus and his great disciple. +The words fly about with delightful power, so as to leave upon our minds +an idea that Torquatus is persuading his audience; for it is Cicero's +peculiar gift, in whosesoever mouth he puts his words, to make him argue +as though he were the victor. We feel sure that, had he in his hand held +a theory contrary to that of Torquatus, had he in truth cared about it, +he could not have made Torquatus speak so well. But the speaker comes to +an end, and assures his hearers that his only object had been to +hear--as he had never heard before--what Cicero's own opinion might be +on the matter. + +The second book is a continuation of the same meeting. The word is taken +up by Cicero, and he refutes Torquatus. It seems to us, however, that +poor Epicurus is but badly treated--as has been generally the case in +the prose works which have come down to us. We have, indeed, the poem of +Lucretius, and it is admitted that it contains fine passages. But I was +always told when young that the writing of it had led him to commit +suicide--a deed on his part which seems to have been painted in black +colors, though Cato and Brutus, the Stoics, did the same thing very +gloriously. The Epicureans are held to be sensualists, because they have +used the word "pleasure" instead of "happiness," and Cicero is hard upon +them. He tells a story of the dying moments of Epicurus, quoting a +letter written on his death-bed. "While I am writing," he says, "I am +living my last hour, and the happiest. I have so bad a pain in my +stomach that nothing can be worse. But I am compensated for it all by +the joy I feel as I think of my philosophical discourses."[284] Cicero +then goes on to declare that, though the saying is very noble, it is +unnecessary; he should not, in truth, have required compensation. But +whenever an opinion is enunciated, the reader feels it to be +unnecessary. He does not want opinion. He is satisfied with the +language in which Cicero writes about the opinions of others, and with +the amusing manner in which he deals with things of themselves heavy and +severe. + +In the third book he, some time afterward, discusses the Stoic doctrine +with Cato at the Tusculan villa of Lucullus, near to his own. He had +walked over, and finding Cato there by chance, had immediately gone to +work to demolish Cato's philosophical doctrines. He tells us what a +glutton Cato was over his books, taking them even into the Senate with +him. Cicero asks for certain volumes of Aristotle, and Cato answers him +that he would fain put into his hand those of Zeno's school. + +We can see how easily Cato falls into the trap. He takes up his parable, +and preaches his sermon, but he does it with a marvellous enthusiasm, so +that we cannot understand that the man who wrote it intended to demolish +it all in the next few pages. I will translate his last words of Cato's +appeal to the world at large: "I have been carried farther than my +intention. But in truth the admirable order of the system, and the +incredible symmetry of it, has led him on. By the gods, do you not +wonder at it? In nature there is nothing so close packed, nor in art so +well fitted. The latter always agrees with the former--that which +follows with that which has gone before. Not a stone in it all can be +moved from its place. If you touch but one letter it falls to the +ground. How severe, how magnificent, how dignified stands out the person +of the wise man, who, when his reason shall have taught him that virtue +is the only good, of a necessity must be happy! He shall be more justly +called king than Tarquin, who could rule neither himself nor others; +more rightly Dictator than Sulla, the owner of the three vices, luxury, +avarice, and cruelty; more rightly rich than Crassus, who, had he not +in truth been poor, would never have crossed the Euphrates in quest of +war. All things are justly his who knows how to use them justly. You may +call him beautiful whose soul is more lovely than his body. He is free +who is slave to no desire. He is unconquered for whose mind you can +forge no chains; you need not wait with him for the last day to +pronounce him happy. If this be so, then the good man is also the happy +man. What can be better worth our study than philosophy, or what more +heavenly than virtue?"[285] All of this was written by Cicero in most +elaborate language, with a finish of words polished down to the last +syllable, because he had nothing else wherewith to satisfy the cravings +of his intellect. + +The fourth book is a continuation of the argument "Which when he had +said he (made) an end.--But I (began)."[286] With no other introduction +Cicero goes to work and demolishes every word that Cato had said. He is +very courteous, so that Cato cannot but admit that he is answered +becomingly; but, to use a common phrase, he does not leave him a leg to +stand upon. Although during the previous book Cato has talked so well +that the reader will think that there must be something in it, he soon +is made to perceive that the Stoic budge is altogether shoddy. + +The fifth and last book, De Finibus, is supposed to recount a dialogue +held at Athens, or, rather, gives the circumstances of a discourse +pretended to have been delivered there by Pupius Piso to the two +Ciceros, and to their cousin Lucius, on the merits of the old Academy +and the Aristotelian Peripatetics; for Plato's philosophy had got itself +split into two. There was the old and the new, and we may perhaps doubt +to which Cicero devoted himself. He certainly was not an Epicurean, and +he certainly was not a Stoic. He delighted to speak of himself as a +lover of Plato. But in some matters he seems to have followed Aristotle, +who had diverged from Plato, and he seems also to have clung to +Carneades, who had become master of the new Academy. But, in truth, to +ascertain the special doctrine of such a man on such a subject is vain. +As we read these works we lose ourselves in admiration of his memory; we +are astonished at the industry which he exhibits; we are delighted by +his perspicuity; and feel ourselves relieved amid the crowd of names and +theories by flashes of his wit; but there comes home to us, as a result, +the singular fact of a man playing with these theories as the most +interesting sport the world had produced, but not believing the least in +any of them. It was not that he disbelieved; and perhaps among them all +the tenets of the new Academy were those which reconciled themselves the +best to his common-sense. But they were all nothing to him but an +amusement. + +In this book there are some exquisite bits. He says, speaking of Athens, +that, "Go where you will through the city, you place your footsteps on +the vestiges of history."[287] He says of a certain Demetrius, whom he +describes as writing books without readers in Egypt, "that this culture +of his mind was to him, as it were, the food by which his humanity was +kept alive."[288] And then he falls into the praise of our love for our +neighbors, and introduces us to that true philosophy which was the real +guide of his life. "Among things which are honest," he says, "there is +nothing which shines so brightly and so widely as that brotherhood +between men, that agreement as to what may be useful to all, and that +general love for the human race. It comes from our original condition, +in which children are loved by their parents; and then binding together +the family, it spreads itself abroad among relations, connections, +friends, and neighbors. Then it includes citizens and those who are our +allies. At last it takes in the whole human race, and that feeling of +the soul arises which, giving every man his own, and defending by equal +laws the rights of each, is called justice."[289] It matters little how +may have been introduced this great secret which Christ afterward +taught, and for which we look in vain through the writings of all the +philosophers. It comes here simply from Cicero himself in the midst of +his remarks on the new Academy, but it gives the lesson which had +governed his life: "I will do unto others as I would they should do unto +me." In this is contained the rudiments of that religion which has +served to soften the hearts of us all. It is of you I must think, and +not of myself. Hitherto the schools had taught how a man should make +himself happy, whether by pleasure, whether by virtue, or whether by +something between the two. It seems that it had never as yet occurred to +a man to think of another except as a part of the world around him. Then +there had come a teacher who, while fumbling among the old Greek lessons +which had professed to tell mankind what each should do for himself, +brings forth this, as it were, in preparation for the true doctrine that +was to come: "Ipsa caritas generis humani!"--"That love of the human +race!" I trust I may be able to show, before I have finished my work, +that this was Cicero's true philosophy. All the rest is merely with him +a play of words. + +Our next work contains the five books of the Tusculan Disputations, +addressed to Brutus: Tusculanarum Disputationum, ad M. Brutum, libri i., +ii., iii., iv., and v. That is the name that has at last been decided by +the critics and annotators as having been probably given to them by +Cicero. They are supposed to have been written to console himself in his +grief for the death of Tullia. I have great doubt whether consolation in +sorrow is to be found in philosophy, but I have none as to the finding +it in writing philosophy. Here, I may add, that the poor generally +suffer less in their sorrow than the rich, because they are called upon +to work for their bread. The man who must make his pair of shoes between +sunrise and the moment at which he can find relief from his weary stool, +has not time to think that his wife has left him, and that he is +desolate in the world. Pulling those weary threads, getting that leather +into its proper shape, seeing that his stitches be all taut, so that he +do not lose his place among the shoemakers, so fills his time that he +has not a moment for a tear. And it is the same if you go from the +lowest occupation to the highest. Writing Greek philosophy does as well +as the making of shoes. The nature of the occupation depends on the +mind, but its utility on the disposition. It was Cicero's nature to +write. Will any one believe that he might not as well have consoled +himself with one of his treatises on oratory? But philosophy was then to +his hands. It seems to have cropped up in his latter years, after he had +become intimate with Brutus. When life was again one turmoil of +political fever it was dropped. + +In the five of the Books of the Tusculan Disputations, still addressed +to Brutus, he contends: 1. That death is no evil; 2. That pain is none; +3. That sorrow may be abolished; 4. That the passions may be conquered; +5. That virtue will suffice to make a man happy. These are the doctrines +of the Stoics; but Cicero does not in these books defend any school +especially. He leans heavily on Epicurus, and gives all praise to +Socrates and to Plato; but he is comparatively free: "Nullius adductus +jurare in verba magistri,"[290] as Horace afterward said, probably +ridiculing Cicero. "I live for the day. Whatever strikes my mind as +probable, that I say. In this way I alone am free."[291] + +Let us take his dogmas and go through them one by one, comparing each +with his own life. This, it may be said, is a crucial test to which but +few philosophers would be willing to accede; but if it shall be found +that he never even dreamed of squaring his conduct with his professions, +then we may admit that he employed his time in writing these things +because it did not suit him to make his pair of shoes. + +Was there ever a man who lived with a greater fear of death before his +eyes--not with the fear of a coward, but with the assurance that it +would withdraw him from his utility, and banish him from the scenes of a +world in sympathy with which every pulse of his heart was beating? Even +after Tullia was dead the Republic had come again for him, and something +might be done to stir up these faineant nobles! What could a dead man do +for his country? Look back at Cicero's life, and see how seldom he has +put forward the plea of old age to save him from his share of the work +of attack. Was this the man to console himself with the idea that death +was no evil? And did he despise pain, or make any attempt at showing his +disregard of it? You can hardly answer this question by looking for a +man's indifference when undergoing it. It would be to require too much +from philosophy to suppose that it could console itself in agony by +reasoning. It would not be fair to insist on arguing with Cato in the +gout. The clemency of human nature refuses to deal with philosophy in +the hard straits to which it may be brought by the malevolence of evil. +But when you find a man peculiarly on the alert to avoid the recurrence +of pain, when you find a man with a strong premeditated antipathy to a +condition as to which he pretends an indifference, then you may fairly +assert that his indifference is only a matter of argument. And this was +always Cicero's condition. He knew that he must at any rate lose the +time passed by him under physical annoyance. His health was good, and by +continued care remained so to the end; but he was always endeavoring to +avoid sea-sickness. He was careful as to his baths, careful as to his +eyes, very careful as to his diet. Was there ever a man of whom it might +be said with less truth that he was indifferent as to pain? + +The third position is that sorrow may be abolished. Read his letters to +Atticus about his daughter Tullia, written at the very moment he was +proving this. He was a heart-broken, sorrow-stricken man. It will not +help us now to consider whether in this he showed strength or weakness. +There will be doubt about it, whether he gained or lost more by that +deep devotion to another creature which made his life a misery to him +because that other one had gone; whether, too, he might not have better +hidden his sorrow than have shown it even to his friend. But with him, +at any rate, it was there. He can talk over it, weep over it, almost +laugh over it; but if there be a thing that he cannot do, it is to treat +it after the manner of a Stoic. + +His passions should be conquered. Look back at every period of his life, +and see whether he has ever attempted it. He has always been indignant, +or triumphant, or miserable, or rejoicing. Remember the incidents of his +life before and after his Consulship--the day of his election and the +day of his banishment--and ask the philosophers why he had not +controlled his passion. I shall be told, perhaps, that here was a man +over whom, in spite of his philosophy, his passion had the masterhood. +But what attempt did he ever make? Has he shown himself to us to be a +man with a leaning toward such attempts? Has he not revelled in his +passions, feeling them to be just, righteous, honest, and becoming a +man? Has he regretted them? Did they occasion him remorse? Will any one +tell me that such a one has lived with the conviction that he might +conquer the evils of the world by controlling his passions? That virtue +will make men happy he might probably have granted, if asked; but he +would have conceded the point with a subterfuge. The commonest Christian +of the day will say as much; but he will say it in a different meaning +from that intended by the philosophers, who had declared, as a rule of +life, that virtue would suffice to make them happy. To be good to your +neighbors will make you happy in the manner described by Cicero in the +fifth book, De Finibus. Love those who come near you. Be good to your +fellow-creatures. Think, when dealing with each of them, what his +feelings may be. Melt to a woman in her sorrow. Lend a man the +assistance of your shoulder. Be patient with age. Be tender with +children. Let others drink of your cup and eat of your loaf. Where the +wind cuts, there lend your cloak. That virtue will make you happy. But +that is not the virtue of which he spoke when he laid down his doctrine. +That was not the virtue with which Brutus was strong when he was +skinning those poor wretches of Salamis. Such was the virtue with which +the heart of Cicero glowed when he saw the tradesmen of the Cilician +town come out into the market-place with their corn. + +Cicero begins the second book of the Tusculans by telling us that +Neoptolemus liked to do a little philosophy now and then, but never too +much at a time. With himself the matter was different: "In what else is +there that I can do better?" Then he takes the bit between his teeth and +rushes away with it. The reader feels that he would not stop him if he +could. He does little, indeed, for philosophy; but so much for +literature that he would be a bold man who would want to have him +otherwise employed. + +He wrote three treatises, De Natura Deorum. Had he declared that he +would write three treatises to show the ideas which different men had +taken up about the gods he would be nearer to the truth. We have an idea +of what was Cicero's real notion of that "dominans in nobis +deus"[292]--that god which reigns within us--and which he declares in +Scipio's dream to have forbidden us to commit suicide. Nothing can be +farther removed from that idea than the gods of which he tells us, +either in the first book, in which the gods of Epicurus are set forth; +in the second, in which the Stoics are defended; or the third, in which +the gods, in accordance with the Academy, are maintained; not but that, +either for the one or for the other, the man who speaks up for that sect +does not say the best that is to be said. Velleius is eloquent for the +Epicureans, Balbus for the Stoics, and Cotta for the Academy. And in +that which each says there is to be found a germ of truth--though indeed +Cicero makes his Epicurean as absurd as he well can do. But he does not +leave a trace behind of that belief in another man's belief which an +energetic preacher is sure to create. The language is excellent, the +stories are charming, the arguments as used against each other are +courteous, clever, and such that on the spur of the moment a man cannot +very well reply to them; but they leave on the mind of the reader a sad +feeling of the lack of reality. + +In the beginning he again repeats his reasons for writing on such +subjects so late in life. "Being sick with ease, and having found the +condition of the Republic to be such that it has to be ruled by one man. +I have thought it good, for the sake of the Republic, to write about +philosophy in a language that shall be understood by all our citizens, +believing it to be a matter of great import to the glory of the State +that things of such weight should be set forth in the Latin +tongue;"[293] not that the philosophy should be set forth, but what the +different teachers said about it. His definition of eternity--or rather +the want of definition--is singular: "There has been from all time an +eternity which no measurement of time can describe. Its duration cannot +be understood--that there should have been a time before time +existed."[294] Then there comes an idea of the Godhead, escaping from +him in the midst of his philosophy, modern, human, and truly Ciceronian: +"Lo, it comes to pass that this god, of whom we are sure in our minds, +and of whom we hold the very footprints on our souls, can never appear +to us."[295] + +By-and-by we come to a passage in which we cannot but imagine that +Cicero does express something of the feeling of his heart, as for a +moment he seems to lose his courtesy in abusing the Epicureans: +"Therefore do not waste your salt, of which your people are much in +want, in laughing at us. Indeed, if you will listen to me, you will not +try to do so; it does not become you; it is not given to you; you have +not the power. I do not say this to you," he says, addressing Velleius, +"for your manners have been polished, and you possess the courtesy of +our people; but I am thinking of you all as a body, and chiefly of him +who is the father of your rules--a man without science, without +letters--one who insults all, without critical ability, without weight, +without wit."[296] Cicero, I think, must have felt some genuine dislike +for Epicurus when he spoke of him in such terms as these. + +Then, alas! there is commenced a passage in which are inserted many +translated verses of the Greek poet Aratus. Cicero when a lad had taken +in hand the Phaenomena of Aratus, and here he finds a place in which can +be introduced some of his lines. Aratus had devoted himself to the +singing of the stars, and has produced for us many of the names with +which we are still familiar: "The Twins;" "The Bull;" "The Great Bear;" +"Cassiopeia;" "The Waterman;" "The Scorpion;" these and many others are +made to come forward in hexameters--and by Cicero in Latin, as by Aratus +in their Greek guise. We may suppose that the poem as translated had +fallen dead--but here it is brought to life and is introduced into what +is intended as at least a rationalistic account of the gods and their +nature. Nothing less effective can be imagined than the repetition of +uninteresting verses in such a place; for the reader, who has had +Epicurus just handled for him, is driven to remember that their images +are at any rate as false as the scheme of Epicurus, and is made to +conclude that Balbus does not believe in his own argument. It has been +sometimes said of Cicero that he is too long. The lines have probably +been placed here as a joke, though they are inserted at such a length as +to carry the reader away altogether into another world. + +Farther on he devotes himself to anatomical research, which, for that +age, shows an accurate knowledge. But what has it to do with the nature +of the gods? "When the belly which is placed under the stomach becomes +the receptacle of meat and drink, the lungs and the heart draw in the +air for the stomach. The stomach, which is wonderfully arranged, +consists chiefly of nerves. * * * The lungs are light and porous, and +like a sponge--just fit for drawing in the breath. They blow themselves +out and draw themselves in, so that thus may be easily received that +sustenance most necessary to animal life."[297] + +The third book is but a fragment, but it begins well with pleasant +raillery against Epicurus. Cotta declares that he had felt no difficulty +with Epicurus. Epicurus and his allies had found little to say as to the +immortal gods. His gods had possessed arms and legs, but had not been +able to move them. But from Balbus, the Stoic, they had heard much +which, though not true, was nevertheless truthlike. In all these +discourses it seems that the poor Epicureans are treated with but a +moderate amount of mercy. But Cotta continues, and tells many stories of +the gods. He is interrupted in his tale, for the sad hand of destruction +has fallen upon the MS., and his arguments have come to us unfinished. +"It is better," he says, "not to give wine to the sick at all, because +you may injure them by the application. In the same way I do not know +whether it would not be better to refuse that gift of reason, that +sharpness and quickness of thought, to men in general, than to bestow it +upon them so often to their own destruction."[298] It is thus that is +discussed the nature of the gods in this work of Cicero, which is indeed +a discussion on the different schools of philosophy, each in the +position which it had reached in his time. + +The De Natura Deorum is followed by two books, De Divinatione, and by +the fragment of one, De Fato. Divination is the science of predicting +events. By "Fatum" Cicero means destiny, or that which has been fixed +beforehand. The three books together may be taken as religious +discourses, and his purport seems to have been to show that it might be +the duty of the State to foster observances, and even to punish their +non-observance--for the benefit of the whole--even though they might not +be in themselves true. He is here together with his brother, or with +those whom, like his brother, he may suppose to have emancipated +themselves from superstition--and tells him or them that though they do +not believe they should feign belief. If the augurs declare by the +flight of birds that such a thing should be done, let it be done, +although he who has to act in the matter has no belief in the birds. If +they declare that a matter has been fixed by fate, let it be as though +it were fixed, whether fixed or no. He repudiates the belief as +unreasonable or childish, but recommends that men should live as though +they believed. In such a theory as this put thus before the reader, +there will seem to be dissimulation. I cannot deny that it is so, though +most anxious to assert the honesty of Cicero. I can only say that such +dissimulation did prevail then, and that it does prevail now. If any be +great enough to condemn the hierarchs of all the churches, he may do so, +and may include Cicero with the Archbishop of Canterbury. I am not. It +seems necessary to make allowance for the advancing intelligence of men, +and unwise to place yourself so far ahead as to shut yourself out from +that common pale of mankind. I distrust the self-confidence of him who +thinks that he can deduce from one acknowledged error a whole scheme of +falsehood. I will take our Protestant Church of England religion and +will ask some thoughtful man his belief as to its changing doctrines, +and will endeavor to do so without shocking the feelings of any. When +did Sabbatarian observances begin to be required by the Word of God, and +when again did they cease to be so? If it were worth the while of those +who have thought about the subject to answer my question, the replies +would be various. It has never begun! It has never wavered! And there +would be the intermediate replies of those who acknowledge that the +feeling of the country is altering and has altered. In the midst of +this, how many a father of a family is there who goes to church for the +sake of example? Does not the Church admit prayers for change of +weather? Ask the clergyman on his way from church what he is doing with +his own haystack, and his answer will let you know whether he believes +in his own prayers. He has lent all the sanctity of his voice to the +expression of words which had been written when the ignorance of men as +to the works of nature was greater; or written yesterday because the +ignorance of man has demanded it. Or they who have demanded it have not +perhaps been ignorant themselves, but have thought it well to subserve +the superstition of the multitude. I am not saying this as against the +religious observances of to-day, but as showing that such is still the +condition of men as to require the defence which Cicero also required +when he wrote as follows: "Former ages erred in much which we know to +have been changed by practice, by doctrine, or by time. But the custom, +the religion, the discipline, the laws of the augurs and the authority +of the college, are retained, in obedience to the opinion of the people, +and to the great good of the State. Our Consuls, Claudius and Junius, +were worthy of all punishment when they put to sea in opposition to the +auspices; for men must obey religion, nor can the customs of our country +be set aside so easily."[299] No stronger motive for adhering to +religious observances can be put forward than the opinion of the people +and the good of the State. There will be they who aver that truth is +great and should be allowed to prevail. Though broken worlds should fall +in disorder round their heads, they would stand firm amid the ruins. But +they who are likely to be made responsible will not cause worlds to be +broken. + +Such, I think, was the reasoning within Cicero's mind when he wrote +these treatises. In the first he encounters his brother Quintus at his +Tusculan villa, and there listens to him discoursing in favor of +religion. Quintus is altogether on the side of the gods and the +auspices. He is, as we may say, a gentleman of the old school, and is +thoroughly conservative. In this way he has an opportunity given him of +showing the antiquity of his belief. "Stare super vias antiquas," is the +motto of Quintus Cicero. Then he proceeds to show the two kinds of +divination which have been in use. There is the one which he calls +"Ars," and which we perhaps may call experience. The soothsayer predicts +in accordance with his knowledge of what has gone before. He is asked to +say, for instance, whether a ship shall put to sea on a Friday. He +knows--or thinks that he knows, or in his ignorance declares that he +thinks that he knows--that ships that have put to sea on Friday have +generally gone to the bottom. He therefore predicts against the going to +sea. Although the ship should put forth on the intended day, and should +make a prosperous voyage, the prophet has not been proved to be false. +That can only be done by showing that ships that have gone to sea on +Friday have generally been subject to no greater danger than others--a +process which requires the close observations of science to make good. +That is Art. Then there is the prediction which comes from a mind +disturbed--one who dreams, let us say, or prophesies when in a fit--as +the Sibyl, or Epimenides of Crete, who lived one hundred and fifty-seven +years, but slept during sixty-four of them. Quintus explains as to these +that the god does not desire mankind to understand them, but only to use +them.[300] + +He tells us many amusing details as to prophetic dreams and the doings +of soothsayers and wise men. The book so becomes chatty and full of +anecdotes, and interspersed with many pieces of poetry--some by others +and some by Cicero. Here are given those lines as to the battle of the +eagle and the dragon which I have ventured to call the best amid the +nine versions brought forward.[301] + +We cannot but sympathize with him in the reason which he prefixes to the +second book of this treatise: "I often ask myself and turn in my mind +how best I may serve the largest number of my fellow-citizens, lest +there should come a time in which I should seem to have ceased to be +anxious for the State; and nothing better has occurred to me than that I +should make known the way of studying the best arts--which indeed I +think I have now done in various books."[302] Then he recapitulates +them. There is the opening work on philosophy which he had dedicated to +Hortensius, now lost. Then in the four books of the Academics he had put +forward his ideas as to that school which he believed to be the least +arrogant and the truest--meaning the new Academy. After that, as he had +felt all philosophy to be based on the search after good and evil, he +had examined that matter. The Tusculan Inquiries had followed, in which +he had set forth, in five books, the five great rules of living well. +Having finished this, he had written his three books on the nature of +the gods, and was now in the act of completing it, and would complete +it, by his present inquiries. We cannot but sympathize with him because +we know that, though he was not quite in earnest in all this, he was as +near it as a man can be who teaches that which he does not quite believe +himself. Brutus believed it, and Cato, and that Velleius, and that +Balbus, and that Cotta. Or if perchance any of them did not, they lived, +and talked, and read, and were as erudite about it, as though they did. +The example was good, and the precepts were the best to be had. Amid it +all he chose the best doctrine, and he was undoubtedly doing good to his +countrymen in thus representing to them in their native language the +learning by which they might best be softened. + + "Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit, et artes. + Intulit agresti Latio."[303] + +Here, too, he explains his own conduct in a beautiful passage. "My +fellow-citizens," says he, "will pardon me, or perhaps will rather thank +me, for that when the Republic fell into the power of one man I neither +hid myself nor did I desert them; nor did I idly weep, or carry myself +as though angry with the man or with the times; nor yet, forsooth, so +flattering the good fortune of another, that I should have to be +ashamed of what I had done myself. For I had learned this lesson from +the philosophy of Plato--that there are certain changes in public +affairs. They will be governed now by the leaders of the State, then by +the people, sometimes by a single man."[304] This is very wise, but he +goes to work and altogether destroys his brother's argument. He knows +that he is preaching only to a few--in such a manner as to make his +preaching safe. His language is very pleasing, always civil, always +courteous; but not the less does he turn the arguments of his brother +into ridicule. And we feel that he is not so much laughing at his +brother as at the gods themselves--they are so clearly wooden +gods--though he is aware how necessary it is for the good of the State +that they shall be received. He declares that, in accordance with the +theory of his brother--meaning thereby the Stoics--"it is necessary that +they, the gods, should spy into every cottage along the road, so that +they may look after the affairs of men."[305] It is playful, +argumentative, and satirical. At last he proposes to leave the subject. +Socrates would also do so, never asking for the adhesion of any one, but +leaving the full purport of his words to sink into the minds of his +audience. Quintus says that he quite agrees to this, and so the +discourse De Divinatione is brought to an end. + +Of his book on fate we have only a fragment, or the middle part of it. +It is the desire of Cicero to show that, in the sequence of affairs +which men call Life, it matters little whether there be a Destiny or +not. Things will run on, and will be changed, or apparently be changed, +by the action of men. What is it to us whether this or that event has +been decreed while we live, and while each follows his own devices? All +this, however, is a little tedious, taken at the end of so long a course +of philosophy; and we rise at last from the perusal with a feeling of +thankfulness that all these books of Chrysippus of which he tells us, +are not still existent to be investigated. + +Such is the end of those works which I admit to have been philosophical, +and of which it seems he understood that they were the work of about +eighteen months. They were all written after Caesar's triumph--when it +was no longer in the power of any Roman to declare his opinion either in +the Senate or in the Forum. Caesar had put down all opposition, and was +made supreme over everything--till his death. The De Fato was written, +indeed, after he had fallen, but before things had so far shaped +themselves as to make it necessary that Cicero should return to public +life. So, indeed, were the three last moral essays, which I shall notice +in the next chapter; but in truth he had them always in his heart. It +was only necessary that he should send them forth to scribes, leaving +either to himself or to some faithful Tiro the subsequent duty of +rearrangement. But what a head there was there to contain it all! + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +_CICERO'S MORAL ESSAYS._ + + +We have now to deal with the moral essays of this almost inexhaustible +contributor to the world's literature, and we shall then have named +perhaps a quarter of all that he wrote. I have seen somewhere a +calculation that only a tenth of his works remain to us, dug out, as it +were, from the buried ruins of literature by the care of sedulous and +eager scholars. I make a more modest estimate of his powers. Judging +from what we know to have been lost, and from the absence of any effort +to keep the greater portion of his letters, I think that I do not +exaggerate his writing. Who can say but that as time goes on some future +Petrarch or some future Mai may discover writings hitherto unknown, +concealed in convent boxes, or more mysteriously hidden beneath the +labors of Middle-Age monks? It was but in 1822 that the De Republica was +brought to light--so much of it at least as we still possess; and for +more than thirty years afterward Cardinal Mai continued to reproduce, +from time to time, collections of Greek and Latin writings hitherto +unheard of by classical readers. Let us hope, however, that the zeal of +the learned may stop short of that displayed by Simon Du Bos, or we may +have whole treatises of Cicero of which he himself was guiltless.[306] + +I can hardly content myself with classifying the De Republica and the De +Legibus under the same name with these essays of Cicero, which are +undoubtedly moral in their nature. But it may pass, perhaps, without +that distinct contradiction which had to be made as to the enveloping +the De Officiis in the garb of philosophy. It has been the combining of +the true and false in one set, and handing them down to the world as +Cicero's philosophy, which has done the mischief. The works reviewed in +the last chapter contained disputations on the Greek philosophy which +Cicero thought might be well handled in the Latin language for the +benefit of his countrymen. It would be well for them to know what +Epicurus taught, or Zeno, and how they differed from Socrates and Plato, +and this he told them. Now in these moral essays he gives them his own +philosophy--if that may be called philosophy which is intended to teach +men how to live well. There are six books on government, called the De +Republica, and three on law; and there are the three treatises on old +age and friendship, each in one book, and that on the duty of man to +man, in three. + +There is a common error in the world as to the meaning of the word +republic. It has come to have a sweet savor in the nostrils of men, or a +most evil scent, according to their politics. But there is, in truth, +the Republic of Russia, as there is that of the United States, and that +of England. Cicero, in using it as the name of his work, simply means +"the government;" and the treatise under that head contains an account +of the Roman Empire, and is historical rather than argumentative and +scientific. He himself was an oligarch, and had been brought up amid a +condition of things in which that most deleterious form of government +recommended itself to him as containing all that had been good and +magnificent in the Roman Empire. The great men of Rome, whom the empire +had demanded for its construction, had come up each for the work of a +year; and, when succeeding, had perhaps been elected for a second. By +the expulsion of their kings, the class from whom these men had been +chosen showed their personal desire for honor, and the marvel is that +through so many centuries those oligarchs should have flourished. The +reader, unless he be strongly impregnated with democratic feelings, when +he begins to read Roman history finds himself wedded to the cause of +these oligarchs. They have done the big deeds, and the opposition comes +to them from vulgar hands. Let me ask any man who remembers the reading +of his Livy whether it was not so with him. But it was in truth the +democratic element opposed to these leaders, and the battles they won +from time to time within the walls of the city, which produced the +safety of Rome and enabled the government to go on. Then by degrees the +people became enervated and the leaders became corrupt, and by +masterhood over foreign people and external subjects slaves were +multiplied, and the work appertaining to every man could be done by +another man's hand. Then the evils of oligarchy began. Plunder, rapine, +and luxury took the place of duty performed. A Verres ruled where a +Marcellus had conquered. Cicero, who saw the difference plainly enough +in regard to the individuals, did not perceive that this evil had grown +according to its nature. That state of affairs was produced which +Mommsen has described to us as having been without remedy. But Cicero +did not see it. He had his eyes on the greatness of the past--and on +himself--and would not awake to the fact that the glory was gone from +Rome. He was in this state of mind when he wrote his De Republica, nine +years before the time in which he commenced his philosophical +discussions. Then he still hoped. Caesar was away in Gaul, and Pompey +maintained at Rome the ghost of the old Republic. He could still open +his mouth and talk boldly of freedom. He had not been as yet driven to +find consolation amid that play of words which constitutes the Greek +philosophy. + +I must remind the readers again that the De Republica is a fragment: the +first part is wanting. We find him telling us the story of the elder +Cato, in order that we may understand how good it is that we should not +relax in our public work as long as our health will sustain us. Then he +gives instances to show that the truly good citizen will not be deterred +by the example of men who have suffered for their country, and among the +number he names himself. But he soon introduces the form of dialogue +which he afterward continues, and brings especially the younger Scipio +and Laelius upon the scene. The lessons which are given to us are +supposed to come from the virtue of the titular grandson of the greater +Scipio who out-manoeuvred Hannibal. He continues to tell story after +story out of the Roman chronicles, and at last assures us that that form +of government is the best in which the monarchical element is tempered +by the authority of the leading citizens, and kept alive by the voices +of the people. Is it only because I am an Englishman that he seems to me +to describe that form of government which was to come in England? + +The second book also begins with the praises of Cato. Scipio then +commences with Romulus, and tells the history of Rome's kings. Tarquin +is banished, and the Consulate established. He tells us, by no means +with approbation, how the Tribunate was established, and then, alas! +there comes a break in the MS. + +In the third we have, as a beginning, a fragment handed down to us by +Augustine, in which Cicero complains of the injustice of Nature in +having sent man into the world, as might a step-mother, naked, weak, +infirm, with soul anxious, timid, and without force, but still having +within it something of divine fire not wholly destroyed. Then, after a +while, through many "lacunae," Scipio, Laelius, and one Philus fall into a +discourse as to justice. There is a remarkable passage, from which we +learn that the Romans practised protection with a rigor exceeding that +of modern nations. They would not even permit their transalpine allies +to plant their olives and vineyards, lest their produce should make +their way across Italy--whereby they raised the prices against +themselves terribly of oil and wine.[307] "There is a kind of slavery +which is unjust," says one, "when those men have to serve others who +might 'properly belong to themselves.' But when they only are made to be +slaves who--" We may perceive that the speaker went on to say that they +who were born slaves might properly be kept in that position. But it is +evidently intended to be understood that there exists a class who are +slaves by right. Carneades, the later master of the new Academy, has now +joined them, and teaches a doctrine which would not make him popular in +this country. "If you should know," he says, "that an adder lay hid just +where one were about to sit down whose death would be a benefit to you, +you would do wrong unless you were to tell him of it. But you would do +it with impunity, as no one could prove that you knew it." From this may +be seen the nature of the discourses on justice. + +The next two books are but broken fragments, treating of morals and +manners. In the sixth we come to that dream of Scipio which has become +so famous in the world of literature that I do not know whether I can do +better than translate it, and add it on as an appendix to the end of my +volume. It is in itself so beautiful in parts that I think that all +readers will thank me. (See appendix to this chapter). At the same time +it has to be admitted that it is in parts fantastic, and might almost be +called childish, were it not that we remember, when reading it, at what +distance of time it was written, and with what difficulty Cicero strove +to master subjects which science has made familiar to us. The music of +the spheres must have been heard in his imagination before he could have +told us of it, as he has done in language which seems to be poetic now +as it was then--and because poetic, therefore not absurd. The length of +the year's period is an extravagance. You may call your space of time by +what name you will; it is long or short in proportion to man's life. He +tells us that we may not hope that our fame shall be heard of on the +other side of the Ganges, or that our voices shall come down through +many years. I myself read this dream of Scipio in a volume found in +Australia, and read it two thousand years after it was written. He could +judge of this world's future only by the past. But when he tells us of +the soul's immortality, and of the heaven to be won by a life of virtue, +of the duty upon us to remain here where God has placed us, and of the +insufficiency of fame to fill the cravings of the human heart, then we +have to own that we have come very near to that divine teaching which he +was not permitted to hear. + +Two years afterward, about the time that Milo was killing Clodius, he +wrote his treatise in three books, De Legibus. It is, we are told, a +copy from Plato. As is the Topica a copy from Aristotle, written on +board ship from memory, so may this be called a copy. The idea was given +to him, and many of the thoughts which he has worked up in his own +manner. It is a dialogue between him and Atticus and his brother +Quintus, and treats rather of the nature and origin of law, and how law +should be made to prevail, than of laws as they had been as yet +constructed for the governance of man. All that is said in the first +book may be found scattered through his philosophic treatises. There are +some pretty morsels, as when Atticus tells us that he will for the nonce +allow Cicero's arguments to pass, because the music of the birds and the +waters will prevent his fellow-Epicureans from hearing and being led +away by mistaken doctrine.[308] Now and again he enunciates a great +doctrine, as when he declares that "there is nothing better than that +men should understand that they are born to be just, and that justice is +not a matter of opinion, but is inherent in nature."[309] He constantly +opposes the idea of pleasure, recurring to the doctrine of his Greek +philosophy. It was not by them, however, that he had learned to feel +that a man's final duty here on earth is his duty to other men. + +In the second book he inculcates the observance of religious ceremonies +in direct opposition to that which he afterward tells us in his treatise +De Divinatione. But in this, De Legibus, we may presume that he intends +to give instructions for the guidance of the public, whereas in the +other he is communicating to a few chosen friends those esoteric +doctrines which it would be dangerous to give to the world at large. +There is a charming passage, in which we are told not to devote the rich +things of the earth to the gods. Gold and silver will create impure +desire. Ivory, taken from the body of an animal, is a gift not simple +enough for a god. Metals, such as iron, are for war rather than for +worship. An image, if it is to be used, let it be made of one bit of +wood, or one block of stone. If cloth is given, let it not be more than +a woman can make in a month. Let there be no bright colors. White is +best for the gods; and so on.[310] Here we have the wisdom of Plato, or +of those from whom Plato had borrowed it, teaching us a lesson against +which subsequent ages have rebelled. It is not only that a god cannot +want our gold and silver, but that a man does want them. That rule as to +the woman's morsel of cloth was given in some old assembly, lest her +husband or her brother should lose the advantage of her labor. It was +seen what superstition would do in collecting the wealth of the world +round the shrines of the gods. How many a man has since learned to +regret the lost labor of his household; and yet what god has been the +better? There may be a question of aesthetics, indeed, with which Cicero +does not meddle. + +In the third book he descends to practical and at the same time +political questions. There had been no matter contested so vehemently +among Romans as that of the establishment and maintenance of the +Tribunate. Cicero defends its utility, giving, with considerable wit, +the task of attacking it to his brother Quintus. Quintus, indeed, is +very violent in his onslaught. What can be more "pestiferous," or more +prone to sedition? Then Cicero puts him down. "O Quintus," he says, "you +see clearly the vices of the Tribunate! but can there be anything more +unjust than, in discussing a matter, to remember all its evils and to +forget all its merits? You might say the same of the Consuls; for the +very possession of power is an evil in itself. But without that evil you +cannot have the good which the institution contains. The power of the +Tribunes is too great, you say. Who denies it? But the violence of the +people, always cruel and immodest, is less so under their own leader +than if no leader had been given them. The leader will measure his +danger; but the people itself know no such measurement."[311] He +afterward takes up the question of the ballot, and is against it on +principle. "Let the people vote as they will," he says, "but let their +votes be known to their betters."[312] It is, alas, useless now to +discuss the matter here in England! We have been so impetuous in our +wish to avoid the evil of bribery--which was quickly going--that we +have rushed into that of dissimulation, which can only be made to go by +revolutionary changes. When men vote by tens of thousands the ballot +will be safe, but no man will then care for the ballot. It is, however, +strange to see how familiar men were under the Roman Empire with matters +which are perplexing us to-day. + +We now come to the three purely moral essays, the last written of his +works, except the Philippics and certain of his letters, and the Topica. +Indeed, when you reach the last year or two of his life, it becomes +difficult to assign their exact places to each. He mentions one as +written, and then another; but at last this latter appears before the +former. They were all composed in the same year, the year before his +death--the most active year of his life, as far as his written works are +concerned--and I shall here treat De Senectute first, then De Amicitia, +and the De Officiis last, believing them to have been published in that +order. + +The De Senectute is an essay written in defence of old age, generally +called Cato Major. It is supposed to have been spoken by the old Censor, +149 B.C., and to have been listened to by Scipio and Laelius. This was +the same Scipio who had the dream--who, in truth, was not a Scipio at +all, but a son of Paulus AEmilius, whom we remember in history as the +younger Africanus. Cato rushes at once into his subject, and proves to +us his point by insisting on all those commonplace arguments which were +probably as well known before his time as they have been since. All men +wish for old age, but none rejoice when it has come. The answer is that +no man really wishes for old age, but simply wishes for a long life, of +which old age is the necessary ending. It creeps on us so quickly! But +in truth it does not creep quicker on youth than does youth on infancy; +but the years seem to fly fast because not marked by distinct changes. +It is the part of a wise man to see that each portion of his five-act +poem shall be well performed. Cato goes on with his lesson, and tells us +perhaps all that could be said on behalf of old age at that period of +the world's history. It was written by an old man to an old man; for it +is addressed to Atticus, who was now sixty-seven, and of course deals +much in commonplaces. But it is full of noble thoughts, and is pleasant, +and told in the easiest language; and it leaves upon the reader a sweet +savor of the dignity of age. Let the old man feel that it is not for him +to attempt the pranks of youth, and he will already have saved himself +from much of the evil which Time can do to him. I am ready for you, and +you cannot hurt me. "Let not the old man assume the strength of the +young, as a young man does not that of the bull or the elephant. * * * +But still there is something to be regretted by an orator, for to talk +well requires not only intellect but all the powers of the body. The +melodious voice, however, remains, which--and you see my years--I have +not yet lost. The voice of an old man should always be tranquil and +contained."[313] He tells a story of Massinissa, who was then supposed +to be ninety. He was stiff in his joints, and therefore when he went a +journey had himself put upon a horse, and never left it, or started on +foot and never mounted.[314] "We must resist old age, my Laelius. We must +compensate our shortness by our diligence, my Scipio. As we fight +against disease, so let us contend with old age.[315] * * * Why age +should be avaricious I could never tell. Can there be anything more +absurd than to demand so great a preparation for so small a +journey?"[316] He tells them that he knew their fathers, and that "he +believes they are still alive--that, though they have gone from this +earth, they are still leading that life which can only be considered +worthy of the name."[317] + +The De Amicitia is called Laelius. It is put into the mouth of Laelius, +and is supposed to be a discourse on friendship held by him in the +presence of his two sons-in-law, Caius Fannius and Mucius Scaevola, a few +days after the death of Scipio his friend. Not Damon and Pythias were +more renowned for their friendship than Scipio and Laelius. He discusses +what is friendship, and why it is contracted; among whom friendship +should exist; what should be its laws and duties; and, lastly, by what +means it should be preserved. + +Cicero begins by telling the story of his own youth; how he had been +placed under the charge of Scaevola the augur, and how, having changed +his toga, he never left the old man's side till he died; and he recalls +how once, sitting with him in a circle with friends, Scaevola fell into +that mode of conversation which was usual with him, and told him how +once Laelius had discoursed to them on friendship. It is from first to +last fresh and green and cooling, as is the freshness of the early +summer grass to men who live in cities. The reader feels, as he goes on +with it, that he who had such thoughts and aspirations could never have +been altogether unhappy. Coming at the end of his life, in the telling +the stories of which we have had to depend so much on his letters to +Atticus, it reminds me of the love that existed between them. He has +sometimes been querulous with his Atticus. He has complained of bad +advice, of deficient care, of halting friendship--in reading which +accusations we have, all of us, declared him to be wrong. But Atticus +understood him. He knew that the privileges and the burden must go +together, and told himself how much more than sufficient were the +privileges to compensate the burden. When we make our histories on the +bases of such loving letters, we should surely open them with careful +hands, and deal with them in sympathy with their spirit. In writing this +treatise De Amicitia especially for the eyes of Atticus, how constantly +the heart must have gone back to all that had passed between them--how +confident he must have been of the truth of his friend! He who, after +nearly half a century of friendship, could thus write to his friend on +friendship cannot have been an unhappy man. + +"Should a new friendship spring up," he tells us, "let it not be +repressed. You shall still gather fruit from young trees; but do not let +it take the place of the old. Age and custom will have given the old +fruit a flavor of its own. Who is there that would ride a new horse in +preference to one tried--one who knows your hand?"[318] + +I regard the De Officiis as one of the most perfect treatises on morals +which the world possesses, whether for the truth of the lessons given, +for their universality, or for the beauty and lightness of the language. +It is on a subject generally heavy, but is treated with so much art and +grace as to make it a delight to have read it, and an important part of +education to know it. It is addressed to his son, and is as good now as +when it was written. There is not a precept taught in it which is not +modern as well as ancient, and which is not fit alike for Christians and +Pagans. A system of morality, we might have said, should be one which +would suit all men alike. We are bound to acknowledge that this will +suit only gentlemen, because he who shall live in accordance with it +must be worthy of that name. The "honestum" means much more in Latin +than it does in English. Neither "honor" nor "honesty" will give the +rendering--not that honor or that honesty which we know. Modern honor +flies so high that it leaves honesty sometimes too nearly out of sight; +while honesty, though a sterling virtue, ignores those sentiments on +which honor is based. "Honestum" includes it all; and Cicero has raised +his lessons to such a standard as to comprise it all. But he so teaches +that listeners delight to hear. He never preaches. He does not fulminate +his doctrine at you, bidding you beware of backslidings and of +punishments; but he leads you with him along the grassy path, till you +seem to have found out for yourself what is good--you and he together, +and together to have learned that which is manly, graceful, honest, and +decorous. + +In Cicero's essays is to be found always a perfect withdrawal of himself +from the circumstances of the world around him; so that the reader shall +be made to suppose that, in the evening of his life, having reached at +last, by means of work done for the State, a time of blessed rest, he +gives forth the wisdom of his age, surrounded by all that a tranquil +world can bestow upon him. Look back through the treatises written +during the last two years, and each shall appear to have been prepared +in some quiet and undisturbed period of his life; but we know that the +last polish given by his own hands to these three books De Officiis was +added amid the heat and turmoils of the Philippics. It is so singular, +this power of adapting his mind to whatever pursuit he will, that we are +taught almost to think that there must have been two Ciceros, and that +the one was eager in personal conflict with Antony, while the other was +seated in the garden of some Italian villa meditating words by obeying +which all men might be ennobled. + +In the dialectical disputations of the Greek philosophers he had picked +up a mode of dividing his subject into numbers which is hardly fitted +for a discourse so free and open as is this. We are therefore somewhat +offended when we are told that virtue is generally divided "into three +headings."[319] If it be so, and if it be necessary that we should know +it, it should, I think, be conveyed to us without this attempt at +logical completeness. It is impossible to call this a fault. Accuracy +must, indeed, be in all writers a virtue. But feeling myself to be +occasionally wounded by this numbering, I mention it. In the De Officiis +he divides the entire matter into three parts, and to each part he +devotes a book. In the first he considers whether a thing is fit to be +done or left undone--that is, whether it be "honestum" or "turpe;" in +the second, whether it be expedient, that is "utile," or the reverse; +and in the third he compares the "honestum" and the "utile," and tells +us what to choose and what to avoid. + +The duty due by a citizen to his country takes with him a place somewhat +higher than we accord to it. "Parents are dear, children are dear to us, +so are relations and friends; but our country embraces it all, for what +good man would not die so that he might serve it? How detestable, then, +is the barbarity of those who wound their country at every turn, and +have been and are occupied in its destruction."[320] He gives us some +excellent advice as to our games, which might be read with +advantage, perhaps, by those who row in our university races. But at the +end of it he tells us that the hunting-field affords an honest and +fitting recreation.[321] I have said that he was modern in his +views--but not altogether modern. He defends the suicide of Cato. "To +them," he says, speaking of Cato's companions in Africa, "it might not +have been forgiven. Their life was softer and their manners easier. But +to Cato nature had given an invincible gravity of manners which he had +strengthened with all the severity of his will. He had always remained +steadfast in the purpose that he would never stand face to face with the +tyrant of his country."[322] There was something terribly grand in +Cato's character, which loses nothing in coming to us from the lips of +Cicero. So much Cicero allows to the stern nature of the man's +character. Let us look back and we shall find that we make the same +allowance. This is not, in truth, a lesson which he gives us, but an +apology which he makes. + +Read his advice given in the following line for the outward demeanor of +a gentleman: "There are two kinds of beauty. The one is loveliness, +which is a woman's gift. But dignity belongs to the man. Let all +ornament be removed from the person not worthy of a man to wear--and all +fault in gesture and in motion which is like to it. The manners of the +wrestling-ground and of the stage are sometimes odious; but let us see +the actor or the wrestler walking simple and upright, and we praise him. +Let him use a befitting neatness, not verging toward the effeminate, but +just avoiding a rustic harshness. The same measure is to be taken with +your clothes as with other matters in which a middle course is +best."[323] + +Then he tells his son what pursuits are to be regarded as sordid. "Those +sources of gain are to be regarded as mean in the pursuit of which men +are apt to be offended, as are the business of tax-gathers and usurers. +All those are to be regarded as illiberal to which men bring their work +but not their art." As for instance, the painter of a picture shall be +held to follow a liberal occupation--but not so the picture dealer. +"They are sordid who buy from merchants that they may sell again: they +have to lie like the mischief or they cannot make their living. All mere +workmen are engaged in ignoble employment: what of grandeur can the mere +workshop produce? Least of all can those trades be said to be good +which administer only to our pleasures--such as fish-mongers, butchers, +cooks, and poulterers."[324] He adds at the end of his list that of all +employment none is better than agriculture, or more worthy of the care +of a freeman. In all of this it is necessary that we should receive what +he says with some little allowance for the difference in time; but there +is nothing, if we look closely into it, in which we cannot see the +source of noble ideas, and the reason for many notions which are now +departing from us--whether for good or evil who shall say? + +In the beginning of the second book he apologizes for his love of +philosophy, as he calls it, saying that he knew how it had been misliked +among those round him. "But when the Republic," he says, "had ceased to +be--that Republic which had been all my care--my employment ceased both +in the Forum and the Senate. But when my mind absolutely refused to be +inactive, I thought that I might best live down the misery of the time +if I devoted myself to philosophy."[325] From this we may see how his +mind had worked when the old occupation of his life was gone. "Nihil +agere autem quum animus non posset!" How piteous was his position, and +yet how proud! There was nothing for him to do--but there was nothing +because hitherto there had been so much that he had always done. + +He tells his son plainly how an honest man must live. To be ashamed of +nothing, he must do nothing of which he will be ashamed. But for him +there is this difficulty: "If any one on his entrance into the world has +had laid upon him the greatness of a name won by his father, let us +say--as, my Cicero, has perhaps happened to you--the eyes of all men +will be cast upon him, and inquiry will be made as to his mode of life. +He will be so placed under the meridian sun that no word spoken or deed +done by him shall be hidden.[326] * * * He must live up to the glory to +which he has been born." He gives to his son much advice about the bar. +"But the greatest praise," he says, "comes from defending a man accused; +and especially so when you shall assist one who is surrounded and +ill-treated by the power of some great man. This happened to me more +than once in my youth, when, for instance, I defended Roscius Amerinus +against Sulla's power." The speech is with us extant still.[327] He +tells us much as to the possession of money, and the means of insuring +it in a well-governed state. "Take care that you allow no debts to the +injury of the Republic. You must guard against this at all hazards--but +never by taking from the rich and giving it to the poor. Nothing is so +requisite to the State as public credit--which cannot exist unless +debtors be made to pay what they owe. There was nothing to which I +looked more carefully than this when I was Consul. Horse and foot, they +tried their best; but I opposed them, and freed the Republic from the +threatened evil. Never were debts more easily or more quickly collected. +When men knew that they could not ignore their creditors, then they +paid. But he who was then the conquered is the conqueror now. He has +effected what he contemplated--even though it be not now necessary for +him."[328] From this passage it seems that these books must have been +first written before Caesar's death. Caesar, at the time of Catiline's +conspiracy, had endeavored to annul all debts--that is, to establish +"new tables" according to the Roman idiom--but had failed by Cicero's +efforts. He had since affected it, although he might have held his power +without seeking for the assistance of such debtors. Who could that be +but Caesar? In the beginning of the third book there is another passage +declaring the same thing: "I have not strength enough for silent +solitude, and therefore give myself up to my pen. In the short time +since the Republic has been overturned I have written more than in all +my former years."[329] That, again, he could not have written after +Caesar had fallen. We are left, indeed, to judge, from the whole nature +of the discourse, that it was written at the period in which the wrongs +done by Caesar to Rome--wrongs at any rate as they appeared to +Cicero--were just culminating in that regal pride of action which led to +his slaughter. It was written then, but was published a few months +afterward. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +_CICERO'S RELIGION._ + + +I should hardly have thought it necessary to devote a chapter of my book +to the religion of a pagan, had I not, while studying Cicero's life, +found that I was not dealing with a pagan's mind. The mind of the Roman +who so lived as to cause his life to be written in after-times was at +this period, in most instances, nearly a blank as to any ideas of a God. +Horace is one who in his writing speaks much of himself. Ovid does so +still more constantly. They are both full of allusions to "the gods." +They are both aware that it is a good thing to speak with respect of the +national worship, and that the orders of the Emperor will be best +obeyed by believers. "Dis te minorem quod geris, imperas," says Horace, +when, in obedience probably to Augustus, he tells his fellow-citizens +that they are forgetting their duties in their unwillingness to pay for +the repairs of the temples. "Superi, quorum sumus omnia," says Ovid, +thinking it well to show in one of his writings, which he sent home from +his banishment, that he still entertained the fashionable creed. But +they did not believe. It was at that time the fashion to pretend a light +belief, in order that those below might live as though they believed, +and might induce an absolute belief in the women and the children. It +was not well that the temple of the gods should fall into ruins. It was +not well that the augurs, who were gentlemen of high family, should go +for nothing. Caesar himself was the high-priest, and thought much of the +position, but he certainly was bound by no priestcraft. A religious +belief was not expected from a gentleman. Religious ceremonies had +gradually sunk so low in the world's esteem that the Roman nobility had +come to think of their gods as things to swear by, or things to amuse +them, or things from which, if times were bad with them, some doubtful +assistance might perchance come. In dealing with ordinary pagans of +those days religion may be laid altogether on one side. I remember no +passage in Livy or Tacitus indicating a religious belief. + +But with Cicero my mind is full of such; and they are of a nature to +make me feel that had he lived a hundred years later I should have +suspected him of some hidden knowledge of Christ's teachings. M. Renan +has reminded us of Cicero's dislike to the Jews. He could not learn from +the Jews--though the Jew, indeed, had much that he could teach him. The +religion which he required was far from the selfishness of either Jew or +Roman. He believed in eternity, in the immortality of the soul, in +virtue for the sake of its reward hereafter, in the omnipotence of God, +the performance of his duty to his neighbors, in conscience, and in +honesty. "Certum esse in caelo definitum locum, ubi beati aevo sempiterno +fruantur."[330] "There is certainly a place in heaven where the blessed +shall enjoy eternal life." Can St. Paul have expressed with more +clearness his belief as to a heaven? Earlier in his career he expresses +in language less definite, but still sufficiently clear, his ideas as to +another world: "An vero tam parvi animi videamur esse omnes, qui in +republica, atque in his vitae periculis laboribusque versamur, ut, quum, +usque ad extremum spatium, nullum tranquillum atque otiosum spiritum +duxerimus, vobiscum simul moritura omnia arbitremur?"[331] "Are we all +of us so poor in spirit as to think that after toiling for our country +and ourselves--though we have not had one moment of ease here upon +earth--when we die all things shall die with us?" And when he did go it +should be to that glory for which virtue shall have trained him. "Neque +te sermonibus vulgi dederis, nec in praemis humanis spem posueris rerum +tuarum; suis te oportet illecebris ipsa virtus trahat ad verum +decus."[332] "You shall put your hope neither in man's opinion nor in +human rewards; but Virtue itself by her own charms shall lead you the +way to true glory." He thus tells us his idea of God's omnipotence: +"Quam vim animum esse dicunt mundi, eamdemque esse mentem sapientiamque +perfectam; quem Deum appellant."[333] "This force they call the soul of +the world, and, looking on it as perfect in intelligence and wisdom, +they name it their God." And again he says, speaking of God's care, +"Quis enim potest--quam existimet a deo se curari--non et dies, et +noctes divinum numen horrere?"[334] "Who is there, when he thinks that a +God is taking care of him, shall not live day and night in awe of his +divine majesty?" As to man's duty to his neighbor, a subject as to which +Pagans before and even after the time of Cicero seem to have had but +vague ideas, the treatise De Officiis is full of it, as indeed is the +whole course of his life. "Omne officium, quod ad conjunctionem hominum +et ad societatem tuendam valet, anteponendum est illi officio, quod +cognitione et scientia continetur."[335] "All duty which tends to +protect the society of man with men is to be preferred to that of which +science is the simple object." His belief in a conscience is shown in +the law he lays down against suicide: "Vetat enim dominans ille in nobis +deus, injussu hinc nos suo demigrare."[336] "That God within us forbids +us to depart hence without his permission." As to justice, I need give +no quotation from his works as proof of that virtue which all his works +have been written to uphold. + +This pagan had his ideas of God's governance of men, and of man's +required obedience to his God, so specially implanted in his heart, that +he who undertakes to write his life should not pass it by unnoticed. To +us our religion has come as a thing to believe, though taking too often +the form of a stern duty. We have had it from our fathers and our +mothers; and though it has been given to us by perhaps indifferent +hands, still it has been given. It has been there with all its written +laws, a thing to live by--if we choose. Rich and poor, the majority of +us know at any rate the Lord's Prayer, and most of us have repeated it +regularly during our lives. There are not many of us who have not +learned that they are deterred by something beyond the law from +stealing, from murder, from committing adultery. All Rome and all Romans +knew nothing of any such obligation, unless it might be that some few, +like Cicero, found it out from the recesses of their own souls. He found +it out, certainly. "Suis te oportet illecebris ipsa virtus trahat ad +verum decus." "Virtue itself by its own charms shall lead you the way to +true glory." The words to us seem to be quite commonplace. There is not +a curate who might not put them into a sermon. But in Cicero's time they +were new, and hitherto untaught. There was the old Greek philosopher's +idea that the [Greek: to kalon]--the thing of beauty--was to be found in +virtue, and that it would make a man altogether happy if he got a hold +of it. But there was no God connected with it, no future life, no +prospect sufficient to redeem a man from the fear of death. It was +leather and prunella, that, from first to last. The man had to die and +go, melancholy, across the Styx. But Cicero was the first to tell his +brother Romans of an intelligible heaven. "Certum esse in caelo +definitum locum ubi beati aevo sempiterno fruantur." "There is certainly +a place in heaven where the blessed shall enjoy eternal life." And then +how nearly he had realized that doctrine which tells us that we should +do unto others as we would they should do unto us--the very pith and +marrow and inside meaning of Christ's teaching, by adapting which we +have become human, by neglecting which we revert to paganism. When we +look back upon the world without this law, we see nothing good in it, in +spite of individual greatness and national honor. But Cicero had found +it.--"That brotherhood between men, that agreement as to what may be +useful to all, and that general love for the human race!"[337] It is all +contained in these few words, but if anything be wanted to explain at +length our duty to our neighbors it will be found there on reference to +this passage. How different has been the world before that law was given +to us and since! Even the existence of that law, though it be not +obeyed, has softened the hearts of men. + +If, as some think, it be the purport of Christ's religion to teach men +to live after a godlike fashion rather than to worship God after a +peculiar form, then may we be allowed to say that Cicero was almost a +Christian, even before the coming of Christ. If, as some think, an +eternity of improved existence for all is to be looked for by the +disciples of Christ, rather than a heaven of glory for the few and for +the many, a hell that never shall be mitigated, then had Cicero +anticipated much of Christ's doctrine. That he should have approached +the mystical portion of our religion it would of course be absurd to +suppose. But a belief in that mystical part is not essential for forming +the conduct of men. The divine birth, and the doctrine of the Trinity, +and the Lord's Supper, are not necessary to teach a man to live with his +brother men on terms of forbearance and brotherly love. You shall live +with a man from year's end to year's end, and shall not know his creed +unless he tell you, or that you see him performing the acts of his +worship; but you cannot live with him, and not know whether he live in +accordance with Christ's teaching. And so it was with Cicero. Read his +works through from the beginning to the end, and you shall feel +that you are living with a man whom you might accompany across the +village green to church, should he be kind enough to stay with you over +the Sunday. The urbanity, the softness, the humanity, the sweetness are +all there. But you shall not find it to be so with Caesar, or Lucretius, +or with Virgil. When you read his philosophical treatises it is as +though you were discussing with some latter-day scholar the theories of +Plato or of Epicurus. He does not talk of them as though he believed in +them for his soul's guidance, nor do you expect it. All the interest +that you have in the conversation would be lost were you to find such +faith as that. You would avoid the man, as a pagan. The Stoic doctrine +would so shock you, when brought out for real wear, as to make you feel +yourself in the company of some mad Atheist--with a man for whose +welfare, early or late in life, church bells had never been rung. But +with a man who has his Plato simply by heart you can spend the long +summer day in sweet conversation. So it is with Cicero. You lie down +with him looking out upon the sea at Comae, or sit with him beneath the +plane-tree of Crassus, and listen while he tells you of this doctrine +and the other. So Arcesilas may be supposed to have said, and so +Carneades laid down the law. It was that and no more. But when he tells +you of the place assigned to you in heaven, and how you are to win it, +then he is in earnest. + +We care in general but little for any teacher of religion who has not +struggled to live up to his own teaching. Cicero has told us of his +ideas of the Godhead, and has given us his theory as to those deeds by +which a man may hope to achieve the heaven in which that God will reward +with everlasting life those who have deserved such bliss. Love of +country comes first with him. It behooves, at any rate, a man to be +true to his country from first to last. And honesty and honor come +next--that "honestum" which carries him to something beyond the mere +integrity of the well-conducted tradesmen. Then family affection; then +friendship; and then that constant love for our fellow-creatures +which teaches us to do unto others as we would they should +do unto us. Running through these there are a dozen smaller virtues, but +each so mingled with the other as to have failed in obtaining a separate +place--dignity, manliness, truth, mercy, long-suffering, forgiveness, +and humanity. + +Try him by these all round and see how he will come out of the fire. He +so loved his country that we may say that he lived for it entirely; that +from the first moment in which he began to study as a boy in Rome the +great profession of an advocate, to the last in which he gave his throat +to his murderers, there was not a moment in which his heart did not +throb for it. + +In the defence of Amerinus and in the prosecution of Verres, his object +was to stop the proscriptions, to shame the bench, and to punish the +plunderers of the provinces. In driving out Catiline the same strong +feeling governed him. It was the same in Cilicia. The same patriotism +drove him to follow Pompey to the seat of war. The same filled him with +almost youthful energy when the final battle for the Republic came. It +has been said of him that he began life as a Liberal in attacking Sulla, +and that afterward he became a Conservative when he gained the +Consulship; that he opposed Caesar, and then flattered him, and then +rejoiced at his death. I think that they who have so accused him have +hardly striven to read his character amidst the changes of the time. A +Conservative he was always; but he wished to see that the things around +him were worth conserving. He was always opposed to Caesar, whose genius +and whose spirit were opposed to his own. But in order that something of +the Republic might be preserved, it became necessary to bear with Caesar. +For himself he would take nothing from Caesar, except permission to +breathe Italian air. He flattered him, as was the Roman custom. He had +to do that, or his presence would have been impossible--and he could +always do something by his presence. As far as love of country went, +which among virtues stood the first with him, he was pure and great. +There was not a moment in his career in which the feeling was not in his +heart--mixed indeed with personal ambition, as must be necessary, for +how shall a man show his love for his country except by his desire to +stand high in its counsels? To be called "Pater Patriae" by Cato was to +his ears the sweetest music he had ever heard. + +Let us compare his honesty with that of the times in which he lived. All +the high rewards of the State were at his command, and he might so have +taken them as to have been safer, firmer, more powerful, by taking them; +but he took nothing. No gorgeous wealth from a Roman province stuck to +his hands. We think of our Cavendishes, our Howards, and our Stanleys, +and feel that there is nothing in such honesty as this. But the +Cavendishes, the Howards, and the Stanleys of those days robbed with +unblushing pertinacity. Caesar robbed so much that he put himself above +all question of honesty. Where did he, who had been so greatly in debt +before he went to Spain, get the million with which he bribed his +adherents? Cicero neither bought nor sold. Twenty little stories have +been told of him, not one with a grain of enduring truth to justify one +of them. He borrowed, and he always paid; he lent, but was not always +repaid. With such a voice to sell as his, a voice which carried with it +the verdict of either guilt or innocence, what payments would it not +have been worth the while of a Roman nobleman to make to him? No such +payments, as far as we can tell, were ever made. He took a present of +books from his friend Poetus, and asked another friend what "Cincius" +would say to it? Men struggling to find him out, and not understanding +his little joke, have said, "Lo! he has been paid for his work. He +defended Poetus, and Poetus gave him books." "Did he defend +Poetus?" you ask. "We surmise so, because he gave him books," they +reply. I say that at any rate the fault should be brought home against +him before it is implied from chance passages in his own letters. + +Cicero's affection for his family gives us an entirely unfamiliar +insight into Roman manners. There is a softness, a tenderness, an +eagerness about it, such as would give a grace to the life of some +English nobleman who had his heart garnered up for him at home, though +his spirit was at work for his country. But we do not expect this from +the Pompeys and Caesars and Catos of Rome, perhaps because we do not know +them as we know Cicero. It is odd, however, that we should have no word +of love for his boys, as to Pompey; no word of love for his daughter, as +to Caesar. But Cicero's love for his wife, his brother, his son, his +nephew, especially for his daughter, was unbounded. All offences on +their part he could forgive, till there came his wife's supposed +dishonesty, which was not to be forgiven. The ribaldry of Dio Cassius +has polluted the story of his regard for Tullia; but in truth we know +nothing sweeter in the records of great men, nothing which touches us +more, than the profundity of his grief. His readiness to forgive his +brother and to forgive his nephew, his anxiety to take them back to his +affections, his inability to live without them, tell of his tenderness. + +His friendship for Atticus was of the same calibre. It was of that +nature that it could not only bear hard words but could occasionally +give them without fear of a breach. Can any man read the records of this +long affection without wishing that he might be blessed with such a +friendship? As to that love of our fellow-creatures which comes not from +personal liking for them, but from that kindness of heart toward all +mankind which has been the fruit to us of Christ's teaching, that desire +to do unto others as they should do unto us, his whole life is an +example. When Quaestor in Sicily, his chief duty was to send home corn. +He did send it home, but so that he hurt none of those in Sicily by whom +it was supplied. In his letter to his brother as to his government of +Asia Minor, the lessons which he teaches are to the same effect. When he +was in Cilicia, it was the same from first to last. He would not take a +penny from the poor provincials--not even what he might have taken by +law. "Non modo non faenum, sed ne ligna quidem!" Where did he get the +idea that it was a good thing not to torment the poor wretches that were +subjected to his power? Why was it that he took such an un-Roman +pleasure in making the people happy? + +Cicero, no doubt, was a pagan, and in accordance with the rules +prevailing in such matters it would be necessary to describe him of that +religion, if his religion be brought under discussion. But he has not +written as pagans wrote, nor did he act as they acted. The educated +intelligence of the Roman world had come to repudiate their gods, and to +create for itself a belief--in nothing. It was easier for a thoughtful +man, and pleasanter for a thoughtless, to believe in nothing, than in +Jupiter and Juno, in Venus and in Mars. But when there came a man of +intellect so excellent as to find, when rejecting the gods of his +country, that there existed for him the necessity of a real God, and to +recognize it as a fact that the intercourse of man with man demanded it, +we must not, in recording the facts of his life, pass over his religion +as though it were simple chance. Christ came to us, and we do not need +another teacher. Christ came to us so perfected in manhood as to be free +from blemish. Cicero did not come at all as a teacher. He never +recognized the possibility of teaching men a religion, or probably the +necessity. But he did see the way to so much of the truth as to perceive +that there was a heaven; that the way to it must be found in good deeds +here on earth; and that the good deeds required of him would be kindness +to others. Therefore I have written this final chapter on his religion. + + + + +APPENDIX TO VOLUME II. + +APPENDIX. + +(_See_ page 308, Vol. II.) + +_SCIPIO'S DREAM._ + + +Scipio the younger had gone, when in Africa, to meet Massinissa, and had +there discussed with the African king the character of his nominal +grandfather, for he was in fact the son of Paulus AEmilius and had been +adopted by the son of the great conqueror at Zama. He had then retired +to rest, and had dreamed a dream, and is thus made to tell it. Africanus +the elder had shown himself to him greater than life, and had spoken to +him in the following words: "Approach," said the ghost; "approach in +spirit, and cease to fear, and write down on the tablets of your memory +this that I shall tell you. + +"Look down upon that city. I compelled it to obey Rome. It now seeks to +renew its former strife, and you, but yet new to arms, have come to +conquer it." Then from his starry heights he points to the once +illustrious Carthage. "In twice twelve months that city you shall +conquer, and shall have earned for yourself that name which by descent +has become yours. Destroyer of Carthage, triumphant Censor, ambassador +from Rome to Egypt, Syria, Asia, and Greece, you shall be chosen Consul +a second time, though absent and, having besieged Numantia, shall bring +a great war to an end. Then will the whole State turn to you and to your +name. The Senate, the citizens, the allies will expect you. In one word, +it will be to you as Dictator that the Republic will look to be saved +from the crimes of your relatives. + +"But that you may be always alive to protect the Republic, know this. +There is in heaven a special place of bliss for those who have served +their country. To that God who looks down upon the earth there is +nothing dearer than men bound to each other by reverence for the laws." + +"Then, frightened, I asked him whether he were still living, and my +father Paulus, and others whom we believed to have departed. 'In truth,' +he said, 'they live who have escaped from the bondage of the flesh. This +which you call life is death. But behold Paulus your father.' Beholding +him, I poured forth a world of tears, but he, embracing me, forbade me +to weep. + +"'Since this of yours is life, as my grandsire tells me,' I said, as +soon as my tears allowed me to speak, 'why, O father most revered, do I +delay here on earth, rather than haste to meet you?' 'It cannot be so,' +he answered. 'Unless that God whose temple is around you everywhere +shall have liberated you from the chains of the body, you cannot come to +us. Men are begotten subject to his law, and inhabit the globe which is +called the earth; and to them is given a soul from among the stars, +perfect in their form and alive with heavenly instincts, which complete +with wondrous speed their rapid courses. Wherefore, my son, by you and +by all just men that soul must be retained within its body's confines, +nor can it be allowed to flit without command of him by whom it has been +given to you. You may not escape the duty which God has trusted to you. +Live, my Scipio, and shine with piety and justice, as your grandfather +did and I have done. It is your duty to your parents and to your +relatives, but especially your duty to your country. There lies the road +to heaven. By following that course shall you find your way to those who +crowd with disembodied spirits the realm beneath your eyes.' + +"Then did I behold that splendid circle of fire which you, after the +Greeks, call the Milky-way, and looking out from thence could see that +all things were beautiful and all wonderful. There were stars which we +cannot see from hence, and others of tremendous, unsuspected size; and +then those smaller ones nearest to us, which shine with a reflected +light. But every star among them all loomed larger than our earth. That +seemed so mean, that I was sorry to belong to so small an empire. + + * * * * * + +"As I gazed a sound struck my ears. 'What music is that,' said I, +'swelling so loudly and yet so sweet?' + +"'It is that harmony of the stars,' he said, 'which the world creates by +its own movement. Low and loud, base and treble, they clang together +with unequal intervals, but each in time and tune. They could not work +in silence, and nature demands that from one end of heaven to the other +they shall be sonorous with a deep diapason. The far off give a loud +treble twang. Those nearest to the moon sound low and base. The earth, +the ninth in order, immovable upon its lowest seat, occupies the centre +of the system. From the eight there come seven sounds, distinct among +themselves, Venus and Mercury joining in one effort. In that number is +the secret of all human affairs. Learned men have made their way to +heaven by imitating this music; as have others also by the excellence of +their studies. Filled with this sound the sense of hearing has failed +among men. What sense is duller? It is as when the Nile falls down to +her cataracts, and the nations around, astonished by the tumult, become +deaf.' + + * * * * * + +"'Then,' said Africanus, 'look and see how small are the habitations of +men, how grand are those of the angels of light. What fame can you +expect from men, or what glory? You see how they live in mean places--in +small spots, lonely amid vast solitudes, and that they who inhabit them +dwell so isolated that nothing can pass between them. Can you expect +glory from them? + +"'You behold this earth surrounded by zones. You see two of them, frozen +from their poles, have been made solid with everlasting ice; and how the +centre realm between them has been scorched by the sun's rays. Two, +however, are fit for life. They who inhabit the southern, whose +footsteps are opposed to ours, are a race of whom we know nothing. But +see how small a part of this little earth is inhabited by us who are +turned toward the north. For all the earth which you inhabit, wide and +narrow, is but a small island surrounded by that sea which you call the +great Atlantic Ocean--which, however large as you deem it, how small it +is! Has your name or has mine been able, over this small morsel of the +earth's surface, to ascend Mount Caucasus or to cross the Ganges? Who in +the regions of the rising or setting sun has heard of our fame? Cut off +these regions, distant but a hand's breadth, and see within what narrow +borders will your reputation be spread! They who speak of you--for how +short a time will their voices be heard? + +"'Grant that man, unenvious, shall wish to hand down your fame to future +ages, still there will come those storms of nature. The earth will be +immersed in water and scorched with fire; a doom which in the course of +ages must happen, and will deny to you any lasting glory. Will you be +content that they who are to come only shall hear of you, when to those +crowds of better men who have passed away your name shall be as nothing? + +"'And remember too that no man's renown shall reach the duration of a +year. Men call that space a year which they measure by the return of a +single star to its old place. But when all the stars shall have come +back, and shall have made their course across the heavens, then, then +shall that truly be called a year. In this year how many are there of +our ages contained. For as when Romulus died, and made his way here to +these temples of the gods, the sun was seen by man to fade away, so will +the sun again depart from the heavens, when the stars, having +accomplished their spaces, shall have returned to their old abodes. Of +this, the true year, not a twentieth part has been as yet consumed. If, +then, you despair of reaching this abode, which all of true excellence +strive to approach, what glory is there to be gained? When gained, it +will not last the space of one year. Look then aloft, my son, and fix +your eyes upon this eternal home. Despise all vulgar fame, nor place +your hopes on human rewards. Let Virtue by her own charms lead you on to +true glory. Let men talk of you--for talk they will. Man's talk of man +is small in its space, and short-lived in its time. It dies with a +generation and is forgotten by posterity.' + +"When he had spoken I thus answered him: 'Africanus,' I said, 'I indeed +have hitherto endeavored to find a road to heaven, following your +example and my father's; but now, for so great a reward, will I struggle +on more bravely.' 'Struggle on,' he replied, 'and know this--not that +thou art mortal but only this thy body. This frail form is not thyself. +It is the mind, invisible, and not a shape at which a man may point with +his fingers. Know thyself to be a god. To be strong in purpose and in +mind; to remember to provide and to rule; to restrain and to move the +body it is placed over, as the great God does the world--that is to be a +god. And as the God who moves this mortal world is eternal, so does an +eternal soul govern this frail body.'" + + FOOTNOTES: + + [1] As I shall explain a few pages farther on, four of these + speeches are supposed by late critics to be spurious. + + [2] See Mr. Long's introduction to these orations. "All this + I admit," says Mr. Long, speaking of some possible + disputant; "but he will never convince any man of sense that + the first of Roman writers, a man of good understanding, and + a master of eloquence, put together such tasteless, feeble, + and extravagant compositions." + + [3] Pro Cn. Plancio, ca. xxx.: "Nonne etiam illa testis est + oratio quae est a me prima habita in Senatu. * * * Recitetur + oratio, quae propter rei magnitudinem dicta de scripto est." + + [4] Quintilian, lib. xi., ca. 1, who as a critic worshipped + Cicero, has nevertheless told us very plainly what had been + up to his time the feeling of the Roman world as to Cicero's + self-praise: "Reprehensus est in hac parte non mediocriter + Cicero." + + [5] Ad Att., lib. iv., 2. He recommends that the speech + should be put into the hands of all young men, and thus + gives further proof that we still here have his own words. + When so much has come to us, we cannot but think that an + oration so prepared would remain extant. + + [6] I had better, perhaps, refer my readers to book v., + chap. viii., of Mommsen's History. + + [7] "Politique des Romains dans la religion;" a treatise + which was read by its author to certain students at + Bordeaux. It was intended as a preface to a longer work. + + [8] Ad Div., lib. i., 2. + + [9] Ad Div., lib. i., 5: "Nosti hominis tarditatem, et + taciturnitatem." + + [10] Ad Quintum Fratrem, lib. ii., 3. + + [11] Ibid., lib. ii., 6. + + [12] Ad Att., lib. iv., 5. + + [13] Ad Div., lib. v., 12. + + [14] Very early in the history of Rome it was found + expedient to steal an Etruscan soothsayer for the reading of + these riddles, which was gallantly done by a young soldier, + who ran off with an old prophet in his arms (Livy, v., 15). + We are naively told by the historian that the more the + prodigies came the more they were believed. On a certain + occasion a crowd of them was brought together: Crows built + in the temple of Juno. A green tree took fire. The waters of + Mantua became bloody. In one place it rained chalk in + another fire. Lightning was very destructive, sinking the + temple of a god or a nut-tree by the roadside indifferently. + An ox spoke in Sicily. A precocious baby cried out "Io + triumphe" before it was born. At Spoletum a woman became a + man. An altar was seen in the heavens. A ghostly band of + armed men appeared in the Janiculum (Livy, xxiv., 10). On + such occasions the "aruspices" always ordered a vast + slaughter of victims, and no doubt feasted as did the wicked + sons of Eli. + + Even Horace wrote as though he believed in the anger of the + gods--certainly as though he thought that public morals + would be improved by renewed attention to them: + + Delicta majorum immeritus lues, + Romane, donec templa refeceris.--Od., lib. iii., 6. + + [15] See the Preface by M. Guerault to his translation of + this oration, De Aruspium Responsis. + + [16] Ca. ix.: "Who is there so mad that when he looks up to + the heavens he does not acknowledge that there are gods, or + dares to think that the things which he sees have sprung + from chance--things so wonderful that the most intelligent + among us do not understand their motions?" + + [17] Ca. xxviii.: "Quae in tempestate saeva quieta est, et + lucet in tenebris, et pulsa loco manet tamen, atque haeret in + patria, splendetque per se semper, neque alienis unquam + sordibus obsolescit." I regard this as a perfect allocution + of words in regard to the arrangement both for the ear and + for the intellect. + + [18] Ca. xliv.: "There have always been two kinds of men who + have busied themselves in the State, and have struggled to + be each the most prominent. Of these, one set have + endeavored to be regarded as 'populares,' friends of the + people; the other to be and to be considered as 'optimates,' + the most trustworthy. They who did and said what could + please the people were 'populares,' but they who so carried + themselves as to satisfy every best citizen, they were + 'optimates.'" Cicero, in his definition, no doubt begs the + question; but to do so was his object. + + [19] Mommsen, lib. v., chap. viii., in one of his notes, + says that this oration as to the provinces was the very + "palinodia" respecting which Cicero wrote to Atticus. The + subject discussed was no doubt the same. What authority the + historian has found for his statement I do not know; but no + writer is generally more correct. + + [20] De Prov. Cons., ca. viii. + + [21] Ca. xiii. + + [22] Ca. xiv. + + [23] Ca. xviii. + + [24] Pro C. Balbo, ca. vii. + + [25] Ibid., ca. xiii. + + [26] Gibbon, Decline and Fall, ca. vii. + + [27] There was no covenant, no bond of service, no master's + authority, probably no discipline; but the eager pupil was + taught to look upon the anxious tutor with love, respect, + and faith. + + [28] In Pisonem, xxvii. Even in Cicero's words as used here + there is a touch of irony, though we cannot but imagine that + at this time he was anxious to stand well with Pompey. + "There are coming on the games, the most costly and the most + magnificent ever known in the memory of man; such as there + never were before, and, as far as I can see, never will be + again." "Show yourself there if you dare!"--he goes on to + say, addressing the wretched Piso. + + [29] Plutarch's Life of Pompey: "Crassus upon the expiration + of his Consulship repaired to his province. Pompey, + remaining in Rome, opened his theatre." But Plutarch, no + doubt, was wrong. + + [30] We may imagine what was the standing of the family from + the address which Horace made to certain members of it in + the time of Augustus. "Credite Pisones," De Arte Poetica. + The Pisones so addressed were the grandsons of Cicero's + victim. + + [31] Quin., ix., 4: "Pro dii immortales, quis hic illuxit + dies!" The critic quotes it as being vicious in sound, and + running into metre, which was considered a great fault in + Roman prose, as it is also in English. Our ears, however, + are hardly fine enough to catch the iambic twang of which + Quintilian complains. + + [32] Ca. xviii., xx., xxii. + + [33] "Quae potest homini esse polito delectatio," Ad Div., + vii., 1. These words have in subsequent years been employed + as an argument against all out-of-door sports, with + disregard of the fact that they were used by Cicero as to an + amusement in which the spectators were merely looking on, + taking no active part in deeds either of danger or of + skill.--_Fortnightly Review_, October, 1869, The Morality of + Field Sports. + + [34] Ad Att., lib. iv., 16. + + [35] Ad Div., ii., 8. + + [36] See the letter, Ad Quin. Frat., lib. iii., 2: "Homo + undique actus, et quam a me maxime vulneraretur, non tulit, + et me trementi voce exulem appellavit." The whole scene is + described. + + [37] Ad Fam., v., 8. + + [38] Ad Quin. Frat., ii., 12. + + [39] Ad Att., iv., 15. + + [40] Val. Max., lib. iv., ca. ii., 4. + + [41] Horace, Sat., lib. ii., 1: + + HOR. "Trebati, + Quid faciam praescribe."--TREB. "Quiescas."--HOR. + "Ne faciam, inquis, Omnino versus?"--TREB. "Aio."--HOR. + "Peream male si non Optimum erat." + + Trebatius became a noted jurisconsult in the time of + Augustus, and wrote treatises. + + [42] Ca. iv.: "Male judicavit populus. At judicavit. Non + debuit, at potuit." + + [43] Ca. vi.: "Servare necesse est gradus. Cedat consulari + generi praetorium, nec contendat cum praetorio equester + locus." + + [44] Ca. xix. + + [45] Ad Fam., i., 9. + + [46] Ca. xi. + + [47] Ad Fam., lib. ii., 6: "Dux nobis et auctor opus est et + eorum ventorum quos proposui moderator quidem et quasi + gubernator." + + [48] Mommsen, book v., chap. viii. According to the + historian, Clodius was the Achilles, and Milo the Hector. In + this quarrel Hector killed Achilles. + + [49] Ad Att., lib. iv., 16. + + [50] Ad Fam., lib. vii., 7. + + [51] Vell. Pat., ii., 47. + + [52] We remember the scorn with which Horace has treated the + Roman soldier whom he supposes to have consented to accept + both his life and a spouse from the Parthian conqueror: + + Milesne Crassi conjuge barbara + Turpis maritus vixit?--Ode iii., 5. + + It has been calculated that of 40,000 legionaries half were + killed, 10,000 returned to Syria, and that 10,000 settled + themselves in the country we now know as Merv. + + [53] Ad Quin. Frat., lib. ii., 4, and Ad Att., lib. iv., 5. + + [54] "Interrogatio de aere alieno Milonis." + + [55] Livy, Epitome, 107: "Absens et solus quod nulli alii + umquam contigit." + + [56] The Curia Hostilia, in which the Senate sat frequently, + though by no means always. + + [57] Ca. ii. + + [58] Ca. v. + + [59] Ca. xx., xxi. + + [60] Ca. xxix. + + [61] Ca. xxxvii.: "O me miserum! O me infelicem! revocare tu + me in patriam, Milo, potuisti per hos. Ego te in patria per + eosdem retinere non potero!" "By the aid of such citizens as + these," he says, pointing to the judges' bench, "you were + able to restore me to my country. Shall I not by the same + aid restore you to yours?" + + [62] Ad Fam., lib. xiii., 75. + + [63] Ad Fam., lib. vii., 2: "In primisque me delectavit + tantum studium bonorum in me exstitisse contra incredibilem + contentionem clarissimi et potentissimi viri." + + [64] Caesar, a Sketch, p. 336. + + [65] Ibid., p. 341. + + [66] He reached Laodicea, an inland town, on July 31st, B.C. + 51, and embarked, as far as we can tell, at Sida on August + 3d, B.C. 50. It may be doubted whether any Roman governor + got to the end of his year's government with greater + despatch. + + [67] No exemption was made for Caesar in Pompey's law as it + originally stood; and after the law had been inscribed as + usual on a bronze tablet it was altered at Pompey's order, + so as to give Caesar the privilege. Pompey pleaded + forgetfulness, but the change was probably forced upon him + by Caesar's influence.--Suetonius, J. Caesar, xxviii. + + [68] Ad Div., lib. iii., 2. + + [69] Ad Att., lib. v., 1. + + [70] Abeken points out to us, in dealing with the year in + which Cicero's government came to an end, B.C. 50, that + Cato's letters to Cicero (Ad Fam., lib. xv., 5) bear + irrefutable testimony as to the real greatness of Cicero. + See the translation edited by Merivale, p. 235. This applies + to his conduct in Cilicia, and may thus be taken as evidence + outside his own, though addressed to himself. + + [71] The Roman Triumvirate, p. 107. + + [72] Caesar, a Sketch, pp. 170, 341. + + [73] Professor Mommsen says no word of Cicero's government + in Cilicia. + + [74] I cannot but refer to Mommsen's account of this + transaction, book v., chap. viii.: "Golden fetters were also + laid upon him," Cicero. "Amid the serious embarrassments of + his finances the loans of Caesar free of interest * * * were in + a high degree welcome to him; and many an immortal oration + for the Senate was nipped in the bud by the thought that the + agent of Caesar might present a bill to him after the close + of the sitting." There are many assertions here for which I + have looked in vain for the authority. I do not know that + Cicero's finances were seriously embarrassed at the time. + The evidence goes rather to show that they were not so. Had + he ever taken more than one loan from Caesar? I find nothing + as to any question of interest; but I imagine that Caesar + treated Cicero as Cicero afterward treated Pompey when he + lent him money. We do not know whether even Crassus charged + Caesar interest. We may presume that a loan is always made + welcome, or the money would not be borrowed, but the "high + degree of welcome," as applied to this especial loan, ought + to have some special justification. As to Cicero's anxiety + in borrowing the money I know nothing, but he was very + anxious to pay it. The borrowing and the lending of money + between Roman noblemen was very common. No one had ever + borrowed so freely as Caesar had done. Cicero was a lender + and a borrower, but I think that he was never seriously + embarrassed. What oration was nipped in the bud by fear of + his creditor? He had lately spoken twice for Saufeius, once + against S. Clodius, and against Plancus--in each case + opposing the view of Caesar, as far as Caesar had views on the + matter. The sum borrowed on this occasion was 800,000 + sesterces--between L6000 and L7000. A small additional sum + of L100 is mentioned in one of the letters to Atticus, lib. + v., 5., which is, however, spoken of by Cicero as forming + one whole with the other. I can hardly think that Mommsen + had this in view when he spoke of loans in the plural + number. + + [75] M. C. Marcellus was Consul B.C. 51; his brother, C. + Claudius Marcellus, was Consul B.C. 50, another C. Claudius + Marcellus, a cousin, in B.C. 49. + + [76] Mommsen calls him a "respected Senator." M. De Guerle, + in his preface to the oration Pro Marcello, claims for him + the position of a delegate. He was probably both--though we + may doubt whether he was "respected" after his flogging. + + [77] Ad Att., lib. v., 11: "Marcellus foede in Comensi;" and + he goes on to say that even if the man had been no + magistrate, and therefore not entitled to full Roman + treatment, yet he was a Transalpine, and therefore not + subject to the scourge. See Mr. Watson's note in his Select + Letters. + + [78] Ad Div., lib. ii., 8. + + [79] Ad Att., lib. v., 13. + + [80] Ibid.: "Quaeso ut simus annui; ne intercaletur quidem." + It might be that an intercalary month should be added, and + cause delay. + + [81] Ad Div., lib. viii., 2: "Ut tibi curae sit quod ad + pantheras attinet." + + [82] Ad Att., lib. v., 14. + + [83] Ad Div., lib. iii., 5. + + [84] Ad Att., lib. v., 15. + + [85] Ibid., 16. + + [86] Ad Att., lib. v., 17. + + [87] Ad Div., lib. iii., 6. + + [88] Ad Div., lib. xv., 1. + + [89] Ibid., iii., 8. + + [90] Ad Div., lib. viii., 8. + + [91] Ad Div., lib. viii., 10. + + [92] Ibid., ii., 10. + + [93] This mode of greeting a victorious general had no doubt + become absurd in the time of Cicero, when any body of + soldiers would be only too willing to curry favor with the + officer over them by this acclamation. Cicero ridicules + this; but is at the same time open to the seduction--as a + man with us will laugh at the Sir Johns and Sir Thomases who + are seated around him, but still, when his time comes, will + be pleased that his wife shall be called "My Lady" like the + rest of them. + + [94] Ad Div., lib. ii., 7. + + [95] Ad Att., lib. v., 2. + + [96] Ad Div., lib. xv., 4. + + [97] Ibid., xv., 10, and lib. xv., 13: "Ut quam + honorificentissimum senatus consultum de meis rebus gestis + faciendum cures." + + [98] Ad Div., lib. viii., 6. + + [99] Ibid., 7. + + [100] Ibid., iii., 7. + + [101] Ibid., 9. + + [102] The amount seems so incredible that I cannot but + suspect an error in the MS. The sum named is two hundred + Attic talents. The Attic talent, according to Smith's + dictionary, was worth L243 13_s._ It may be that this large + amount had been collected over a series of years. + + [103] Ad Att., lib. v., 21. + + [104] Ibid., vi., 1. This is the second letter to Atticus on + the transaction, and in this he asserts, as though + apologizing for his conduct to Brutus, that he had not + before known that the money belonged to Brutus himself: + "Nunquam enim ex illo audivi illam pecuniam esse suam." + + [105] In the letter last quoted, "Flens mihi meam famam + commendasti." "Believe," he says, "that I cling to the + doctrines which you yourself have taught me. They are fixed + in my very heartstrings." + + [106] See the former of the two letters, Ad. Att., lib. v., + 21: "Quod enim praetori dare consuessent, quoniam ego non + acceperam, se a me quodam modo dare." + + [107] Ad Att., vi., 1: "Tricesimo quoque die talenta Attica + xxxiii., et hoc ex tributis." On every thirteenth day he + gets thirty three talents from the taxes, the talent being + about L243. Of the poverty of Ariobarzanes we have heard + much, and of the number of slaves which reached Rome from + his country. It was thus, probably, that the king paid + Pompey his interest. + + Mancipiis locuples eget aeris Cappadonum rex.--Hor. Epis., + lib. i., vi. + + Persius tells us how the Roman slave-dealer was wont to slap + the fat Cappadocian on the thigh to show how sound he was as + he was selling him, Sat. vi., 77. "Cappadocis eques + catastis" is a phrase used by Martial, lib. x., 76, to + describe from how low an origin a Roman knight might + descend, telling us also that there were platforms erected + for the express purpose of selling slaves from Cappadocia. + Juvenal speaks also of "Equites Cappadoces" in the same + strain, Sat. vii., 15. The descendant even of a slave from + Cappadocia might rise to be a knight. From all this we may + learn what was the source of the L8000 a month which Pompey + condescended to take, and which Cicero describes as being + "ex tributis." + + [108] Ad Att., lib. vi., 2. + + [109] Ad Att., lib. vi., 3. + + [110] Ad Div., lib. viii., 11. + + [111] Ad Att., lib. vi., 4, 5. + + [112] Ad Div., lib. ii., 15: "Scito me sperare ea quae + sequuntur." + + [113] Ibid. + + [114] Ad Att., lib. vii., 1. + + [115] Ad Att., lib. vi., 8. + + [116] Ad Att., lib. xi., 1. + + [117] Appius and Piso were the last two Censors elected by + the Republic. + + [118] Ad Div., lib. ii., 15. + + [119] Appian, De Bell. Civ., lib. ii., 26. The historian + tells us that the Consul built a temple with the money, but + that Curio had paid his debts. + + [120] Mommsen, book v., ca. ix. + + [121] Ad Att., lib. vii., 1: "Video cum altero vinci satius + esse quam cum altero vincere." + + [122] Ad Att., lib. vii., 2: "Adolescentem, ut nosti, et + adde, si quid vis, probum." + + [123] Ad Att., lib. vii., 20-23. + + [124] Ibid., lib. viii., 4. + + [125] Ibid., lib. viii., 7. + + [126] Copy of letter D, enclosed in letter to Atticus, lib. + viii., 11. + + [127] Ad Att., lib. ix., 10. + + [128] Ibid., lib. ix., 12. + + [129] Ad Att., lib. x., 4. + + [130] Ad Att., lib. xi., 5. + + [131] Horace, Sat., lib. i., sat. 5. + + [132] Ad Att., lib. xi., 7. + + [133] Ad Div., xiv., 16. + + [134] Ad Att., lib. xi., 24. + + [135] Ad Att., lib. xi., 24. + + [136] Ibid., lib. xi., 20-22. + + [137] Ad Div., xiv., 22, 20. The numbers going the wrong way + is only an indication that the letters were wrongly placed + by Graevius. + + [138] Ad Att., lib. xi., 22. + + [139] Oratoriae Partitiones, xvii., xxiii. + + [140] De Officiis, lib. i., ca. xxxi.: "Catoni cum + incredibilem tribuisset natura gravitatem, eamque ipse + perpetua constantia roborasset, semperque in proposito + susceptoque consilio permansisset, moriendum potius quam + tyranni vultum aspiciendum fuit." + + [141] This was Lucius Volcatius Tullus. + + [142] But it is now, I believe, the opinion of scholars that + Wolf has been proved to be wrong, and the words to have been + the very words of Cicero, by the publication of certain + fragments of ancient scholia on the Pro Marcello which have + been discovered by Cardinal Mai since the time of the + dispute. + + [143] Ad Div., iv., 11. + + [144] Pro Marcello, ii. + + [145] Pro Ligario, i. + + [146] Pro Ligario, iii. + + [147] Ad Fam., lib. iv., 14. + + [148] Ad Div., lib. ix., 16. + + [149] Ad Att., lib. xii., 7. + + [150] Ibid., 32. + + [151] Ad Div., lib. xvi., 21. + + [152] Pliny, Hist. Nat., lib. xiv., 28. + + [153] Ad Div., lib. vi., 18. + + [154] Ad Att., lib. xii., 12. + + [155] Ibid., 18, 28. + + [156] Ad Att., lib. xii., 14. + + [157] Ibid., 18, 28. + + [158] Ad Att., lib. xiii., 28. + + [159] Suetonius, Julius Caesar, ca. xxxvii. + + [160] Ad Att., lib. xiii., 44. + + [161] Ad Att., lib xiii., 42. + + [162] Pro Rege Deiotaro, ii. + + [163] Ibid., ca. xii.: "Solus, inquam, es, C. Caesar, cujus + in victoria cecide it nemo nisi armatus." + + [164] Caesar, De Bello Gallico, lib. iii., 16: "Itaque, omni + Senatu necato, reliquos sub corona vendidit," he says, and + passes on in his serene, majestic manner. + + [165] Quint., lib. x., vii.: "Nam Ciceronis ad praesens modo + tempus aptatos libertus Tiro contraxit." + + [166] Horace, Epis., lib. i., 1: "Nullus in orbe sinus Baiis + praelucet amaenis." + + [167] Ad Att., lib. xiii., 52. + + [168] Ad Div., lib. vii., 30. + + [169] Mommsen, book v., xi. + + [170] He left Brundisium on the last day of the year. + + [171] Shakspeare, Julius Caesar, act i., sc. 2. + + [172] Ad Att., lib. xiv., 9, 15. + + [173] Quintilian, lib. vii., 4. + + [174] These words will be found in M. Du Rozoir's summary to + the Philippics. + + [175] Ad Att., lib. xiv., 1. + + [176] Ibid., 14: "Quam oculis cepi justo interitu tyranni." + + [177] Morabin, liv. vi., chap. iii., sec. 6. + + [178] Velleius Paterculus, lib. ii., ca. lviii. + + [179] Mommsen, book v., xi. + + [180] Ad Att., lib. xiv., 4. + + [181] Ibid., lib. xiv., 6. + + [182] Ibid., lib. xiv., 7. + + [183] Ad Att., lib. xiv., 9. + + [184] Ibid., lib. xiv., 11. + + [185] Ad Att., lib. xiv., 13. + + [186] Ad Div., lib. xvi., 23. + + [187] Ad Div., lib. ix., 11. + + [188] Ad Att., lib. xiv., 21. + + [189] Ad Att., lib. xv., 21. + + [190] Ibid., lib. xv., 26. + + [191] Ad Att., lib. xv., 27. + + [192] Ibid., lib. xvi., 1. + + [193] Ibid., lib. xvi., 5. + + [194] Ibid., lib. xvi., 2. + + [195] Ad Att., lib. xvi., 7. + + [196] Phil., i., 5: "Nimis iracunde hoc quidem, et valde + intemperanter." "Who," he goes on to say, "has sinned so + heavily against the Republic that here, in the Senate, they + shall dare to threaten his house by sending the State + workmen?" + + [197] Brutus, Ciceroni, lib. ii., 5: "Jam concedo ut vel + Philippici vocentur quod tu quadam epistola jocans + scripsisti." I fear, however, that we must acknowledge that + this letter cannot be taken as an authority for the early + use of the name. + + [198] Phil., i., ca. vii. + + [199] Ibid., i., ca. viii. + + [200] Ibid., i., ca. x. + + [201] The year of his birth is uncertain. He had been Consul + three years back, and must have spoken often. + + [202] Ad Div., lib. xii., 2. + + [203] It may here be worth our while to quote the + impassioned language which Velleius Paterculus uses when he + chronicles the death of Cicero, lib. ii., 66: "Nihil tamen + egisti, M. Antoni (cogit enim excedere propositi formam + operis, erumpens animo ac pectore indignatio), nihil, + inquam, egisti, mercedem caelestissimi oris et clarissimi + capitis abscissi numerando, auctoramentoque funebri ad + conservatoris quondam reipublicae tantique consulis irritando + necem. Rapuisti tu M. Ciceroni lucem solicitam, et aetatem + senilem, et vitam miseriorem, te principe, quam sub te + triumviro mortem. Famam vero gloriamque factorum atque + dictorum adeo non abstulisti, ut auxeris. Vivit, vivetque + per omnium saeculorum memoriam; dumque hoc vel forte, vel + providentia, vel utcumque constitutum, rerum naturae corpus, + quod ille paene solus Romanorum animo vidit, ingenio + complexus est, eloquentia illuminavit, manebit incolume, + comitem aevi sui laudem Ciceronis trahet, omnisque posteritas + illius in te scripta mirabitur, tuum in eum factum + execrabitur; citiusque in mundo genus hominum, quam ea, + cadet." This was the popular idea of Cicero in the time of + Tiberius. + + [204] Ad Div., lib. xii., 23. + + [205] Ad Att., lib. xvi., 11. + + [206] On referring to the Milo, ca. xv., the reader will see + the very different tone in which Cicero spoke of this + incident when Antony was in favor with him. + + [207] It was a sign of an excellent character in Rome to + have been chosen often as heir in part to a man's property. + + [208] Horace, Odes, lib. iii., 30. + + [209] Ad Att., lib. xvi., 14. + + [210] Philippics, lib. vi., 1. + + [211] "Populum Romanum servire fas non est, quem dii + immortales omnibus gentibus imperare voluerunt." + + [212] Ad Div., lib. xi., 8. + + [213] Ad Div., lib. x., 3. + + [214] Ad Brutum, lib. ii., 6. + + [215] Appian. De Bell. Civ., lib. iii., ca. 26. + + [216] Vell. Pat., lib. ii., 62: "Quae omnia senatus decretis + comprensa et comprobata sunt." + + [217] Ad Div., lib. xii., 7. This is in a letter to Cassius, + in which he says, "Promisi enim et prope confirmavi, te non + expectasse nec expectaturum decreta nostra, sed te ipsum tuo + more rempublicam defensurum." + + [218] Appian, lib. iii., ca. 50. The historian of the civil + wars declares that Piso spoke up for Antony, saying that he + should not be damnified by loose statements, but should be + openly accused. Feelings ran very high, but Cicero seems to + have held his own. + + [219] Ad Div., lib. x., 27. + + [220] Suetonius, Augustus, lib. xi. + + [221] Tacitus, Ann., lib. i., x.: "Caesis Hirtio et Pansa, + sive hostis illos, seu Pansam venenum vulneri affusum, sui + milites Hirtium et, machinator doli, Caesar abstulerat." + + [222] Philip., xiv., 3: "Omnibus, quanquam ruit ipse suis + cladibus, pestem, vastitatem, cruciatum, tormenta + denuntiat." + + [223] Philip., xiv., 12: "O fortunata mors, quae naturae + debita, pro patria est potissimum reddita." + + [224] Ad Div., lib. xi., 9. + + [225] Ibid., lib. xi., 10. + + [226] Ibid., lib. xi., 11. + + [227] Ibid., lib. xi., 18. + + [228] Ad Div., lib. x., 34. + + [229] Ad Brutum, lib. i., 4. + + [230] Ad Div., lib. xi., 20: "Ipsum Caesarem nihil sane de te + questum, nisi quod diceret, te dixisse, laudandum + adolescentem, ornandum, tollendum." + + [231] Ad Div., lib. xii., 10. + + [232] Appian, lib. iii., 92. + + [233] Dio Cassius, lib. xlvi., 46. + + [234] Vell. Paterculus, lib. ii., 65. + + [235] Vell. Paterculus, lib. ii., 66: "Repugnante Caesare, sed + frustra adversus duos, instauratum Sullani exempli malum, + proscriptio." + + [236] Vell. Paterculus, lib. ii., 66: "Nihil tam indignum + illo tempore fuit, quam quod aut Caesar aliquem proscribere + coactus est, aut ab ullo Cicero proscriptus est." + + [237] Suetonius, Augustus, 27: "In quo restitit quidem + aliquamdiu collegis, ne qua fieret proscriptio, sed inceptam + utroque acerbius exercuit." + + [238] Phil., iv., ca. xviii. + + [239] In the following list I have divided the latter, + making the Moral Essays separate from the Philosophy. + + [240] I have given here those treatises which are always + printed among the works of Cicero. + + [241] De Inventione, lib. ii., 4. + + [242] Quintilian, in his Proaemium or Preface: "Oratorem + autem instituimus illum perfectum, qui esse nisi vir bonus + non potest." It seems as though there had almost been the + question whether the perfect orator could exist, although + there was no question he had never done so as yet. + + [243] Quint., lib. iii., 1: "Praecipuum vero lumen sicut + eloquentiae, ita praeceptis quoque ejus, dedit unicum apud nos + specimen orandi, docendique oratorias artes, M. Tullius." + And in Tacitus, De Oratoribus, xxx.: "Ita ex multa + eruditione, ex pluribus artibus," he says, speaking of + Cicero, "et omnium rerum scientia exundat, et exuberat illa + admirabilis eloquentia; neque oratoris vis et facultas, + sicut ceterarum rerum, angustis et brevibus terminis + cluditur; sed is est orator, qui de omni quaestione pulchre, + et ornate, et ad persuadendum apte dicere, pro dignitate + rerum, ad utilitatem temporum, cum voluptate audientium + possit." This has not the ring of Tacitus, but it shows + equally well the opinion of the day. + + [244] De Oratore, lib. i., ca. xi. + + [245] Ibid., lib. i., ca. xxv. + + [246] Ibid., lib. i., ca. xliv. + + [247] Ibid., lib. i., ca. lii. + + [248] Ibid., lib. i., ca. lx. + + [249] De Oratore, lib. ii., ca. i. + + [250] Ibid., lib. ii., ca. vii. + + [251] Ibid., lib. ii., ca. xv. + + [252] Ibid., lib. ii., ca. xxiv. + + [253] De Oratore, lib. ii., ca. xxvii.: "Ut probemus vera + esse ea, quae defendimus; ut conciliemus nobis eos, qui + audiunt; ut animos eorum, ad quemcumque causa postulabit + motum, vocemus." + + [254] Ibid., lib. ii., ca. xliv. + + [255] De Oratore, lib. ii., ca. lxviii. + + [256] De Oratore, lib. iii., ca. liv. + + [257] Ibid., lib. iii., ca. lv. + + [258] Brutus, ca. xii. + + [259] Ibid., ca. xvii. + + [260] Ibid., ca. xxxviii. + + [261] Ibid., ca. l. + + [262] Ibid., ca. lvii. + + [263] Ibid., ca. lxxv. + + [264] Brutus, ca. xciii. + + [265] De Divinatione, lib. ii., 1. + + [266] Orator, ca. ii. + + [267] Orator, ca. xxvi. + + [268] Ibid., ca. xxviii. + + [269] Ibid., ca. xxxvi. Here his language becomes very fine. + + [270] Ad. Att., lib. xiv., 20. + + [271] Topica, ca. 1: "Itaque haec quum mecum libros non + haberem, memoria repetita, in ipsa navigatione conscripsi, + tibique ex itinere misi." + + [272] Quint., lib. xi., 3. The translations of these + epithets are "open, obscure, full, thin, light, rough, + shortened, lengthened, harsh, pliable, clear, clouded." + + [273] Brutus, ca. xxxviii. + + [274] De Oratore, lib. i., ca. liii. + + [275] Academica, ii., lib. i., ca. iii. + + [276] Ibid., i., lib. ii., ca. vii. + + [277] Ibid., lib. ii., ca. xii. + + [278] Ibid., lib. ii., ca. xxix. + + [279] Academica, i., lib. ii., ca. xxxvii. + + [280] Ibid., lib. ii., ca. xxxix. + + [281] Pro Murena, ca. xxix. + + [282] De Finibus, lib. i., ca. iii. + + [283] Ibid., lib. i., ca. v. + + [284] De Finibus, lib. ii., ca. xxx. + + [285] De Finibus, lib. iii., ca. xxii. + + [286] De Finibus, lib. iv., ca. 1. + + [287] De Finibus, lib. v., ca. ii. + + [288] Ibid., lib. v., ca. xix. + + [289] Ibid., lib. v., ca. xxiii. + + [290] Epis., lib. i., 1, 14. + + [291] Tus. Disp., lib. v., ca. xi. + + [292] Tus. Disp., lib. i., ca. xxx. + + [293] De Natura Deo., lib. i., ca. iv. + + [294] Ibid., lib. i., ca. ix. + + [295] Ibid., lib. i., ca. xiv. + + [296] Ibid., lib. ii., ca. xxix. + + [297] De Nat. Deo., lib. ii., ca. liv., lv. + + [298] De Nat. Deo., lib. iii., ca. xxvii. + + [299] De Divinatione, lib. ii., ca. xxxiii. + + [300] De Divinatione, lib. i., ca. xviii. + + [301] Ibid., lib. i., ca. xlvii. + + [302] De Divinatione, lib. ii., ca. i. + + [303] Horace, Ep., lib. ii., ca. i.: + + "Greece, conquered Greece, her conqueror subdued. + And Rome grew polished who till then was rude." + + CONINGTON'S Translation. + + [304] De Divinatione, lib. ii., ca. ii. + + [305] Ibid., lib. ii., ca. li. + + [306] The story of Simon Du Bos and his MS. has been first + told to me by Mr. Tyrell in his first volume of the + Correspondence of Cicero, p. 88. That a man should have been + such a scholar, and yet such a liar, and should have gone to + his long account content with the feeling that he had + cheated the world by a fictitious MS., when his erudition, + if declared, would have given him a scholar's fame, is + marvellous. Perhaps he intended to be discovered. I, for + one, should not have heard of Bosius but for his lie. + + [307] De Republica, lib. iii. It is useless to give the + references here. It is all fragmentary, and has been divided + differently as new information has been obtained. + + [308] De Legibus, lib. i., ca. vii. + + [309] De Legibus, lib. i., ca. x. + + [310] Ibid., lib. ii., ca. xviii. + + [311] De Legibus, lib. iii., ca. ix., x. + + [312] Ibid., lib. iii., xvii. + + [313] De Senectute, ca. ix. + + [314] Ibid., ca. x. + + [315] Ibid., ca. xi. + + [316] Ibid., ca. xviii. + + [317] Ibid., ca. xxi. + + [318] De Amicitia, ca. xix. + + [319] De Officiis, lib. ii., ca. v. + + [320] Ibid., lib. i., ca. xvii. + + [321] De Officiis, lib. i., ca. xxix: "Suppeditant autem et + campus noster et studia venandi, honesta exempla ludendi." + The passage is quoted here as an antidote to that extracted + some time since from one of his letters, which has been used + to show that hunting was no occupation for a "polite + man"--as he, Cicero, had disapproved of Pompey's slaughter + of animals on his new stage. + + [322] Ibid., lib. i., ca. xxxi. + + [323] De Officiis, lib. i., ca. xxxvi. It is impossible not + to be reminded by this passage of Lord Chesterfield's + letters to his son, written with the same object; but we can + see at once that the Roman desired in his son a much higher + type of bearing than the Englishman. The following is the + advice given by the Englishman: "A thousand little things, + not separately to be defined, conspire to form these + graces--this 'je ne sais quoi' that always pleases. A pretty + person; genteel motions; a proper degree of dress; an + harmonious voice, something open and cheerful in the + countenance, but without laughing; a distinct and properly + raised manner of speaking--all these things and many others + are necessary ingredients in the composition of the pleasing + 'je ne sais quoi' which everybody feels, though nobody can + describe. Observe carefully, then, what displeases or + pleases you in others, and be persuaded that, in general, + the same thing will please or displease them in you. Having + mentioned laughing, I must particularly warn you against it; + and I could wish that you may often be seen to smile, but + never heard to laugh, while you live." I feel sure that + Cicero would laugh, and was heard to laugh, and yet that he + was always true to the manners of a gentleman. + + [324] De Officiis, lib. i., ca. xlii. + + [325] De Officiis, lib. ii., l. + + [326] Ibid., lib. ii., ca. xiii. + + [327] Ibid., lib. ii., ca. xiv. + + [328] De Officiis, lib. ii., ca. xxiv. + + [329] Ibid., lib. iii., ca. i. + + [330] De Republica, lib. vi. It is useless to give the + chapters, as the treatise, being fragmentary, is differently + divided in different editions. + + [331] Ad Archiam, ca. xii. + + [332] De Republica, lib. vi. + + [333] Academica, 2, lib. i., ca. vii. + + [334] Academica, 1, lib. ii., ca. xxxviii. + + [335] De Officiis, lib. i., ca. xliv. + + [336] Tusc. Disputationes, lib. i., ca. xxx. + + [337] De Finibus, lib. v., ca. xxiii. + + + + + INDEX. + + + A. + + Abeken, German, biographer of Cicero, ii., 39. + + "Abiit, excessit, evasit, erupit," i., 228. + + Academica, The, i., 33; ii., 251, 281. + + Actio Prima, contra Verrem, i., 139. + + Actio Secunda, contra Verrem, i., 138. + + Aculeo, Cicero's uncle, i., 42. + + Adjournments, on account of games in the trial of Verres, i., 138. + + Advocate, duty in Rome, i., 85, 165; + his duties, ii., 319. + + AEdile, Cicero as, i., 162. + + "AEstimatum," tax on corn in Sicily, i., 152. + + Agrarian law, two speeches, i., 190; + two supplementary speeches, 191. + + [Greek:Aideomai Troas], i., 288. + + Allobroges, their ambassadors, i., 230; + alluded to by Horace, 231; + rewarded, 233. + + AEmilius, the Consul, bribed by Caesar, ii., 116. + + Amanus, Cicero's campaign at the mountain range, ii., 90. + + Amicitia, De, ii., 252; + Laelius tells its praises, 313. + + Amnesty, granted after Caesar's death, ii., 181; + Cicero's opinion respecting it, 214. + + Anatomical researches, ii., 296. + + Antiochus of Comagene, Cicero pleads against, ii., 48. + + Antiphon, an actor, criticism on, ii., 48. + + Antonius Caius, Cicero's colleague in the Consulship, i., 185; + not trusted, 186; + was worth nothing, 229; + Cicero expects money from, 251. + + Antonius Marcus, the orator, i., 43. + + Antony, abuse of, i., 151; + silenced by Cicero, 204; + Cassius had desired his death, ii., 178; + forges Caesar's writing, 181; + writes to Cicero, 184; + Cicero desires to make him leave Italy, 190; + desires Cicero to assist in the Senate, 191; + desires that Cicero's house shall be attacked, 192; + determines to answer the first Philippic, 195; + left no friend to speak for him, 196; + his character by Paterculus, 197; + the same from Virgil, _ibid._; + how he sought favor with Caesar, 201; + how he quarrelled with Dolabella, 202; + his letter to Hirtius, 222; + wages war against four Consuls, 224; + one of the Triumvirate, 238. + + Appius Claudius, letter to, ii., 79; + runs away from Cicero, 87; + takes away three cohorts, 87; + sends ambassadors to Rome to praise him, 88; + his dishonesty, 113; + twice tried, _ibid._; + Censor, 114. + + Apronius, who he was, and his character, i., 153. + + Arabarches, nickname for Pompey, i., 291. + + Aratus, the Phaenomena translated, i., 46; + the Prognostics translated, 277; ii., 296. + + Arbuscula, the actress, ii., 48. + + Archias, Cicero's tutor, i., 47; + Cicero's speech, 252. + + Ariobarzanes, in debt to Pompey and Brutus, ii., 100. + + Army, Cicero joins it, i., 48. + + Arpinum, Cicero's birthplace, i., 40. + + Asconius Pedianus, commentator of Cicero, i., 180; + declares that Cicero had accused Crassus of joining Catiline, 218; + tells the story of Milo's trial, ii., 61. + + Asia, Cicero travels in, i., 56. + + Asians, the character given them by Cicero, i., 296. + + "Assectatores," who they were, i., 112. + + Athens, Cicero is afraid to live there, i., 322; + Cicero's description of, ii., 289. + + Atticus, letters, private, i., 10, 12, 13, 16; + Cicero's faith in, 19; + general letters, 58; + his character, 58, 166, 182; + Cicero informs him as to Clodius, 255; + and of his speech in Pompey's favor, 258; + did not quarrel with Cicero, 302; + Cicero complains of his conduct, and then apologizes, 318; + leads money to Cicero, 323; + no letter of his extant, ii., 139; + receives a commission to see Cicero's debts paid, 188; + Cicero's last letter to, 206. + + Augurs, College of, ii., 58. + + Augustine has produced a fragment of the De Republica, ii., 307. + + Augustus, devoid of scruple, i., 77; + born in the Consulship of Cicero, i., 239. + + Aulus Gellius, tells a story of Cicero's house, i., 249. + + Aurelia, Via, Catiline had left the city by that route, i., 228. + + Autronius, selected Consul, i., 214, 252. + + + B. + + Bacon, compared to Cicero, ii., 100. + + Balbus, messenger from Caesar to Cicero, i., 270; + his citizenship defended, ii., 34; + his descendant Emperor, 34. + + Battle of the eagle and the serpent, i., 46. + + Beesley, Mr., as to Catiline, i., 205. + + Bibulus as Consul, i., 282. + + Birria stabs Clodius, ii., 62. + + Boasting, habit of the Romans, i., 151. + + Boissier, Gaston, his book on Cicero, ii., 34. + + Bona Dea, her mysteries violated, i., 255. + + Bovilla, at, Milo meets Clodius, ii., 62. + + Brennus, when at Rome, i., 75. + + Brougham, Lord, as to "Memnon," a tale, i., 46. + + Brundisium, Cicero lands at on his return from exile, ii., 129; + Cicero's misery at, 142. + + Brutus, proposes to make a speech in behalf of Milo, ii., 66; + his usury, 96; + the story of his debt in Cilicia, 97; + Cicero's opinion, 103; + letters from, 140; + how he should be judged for the murder of Caesar, 174; + his character, 180; + no aptitude for ruling, _ibid._; + Cicero meets him at Velia, 189; + his manners to Cicero, 190; + praised, 216; + correspondence with, doubted, 216; + an honest patriot, 227; + will not assist Cicero, 235; + Cicero's respect for, 267. + + Brutus, The, ii., 251; + Brutus, or De Claris Oratoribus, 265. + + Brutus, Decimus, letters from, ii., 140; + preparing to fight, 206; + deficient as a general, 228; + is slain, 235. + + Buthrotum, Atticus, writes to Cicero respecting, ii., 185. + + + C. + + Caecilia Metella, her tomb, ii., 160. + + Caecilius, put up to plead against Verres, i., 132; + ridiculed as to his insufficiency, 136. + + Caecina, Cicero's speech for, i., 163. + + Caelius, one of the young bloods of Rome, i., 36; + his character, ii., 35; + one of Clodia's lovers, _ibid._; + defended by Cicero, 36; + harangues the people for Milo, 64; + scolded for the folly of his letters, 84; + asks for panthers, 85; + style of his letters, 89; + attached to Cicero, 90; + letters from, 140. + + Caelius, C., left in charge of Cilicia, ii., 106. + + Caeparius, one of Catiline's conspirators, i., 232. + + Caerellia, her name mentioned, ii., 186. + + Caesar, devoid of scruple, i., 77; + his debts, 103; + his cruelty, 104; + Cicero's treatment of, 152; + passing the Rubicon, 176; + did he join the conspiracy of Catiline, 215; + in debt, 216; + his prospects, _ibid._; + no ground for accusing him as second conspiracy, 219; + his opinion of Cicero, _ibid._; + attempt to murder as he left the Senate, _ibid._; + present at the first Catiline oration, 225; + speech as to Catiline, 236; + his career commenced, 241; + did not think of overthrowing the Republic, 242; + had not thought of ruling Rome, 260; + money nothing to him, 266; + his general character, _ibid._; + his first Consulship, 282; + illegality of his actions, 283; + has the two Gauls allotted to him, 284; + endeavors to screen Cicero, 292; + naturally a conspirator, ii., 20; + defence of his Proconsular power, 29, 30, 31; + his doings in Gaul, 31; + Cicero's conduct in reference to, 32; + why Cicero flattered him, 33; + intends to rule the Empire, 39; + crosses into Britain, 56; + money due to him by Cicero, 82; + returns the two legions, 116; + sits down at the Rubicon, 117; + tramples on all the laws, 118; + Cicero excuses his letter to, 122; + his clemency to Romans, 137; + absence of revenge, _ibid._; + does not allow Cicero to sell his property, 138; + is magnificent, 139; + sits as judge, 153; + returns to Spain, 156; + returns from Spain, 161; + is likened to Romulus, 162; + his five triumphs, _ibid._; + is flattered by Cicero, 165; + sups with Cicero, 168; + his death, 172; + his assassination esteemed a glorious deed, 175; + Cicero present, 177; + an altar put up to, 185; + his laws to be sanctioned, 193. + + Calenus, talks of peace, ii., 214; + attacked by Cicero, 215. + + Caninius, Consul for a few hours, ii., 272. + + Capitol, description of, ii., 179; + Brutus returns to, _ibid._ + + Cappadocian slaves, ii., 101. + + Cassius, Cicero says that he would not obey the Senate, ii., 219; + will not assist Cicero, 235. + + Castor, the temple of, in the trial of Verres, i., 143. + + Castor, accuses his grandfather, Deiotarus, ii., 164. + + Catiline, one of Sulla's murderers, i., 78; + Cicero opposed to for Consulship, 110, 183; + Cicero does not defend him, 183; + the Catiline speeches described by Cicero, 191; + a popular hero, 205; + a step between the Gracchi and Caesar, 207; + Mr. Beesley's opinion as to his high birth, 211; + and courage, _ibid._; + his real character, 212; + not elected Consul, 214; + second conspiracy, 218; + accused by Lepidus, 222; + he leaves the city, 228; + third speech against, 230; + fourth speech against, 235; + he dies, 239. + + Cato, accuses Murena, i., 193; + his stoicism laughed at, _ibid._; + speech as to Catiline, 238; + opposed Clodius, 256; + keeping gladiators, ii., 23; + opposes Cicero's request for a "supplication," 105; + his death, 147; + Cicero praises him, 148; + a glutton with books, 287; + his suicide defended, 317. + + Cato the elder, praise of, ii., 307. + + Catullus, his epigram on Caesar and Mamurra, ii., 169. + + Caudine Forks, i., 76. + + "Cedant arma togae," an impotent scream, i., 65. + + Cethegus, one of Catiline's conspirators, i., 232. + + Chesterfield, Lord, his advice to his son, ii., 318. + + Christian, Cicero almost one, ii., 325. + + Christina, Queen, on Cicero, i., 19. + + Chrysogonus, creature of Sulla's, i., 85, 86, 91, 92. + + Churches, rules complied with for the sake of example, ii., 298. + + Cicero, young Marcus, wishes to serve under Caesar, ii., 156; + money allowed for living at Athens, 157; + does not do well, 158. + + Cilicia, governed for a year, ii., 8; + Cicero's mode of government, 77; + why undertaken, _ibid._; + Cicero's government had cost no man a shilling, 85. + + "Cincia Lex De Muneribus," i., 100. + + Cispius, defended, ii., 46. + + "Civis Romanus," his privileges, i., 158. + + Claterna, taken by Hirtius, ii., 214. + + Claudian family, desecrated by Clodius, i., 275. + + Clodia, her character, i., 317. + + Clodius, Cicero's language to, i., 186; + accuses Catiline, 213; + intrudes on the mysteries of the Bona Dea, 255; + acquitted, 257; + quarrels with Cicero, _ibid._; + Cicero's speech against, 262; + his Tribunate, 272; + favored by Caesar and Pompey, _ibid._; + is made a Plebeian, 273; + prepares to attack Cicero, 311; + had put up a statue of a Greek prostitute + as a figure of liberty, ii., 21; + slaughtered, 62; + his mode of travelling about, 72. + + Cluentius Aulus, speech on his behalf, i., 179; + work in defending immense, 189. + + Cluvius, leaves Cicero a property, ii., 182. + + "Cohors," Cicero, in anger, so calls his suite, ii., 107. + + College of priests, oration spoken before, ii., 20. + + Commentarium of Caelius, ii., 105. + + Conduct, Cicero's, as governor, ii., 22. + + Conservative, Cicero was one, i., 308. + + Consolation, Cicero complains that nothing is of use, ii., 160. + + Consular speeches, twelve, i., 190. + + Consulatu de suo, Cicero quotes his own poem, i., 271. + + Consulatus de Petitione, i., 108. + + Consuls and other officers reconformed by Sulla, i., 78; + the manner in which they were selected, 184; + their duties, 187; + never two bad Consuls together, ii., 14; + Cicero asks them to praise him, 92; + are they to be sent out of Italy? 218. + + Cornelius, a Knight employed to kill Cicero, i., 223. + + Cornelius Caius, speech on his behalf, i., 180. + + Cornelius Nepos, on Cicero, i., 14; + his sayings as to Cicero's letters, 166. + + Cotta, Lucius Aurelius, elected Consul, i., 214. + + Cotta, the orator, Cicero knew him in his youth, i., 43. + + Courage, as to the nature of, i., 299; + shown in the Philippics, ii., 199. + + Cowardice, Cicero accused of, ii., 220; + the charge repelled, 246. + + Crassus, noted for usury, i., 102; + did he join Catiline? 215; + like M. Pourier, 217; + present at first Catiline oration, 225; + belauds Cicero in the Senate, 258; + one of the Triumvirate, 267; + says a man cannot be rich unless he can keep an army in his pay, 315; + destroyed in Parthia, ii., 57. + + Crassus, Lucius, the orator, i., 43; + his death, ii., 263. + + Curio the elder, Cicero's lampoon, i., 328. + + Curio and Claudius, speech against, i., 262. + + Curio bribed by Caesar, ii., 116; + intimate with Antony, 201. + + Curius, betrays Catiline's conspiracy, i., 222. + + _Cybea_, the ship built for Verres by the Mamertines, i., 155. + + + D. + + Dates, as to those to be used, i., 39. + + Death, endured bravely by Cicero, i., 298. + + Decemviri, to be appointed under the law of Rullus, i., 198. + + "Decumanum," tithe on corn in Sicily, i., 152. + + "Deductores," who they were, i., 115. + + Deiotarus, Cicero pleads for, ii., 163. + + Democrat, Cicero wrongly called, i., 304. + + De Quincey, his opinion of Cicero, i., 20; + his anger against Middleton, ii., 107. + + Deserter, in politics Cicero defended from the accusation, i., 305. + + Despotism, personal, ill effects of, i., 309. + + Dio persecuted in the trial of Verres, i., 145. + + Dio Cassius, as to Cicero, i., 18; + as to Cicero's oath, 241. + + Diodotus, Cicero studies with, i., 50. + + Dionysius, the Greek tutor, ii., 121. + + Dishonesty, the charge repelled as to Cicero, ii., 245. + + Diversos, Ad, letters to, i., 166. + + "Divinatio, in Quintum Caecilium," i., 132. + + Divinatione, De, ii., 252, 297. + + Divorces, common with Romans, ii., 144. + + Doctrine, Cicero does not live according to his own, ii., 291. + + Dolabella, Cicero's pupil in oratory, ii., 155; + his cruelty, 186. + + Dorotheus, an enemy of Sthenius, i., 147; + trial of Verres, _ibid._ + + Drusus, his gardens to be bought, ii., 161. + + Du Bos, Simon, ii., 304. + + Duty to the state, ii., 316. + + Dyrrachium, Cicero's protection of, i., 101; + sojourned there during his exile, 325. + + + E. + + Education, expense of, i., 61. + + Egypt, Cicero asked by Caesar to go there, i., 288. + + Eleusinian mysteries, i., 59. + + Elizabeth, Queen, glory of her reign, i., 77. + + "Emptum," tax on corn, i., 152. + + Encyclopaedia Britannica, character of Cicero, i., 11. + + Ephesus, how Cicero was received there, ii., 85. + + Epicureans, i., 58. + + Epicurus, dying, ii., 286; + Cicero's peculiar dislike to, 295. + + Epistles, number written by and to Cicero, i., 58; + the first we have, 166; + do not deal with history, 167; + their truth, _ibid._; + Tiro had collected, 70; ii., 188; + his last official and military, 231. + + Eques, or knight, Cicero one, i., 40. + + Equites, i., 128; + their duties as tax-gatherers, 280. + + Equity, Cicero accused of trifling with, ii., 100. + + Erasmus, his opinion of Cicero, i., 123. + + Erucius, accuses Sextus Roscius, i., 84, 87. + + Eryx, Mount, temple of Venus, i., 145. + + Exile, Cicero's, i., 125, 297; + sentence against Cicero, 322; + attempt to bring him back, 329; + did not write during, 330. + + + F. + + Famine, in Rome, ii., 18. + + Fato, De, i., 252, 297, 303. + + Finibus, De, i., 33; ii., 251, 284. + + Fish-ponders, who they were, ii., 180. + + Flaccus, speech on behalf of, i., 295. + + Flavius, his goodness to Cicero when exiled, i., 323. + + Florus, as to Cicero, i., 16; + as to Catiline, 209. + + Fonteius, Cicero's speech for, i., 163; + purchase of a house, 170. + + Formiae, Cicero killed at, ii., 243. + + Formanum, purchases for the villa, i., 171. + + Forsyth, Mr., i., 7, 9; + passage quoted, 20; + defends the English bar, 214; + as to Cicero's exile, 298; + as to the story of Brutus, ii., 99; + quoted as to the Philippics, 226. + + Fortitude, Roman, i., 326. + + Froude, Mr., accuses Cicero of a desire for Caesar's death, i., 9, 10; + his sketch of Caesar, 63; + hard things said of Cicero, 123; + as to Cicero's exile, 298; + gives his reason for Cicero's going to Cilicia, ii., 77. + + Frumentaria, De Re, third speech on the Actio Secunda in Verrem, + i., 141. + + Fulvia betrays Catiline's conspiracy, i., 222. + + Fulvia, widow of Clodius, exposes the body of Clodius, ii., 63. + + + G. + + Gabinius, A., abuse of, i., 151; + proposes law in favor of Pompey, 172; + Consul when Cicero was banished, 312; + takes his shrubs, 325; + whether he shall be punished, ii., 9; + comes back to Rome and is defended by Cicero, 47. + + Gabinius, P., one of Catiline's conspirators, i., 232. + + Gain, the source of mean or noble, ii., 318. + + Gallus, Caninius, defended by Cicero, ii., 46. + + Gavius, Cicero's treatment of, ii., 102. + + Gavius, P., a Roman citizen, i., 158. + + Geography, Cicero thinks of writing about, i., 289. + + Getae, shall he bring them down on Rome, ii., 123. + + Glabrio, Praetor at the trial of Verres, i., 138. + + Gloria, De, translated, ii., 188. + + Godhead, Cicero's belief in, ii., 26; + Cicero's ideas of, 295, 326. + + Gracchi, the two, i., 76; + latest disciple of, 203; + what they attempted, 215. + + Graevius, arranged Cicero's letters, i., 168. + + Greece, Cicero travels in, i., 56. + + Gueroult, M., his enthusiasm for Cicero, i., 252. + + + H. + + Heaven, Cicero's idea of, ii., 324. + + Hierosolymarius, nickname of Pompey, i., 289. + + Heius, Marcus, his story in the trial of Verres, i., 155. + + Helvia, Cicero's mother's story respecting, i., 42. + + Heraclius, the story of, on the trial of Verres, i., 145. + + Herennius, killed Cicero, ii., 243. + + Hirtius, on Cicero's side, ii., 209; + killed, 223. + + Historians, what they would say of Cicero, i., 301. + + Homer's verses of the Eagle and the Serpent, i., 46. + + Honest man, how he ought to live, ii., 319. + + "Honestum," what it means, ii., 315. + + Horace, his boasting, i., 151; + his treatment of women, 317. + + Hortensius, on the trial of Verres, i., 130, 138, 161; + comes to see Cicero as he leaves Rome, ii., 82. + + House, purchased on the Palatine Hill, i., 250; + the spot consecrated by Clodius, ii., 16. + + Human race, Cicero's love for, ii., 290. + + Hypsaeus, candidate for the Consulship, ii., 61. + + + I. + + "Imperator," Cicero is named, ii., 91. + + Income, Cicero's amount of, i., 61, 99. + + Insincerity of Cicero, ii., 112; + almost necessary, _ibid._; + Cicero's defended, 247. + + Invective, bitterness of Cicero's, i., 32. + + Inventione, De, i., 51; + four books remaining, ii., 251, 253. + + + J. + + "Jews," gold of their temple saved, i., 296. + + Jonson, Ben, his description of Catiline, i., 208, 222. + + Journey into Greece, Cicero intends a, ii., 184. + + Judges, how they sat with a Praetor, i., 93. + + Julia, Caesar's wife, dies, ii., 57. + + Jupiter Stator, Cicero's first speech against Catiline + in the temple of, i., 224; + Cicero returns thanks for, in the temple, ii., 12. + + Jurisdictione Siciliensi, De, i., 141. + + Juvenal, as to Cicero, i., 16; + as to Catiline, 209. + + + K. + + Killing Roman citizens, Cicero to be charged with, i., 295. + + Kings, odious to Cicero as to all Romans, ii., 175. + + + L. + + Labienus, an optimate, i., 293. + + La Harpe, his opinion of the Pro Marcello, ii., 151. + + Laelius in the dialogue De Republica, ii., 307. + + Lanuvium, Milo returning from, ii., 62. + + Laodicea, Cicero is governor, i., 86. + + Lawyers, Cicero ridicules them, i., 194. + + Legacies, a source of income, i., 103. + + Legions, the, are Caesarian, ii., 229. + + Legibus, De, ii., 251; + taken from Plato, 309. + + Legation offered to Cicero, i., 292. + + Lentulus, letters to, ii., 22; + explaining his conduct, 51. + + Lentulus, Publius Cornelius, one of Catiline's conspirators, i., 232; + killed, 238; + Cicero broke the law in regard to, 313. + + Lepidus, his character, ii., 210; + recommended peace, 221; + one of the Triumvirate, 240. + + Leucopetra, Cicero landed at, ii., 189. + + Lex Porcia forbidden death of Roman, i., 236. + + Liberty, Roman idea of, i., 26. + + "Librarii," short-hand writers, i., 189. + + Ligarius, Cicero speaks for, ii., 152. + + Lilybaeum, Cicero Quaestor at, i., 114. + + Literature, Cicero's reason for devoting himself to, ii., 256. + + Livy, as to Cicero, i., 15; + his evidence as to Catiline's conspiracy, 217; + his political tendencies, ii., 306. + + Long, Mr., his opinion of the Pro Marcello, ii., 151. + + Lucan, as to Cicero, i., 15; + would have extolled him had he killed himself, 303. + + Lucceius, Cicero applies to him for praise, ii., 24. + + Lucretius, the period at which he wrote, i., 24. + + Lucullus, absent in the East seven years, i., 176. + + Lucullus, The, ii., 282 + + + M. + + Macaulay, Mr., his verdict as to Cicero's character, i., 8. + + Mai, Cardinal, his opinion of the Pro Marcello, ii., 151. + + Mallius, lieutenant of Catiline, i., 222; + declared a public enemy, 230. + + Mamertines, people of Messina, favorites of Verres, i., 155. + + Manilia Pro Lege, i., 177, Appendix D. + + Manilius, his law in favor of Pompey, i., 177. + + Marcellus, had conquered Syracuse, i., 156. + + Marcellus, M. C., is Consul, ii., 83; + flogs a citizen of Novocomum, _ibid._; + his enmity to Caesar, 148; + Cicero speaks for him, 150; + is murdered, 151. + + Marcellus Caius, Cicero congratulates him on his Consulship, ii., 88. + + Marius, born at Arpinum, i., 40; + origin of his quarrel with Sulla, 49. + + Marius, a poem by Cicero, i., 47. + + Martia, Legio, character of, ii., 207. + + Martial, as to Cicero, i., 15. + + Mendaciuncula, Cicero's use of, i., 164. + + Merivale, Dean, as to Cicero, i., 9; + History of Rome, 63; + as to Catiline, 210; + as to Cicero's exile, 297. + + Metellus, Quintus on the side of Verres, i., 129, 138; + the history of the family, 248; + Celer, his complaint against Cicero, 246; + Nepos, forbids Cicero to speak on vacating the Consulship, 240. + + Middleton, his biography a by word for eulogy, i., 123; + quoted as to Clodius, 274; + as to Cicero's exile, 297; + censures Cicero for going into, 318; + nature of his biography, ii., 107. + + Milo, gives public games, ii., 48; + Cicero wishes him to be Consul, 56; + his trial, 59; + accused of bringing a dagger into the Senate, 64; + demands protection, 65; + condemned, 67; + his mode of travelling, 72. + + Milone, Pro, Cicero's oration, i., 53; + specially admired, ii., 60; + not heard, 67. + + Mithridates, Sulla sent against, i., 50; + Pompey has command against, 176. + + Molo, Cicero studies with, i., 50, 56. + + Mommsen, his history, i., 63; + opinion of Rome, 72, 74; + as to Caesar and Crassus, 218; + as to Cicero's exile, 297; + description of Rome during Cicero's exile, 328; + deals hardly with Cicero, ii., 33; + as to Cicero owing money to Caesar, 82; + his interpretation of Caesar's names, 172; + tells us nothing of Caesar's death, 178; + his verdict as to Rome, 306. + + Money, restored to Cicero for rebuilding his house, ii., 21. + + Montesquieu, as to Roman religion, ii., 20. + + Morabin, as to Cicero's exile, i., 297; + doubts Cicero's presence at Caesar's death, ii., 177. + + Moral Essays, ii., 304. + + Mourning, Cicero assumes prior to his exile, i., 316. + + Munda, final battle of, ii., 156. + + Murena, Cicero defended, i., 191; + accused of bribery, 192; + and of dancing, 193; + a soldier, 195. + + Musical charm of Cicero's language, ii., 28. + + Mutina, ambassadors sent to Antony before, ii., 209; + the battle, 223; + badly managed, 228. + + + N. + + Names, Roman, as to forms to be used, i., 38; + usual with Romans to have three, 41. + + Nasica, his joke, ii., 262. + + Natura Deorum, De, ii., 252, 266, 294. + + "Nomenclatio," the meaning, i., 113. + + Nonis Juliis, ii., 188. + + "Novus ante me nemo," i., 202. + + + O. + + Octavius, comes to Rome, ii., 181; + meets Cicero, _ibid._; + quarrels with Antony, 204; + feared by Cicero, 205; + would he be Consul, 232; + marches into Rome, _ibid._; + his enmity to Cicero, 233; + his insolence, 237; + is reconciled to Antony, _ibid._; + the meeting in the island at Bologna, 238; + his conduct, _ibid._; + letter to him, supposed from Cicero, but a forgery, 240. + + Officiis, De, ii., 205, 252; + perfect treatise on morals, 314. + + "O fortunatam natam," i., 277. + + "Old Mortality," torture as there described, i., 88. + + Oppianicus, his life, i., 179. + + Oppius Publius, his trial, i., 126. + + Optimates, Pompey their leader, i., 175. + + Optimo Genere Oratorum, De, ii., 251, 264. + + Orations, how Cicero treated his own, ii., 167. + + Oratiuncula, twelve consular speeches so called, i., 190. + + Orator, The, ii., 251; + graced by the name of Brutus, 266. + + Oratore, De, Cicero's dialogues, ii., 38; + sent to Lentulus, 46, 251, 256, 270. + + Oratoriae Partitiones, ii., 145, 265. + + Oratory, Cicero's three modes of speaking, i., 94; + his charms, 137; + purposes of, ii., 274. + + Ornament, Greek taste for, i., 154. + + Otho's law, speech concerning, i., 190, 204. + + + P. + + Pagan, Cicero one, ii., 330. + + Palinodia, or recantation, by Cicero, ii., 23. + + Palatine Hill, Cicero's house destroyed, i., 325. + + Pansa, the Consul on Cicero's side, ii., 209; + slain, 223. + + Paradoxes, the six, ii., 146. + + Partitiones, Oratoriae, ii., 251. + + Peel, Sir Robert, i., 303. + + Perfection, required in an orator, ii., 257; + Cicero fails in describing it, 257, 258, 261. + + Perfect orator, not desirable, ii., 275. + + Philippics, origin of the name, ii., 192; + the first, 193; + the second not intended to be spoken or published, 198; + commences with satire against Antony, 199; + the third and fourth, 206; + the fifth, 210; + the sixth, 211; + the seventh, 212; + the eighth, 215; + the ninth, _ibid._; + the tenth, _ibid._; + the eleventh, 217; + the twelfth, 220; + the thirteenth, 222; + the fourteenth, _ibid._ + + Philo, the academician, i., 43; + Cicero studies with, 50, 51. + + Philodamus, and his daughter in the trial of Verres, i., 142. + + Philology, discussed with Caesar, ii., 170. + + Philosophy, Cicero's nature of, i., 33, 58, 59; + rumor that Cicero will devote himself to it, 97; + Cicero did not believe in it, 194; + devotes himself to it, ii., 163; + the nature of Cicero's treatises, 277; + the nature of his feeling, 278; + Greek laughed at by Cicero, _ibid._; + not real with him, 280; + apologizes for, 319. + + Philotomus, freedman of Terentia, ii., 105. + + Phaenomena, The, by Aratus, i., 46. + + Pindenissum, Cicero besieges, ii., 91; + his letter to Cato respecting, 92. + + Pirates, picked up by officers of Verres, i., 160; + commission given to Pompey against, 171; + their power, 172. + + Piso, abuse of, i., 151; + Consul when Cicero was banished, 312; + Cicero appeals to him, 320; + robs Cicero, 324; + Cicero's speech against, ii., 41; + of high family, _ibid._; + becomes Censor, 42; + speaks for Antony in the Senate, 220. + + Piso, Calpurnius, Cicero defended, i., 191. + + Plancius, very kind to Cicero, i., 325; + Cicero pleads for, ii., 49. + + Plancus, Lucius, letters from, ii., 140; + Cicero writes to him, 211; + may have been true, 228, 230, 234. + + Plancus, Munatius, Cicero's joy at his condemnation, ii., 74. + + Pliny, the elder, as to Cicero, i., 204. + + Plato, Cicero describes himself as a lover of, ii., 288. + + Plutarch, is to Cicero, i., 16; + accuses him of running from Sulla's wrath, 57. + + Poetry, Cicero as a poet, i., 47. + + Poetus, gave some books to Cicero, i., 13; + Cicero's correspondence with, ii., 172; + Cicero took his books, 328. + + Political opinions, Cicero's, i., 54, 55; + definition made by Cicero, ii., 28. + + Pollio, may have been true, ii., 228, 234. + + Pompeia, Caesar's wife divorced, i., 255. + + Pompeius, Strabo, father of Pompey the Great, i., 49. + + Pompey, the rising man, i., 55; + devoid of scruple, 77; + appointed to put down the pirates, 172; + his character, 173; + how regarded by Caesar, 216; + his intercourse with Caesar, 243; + Cicero's letters to, 244; + chosen by him as his leader, 246; + called home to act against Catiline, 247; + returns from the East, 257; + his jealousy, 259; + Mommsen's opinion, _ibid._; + one of the Triumvirate, 267; + his marriage with Julia, 282; + his ingratitude to Cicero, 287; + his nick-names, 289, 291; + promises to help Cicero against Clodius, 294; + the story of Cicero kneeling to him, 321; + Cicero forgives him, 327; + offended by Cicero's praise of himself, ii., 15; + commissioned to feed Rome, 19; + Cicero to be his lieutenant, _ibid._; + his games, Cicero's description of, 44, 45; + sole Consul, 59; + Dictator, 63; + would be unwilling to bring back Clodius, 73; + claims money from Ariobarzanes, 101; + begins to attack Caesar, 105; + borrowed Cicero's money, 111; + Cicero clings to, 119; + was murdered at the mouth of the Nile, 126. + + Pomponia, her treatment of her husband Quintius, ii., 79. + + Pontius Glaucus, a poem, i., 44. + + Popilius Laenas, killed Cicero, ii., 243, 244. + + Populace of Rome, condition of, ii., 11. + + Praetor, Cicero elected, i., 171, 176. + + Praetura Urbana, De, first speech in the second action In Verrem, + i., 141. + + Proconsul, his desire for provincial robbery, i., 99, 100. + + Property, redistribution of, i., 196. + + Provinces, the struggle for, ii., 206. + + Pseudo Asconius, commentaries on the Verrine orations, i., 180. + + Publicani, their duties, i., 280. + + Publilia, married to Cicero, ii., 155. + + Publius Quintius, speech on his behalf, i., 80. + + Punic wars, the, i., 76. + + Puteoli, at, the story he tells of himself, i., 120. + + + Q. + + Quaestor, Cicero elected, i., 107; + his character in regard to the Proconsul with whom he acted, 133. + + Quintilian, as to Cicero, i., 16, 182, 225; + as to Cicero's education, 57; + says that Cicero's speeches were arranged by Tiro, 95; + description of bar oratory, 96; + accuses Cicero of running into iambics, ii., 43; + his opinion of the Pro Milone, 60; + Pro Cluentio, 61; + cases given by him, 255; + his description of an orator's voice, 275, 276. + + Quintus Cicero (the elder), i., 42; + service in Gaul, 62; + his character, 169; + sent out as Propraetor, 262; + his brother's letter to him, 277, 278; + affecting letter to, 326; + speaks ill of his brother to Caesar, ii., 139; + and his son, are killed, 243. + + Quintus Cicero (the younger) wishes to go to the Parthian war, ii., 163; + declares his repentance, 187; + had been Antony's "right hand," _ibid._; + his fate, _ibid._; + his hypocrisy and the vanity of Cicero, 188. + + Quirites, their mode of living, i., 111. + + + R. + + Rabirius, Cicero defends, i., 190. + + Rabirius Postumus, Cicero defends, ii., 53. + + Raillery, not good at the Roman bar, ii., 262. + + Reate, Cicero speaks for the inhabitants, ii., 48. + + Religion, Cicero's, ii., 321. + + Republic, Cicero swears that he has saved it, i., 241; + Cicero's guiding principle, 309; + held fast by the idea of preserving it, 310; + as conceived by Cicero, ii., 227. + + Republica, De, Cicero's treatise, ii., 38, 251; + six books, 305. + + Republican form of government, popular, i., 261. + + Retail trade, base, i., 102. + + Rheticorum, four books addressed to Herennius, i., 51; ii., 251. + + "Rhetores," their mode of tuition, i., 52. + + Rhythm, Cicero's lessons too fine for our ears, ii., 271. + + Roman citizens, their mode of life, i., 315. + + Romans, the, had no religion, ii., 321. + + Rome, falling into anarchy, i., 50; + how she recovered herself, ii., 204. + + Roscius, the actor, Cicero pleads on his behalf, i., 105. + + Roscius, Titus Capito, i., 85, 90. + + Roscius, Titus Magnus, i., 85, 89. + + Rosoir, Du M, his testimony as to Cicero, i., 127; + his accusations against, 178; + as to Cicero's exile, 297; + his accusations, ii., 176; + accuses Cicero of cowardice, 191. + + Rubicon, the passage of, i., 125; ii., 120. + + Ruined man, Cicero returns from exile as, ii., 16. + + Rullus, brings in Agrarian laws, i., 196; + his father-in-law had acquired property under Sulla, 198; + ridiculed for being "sordidatus," 199; + spoken of in the Senate, 203. + + + S. + + "Saga," when worn, ii., 223. + + Salaminians agree to be guided by Cicero, ii., 99. + + Sallust, as to Cicero, i., 17; + as to Catiline, 187, 209, 219; + his story not conflicting with Cicero's, 220, 227. + + "Salutatores," who they were, i., 112. + + Sampsiceramus, nickname for Pompey, i., 291. + + Sappho, the statue of, by Silanion, i., 157. + + Sassia, her life, i., 179. + + Saufeius twice acquitted, ii., 67. + + Scaevola, Quintus, instructed Cicero, i., 43. + + Scaptius, the story of, ii., 93, 102; + agent of Brutus in getting his debts paid, 96, 99. + + Scipio the great, gives the idea of Roman power, i., 76. + + Scipio the younger, in the dialogue De Republica, ii., 307; + his dream, 308; + translated, 333. + + Scipio, Q. Metellus, candidate for the Consulship, ii., 61. + + Sempronia, accused by Sallust of dancing too well, i., 193; + Catiline's plot carried on at her house, 230. + + Sempronia Lex declares that a Roman should not be put to death, i., 237. + + Senate, their honors, i., 116; + their disgrace, 117; + pass a vote that they will go into mourning for Cicero, 319; + Cicero's presence demanded in, ii., 189. + + Senate house scene described in a letter to Quintus, ii., 22, 23; + is burnt, 63; + archives destroyed, 70. + + Senectute, De, ii., 252; + Cato tells its praises, 312. + + Servilius, compliment paid to, at the trial of Verres, i., 140. + + Serving his fellow creatures, Cicero's way of doing, ii., 300, 301. + + Sextus, letter to, as to borrowing money, i., 249; + defence of, ii., 27; + Cicero's gratitude to, _ibid._ + + Sextus Roscius Amerinus, i., 80. + + Shakespeare, his conception correct as to Caesar's death, ii., 173. + + Shelley, version of the Eagle and the Serpent, i., 46. + + Short hand writing, the system of, i., 189. + + Sicilians invite Cicero to take their part against Verres, i., 118; + their wishes for his assistance, 135. + + Sicily divided into two provinces, i., 114. + + Signis, De, fourth speech at the second action In Verrem, i., 141. + + Slaves, tortured to obtain evidence, i., 88. + + Solitude, he had not strength to exercise, ii., 320. + + Soothsayers, appeal made to them as to Cicero, ii., 26. + + Soothsaying, ii., 300. + + "Sordidatus," Cicero's dress before going into exile, i., 301. + + Speeches made by Cicero on his return from exile, ii., 9; + question whether they be genuine, 10. + + States, Italian, jealousy of, leading to first civil war, i., 49. + + Statilius, one of Catiline's conspirators, i., 252. + + Statues, purchase of, i., 170. + + Stenography, the Roman system, i., 189. + + Sthenius, his trial, i., 127, 146. + + Suetonius, accuses Caesar of joining Catiline, i., 217; + character of Caesar, 273. + + Sulla, Cicero served with, i., 49; + declared Dictator, 54; + Cicero on Sulla's side in politics, 55; + goes to the East, 67; + his massacres, 68; + reorganizes the law, 69; + his resignation, 70; + attacked by Cicero, 92. + + Sulla, P., elected Consul, i., 214; + Cicero's speech for, 252. + + Sulpicius, Publius, the orator, i., 43. + + Sulpicius, Servius, laughed at as an orator, i., 194; + one of the ambassadors dies on his journey ii., 213. + + Superstitions of old Rome, ii., 25. + + "Supplicatio," decreed to Cicero, i., 282, + nature of, ii., 104; + granted for Mutina for fifty days, 225. + + Suppliciis, De, fifth speech in the second action In Verrem, i., 141. + + "Symphoniacos homines," i., 160. + + Syracuse, robberies of Verres, i., 156. + + + T. + + Tablets of wax used by judges, i., 93. + + Tacitus, as to Cicero, i., 16; + De Oratoribus, 51. + + Terentia, Cicero's wife, i., 98; + Cicero's affection for, 324; + as to the divorce, ii., 105; + his style to is changed, 115; + Cicero in a sad condition as to, 138; + divorced, 145, 154. + + Teucris, nickname for Antony, Cicero's colleague, i., 251. + + Thapsus, battle of, ii., 147. + + Thessalonica, Cicero's sojourn there during his exile, i., 325. + + Tiro, Cicero's slave and secretary, i., 42; + Cicero's affectionate letters to, ii., 119; + Cicero writes to, respecting Antony, 184. + + Toga virilis, Cicero assumes it, i., 48. + + Topica, The, prepared for Trebatius, ii., 189, 252; + taken from Aristotle, 272, 273. + + Torquatus, elected Consul, i., 214. + + Torquatus, young, attacks Cicero, i., 253. + + Translating, Roman feeling in doing it, ii., 252. + + Travels, gives his own reasons for going to Greece and Asia, i., 58. + + Trebatius, confided to Caesar, i., 62; + recommends him to Caesar, ii., 48, 49. + + Trebonius, massacred by Dolabella, ii., 217. + + Tribunate, Cicero's defence of, ii., 311. + + "Triennium fere fuit, urbs sine armis," i., 67. + + Triumph, Cicero applies for, ii., 103; + nature of, _ibid._; + the cause of trouble to him, 115, 120. + + Triumvirate, the first, i., 264; + not mentioned by Mommsen, 265; + description by Horace, _ibid._; + not so known, 269. + + Tubero, accuses Ligarius, ii., 153; + Cicero refuses to alter his speech, 154. + + Tullia, Cicero's daughter, i., 106, 170; + betrothed to Caius Piso, 171; + meets Cicero at Brundisium, ii., 11; + she is a widow, _ibid._; + divorced from Crassipes, 58; + marries Dolabella for her third husband, 111; + Cicero had desired that she should marry Tiberius Nero, _ibid._; + calls her the light of his life, 115; + dies, 158; + her proposed monument, 160. + + Tullius Marcus Decula, defended by Cicero, i., 123. + + Tusculanae Disputationes, i., 33; ii., 251, 290; + their five heads, 291. + + Tusculum Villa, gives commission for purchase of statues, i., 170. + + Tusculum, Dialogue de Oratore held there, ii., 259. + + Twenty-six years old when Cicero pleaded his first cause, i., 54. + + Tyranny, in the Senate, Cicero charged with, ii., 72. + + Tyrrell, Mr., arrangement of Cicero's letters, i., 169; + doubts thrown on a letter to Atticus, 191. + + + U. + + Usury, base, i., 102. + + + V. + + Valerius Maximus, as to Catiline, i., 209. + + Valerius, Cicero stays at his villa, ii., 189. + + Varenus, his trial, i., 127. + + Vargunteius, a knight employed to kill Cicero, i., 223. + + Varro, the period at which he wrote, i., 24. + + Vatinius, speech against, ii., 28; + Cicero defends, 48. + + Velleius Paterculus, as to Cicero, i., 15; + as to Catiline, 209. + + Veneti, Caesar's treatment of, ii., 166. + + Vercingetorix, conquered at Alesia, ii., 74. + + Verres, his trial, i., 125; + Governor for three years, 126; + retires into exile, 141; + standard-bearer to Hortensius, 149; + fined and sent into exile, 161. + + Vibo to Velia, Cicero's journey in a small boat from, i., 138. + + Vigintiviratus, offered to Cicero, i., 12; + Cicero repudiates, 288. + + Vindemiolae, the way Cicero expends them, 177. + + Virgil, Cicero intended by, i., 14; + his version of the Eagle and the Serpent, 46; + his boasting, 151; + his allusion to Cicero, 203; + description of Catiline, 209. + + Volcatius, does not speak for Marcellus, ii., 150. + + Voltaire, version of the Eagle and the Serpent, i., 40; + description of Catiline, 208. + + + W. + + Wolf, his criticism on the Pro Marcello, ii., 151. + + Work, the amount of, done by Cicero, ii., 122. + + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life of Cicero, by Anthony Trollope + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF CICERO *** + +***** This file should be named 28676.txt or 28676.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/6/7/28676/ + +Produced by Turgut Dincer, Ted Garvin and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |