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THE  3/6       fiM 

LIFE 


OF  V 


MARCUS  TUJLE.IUS  CICERO 

BY 

CONYERS    MIDDLETON,     D.    D. 

PRINCIPAL    LIBRARIAN   TO   THE   UNIVERSITY    OF    CAM3RIDGE. 


liunc  igitur  spectemus.     Hoc  propositum  sit  nobis  exemplum. 
Ilk  se  frofecisss  sciat^  cue  Cicero  valde  placebit. 

QuiNTIL.  TnSTIT.  1.   X.  I, 


A    NEW    EDITION> 


VOL.     I. 


JLonDon :  ' 

'RINTED    for      VERNOR     and    hood,    J.    eUTHELL,    J.    V/ALKKRj 

OTRIDGE    AND    SON,   LACKINGTON,   ALLEN   AND    CO-, 

OOILVY  AND  SON,  R.  FAULDER,  R.  LEA,  J.  NUNN,      _ 

J.    CUMMING,   AND   E.  JEFFREY  ' 

By  J.  Moir,   Edinburgh. 


IbOI, 


vi^..--^\-> 


TO    THE    RIGHT    HONOURABLE 
LORD  KEEPER   OF  HIS  MJyESTT^S  FRIVY  SEAL, 


MY   LORD, 

JL  HE  public  will  naturally  expect,  that,  in  chusing 
a  Patron  for  the  Life  of  Cicero,  I  should  address 
myself  to  some  person  of  illustrious  rank,  distin- 
guished by  his  parts  and  eloquence,  and  bearing  a 
principal  share  in  the  great  affairs  of  the  nation ; 
who,  according  to  the  usual  stile  of  dedications,  might 
be  the  proper  subject  of  a  comparison  with  the  hero 
of  my  piece.  Your  Lordship's  name  will  confirm 
that  expectation,  and  your  character  will  justify  me 
in  running  some  length  into  the  parallel;  but  m}^ 
experience  of  your  good  sense  forbids  me  the  at- 
tempt. For  your  Lordship  knows  what  a  disadvan- 
tage  it  would  be  to  any  character,  to  be  placed  in 
the  same  hght  with  that  of  Cicero;  that  all  such 
comparisons  must  be  invidious  and  adulatory  ;  and 
that  the  following  history  will  suggest  a  reason  in 
every  page,  why  no  man  now  hving  can  justly  be 
compared  with  him. 

I  do  not  impute  this  to  any  superiority  of  parte 
or  genius,  peculiar  to  the  ancients ;  for  jbuman  na- 

Vol,  I.  a 


Vi  DEDICATION'. 

ture  has  ever  been  the  same  in  all  ages  and  nations, 
and  owes  the  difference  of  its  improvements  to  a 
difference  only  of  culture,  and  of  the  rewards  pro- 
posed to  its  industry  :  where  these  are  the  most 
amply  provided,  there  we  shall  always  find  the  most 
numerous  and  shining  examples  of  human  perfec- 
tion. In  old  Rome,  the  public  honours  wereilaid 
open  to  the  virtue  of  every  citizen  ;  which,  by  rais- 
ing  them  in  their  turns  to  the  command  of  that 
mighty  empire,  produced  a  race  of  nobles  superior 
even  to  kings.  This  was  a  prospect  that  filled  the 
soul  of  the  ambitious,  and  roused  every  faculty  of 
mind  and  body,  to  exert  its  utmost  force  :  whereas 
in  modern  states,  men's  views  being  usually  confin- 
ed to  narrow  bounds,  beyond  which  they  cannot 
pass,  and  a  partial  culture  of  their  talents  being  suf- 
ficient to  procure  every  thing  that  their  ambition 
can  aspire  to,  a  great  genius  has  seldom  either  room 
or  invitation  to  stretch  itself  to  its  full  size. 

You  see,  my  Lord,  how  much  I  trust  to  your  good 
nature,  as  well  as  good  sense,  when,  in  an  epistle-de- 
dicatory, the  proper  place  of  panegyric,  I  am  depre- 
ciating your  abilities,  instead  of  extolling  them  :  but 
I  remember,  that  it  is  an  history  which  I  am  offer- 
ing to  your  Lordship,  and  it  would  ill  become  me, 
in  the  front  of  such  a  work,  to  expose  my  veracity 
to  any  hazard  :  and  my  head  indeed,  is  now  so  full 
of  antiquity,  that  I  could  wish  to  see  the  dedicatory 
stile  reduced  to  that  classical  simplicity,  with  which 


DEDICATION.  VU 

the  ancient  writers  used  to  present  their  books  to 
their  friends  or  patrons,  at  whose  desire  they^  were 
written,  or  by  whose  authority  they  were  pubUshed: 
for  this  was  the  first  use,  and  the  sole  purpose  of  a 
dedication  ;  and  as  this  also  is  the  real  ground  of 
my  present  address  to  your  Lordship,  so  it  will  be 
the  best  argument  of  my  epistle,  and  the  most  a- 
greeable  to  the  character  of  an  historian,  to  acquaint 
the  pubhc  with  a  plain  fact,  that  it  was  your  Lord- 
ship,  who  first  advised  me  to  undertake  the  Life  of 
Cicero;  and  when,  from  a  diffidence  of  m.y  strength, 
and  a  nearer  view  of  the  task,  I  began  to  think  my- 
self unequal  to  the  weight  of  it,  your  Lordship  still 
urged  and  exhorted  me  to  persist,  till  I  had  mould- 
ed it  into  the  form  in  which  it  now  appears. 

Thus  far  your  Lordship  was  carried  by  that  love 
for  Cicero,  which,  as  one  of  the  best  critics  of  an- 
tiquity assures  us,  is  the  undoubted  proof  of  a  true 
taste.  I  wish  only,  that  the  favour,  which  you  have 
since  shewn  to  my  English  Cicero,  may  not  detract 
from  that  praise  which  is  due  to  your  love  of  the 
Roman  :  but  whatever  censure  it  may  draw  upon 
your  Lordship,  I  cannot  prevail  with  myself  to  con- 
ceal what  does  so  much  honour  to  my  work  ;  that, 
before  it  went  to  the  press,  your  Lordship  not  only 
saw  and  approved,  bur,  as  the  sincerest  mark  of  your 
approbation,  corrected  it.  It  adds  no  small  credit 
to  the  history  of  Polybius,  that  he  professes  to  have 
been  assisted  in  it  by  Scipio  and  L.elius;  and  even 

a  2 


VlU  DEDICATION, 

Terence's  stile  was  made  the  purer,  for  its  being  re- 
touched by  the  same  great  hands.  You  must  par- 
don me,  therefore,  my  Lord,  if,  after  the  example  of 
those  excellent  authors,  I  cannot  forbear  boasting, 
that  some  parts  of  my  present  work  have  been 
brightened  by  the  strokes  of  your  Lordship's  pencil. 

It  was  the  custom  of  those   Roman   nobles,  to 
spend  their  leisure,  not  in  vicious  pleasures,  or  trif- 
ling diversions,  contrived,  as  we  truly  call  it,  to  kill 
the  time;   but  in  conversing  with  the  celebrated 
wits  and  scholars  of  the  age  :  in  encouraging  other 
people's  learning,  and   improving  their  own  :  and 
here  your  Lordship  imitates  them  with  success,  and, 
for  love  of  letters  and  politeness,  may  be  compared 
with  the  noblest  of  them.     For  your  house,  like 
theirs,  is  open  to  men  of  parts  and  merit ;  where  I 
have  admired  your  Lordship's  agreeable  manner  of 
treating  them  all  in  their  own  way,  by  introducing 
questions  in  literature,  and  varying  them  so  artfully, 
as  to  give  every  one  an  .opportunity,   not  only  of 
bearing  a  part,   but  of  leading  the  conversation  in 
his  turn.     In  these  liberal  exercises  you  drop  the 
cares  of  the  statesman  ;  relieve  your  fatigues  in  the 
senate  ;  and  strengthen  your  mind,   while   you  re- 
lax it. 

Encomiums  of  this  kind,  upon  persons  of  your 
Lordship's  quality,  commonly  pass  for  words  of 
course,  or  a  fashionable  language  to  the  great,  and 


DEDICATION.     .  IX 

malce  little  impression  on  men  of  sense,  who  know 
learning,  not  to  be  the  fruit  of  wit  or  parts,  for  there 
your  Lordship's  title  would  be  unquestionable,  but 
an  acquisition  of  much  labour  and  study,  which  the 
nobles  of  our  days  are  apt  to  look  upon  as  incon- 
sistent  with  the  ease  and  splendour  of  an  elevated 
fortune,  and  generally  leave  to  men  of  professions 
and  inferior  life.  But  your  Lordship  has  a  different 
way  of  thinking,  and,  by  your  education  in  a  pub- 
lic school  and  university,  has  learnt,  from  your  ear- 
liest youth,  that  no  fortune  can  exempt  a  man  from 
pains,  who  desires  to  distinguish  himself  from  the 
vulgar:  and  that  it  is  a  folly,  in  any  condition  of  life, 
to  aspire  to  a  superior  character,  without  a  superior 
virtue  and  industry  to  support  it.  What  time  there- 
fore others  bestow  upon  their  sports,  or  pleasures, 
or  the  lazy  indolence  of  a  luxurious  life,  your  Lord- 
ship applies  to  the  improvement  of  your  knowledge; 
and  in  those  early  hours,  when  all  around  you  are 
hushed  in  sleep,  seize  the  opportunity  of  that  quiet, 
as  the  most  favourable  season  of  study,  and  frequent- 
ly spend  an  useful  day  before  others  begin  to  enjoy  it. 
I  am  saying  no  more,  my  Lord,  than  what  I  know, 
from  my  constant  admission  to  your  Lordship  in  my 
morning  visits,  before  good  manners  would  permit 
me  to  attempt  a  visit  any  where  else ;  where  I  have 
found  you  commonly  engaged  with  the  classical 
writers  of  Greece  or  Rome  ;  and  conversing  with 


a  3 


JC  DEDICATION, 

those  very  dead,  with  whom  Scipio  and  L^lius  us- 
ed to  converse  so  familiarly  when  living.  Nor  does 
your  Lordship  assume  this  part  for  ostentation  or 
amusement  only,  but  for  the  real  benefit  both  of 
yourself  and  others  ;  for  I  have  seen  the  solid  ef- 
fects of  your  reading,  in  your  judicious  reflections 
on  the  policy  of  those  ancient  governments,  and 
have  felt  your  weight  even  in  controversy,  on  some 
of  the  most  delicate  parts  of  their  history. 

There  is  another  circumstance  peculiar  to  your 
Lordship,  which  makes  this  task  of  study  the  easier 
to  you,  by  giving  you  not  only  the  greater  health, 
but  the  greater  leisure  to  pursue  it ;  I  mean  that 
singular  temperance  in  diet,  in  which  your  Lord- 
ship perseveres  with  a  constancy  superior  to  every 
temptation  that  can  excite  an  appetite  to  rebel ; 
and  shews  a  firmness  of  mind,  that  subjects  every 
gratification  of  sense  to  the  rule  of  right  reason. 
Thus,  with  all  the  accomplishments  of  the  nobleman, 
you  lead  the  life  of  a  philosopher ;  and,  while  you 
shine  a  principal  ornament  of  the  court,  you  prac- 
tise the  discipline  of  the  college. 

In  old  Rome  there  were  no  hereditary  honours ; 
but  when  the  virtue  of  a  family  was  extinct,  its  ho- 
nour was  extinguished  too ;  so  that  no  man,  how 
nobly  soever  born,  could  arrive  at  any  dignity,  who 
did  not  win  it  by  his  personal  merit :  and  here  a- 
gain  your  Lordship  seems  to  have  emulated  that  an^ 
cient  spirit  ^  for,  though  born  to  the  first  honours  of 


DEDICATION.  xl 

your  country,  yet,  disclaiming  as  it  were  your  birth- 
right, and  putting  yourself  upon  the  footing  of  a 
Roman,  you  were  not  content  with  inheriting,  but 
resolved  to  import  new  dignities  into  your  family  ; 
and,  after  the  example  of  your  noble  father,  to  open 
your  own  way  into  the  supreme  council  of  the 
kingdom.  In  this  august  assembly,  your  Lordship 
displays  those  shining  talents,  by  which  you  acquir- 
ed a  seat  in  it,  in  the  defence  of  our  excellent  esta- 
blishment ;  in  maintaining  the  rights  of  the  people, 
yet  asserting  the  prerogative  of  the  Crown  ;  mea- 
suring them  both  by  the  equal  balance  of  the  laws ; 
which,  by  the  provident  care  of  our  ancestors,  and 
the  happy  settlement  at  the  Revolution,  have  so 
fixed  their  just  limits,  and  moderated  the  extent  of 
their  influence,  that  they  mutually  defend  and  pre- 
serve, but  can  never  destroy  each  other,  without  a 
general  ruin. 

In  a  nation  like  ours,  which,  from  the  natural  ef- 
fect of  freedom,  is  divided  into  opposite  parties, 
though  particular  attachments  to  certain  principles, 
or  friendships  with  certain  men,  will  sometimes 
draw  the  best  citizens  into  measures  of  a  subordi- 
nate kind,  which  they  cannot  wholly  approve  ;  yet 
whatever  envy  your  Lordship  may  incur  on  that 
account,  you  will  be  found,  on  all  occasions  of  trial, 
a  true  friend  to  our  constitution  both  in  church  and 
state :  which  I  have  heard  you  demonstrate  with 

great  force,  to  be  the  bulwark  of  our  common  peace 

a4 


Xn  DEDICATION. 

and  prosperity.  From  this  fundamental  point,  no 
engageme  Its  will  ever  move,  or  interest  draw  you  ; 
and  ttiough  men  inflamed  by  opposition  are  apt  to 
charge  each  other  with  designs,  which  were  never 
dreamt  of  perhaps  by  either  side  ;  yet  if  there  be 
any,  who  know  so  little  of  you,  as  to  distrust  your 
principles,  they  may  depend  at  least  on  your  judg- 
ment, that  it  can  never  suffer  a  person  of  your  Lord- 
ship's rank,  born  to  so  large  a  share  of  the  property, 
as  well  as  the  honours  of  the  nation,  to  think  any 
private  interest  an  equivalent  for  consenting  to  the 
ruin  of  the  public. 

I  mention  this,  ray  Lord,  as  an  additional  reason 
for  presenting  you  with  the  Life  of  Cicero  :  for 
were  I  not  persuaded  of  your  Lordship's  sincere  love 
of  liberty,  and  zeal  for  the  happiness  of  your  fellow- 
citizens,  it  would  be  a  reproach  to  you  to  put  into 
your  hands  the  life  of  a  man,  who,  in  all  the  variety 
of  his  admirable  talents,  does  not  shine  so  glorious 
in  any,  as  in  his  constant  attachment  to  the  true 
interests  of  his  country,  and  the  noble  struggle  that 
he  sustained,  at  the  expence  even  of  his  life,  to  a- 
vert  the  impending  tyranny  that  finally  oppressed  it. 

But  I  ought  to  ask  your  Lordship's  pardon  for 
dwelling  so  long  upon  a  character,  which  is  known 
to  the  whole  kingdom,  as  well  as  to  myself;  not 
only  by  the  high  office  which  you  fill,  and  the  emi- 
nent dignity  that  you  bear  in  it,  but  by  the  sprigh^- 


DEDICATION.  Xlil 

iy  compositions  of  various  kinds,  with  which  your 
Lordship  has  often  entertained  it.  It  would  be  a 
presumption,  to  think  of  adding  any  honour  to  your 
Lordship  by  my  pen,  after  you  have  acquired  so 
much  by  your  own.  The  chief  design  of  my  epis- 
tle is,  to  give  this  public  testimony  of  my  thanks  for 
the  signal  marks  of  friendship,  with  which  your 
Lordship  has  long  honoured  me ;  and  to  interest 
your  name,  as  far  as  I  can,  in  the  fate  and  success 
of  my  work ;  by  letting  the  world  know  what  a 
share  you  had  in  the  production  of  it ;  that  it  owed 
its  being  to  your  encouragement ;  correctness,  to 
your  pencil;  and,  what  many  will  think  the  most 
substantial  benefit,  its  large  subscription  to  your 
authority.  For  though,  in  this  way  of  publishing 
it,  I  have  had  the  pleasure  to  find  myself  supported 
by  a  noble  list  of  generous  friends,  who,  without  be- 
ing solicited,  or  even  asked  by  me,  have  promoted 
my  subscription  with  uncommon  zeal,  yet  your 
Lordship  has  distinguished  yourself  the  most  emi- 
nently of  them,  in  contributing  not  only  to  the  num- 
ber, but  the  splendour  of  the  names  that  adorn  it. 

Next  to  that  little  reputation  with  which  the 
public  has  been  pleased  to  favour  me,  the  benefit 
of  this  subscription  is  the  chief  fruit  that  I  have  e- 
ver  reaped  from  my  studies.  I  am  indebted  for  the 
first  to  Cicero,  for  the  second,  to  your  Lordship :  it 
was  Cicero,    who  instructed   me  to  write ;   your 


XlV  DEDICATIOK. 

Lordship,  who  rewards  me  for  writing  :  the  same 
motive  therefore,  which  induced  me  to  attempt  the 
history  of  the  one,  engages  me  to  dedicate  it  to  the 
other ;  that  I  may  express  my  gratitude  to  you 
both,  in  the  most  effectual  manner  that  I  am  able, 
by  celebrating  the  memory  of  the  dead,  and  ac- 
knowledging the  generosity  of  my  living  benefac 
tor. 

I  have  received  great  civilities,  on  several  occa- 
sions, from  many  noble  persons,  of  which  I  shall 
ever  retain  a  most  grateful  sense  :  but  your  Lord- 
ship's accumulated  favours  have  long  ago  risen  up 
to  the  character  of  obhgations,  and  made  it  my 
perpetual  duty,  as  it  had  always  been  my  ambition, 
to  profess  myself  with  the  greatest  truth  and  re- 
spect, 

MY   LORP, 

Your  Lordship's 
Most  obliged 

And  devoted  Servant, 
CONYERS  MIDDLETOK. 


PREFACE, 


There  is  no  part  of  history,  which  seems  capable  of  yield- 
ing  either  more  instruction  or  entertainment,  than  that  which 
offers  to  us  the  select  lives  of  great  and  virtuous  men,  who 
have  made  an  eminent  figure  on  the  public  stage  of  the  world* 
In  these  we  see,  at  one  view,  what  the  annals  of  a  whole  age 
can  aiford,  that  is  worthy  of  notice  j  and,  in  the  wide  field  of 
universal  history,  skipping  as  it  were  over  the  barren  places, 
gather  all  its  flowers,  and  possess  ourselves  at  once  of  every 
thing  that  is  good  in  it. 

But  there  is  one  great  fault,  which  is  commonly  observed 
in  the  writers  oi particular  lives ;  that  they  are  apt  to  be  par- 
tial and  prejudiced  in  favour  of  their  subject,  and  to  give  us 
a  panegyric  instead  of  a  history.  They  work  up  their  cha- 
racters as  painters  do  their  portraits  5  taking  the  praise  of 
their  art  to  consist,  not  in  copying,  but  in  adorning  nature  ; 
not  in  drawing  a  just  resemblance,  but  in  siving  a  fine  pic- 
ture ;  or  exalting  the  man  into  the  hero  :  And  this  indeed 
seems  to  flow  from  the  nature  of  the  thing-  itself,  where  the 
very  inclination  to  write  is  generally  grounded  on  a  preposses- 
sion, and  an  affection  already  contracted  for  the  person,  whose 
history  we  are  attempting  ;  and  when  v/e  sit  down  to  it  with 
the  disposition  of  a  friend,  it  is  natural  for  us  to  cast  a  shade 
over  his  failings  ;■ — to  give  the  strongest  colouring  to  his  vir- 
tues ; — and,  out  of  a  good  character,  to  endeavour  to  draw  a 
perfect  one. 

I  am  sensible  that  this  is  the  common  prejudice  of  Biogra- 
phers, and  have  endeavoured  therefore  to  divest  myself  of  it, 
as  far  as  I  was  able  j  yet  dare  not  take  upon  me  to  affirm. 


SVU  PREFACE. 

that  T  have  kept  myself  wholly  clear  from  it  ;  but  shall  leave 
the  decision  of  that  point  to  the  judgment  of  the  Reader  j  for 
I  must  be  so  ingenuous  as  to  own,  that,  when  I  formed  the 
plan  of  this  work,  I  was  previously  possessed  with  a  very  fa- 
vourable opinion  of  Cicero  ;  which,  after  the  strictest  scruti- 
ny, has  been  greatly  confirmed  and  heightened  in  me ;  and,  in 
the  case  of  a  shining  character,  such  as  Cicero's,  I  am  per- 
suaded, will  appear  to  be,  it  is  certainly  more  pardonable  to 
exceed  rather  in  our  praises  of  it,  out  of  a  zeal  for  illustrious 
merit,  than  to  be  reserved  in  doing  justice  to  it,  through  a 
fear  of  being  thought  partial.  But,  that  I  might  guard  my- 
se;lf  equally  from  both  the  extremes,  I  have  taken  care  always 
to  leave  the  facts  to  speak  for  themselves,  and  to  affirm  no- 
thing of  any  moment  without  an  authentic  testimony  to  sup- 
port it  ;  which  yet,  if  consulted  in  the  original  at  its  full 
length,  vv'ill  commonly  add  more  light  and  strength  to  what  is 
advanced  than  the  fragments  quoted  in  the  margin,  and  the 
brevity  of  notes  would  admit. 

But  whatever  prejudices  may  be  suspected  to  adhere  to  the 
writer,  it  is  certain,  that,  in  a  work  of  this  nature,  he  would 
have  many  more  to  combat  in  the  Reader.  The  scene  of  it  is 
laid  in  a  place  and  age,  which  are  familiar  to  us  from  our 
childhood;  We  learn  the  names  of  all  the  chief  actors  at  school, 
and  chuse  our  several  favourites  according  to  our  tempers  or 
fancies  ;  and,  when  we  are  least  able  to  judge  of  the  merit  of 
them,  form  distinct  characters  of  each,  which  we  frequently 
retain  through  life.  Thus,  Marius,  Sylla,  Caesar,  Pompej^, 
Cato,  Cicero,  Brutus,  Antony-,  have  all  their  several  advo- 
cates, zealous  for  their  fame,  and  ready  even  to  quarrel  for 
the  superiority  of  their  virtues.  But,  among  the  celebrated 
names  of  antiquity,  those  of  the  great  Conquerors  and  Gene- 
rals attract  oiyr  admiration  always  the  most,  and  imprint  a 
notion  of  magnanimity  and  power,  and  capacity  for  dominion, 
superior  to  that  of  other  mortals  :  We  look  upon  such  as  des- 
tined by  heaven  for  empire,  and  born  to  trample  on  their  fel- 
iow-creatures,  without  reflecting  on  the  numerous  evils  which 
are  necessary  to  the  arc;uiL-ition  of  a  glory  which  is  built  up- 


PREFACE.  XVI?. 

Oil  the  subversion  of  nations,  and  the  destruction  of  the  hu- 
man species  Yet  these  are  the  only  persons  who  are  thought 
to  shine  in  history,  or  to  merit  the  attention  of  the  Reader  ; 
Dazzled  with  the  splendour  of  their  victories,  and  the  pomp 
of  their  triumphs,  we  consider  them  as  the  pride  and  orna- 
ments of  the  Roman  name  ;  while  the  pacific  and  civil  charac- 
ter, though  of  all  others  the  most  beneficial  to  mankind,  whose 
sole  ambition  is,  to  support  the  laws,  the  rights,  and  liberty 
of  his  citizens,  is  looked  upon  as  humble  and  contemptible  on 
the  comparison,  for  being  forced  to  truckle  to  the  power  of 
these  oppressors  of  their  country. 

In  the  following  history,  therefore,  if  I  have  happened  to 
affirm  any  thing  that  contradicts  the  common  opinion,  and 
shocks  the  prejudices  of  the  Reader,  1  must  desire  him  to  at- 
tend diligently  to  the  authorities  on  which  it  is  grounded  j  and 
if  these  do  not  give  satisfaction,  to  suspend  his  judgment  still 
to  the  end  of  the  work,  in  the  progress  of  which,  many  facts 
will  be  cleared  up  that  may  appear  at  first  perhaps  uncertain 
and  precarious  ;  ant?,  in  every  thing,  especially  that  relates  to 
Cicero,  I  would  recommend  to  him,  to  contemplate  the  whole 
character,  before  he  thinks  himself  qualified  to  judge  of  its  se- 
parate parts,  on  which  the  whole  will  always  be  found  the  su- 
rest comment. 

QuiNTlLiAN  has  given  us  an  excellent  rule  in  the  very  case, 
that  we  should  be  "  modest  and  circumspect  in  passing  a  judg- 
"  ment  on  men  so  illustrious,  lest,  as  it  happens  to  the  gene- 
'*  rality  of  censurers,  we  be  found  at  last  to  condemn  what  we 
*'  do  not  understand*."  There  is  another  reflection  likewise 
very  obvious,  which  yet  seldom  has  its  due  weight  j  that  a 
writer  on  any  part  of  history,  which  he  has  made  his  parti- 
cular study,  may  be  presumed  to  be  better  acquainted  with  it 
than  the  genersility  of  his  readers  ;  and  when  he  asserts  a  fact 
that  does  not  seem  to  be  Well  grounded,  it  may  fairly  be  im- 
puted, till   a  good  reason  appears  to  the  contrary,  to  a  more 

*  Modeste  tamen  &  circumspecto juJicio  dt  taucibviris  pionuncirfiiduni  esf, 
^  ne,  quod   plcrisque   accidie,    damccut,  quse  i.on   intclligMU.       Quuit.l.    lu- 
stit.  X.    I. 


SVlll.  PREFACE. 

extensive  view  of  his  subject,  which,  by  making  it  clear  to 
himself,  is  apt  to  persuade  him  that  it  is  equally  clear  to 
every  body  else  ;  and  that  a  fuller  explication  of  it  would  con- 
sequently be  unnecessary.  If  these  considerations,  which  are 
certainly  reasonable,  have  but  their  proper  influence,  I  flatter 
myself,  that  there  will  be  no  just  cause  to  accuse  me  of  any 
culpable  biass  in  my  accounts  of  things  or  persons,  or  of  any 
other  favour  to  the  particular  character  of  Cicero,  than  what 
common  humanity  will  naturally  bestow  upon  every  charac- 
ter, that  is  found  upon  the  whole  to  be  both  great  and  good. 

In  drawing  the  characters  of  a  number  of  persons,  who  all 
lived  in  the  same  city,  at  the  same  time,  trained  by  the  same 
discipline,  and  engaged  in  the  same  pursuits, — As  there  must 
be  many  similar  strokes,  and  a  general  resemblance  in  them 
all,  so  the  chief  diflSculty  will  be,  to  prevent  them  from  run- 
ning into  too  great  an  uniformity.  This  I  have  endeavoured 
to  do,  not  by  forming  ideal  pictures,  or  such  as  would  please 
or  surprise,  but  by  attending  to  the  particular  facts  which  his-* 
tory  has  delivered  of  the  men,  and  tracing  them  to  their  source^ 
cr  to  those  correspondent  aflfections  from  which  they  derived 
their  birth  ;  for  these  are  the  distinguishing  features  of  the 
several  persons,  which,  when  duly  represented,  and  placed  in 
their  proper  light,  will  not  fail  to  exhibit  that  precise  diflfe- 
rence  in  which  the  peculiarity  of  each  character  consists. 

As  to  the  nature  of  my  work,  though  the  title  of  it  carries 
nothing  more  than  the  History  of  Cicero's  Life,  yet  it 
might  properly  enough  be  called,  the  History  of  Cicero*? 
Times  ;  since,  from  his  first  advancement  to  the  public  Ma- 
gistracies, there  was  not  any  thing  of  moment  transacted  in 
the  state,  in  which  he  did  not  bear  an  eminent  part  ;  so  that, 
to  make  the  whole  work  of  a  piece,  I  have  given  a  summary 
account  of  the  Roman  affairs,  during  the  time  even  of  his  mi- 
nority ;  and,  agreeably  to  what  I  promised  in  my  proposals, 
have  carried  on  a  series  of  history,  through  a  period  of  above 
sixty  years,  which,  for  the  importance  of  the  events,  and  the 
dignity  of  the  persons  concerned  in  them,  h  by  far  i!ie  mo  f 
interesting  of  any  in  the  annals  of  Rome, 


PREFACE.  XlX* 

.  In  the  execution  of  this  design,  I  have  pursued,  as  closely 
as  I  could,  that  very  plan  which  Cicero  himself  had  sketched 
out  for  the  model  of  a  complete  history  ;  where  he  lays  it 
down,  as  a  fundamental  kw,  "  that  the  writer  should  not  dare 
"  to  affirm  what  was  false,  or  to  suppress  what  was   true ; 

"  nor  give  any  suspicion  either  of  favour  or  disaffection  r 

'*  That,  in  the  relation  of  facts,  he  should  observe  the  arder 
*'  of  time,  and  sometimes  add  the  description  of  places ;  should 
*'  first  explain  the  councils  ;  then  the  acts  ;  and,  lastly,  the 
*'  events  of  things  : — That,  in  the  councils,  he  should  inter- 
*'  pose  his  own  judgment  on  the  merit  of  them  ;  in  the  acts, 
^*  relate  not  only  what  was  done,  but  how  it  was  done  ;  in 
"  the  events,  shew  what  share  chance,  or  rashness,  or  pru- 
**  dence,  had  in  them : — That  he  should  describe  likewise  the 
*'  particular  characters  of  all  the  great  persons  who  bare  any 
*'  considerable  part  in  the  story  ;  and  should  dress  up  the 
*'  whole  in  a  clear  and  equable  stile,  without  affecting  any  or- 
*'  nament,  or  seeking  any  other  praise  but  of  perspicuity." 
These  were  the  rules  that  Cicero  had  drawn  up  for  himself 
when  he  was  meditating  a  general  History  of  bis  Country ^  as 
I  have  taken  occasion  to  mention  more  at  large  in  its  proper 
place. 

But,  as  I  have  borrowed  my  plan,  so  I  have  drawn  my  ma- 
terials also  from  Cicero,  whose  works  are  the  most  authentic 
monuments  that  remain  to  us  of  all  the  great  transactions  of 
that  age,  being  the  original  accounts  of  one,  who  himself  was 
not  only  a  spectator,  but  a  principal  actor  in  them.  There  is 
not  a  single  part  of  his  writings  which  does  not  give  some 
light,  as  well  into  his  own  history,  as  into  that  of  the  Repub- 
lic :  But  \i\s  familiar  Letters ,  and  above  all  those  to  Atticus, 
may  justly  be  called  the  Memoirs  of  the  Times  \  for  they  con- 
tain not  only  a  distinct  account  of  every  memorable  event,  but 
lay  open  the  springs  and  motives  whence  each  of  them  pro- 
ceeded ;  so  that,  as  a  polite  writer,  who  lived  in  that  very 
age,  and  perfectly  knew  the  merit  of  these  Letters^  says,  "  the 


Xi.  PREFACE. 

"  man  who  reads  them,  will  have  no  occasion  for  any  other 
"  history  of  those  times*." 

My  first  business,  therefore,  after  I  had  undertaken  this 
task,  was  to  read  over  Cicero's  works,  with  no  other  view 
than  to  extract  from  them  all  the  passages  that  seemed  to  have 
any  relation  to  my  design  :  Where  the  tediousness  of  collect- 
ing an  infinite  number  of  testimonies,  scattered  through  many 
different  volumes  j  of  sorting  them  into  their  classes,  and  ran- 
ging them  in  proper  order ;  the  necessity  of  overlooking  ma- 
ny in  the  first  search,  and  the  trouble  of  retrieving  them  in  a 
second  or  third ;  and  the  final  omission  of  several  through  for- 
getfulness  or  inadvertency  ; — have  helped  to  abate  that  won- 
der, which  had  often  occurred  to  me,  why  no  man  had  ever 
attempted  the  same  work  before  me,  or,  at  least,  in  this  en- 
larged and  comprehensive  form,  in  which  it  is  now  offered  to 
the  public. 

In  my  use  of  these  materials,  I  have  chosen  to  insert  as 
many  of  them  as  I  could  into  the  body  of  my  work,  imagin- 
ing, that  it  would  give  both  a  lustre  and  authority  to  a  sen- 
timent, to  deliver  it  in  the  person  and  the  very  words  of  Ci- 
cero ;  especially  if  they  could  be  managed  so  as  not  to  appear 
to  be  sewed  on  like  splendid  patches,  but  woven  originally  in- 
to the  text,  as  the  genuine  parts  of  it.  With  this  view,  I 
have  taken  occasion  to  introduce  several  of  his  Letters,  with 
large  extracts  from  such  of  his  Orations  as  give  any  particu- 
lar light  into  the  facts,  or  customs,  or  characters,  described 
in  the  history,  or  which  seemed,  on  any  other  account,  to  be 
curious  and  entertaining.  The  frequent  introduction  of  these 
may  be  charged  perhaps  to  laziness,  and  a  design  of  shorten- 
ing my  pains,  by  filling  up  my  story  with  Cicero's  words  in- 
stead of  my  own  :  But  that  was  not  the  case,  nor  has  this  part 
of  the  task  been  the  easiest  to  me  ;  as  those  will  readily  be- 
lieve, who  have  ever  attempted  to  translate  the  classical  wri- 


*  Scxdecim  volumina  Epistulorum  ab  Consulatu  ejus  usque  ad  extremum 
tcmpus  ad  Atticum  missarum  ;  qure  qui  Itgat,  non  multutu  desideret  histori- 
am  contextam  eorum  temporum.  Sic  cnim  omnia  de  studiis  principum,  vitiis 
tlucum,  ac  mutationibui  Reipub.  peiscripta  sunt,  ut  nihil  it^  his  uon  appareat. 
Corn.  Nep.  in  Vit.  Attici,   16, 


PREFACE.  XXl 

ters  of  Greece  and  Rome,  where  the  difficulty  is^  not  so  much 
to  give  their  sense,  as  to  give  it  in  their  language ;  that  is,  in 
such  as  is  analogous  to  it,  or  what  they  might  be  supposed  to 
speak  if  thej  were  living  at  this  time,  since  a  splendoiir  of 
stile,  as  well  as  of  sentiments,  is  necessary  to  support  the  idea 
of  a  fine  writer      While  I  am  representing  Cicero,  therefore, 
as  the  most  eloquent  of  the  ancients,  flowing  with  a  perpetual 
ease  and  delicacy,  and  fulness  of  expression,  it  would  be  ridi- 
*  culous  to  produce  no  other  specimen  of  it  but  what  was  stiff 
and  forced,  and  offensive  to  a  polite  reader  :  Yet  this  is  gene- 
rally the  case  of  our  modern  versions,  where  the  first  wits  of 
antiquity  are  made  to  speak  such  English  as  an  Englishman  of 
taste  would  be  ashamed  to  write  on  any  original  subject.  Ver- 
bal translations  are  always  inelegant*,  and  necessarily  destroy 
all  the  beauty  of  language  ;  yet,  by  departing  too  wantonly 
from  the  letter,  we  are  apt  to   vary  the   sense,  and  mingle 
somewhat  of  our  own  :  Translators  of  low  genius  never  reach 
beyond  the  first,  but  march  from  word  to  word,  without  ma- 
king the  least  excursion,  for  fear  of  losing  themselves  ;  while 
men  of  spirit,  who  prefer  the  second,  usually  contemn  the 
mere  task  of  translating,  and  are  vain  enough  to  think  of  im- 
proving their  author.     I  have  endeavoured  to  take  the  middle 
way,  and  made  it  my  first  care  always  to  preserve  the  senti- 
ment ;  and  my  next,  to  adhere  to  the  words^  as  far  as   I  was 
able  to  express  them,  in  an  easy  and  natural  stile ;  which  I 
have  varied  still  agreeably  to  the  different  subject,  or  the  kind 
of  writing  on  which  I  was  employed  ;  and  T  persuade  myself^ 
that  the  many  original  pieces  which  I  have   translated  from 
Cicero,  as  they  are  certainly  the  most  shining,  so  will  be 
found  also  the  most  useful  parts  of  my  work,  by  introducing 
the  Reader  the  oftener  into  the   company  of  one  with  whom 
no  man  ever  convers  ed,  as  a  very  eminent  writer  tells  us, 
without  coming  away  the  better  for  itf. 


*  Ncc  tamen  exprJmi  verbum  e  verbo  necessc  erit,  ut  interpretes  idiserti  so- 
lent.     Cic.  de  Finib.  3,  4. 

f  Quis  autem  sumpsit  hujus  libros  in  manum,  quin  surrexerit  animo  seda- 
tiore  ?     Erasm.  Ep.  ad  jo,  Uliatten  — 

Vol.  I.  b 


XHU  r  R  E  F  A  C  E. 

After  I  had  gone  through  my  review  of  Cicero's  writing^y 
my  next  recourse  was  to  the  other  Ancients,  both  Greeks  and 
Romans,  who  had  touched  upon  the  affairs  of  that  age.  These 
served  me  chiefly  to  fill  up  the  interstices  of  general  history^ 
and  to  illustrate  several  passages  which  were  but  slightly  men- 
tioned by  Cicero,  as  well  as  to  add  some  stories  and  circum- 
stances, wjiich  tradition  had  preserved,  concerning  either  Ci- 
cero himself,  or  any  of  the  chief  actors  whose  'characters  I 
had  delineated. 

But  the  Greek  Historians,  who  treat  professedly  of  these 
times,  Plutarch,  Appian,  Dio,  though  they  are  all  very  use- 
ful for  illustrating  many  important  facts   of  ancient  history, 
which  v/ould  otherwise  have  been  lost,  or  imperfectly  trans- 
mitted to  us,  are  not  yet  to  be  read  without  some  caution,  as 
being  strangers  to  the  language  and  customs  of  Rome,  and  li- 
able to  frequent  mistakes,  as  well  as  subject  to  prejudices,  in 
their  relation  of  Roman  affairs.   Plutarch  lived  from  the  reign 
of  Claudius  to  that  of  Hadrian,  in  which  he  died  very  old,  in 
the  possession  of  the  priesthood  of  the  Delphic  Apollo :  And^ 
though  he  is  supposed  to  have  resided  in  Rome  near  forty 
years  at  different  times,  yet  he  never  seems  to  have  acquired 
a  sufficient  skill  in  the  Roman  language,  to  qualify  himself 
for  the  compiler  of  a  Roman  History.     But,  if  we  should  al- 
low him  all  the  talents  requisite  to  an  historian,    yet  the  at- 
tempt of  writing  the  Lives  of  all  the  illustrious  Greeks  andRo^ 
mans,  was  above  the  strength  of  any  single  man,  of  what  abi- 
lities and  leisure  soever  ;  much  more  of  one  who,  as  he  him- 
self tells  us,  was  so  engaged  in  public  business,  and  in  giving 
lectures  of  philosophy  to  the  great  men  of  Rome,  "  that  he 
**  had  not  time  to  make  himself  master  of  the  Latin  tongue, 
*'  nor  to  acquire  any  other  knowledge  of  its  words  than  what 
**  he  had  gradually  learnt  by  a  previous  use  and  experience  of 
**  things  *."     His  work,  therefore,  from  the  very  nature  of 
it,  must  needs  be  superficial  and  imperfect,  and  the  sketch  ra- 
ther than  the  completion  of  a  great  design.   « 

*  Vid.  Plutarch,  in  Vit.  Deino>then.  Init.  et  Vit.  Plutarchi  ter  Rualdiau. 
c.  14. 


PREFACE.  •  SXIU 

,  This  we  find  to  be  ectually  true  in  his  account  of  Cicero's 
LlPE,  where,  besides  the  particular  mistakes  that  have  been 
charged  upon  him  bj  other  writers,  we  see  all  the  marks  of 
haste,  inaccuracy,  and  -^ant  of  due  information,  from  the  po- 
verty and  perplexity  of  the  whole  performance.  He  huddles 
over  Cicero's  greatest  acts  in  a  summary  and  negligent  man- 
ner, yet  dv/ells  upon  his  dreams  and  \{\s  jests,  which,  for  the 
greatest  part,  were  probably  spurious  ;  and,  in  the  last  scene 
of  his  life,  which  was  of  all  the  most  glorious,  when  the  whole 
councils  of  the  empire,  and  the  fate  and  liberty  of  Rome,  rest- 
ed on  his  shoulders,  there  he  is  more  particularly  trifling  and 
empty ;  where  he  had  the  fairest  opportunity  of  displaying 
his  character  to  advantage,  as  well  as  of  illustrating  a  curious 
part  of  history,  which  has  not  well  been  explained  by  any 
writer,  though  there  are  the  amplest  materials  for  it  in  Cice- 
ro^s  Letters  and  Philippic  Orations^  of  which  Plutarch  appears 
to  have  made  little  or  no  use. 

Appian  flourished  likewise  in  the  reign  of  Hadrian*,  and 
came  to  Rome  probably  about  the  time  of  Plutarch's  death, 
yhile  his  works  were  in  every  body's  hands,  which  he  had 
made  great  use  of,  and  seems  to  have  copied  very  closely  in 
the  most  considerable  passages  of  his  history. 

Dio  Cassius  lived  still  later,  from  the  time  of  the  Anto- 
nines  to  that  of  Alexander  Sever  us  ;  and,  besides  the  excep- 
tions that  lie  against  him  in  common  with  the  other  two,  is 
observed  to  have  conceived  a  particular  prejudice  against  Ci~ 
cero;  whom  he  treats  on  all  occasions  with  the  utmost  ma- 
lignity. The  most  obvious  cause  of  it  seems  to  be,  his  tnvj 
to  a  man,  who  for  arts  and  eloquence  was  thought  to  eclipse 
the  fame  of  Greece  ?  and,  by  explaining  all  the  parts  of  philo- 
sophy to  the  Romans  in  their  own  language,  had  superseded 
in  some  measure  the  use  of  the  Greek  learning  and  lectures  at 
Rome,  to  which  the  hungry  wits  of  that  nation  owed  both 
their  credit  and  their  bread.  Another  reason,  not  less  pro- 
bable, may  be  drawn  likewise  from  Dio's  character  and  prin- 
ciples, which  were  wholly  opposite  to  those  of  Cicero :  he 

*  Vvi.  App.  de  Bell.  civ.  I.  2.  p.  481. 

b  ?. 


XXlV  PREFACE. 

flourished  under  the  most  tyrannical  of  the  emperors,  by  whom 
he  was  advanced  to  great  dignity ;  and,  being  the  creature  of 
despotic  power,  thought  it  a  proper  cotnpliment  to  it,  to  de- 
preciate a  name  so  highly  revered  for  its  patriotism  ;  and 
whose  writings  tended  to  revive  that  ancient  zeal  and  spirit 
of  liberty,  for  ^vhich  the  people  of  Rome  were  once  so  cele- 
brated :  for  we  find  him  taking  all  occasions  in  his  history, 
to  prefer  an  absolute  and  monarchial  government,  to  a  free  and 
democratical  one,  as  the  most  beneficial  to  the  Roman  state  *. 
These  were  the  grounds  of  Dio's  malice  to  Cicero^  which 
is  exerted  often  so  absurdly,  that  it  betrays  and  confutes  itself. 
Thus,  in  the  debates  of  the  senate  about  Antony,  he  dresses  up 
a  speech  for  Fusius  Calenus,  filled  with  all  the  obscene  and 
brutal  ribaldry  against  Cicero,  that  a  profligate  mind  could  in- 
vent ;  as  if  it  were  possible  to  persuade  any  man  of  sense, 
that  such  infamous  stuff  could  be  spoken  in  the  senate,  at  a 
time  when  Cicero  had  an  entire  ascendant  in  it,  who  at  no 
time  ever  suffered  the  least  insult  upon  his  honour,  without 
chastising  the  agressor  for  it  upon  the  spot :  whereas  Cicero's 
speeches  in  these  very  debates,  which  are  still  extant,  shew, 
that  though  they  were  managed  with  great  warmth  of  opposi- 
tion, yet  it  was  always  with  decency  of  language  between  him 
and  Calenus ;  whom,  while  he  reproves  and  admonishes  with 
his  usual  freedom,  yet  he  treats  with  civility,  and  sometimes 
even  with  compliments  f. 

But  a  few  passages  from  Dio  himself  will  evince  the  jus- 
tice of  this  censure  upon  him  :  "  he  calls  Cicero's  father,  a 
**  Fuller,  who  yet  got  his  liveliehood,"  he  says,  "  by  dressing 
"  other  people's  vines  and  olives  ;  that  Cicero  was  born  and 
*'  bred  amidst  the  scourings  of  old  clothes,  and  the  filth  of 
**  dunghills ;   that  he  was  master  of  no  liberal  science,   nor  e- 

*  Vid  Dio.  1.  44.  init. 

f  Nam  quod  me  tecum  Iracunde  agere  dixisti  solere,  non  est  Ita.  Vehe- 
menter  mc  agere  fateor  ;  iracunde  nego  :  omnino  irasci  amicis  non  temereso- 
leo,  ne  si  merentur  quidtm.  Itaque  sine  verborum  contumelia  a  te  dissentire 
possum,  sine  animi  sunimo  dolore  non  possum.  [Phil,  8.  5.]  Satis  multo  cum 
Fusio,  ac  sine  odio  omnia;  nihil  sine  dolore.  [lb.  6  j  Quapropter  ut  invitus 
*aepe  disscnsi  a  Q^ Fusio,  ita  sum  libenter  assensus  ejus  sententiae  :  ex  quo  ju- 
dicare  debetis  me  non  cum  homine  solere,  sed  cum  causa  dissidere,  Itaque  nou 
asscntior  solum,  sed  ctiam  gratias  ago  C^Fusio,  &c.    Phil,  xi.  6. 


F  R  E  r  A  C  E.  XXV 

*^  ver  did  a  single  thing  in  his  life,  worthy  of  a  great  man,  or 
*^  an  orator  :  that  he  prostituted  his  wife  ;  trained  up  his  son 
**  in  drunkenness  ;  committed  incest  with  his  daughter  ;  lived 
^'  in  adultery  with  Cerellia ;  whom  he  owns  at  the  same  time 
^^  to  he,  seventy  years  oi'dX '"  all  v/hich  palpable  lies,  with 
many  more  of  the  same  sort,  that  he  tells  of  Cicero,  are  yet 
full  as  credible  as  what  he  declares  afterwards  of  himself,  that 
he  was  ad?nomshed  and  commanded  by  a  vision  from  heaven, 
against  his  own  will  and  inclination,  to  undertake  the  task  of 
writing  his  own  history  ||. 

Upon  these  collections  from  Cicero  and  the  other  ancients, 
I  finished  the  first  draught  of  my  history,  before  I  began  to 
enquire  after  the  modern  writers,  who  had  treated  the  same 
subject  before  me,   either  in  whole  or  in  part.     I  was  unwil- 
ling to  look  into  them  sooner,  lest  they  should  fix  any  preju- 
dice insensibly  upon  me,  before  I  had  formed  a  distinct  judg- 
ment on  the  real  state  of  the  facts,  as  they  appeared  to  me 
from  their  original  records.     For,  in   writing  history,  as  in 
travels,  instead  of  transcribing  the  relations  of  those  who  have 
trodden  the  same  ground  before  us,  we  should  exhibit  a  series 
of  observations  peculiar  to  ourselves  j    such  as   the  facts   and 
jdaces  suggest  to  our   own  minds  from  an  attentive  survey 
of  them,  without  regard  to  what  any  one  else  may  have  deli- 
vered about  them  :  And  though,  in  a  production  of  this  kind, 
where  the  same  materials  are  common  to  all,  many  things 
must  necessarily  be  said,  which  had  been  observed  already  by 
others  ;  yet,  if  the  author  has  any  genius,  there  will  always 
be  enough  of  what  is  new,  to  distinguish  it  as  an  original 
work,  and  to  give  him  a  right  to  call  it  his  own,  which  I  flat- 
ter myself  will  be  allowed  to  me  in  the  following  History.  In 
this  inquiry  after  the  modern  pieces,  which  had  any  connec- 
tion with  my  argument,  I  got  notice  presently  of  a  greater 
number  than  1  expected,  which  bore  the  title  of  Cicero's  Life  ; 
but,  upon  running  over  as  many  of  them  as  I  could  readily 
meet  with,  I  was  cured  of  my  eagerness  for  hunting  out  the 
rest,  since  I  perceived  them  to  be  nothing  else  but  either  tri- 

\  Vid.  Dio.  1.  46,  p.  Z95,  &c.  |1  Ibid.  1.  73.  p.  8280 

b  3 


XXVI  PREFACE, 

fling  panegyrics  on  Cicero's  general  character,  or  imperfect 
abstracts  of  his  principal  acts,  thrown  together  within  the 
compass  of  a  few  pages  in  duodecimo. 

Tliere  are  two  books,  however,  which  have  been  of  real 
use  to  me,  Sebastiani  Corradi  ^ucestiira^  and  Af.  T.  Cicero- 
nis  Histo7'ia  a  Francisco  Fabricio  :  The  first  was  the  work  of 
an  Italian  Critic  of  eminent  learning,  who  spent  a  great  part  of 
his  life  in  explahiing  Cicero's  writings  ;  but  it  is  rather  an 
Apology  J  or  Cicero  y  than  the  History  of  his  Life  ;  its  chief 
end  being  to  vindicate  Cicero's  character  from  all  the  objec- 
tions that  have  ever  been  made  to  it,  and  particularly  from 
the  misrepresentations  of  Plutarch,  and  the  calumnies  of  Dio. 
The  piece  is  learned  and  ingenious,  and  written  in  good  La- 
tin ;  yet  the  dialogue  is  carried  on  with  so  harsh  and  forced 
an  allegory,  of  a  Quaestor  or  Treasurer  producing  the  seve- 
ral testimonies  of  Cicero's  acts,  under  the  form  oi genuine  mo- 
neyy  in  opposition  to  the  spurious  coins  of  the  Greek  histori- 
ans, that  none  can  read  it  with  pleasure,  few  with  patience  : 
The  obseryatioas  however  are  generally  just  and  well  ground- 
ed, except  that  the  author's  zeal  for  Cicero's  honour  gets  the 
better  sometimes  of  his  judgment,  and  draws  him  into  a  de- 
fence of  his  conduct,  where  Cicero  himself  has  even  condemn^ 
edit. 

Fabricius's  History  is  prefixed  to  several  editions  of  Cice- 
ro's works,  and  is  nothing  more  than  a  bare  detail  of  his  acts 
and  writings,  digested  into  exact  order,  and  distinguished  by 
the  years  of  Rome  and  of  Cicero'' s  Life,  without  any  explica- 
tion or  comment,  but  what  relates  to  the  settlement  of  the 
time,  which  is  the  sole  end  of  the  work.  But,  as  this  is  ex- 
ecuted with  diligence  and  accuracy,  so  it  has  eased  me  of  a 
great  share  of  that  trouble,  which  I  must  otherwise  have  had, 
in  ranging  my  materials  into  their  proper  places  ;  in  which 
task,  however,  I  have  always  taken  care  to  consult  also  the 
Annals  of  Pighius.  ' 

I  did  not  forget  likewise  to  pay  a  due  attention  to  the  French 
Authors,  whose  works  happened  to  coincide  with  any  part  of 
mine  ;  particularly,  ^he  Hi;tory   of  the  Two  Trii/rn'irates.  ; 


:P  R  E  F  A  C  E.      "  XXVll 

*— q/"  the  RevoIutio?ts  of  the  Roman  Go'vernment ;  and  of  the 
Exile  of  Cicero — which  are  all  of  them  ingenious  and  useful, 
and  have  given  a  fair  account  of  the  general  state  of  the 
facts,  which  they  profess  to  illustrate.  But,  as  I  had  already 
been  at  the  fountain-head,  whence  they  had  all  drawn  their 
materials,  so  the  chief  benefit  that  I  received  from  them  was, 
to  make  me  review  with  stricter  care  the  particular  passages 
in  which  I  differed  from  them,  as  well  as  to  remind  me  of 
some  few  things  which  I  had  omitted,  or  touched  perhaps 
more  slightly  than  they  deserved.  But  the  author  of  the  Exile 
has  treated  his  argument  the  most  accurately  of  them,  by  sup- 
porting his  story,  as  he  goes  along,  with  original  testimonies 
from  the  old  authors  ;  which  is  the  only  way  of  writing  his- 
tory that  can  give  satisfaction,  or  carry  conviction  along  with 
it,  by  laying  open  the  ground  on  which  it  is  built ;  without 
which,  history  assumes  the  air  of  romance,  and  makes  no  o- 
ther  impression,  than  in  proportion  to  our  opinion  of  the  judg- 
ment and  integrity  of  the  compiler. 

There  is  a  little  piece  also  in  our  own  language,  called,  Oh^ 
serrations  on  the  Life  of  CicerCj  which,  though  it  gives  a  very 
diiferent  account  of  Cicero  from  what  I  have  done,  jet  T  could 
not  but  read  with  pleasure,  for  the  elegance  and  spirit  with 
which  it  is  written,  by  one  who  appears  to  be  animated  with 
a  warm  love  of  virtue.  But,  to  form  our  notions  of  a  great 
man,  from  some  slight  passages  of  his  v>rritings,  or  separate 
points  of  conduct,  without  regarding  their  connection  with 
the  whole,  or  the  figure  that  they  make  in  his  general  cha- 
racter, is  like  examining  things  in  a  microscope,  which  were 
made  to  be  surveyed  in  the  gross  ;  every  mole  rises  into  a 
mountain,  and  the  least  spot  into  a  deformity,  which  vanish 
again  into  nothing  when  we  contemplate  them  through  their 
proper  medium,  and  in  their  natural  light,  I  persuade  my- 
self, therefore,  that  a  person  of  this  writer's  good  sense  and 
principles,  when  he  has  considered  Cicero's  whole  history, 
will  conceive  a  more  candid  opinion  of  the  man,  who,  after  a 
life  spent  in  a  perpetual  struggle  against  vice,  faction,  and 
tyranny,  fell  a  martyr  at  last  to  the  liberty  of  his  country. 

b  4 


XXYIll  If  H  E  F  A  C  E. 

As  I  have  had  frequent  occasion  to  recommend  the  use  qf 
Cicero's  Inciters  to  Atticus,  for  their  giving  the  clearest  light 
into  the  history  of  those  times,  so  I  must  not  forget  to  do  jus- 
tice to  the  pains  of  one,  who,  by  an  excellent  translation  and 
judicious  comnient  upon  them,  has  made  that  use  more  obvi- 
ous and  accessible  to  all :  I  mean  the  learned  Mr  Mongault, 
who,  not  content  with  retailing  the  remarks  of  other  con>- 
nientators,  or  out  of  the  rubbish  of  their  volumes,  with  se- 
lecting the  best,  enters  upon  his  task  with  the  spirit  of  a  true 
critic,  and,  by  the  force  of  his  own  genius,  has  happily  illus- 
trated many  passages,  which  all  the  interpreters  before  him 
had  given  up  as  inexplicable.  But,  since  the  obscurity  of 
these  Letters  is  now  in  a  great  measure  removed  by  the  la- 
bours of  this  gentleman,  and  especially  to  his  own  country- 
men, for  whose  particular  benefit,  and  in  whose  language  he 
"writes  ;  one  cannot  help  wondering,  that  the  Jesuits,  Catrou 
and  Rouille,  should  not  think  it  worth  while,  by  the  benefit 
of  his  pains,  to  have  made  themselves  better  acquainted  wit^ 
them  ;  which,  as  far  as  I  am  able  to  judge  from  the  little  part 
of  their  history  that  I  have  had  the  curiosity  to  look  into, 
would  have  prevented  several  mistakes,  which  they  have  com^ 
mitted,  with  regard  both  to  the  facts  and  persons  of  the  Ci- 
ceronian age. 

But,  instead  of  making  free  with  other  people's  mistakes, 
it  would  become  me  perhaps  better  to  bespeak  some  favou^c 
for  my  ovm.  An  historian^  says  Diodorus  Siculos,  may  ea^ 
^ily  he  pardoned  for  slips  of  ignorance,  since  cdl  men  are  liable 
to  them,  and  the  truth  hard  to  he  traced  from  past  and  remote 
ages ;  hut  those  who  neglect  to  inform  themselves,  afid,  through 
flattery  to  some,  or  hatred  to  others,  hioiviugly  deviate  froiJi 
the  truth,  justly  deserve  to  he  censured.  For  my  part,  I  am 
far  from  pretending  to  be  exempt  from  errors  :  All  that  I  can 
say  is,  that  I  have  committed  none  wilfully,  and  used  all  the 
means  which  occurred  to  me,  of  defending  mj-self  against 
them  ;  but,  since  there  is  not  a  single  history,  either  ancient 
or  modern,  that  I  have  consulted  on  this  occasion,  in  which  \ 
cannot  point  out  scA^eral,  it  would  be  arrogant  in  me  to  ima-' 


P  R  E  F  A  C  3S1*  ^JUtt^ 

'  gine,  that  the  same  insidvertency,  or  negligence,  or  want  of 
judgment,  may  not  be  discovered  also  in  mine :  If  any  man 
therefore  will  admonish  me  of  them  with  candour,  I  shall  think 
myself  obliged  to  nim,  as  a  friend  to  my  work,  for  assisting 
me  to  make  it  more  perfect,  and  consequently  more  useful; 
For  my  chief  motive  in  undertaking  it  was,  not  to  serve  any 
particular  cause,  but  to  do  a  general  good,  by  offering  to  the 
public  the  example  of  a  character,  which,  of  all  that  I  am  ac- 
quainted with  in  antiquity,  is  the  most  accomplished  with 
every  talent  that  can  adorn  civil  life,  ard  the  bcot  fraught 
with  lessons  of  prudence  and  duty  for  all  conditions  of  men, 
from  the  prince  to  the  private  scholar. 

If  my  pains  therefore  should  have  the  eiFect,  which  I  pro- 
pose, of  raising  a  greater  attention  to  the  name  ana  writings 
of  Cicero,  and  making  them  better  understood  and  more  fa- 
miliar to  our  youth,  I  cannot  fail  of  gaining  my  end  ;  for  the 
next  step  to  admiring  is,  to  imitate  ;  and  it  is  not  possible  to 
excite  an  aifection  for  Cicero,  without  instilling  an  affection, 
gt  the  same  tmie,  for  every  thing  that  is  laudable  ;  since  how 
much  soever  people  may  differ  in  their  opinion  of  his  conduct, 
yet  all  have  constantly  agreed  in  their  judgment  of  his  works, 
that  there  are  none  now  remaining  to  us  from  the  heathen 
world,  that  so  beautifully  display,  and  so  forcibly  recommend, 
all  those  generous  principles  that  tend  to  exalt  and  perfect 
human  nature — the  love  of  virtue,  liberty,  our  country,  and 
of  all  mankind. 

I  cannot  support  this  reflection  by  a  better  authority  than 
that  of  Erasmus,  who,  having  contracted  some  prejudices  a- 
gamst  Cicero  whea  young,  makes  a  recantation  of  them  when 
old,  in  the  following  passage  of  a  letter  to  his  friend  Ulat- 
tenus*. 

"  When  I  was  a  boy,  sajs  he,  J  was  fonder  of  Seneca  than 
**  of  Cicero  ;  and,  tiU  I  was  twenty  years  old,  could  not  bear 
";  to  spend  any  time  in  reading  him,  while  all  the  other  wri- 
**  ters  of  antiquity  generally  pleased  me.  Whether  myjudg^ 
*r'  ment  be  improved  by  age,  I  know  not ;    but   am  certain 

*  Erasm.  Ep.  ad  jo.  Ulat,  in  Cic.  Tuscul.  Qiia;:>t. 


XXX  PREFACE. 

"  that  Cicero  never  pleased  me  so  much,  when  I  was  fond  of 
"  those  juvenile  studies,  as  he  does  now,  when  I  am  grown 
*'  old,  not  only  for  the  divine  felicity  of  his  stile,  but  the  sanc- 
*'  tity  of  his  heart  and  morals  :  In  short,  he  has  inspired  my 
"  soul,  and  made  me  feel  myself  a  better  man.  I  make  no 
**  scruple  therefore  to  exhort  our  youth,  to  spend  their  hours 
*'  in  reading  and  getting  his  books  by  heart,  rather  than  in 
*'  the  vexatious  squabbles,  and  peevish  controversies,  with 
*'  which  the  world  abounds.  For  my  own  part,  though  I  am 
*^  now  in  the  decline  of  life,  yet,  as  soon  as  1  have  finished 
*'  what  I  have  in  hand,  1  shall  think  it  no  reproach  to  me  to 
'*  seek  a  reconciliation  with  my  Cicero,  and  renew  an  old  ac- 
'*  quaintance  with  him,  which,  for  many  years,  has  been  un- 
"  happily  intermitted." 

Before  I  conclude  this  Preface,  it  will  not  be  improper  to 
add  a  short  abstract,  ox  generalidea  of  the  Roman  gov  ermnentf 
from  its  first  institution  by  Romulus  to  the  time  of  Cicero's 
birth  ;  that  those  who  have  not  been  conversant  in  the  affairs 
of  Rome,  may  not  come  entire  strangers  to  the  subject  of  the 
following  History. 

The  Constitution  of  Rome  is  very  often  celebrated  by  Ci- 
cero, and  other  writers,  as  the  most  perfect  of  all  governments, 
being  happily  tempered  and  composed  of  the  three  different 
sorts,  that  are  usually  distinguished  from  each  other  ;  the-Mo' 
narchical,  the  Aristocratical,  and  the  Popular  *.  Their  King 
was  elected  by  the  people,  as  the  head  of  the  Republic,  to  be 
their  leader  in  war,  the  guardian  of  the  laws  in  peace  :  The 
Senate  was  his  council,  chosen  also  by  the  people,  by  whose 
advice  he  was  obliged  to  govern  himself  in  all  his  measures  ; 
but  the  sovereignty  was  lodged  in  the  body  of  the  citizens,  or 
the  general  society,  whose  prerogative  it  was,  to  enact  laws, 
create  magistrates^  declare  war  f ,  and  to  receive  appeals  in  all 
cases,  both  from  the  King  and  the  Senate.  Some  writers  have 
denied  this  right  of  an  appeal  to  the  people  ;    but  Cicero  ex- 

*  Statuo  es^^e  optime  constitutam  Rempub.  qure  ex  tribus  j;:cncribus  illis,  re- 
gali,  optimo,  &  populari,  cnnfusa  modici. — Fragm.  de  Rep.  1. 

Cum  in  illis  de  Repub.  libri.s  ptrsuadere  videatur  Africanus,  omnium  rerum 
publicaium  nostram  veterem  illam  fuisse  optiinlfm.  De  I,egib.  2.  ic.  Fc- 
lyb.l.  6.  p.46^.    Dion.  Hal.  1.  2.  82.    ^        t  I^^on- Hal.  i.  S7. 


PREFACE*  XXXI 

J)ressly  mentions  it  among  the  Regal  Constitutions,  as  old  as 
the  foundation  of  the  city  *j  which  he  had  demonstrated  more 
at  large  in  his  Treatise  on  the  Republic  ;  whence  Seneca  has 
quoted  a  passage  in  confirmation  of  it,  and  intimates,  that  the 

same  right  was  declared  likewise  in   the  pontifical  hooks  \ 

Valerius  Maximus  gives  us  an  instance  of  it,  which  is  con- 
firmed also  by  Livy,  that  "  Horatius  being  condemned  to  die 
^'  by  King  Tullus,  for  killing  his  sister,  was  acquitted  upon 
''  his  appeal  to  the  people  |." 

This  was  the  original  Constitution  of  Rome,  even  under 
their  Kings  ;  for,  in  the  foundation  of  a  state,  where  there 
was  no  force  to  compel,  it  Vv^as  necessary  to  invite  men  into  it 
by  all  proper  encouragements  ;  and  none  could  be  so  effectual 
as  the  assurance  of  liberty,  and  the  privilege  of  making  their 
own  laws  II .  But  the  Kings,  by  gradual  encroachment,  ha- 
ving usurped  the  whole  administration  to  themselves,  and,  by 
the  violence  of  their  government,  being  grown  intolerable  to 
a  city  trained  to  liberty  and  arms,  were  finally  expelled  by 
a  general  insurrection  of  the  Senate  and  the  people.  This  was 
the  ground  of  that  invincible  fierceness,  and  love  of  their  coun- 
try, in  the  old  Romans,  by  which  they  conquered  the  world  : 
For  the  superiority  of  their  civil  rights,  naturally  inspired  a 
superior  virtue  and  courage  to  defend  them,  and  made  them, 
of  course,  the  bravest,  as  long  as  they  continued  the  freest, 
of  all  nations. 

By  this  revolution  of  the  government,  their  old  constitu- 
tion was  not  so  much  changed,  as  restored  to  its  primitive 


*  Nam  cum  a  primo  urbis  ortu,  regiis  institutis,  partim  etiam  leg^ibiis,  au5- 
spicia,  casremonije.  Qomitvi..,  provocationes — divinitus  essent  insticuta.  Tusc. 
Qnasst.  4.  I. 

t  Cum  Clceronls  libros  de  Repub.  prehendit— — notaf,  Provocat'rovem  ad  po- 
pulum  etiam  a  regibus  fuisse.  id  ita  in  Pontifcalibus  libris  aliqui  putant  &  Fe^ 
iiefteila.     Senec.  £p.  rc8. 

\  M.  Horatius  interfectx  sororls  crimine  a  Tullo  Rege  damnatus,  ad  popu- 
ium  provocate  judicio  absolutus  est.     Val.  Max.  1.  8    I.  vid.  IJv,  i.  if^. 

I)  Romulus  seems  to  have  borrowed  the  plau  of  his  new  State  from  the  old 
government  of  Athens,  as  it  was  instituted  by  Theseus  ;  who  prevailed  with 
the  dispersed  tribes  and  families  of  Attica  to  form  them.^elve^  into  one  city,  and 
live  within  the  same  walls,  under  a  free  and  popular  government;  distribu- 
ting its  rights  and  honours  promiscuously  to  them  all,  and  reserving  no  other 
prerogative  to  himself  but  to  be  their  Captain  in  luar,  and  the  Guardian  qf  their 
UzvSf  &c.  Vid.  Plutarch,  in  Theseo,  p.  xi. 


XtXll  PREFACE. 

State :  for  though  the  name  of  king  was  abolished,  yet  the , 
power  was  retained ;  with  this  only  difference,  that  instead  of 
a  single  person  chosen  for  life,  there  were  two  chosen  annual^ 
ly  whom  they  called  Consuls  ;  invested  with  all  the  preroga- 
tives and  ensigns  of  royalty,  and  presiding  in  the  same  manner 
in  all  the  affairs  of  the  republic  *  :  when,  to  convince  the  citi- 
zens, that  nothing  was  sought  by  the  change,  but  to  secure 
their  common  liberty,  and  to  establish  their  sovereignty  a- 
gain  on  a  more  solid  basis,  one  of  the  first  consuls,  P.  Vale- 
rius Poplicola,  confirmed  by  anew  law  their  fundamental  right 
of  an  appeal  to  them  in  all  cases  ;  and,  by  a  second  law,  made 
it  capital  for  any  man  to  exercise  a  magistracy  in  Rome,  with- 
out their  special  appointment  f:  and,  as  a  public  acknowledge- 
ment of  their  supreme  authority,  the  same  consul  never  ap- 
peared in  any  assembly  of  the  people,  without  bowing  his  fas- 
ces or  maces  to  them ;  which  was  afterwards  the  constant  prac- 
tice of  all  succeeding  consuls  :|:.  Thus  the  republic  reaped  all 
the  benefit  of  a  kingly  government,  without  the  danger  of  it  ? 
since  the  consuls,  whose  reign  was  but  annual  and  accountable' 
could  have  no  opportunity  of  invading  its  liberty,  and  erecting 
themselves  into  tyrants. 

By  the  expulsion  of  the  kings,  the  city  w^as  divided  into  two 
great  parties,  the  Aristocratical  and,  the  Popular  ;  or  the  Se- 
nate and  tJj^  plebeians  \\  ;  naturally  jealous  of  each  other's 
power  ;  and  desirous  to  extend  their  own :  but  the  nobles  or 
patricians,  of  whom  the  senate  was  composed,  were  the  most 
immediate  gainers  by  the  change,  and,  with  the  consuls  at  their 
head,  being  now  the  first  movers  and  administrators  of  all  the 
deliberations  of  the  state,  had  a  great  advantage  over  the  peo- 
ple ;  and  within  the  compass  of  sixteen  years  became  so  inso- 

*  Sed  quoniam  regale  civitatis  genus,  probatum  quondam,  non  tarn  regni, 
uam  regis  vitiis  repudiatum  est  ;  nomen  tamen  videbitur  regis  repudiatuni, 
es  manebit,  si  unus  omnibus  reliquis  niagistratibus  imperabit.  De  Legib.  3,  7, 

t   Dionys.  Kal.  5.  292. 

^  Vccato  ad  concilium  populo,  summissis  fascibus  in  concionem  ascendit, 
Liv   2.  7. 

II  Duo  genera  semper  in  hac  civitate  fuerunr, ex  quibus  alteri  $e  popu- 

lares,  alteri  optimatcs  &  haberi  Si.  esse  voluerunt.  Qui  ea,  qu:E  faciebant,  qu^e- 
que  dicebant,  jucunda  multitudini  ejse  vii^ebant,  populares  ;  qui  autem  ita  se 
gerebant,  ut  sua  consilia  optiuio  cuique  probarent  optimateo  habebantur,  Frq 
Sext.  45. 


PREFACE.  XXvi' 

lent  and  oppressive,  as  to  drive  the  body  of  tlje  plebeians  to 
that  secession  into  the  sacred  mount,  whence  they  could  not 
consent  to  return,  till  they  had  extorted  a  right  of  creating  a 
new  order  of  magistrates,  of  their  own  body,  called  Trihtmes 
invested  with  full  powers  to  protect  them  from  all  injuries, 
and  whose  persons  were  to  be  sacred  and  inviolable  *. 

The  plebeian  party  had  now  got  a  head  exactly  suited  to  their 
purpose  ;  subject  to  no  controul  ;  whose  business  it  was  to 
fight  their  battles  with  the  nobility  ;  to  watch  over  the  liber- 
ties of  the  citizens  ;  and  to  distinguish  themselves  in  their 
annual  office,  by  a  zeal  for  the.  popular  interest,  /in  opposition 
to  the  aristocratic al :  who,  from  their  first  number  fii}e,  be- 
ing increased  afterwards  to  ten,  never  left  teazing  the  senate 
with  fresh  demands,  till  they  had  laid  open  to  the  plebeian  fa- 
milies a  promiscuous  right  to  all  the  magistracies  of  the  re- 
public, and  by  that  means  a  free  admission  into  the  senate. 

Thus  far  they  were  certainly  in  the  right,  and  acted  like 
true  patriots  ;  and  after  many  sharp  contests  had  now  brought 
the  government  of  Rome  to  its  perfect  state ;  when  its  ho- 
nours were  no  longer  confined  to  particular  families,  but  pro- 
posed equally  and  indifierently  to  every  citizen  ;  who  by  his 
virtue  and  services,  either  in  war  or  peace,  could  recommend 
himself  to  the  notice  and  favour  of  his  countrymen  :  while 
the  true  balance  and  temperament  of  power  between  the  se- 
nate and  people,  which  was  generally  observed  in  regular  times, 
and  which  the  honest  wished  to  establish  in  all  times,  was 
that  the  senate  should  be  the  authors  and  advisers  of  all  the 
public  councils,  but  the  people  give  them  their  sanction  and 
legal  force. 

The  tribunes  however  would  not  stop  here  ;  nor  were  con- 
tent with  securing  the  rights  of  the  commons  without  destroy- 
ing those  of  the  senate  ;  and  as  oft  as  they  were  disappointed 
in  their  private  views,  and  obstructed  in  the  course  of  their 
ambition,  used  to  recur  always  to  the  populace  ;  whom  they 
could  easily  inflame  to  what  degree  they  thought  fit,  by  the 

*  Dion,  Hal.  6,  410. 


XXXlV  PREFACE* 

proposal  of  factious  laws  for  "  dividing  the  public  lands  to  the 
*'  poorer  citizens  ;  or  by  the  free  distribution  of  corn  ;  or  the 
^^  abolition  of  all  debts  ;"  which  are  all  contrary  to  the  quiet, 
and  discipline,  and  public  faith  of  societies.  This  abuse  of  the 
tribunician  power  was  carried  to  its  greatest  height  by  the 
two  Gracchi,  who  left  nothing  unattempted,  that  could  morti- 
fy the  senate,  or  gratify  the  people  f  ;  till,  by  their  Agrarian 
laws,  and  other  seditious  acts,  which  was  greedily  received  by 
the  city,  they  had  in  a  great  measure  overturned  that  equili- 
brium of  power  in  the  republic,  on  w^hich  its  peace  and  pro- 
sperity depended. 

But  the  violent  deaths  of  these  two  tribunes,  and  of  their 
principal  adherents,  put  an  end  to  their  sedition  ;  and  was  the 
first  civil  blood  that  was  spilt  in  the  streets  of  Rome,  in  any 
of  their  public  dissensions  ;  which  till  this  time  had  always 
been  composed  by  the  methods  of  patience  and  mutual  con- 
cessions. It  must  seem  strange  to  observe,  how  these  two 
illustrious  brothers,  who,  of  all  men,  were  the  dearest  to  the 
Roman  people,  yet,  upon  the  first  resort  to  arms,  were  several- 
ly deserted  by  the  multitude,  in  the  very  height  of  their  au- 
thority, and  suffered  to  be  cruelly  massacred  in  the  face  of  the 
whole  city  :  which  shews  what  little  stress  is  to  be  laid  on  the 
assistance  of  the  populace,  when  the  disputes  come  to  blows ; 
and  that  sedition,  though  it  may  often  shake,  yet  w^ill  never 
destroy  a  free  state,  while  it  continues  unarmed,  and  unsup- 
ported by  a  military  force.  But  this  vigorous  conduct  of  the 
senate,  though  it  seemed  necessary  to  the  present  quiet  of  the 
city,  yet  soon  after  proved  fatal  to  it ;  as  it  taught  all  the  am.- 
bitious,  by  a  most  sensible  experimxcnt,  that  there  was  no  way 
of  supporting  an  usurped  authority,  but  by  force :  so  that 
from  this  time,  as  v^e  shall  find  in  the  following  story,  all 
those,  who  aspired  to  extraordinary  powers,  and  a  dominion 
in  the  republic,  seldom  troubled  themselves  with  what  the  se- 
nate or  people  were  voting  at  Rome,  but  came  attended  by 
armies  to  enforce  their  pretensions,  which  were  always  decid- 
ed by  the  longest  sword. 

t  Nihil  immotum,  nihil  tranquillum,  nihil  quietum  denique  in  eodem  statu 
rclinquebat,  fee.     Veil.  P.  2.  6. 


P  R  E  F  A  C  Er  SXX\f 

The  popularity  of  the  Gracchi  was  grounded  on  the  real 
affections  of  the  people,  gained  bjmany  extraordinary  privi- 
leges, and  substantial  benefits  conferred  upon  them  :  but  when 
force  v/as  found  necessary  to  controul  the  authority  of  the  se- 
nate, and  to  support  that  interest  v/hich  was  falsely  called  po- 
pular, instead  of  courting  the  multitude  by  real  services,  and 
beneficial  laws,  it  was  found  a  much  shorter  way,  to  corrupt 
them  by  money  ;  a  method  wholly  unknown  in  the  times  of 
the  Gracchi  ;  by  which  the  men  of  power  had  always  a  num- 
ber of  mercenaries  at  their  devotion,  ready  to  fill  the  Forum 
at  any  warning  ;  who  by  clamour  and  violence  carried  all  be- 
fore them  in  the  public  assemblies,  and  came  prepared  to  rati- 
fy whatever  was  proposed  to  them  %  '•  this  kept  up  the  form 
of  a  legal  proceeding  j  while,  by  the  terror  of  arms,  and  a  su- 
perior force,  the  great  could  easily  support,  and  carry  into  exe- 
cution, whatever  votes  they  had  once  procured  in  their  favour 
by  faction  and  bribery. 

After  the  death  of  the  younger  Gracchus,  the  senate  was 
perpetually  labouring  to  rescind  or  to  moderate  the  laws  that 
he  had  enacted  to  their  prejudice  ;  especially  one  that  affected 
them  the  most  sensibly,  by  taking  from  them  the  right  of  ju- 
dicature ;  which  they  had  exercised  from  the  foundation  of 
Rome,  and  transferring  it  to  the  knights.  This  act  however 
tvas  equitable  ;  for  as  the  senators  possessed  all  the  magistra- 
cies and  governments  of  the  empire,  so  they  were  the  men 
whose  oppressions  were  the  most  severely  felt,  and  most  fre- 
quently complained  of;  yet  while  the  judgment  of  all  causes 
continued  in  their  hands,  it  was  their  common  practice,  to  fa- 
vour and  absolve  one  another  in  their  turns,  to  the  general 
scandal  and  injury  both  of  the  subjects  and  allies  ;  of  which 
some  late  and  notorious  instances  had  given  a  plausible  preterit 
for  Gracchus's  law.  But  the  senate  could  not  bear  with  pa- 
tience, to  be  subjected  to  the  tribunal  of  an  inferior  order ; 

\  Itaque  homines  seditiosi  ac  turbulenti— conductas  habent  condones,  Ne- 
que  id  agunt,  ut  ea  dicant  &  ferant,  quas  illi  velint  audire.qui  in  concionc  sunt: 
hed  pret'.o  ac  mercede  pcrficiunt,  ut,  quicquid  dicanr,  id  ilii  vcile  audire  vidc- 
antur.  Num  vos  existimatis,  Gracchos,  aut  Saturninum,  aut  quenq'iani  iilo- 
rum  veterum,  qui  popularca  habebantur,  ullum  unquam  in  co.i-:;:-  •  habuisse 
conductum?     Nemo  habuic.     Fro  Sext.  49, 


ksxVi  IP  R  i:  E  A  c  £. 

which  had  always  been  jealous  of  their  power,  and  was  sure 
to  be  severe  upon  their  crimes  :  so  that,  after  nianv  fruitless 
istruggles  to  get  this  law  repealed,  (^  Servilius  Csepio,  who 
was  consul  aoout  twenty-five  years  after,  procured  at  last  a 
mitigation  of  it,  by  adding  a  certain  nuviher  of  senators  to  the 
three  centuries  of  the  knights  or  equestrian  judges :  with  which 
the  senate  was  so  hi?hly  pleased,  that  they  honoured  this  con- 
sul with  the  title  of  their  patron  ||.  Ccepio'^s  law  was  warm- 
ly recommended  by  L.  Crassus,  the  most  celebrated  orator  of 
that  age,  who  in  a  speech  upon  it  to  the  people,  defended  the 
authority  of  the  senate  with  all  the  force  of  his  eloquence  :  in 
which  state  of  things,  and  in  this  verv  year  of  Caepio's  consul- 
ship, Cicero  was  born :  and  as  Crassus's  oration  was  publish- 
ed, aad  much  admired,  when  he  was  a  boy,  so  he  took  it,  as  he 
afterwards  tells  us,  for  the  pattern  both  oj  his  eloquence^  and 
his  politics  *. 

(I  Is — consulatus  decore,  rAaximi  pontificatus  sacerdotio,  ut  senatus  patronus 
dicerctur,  assccutns.     Val.  M.  6.  9. 

*  Suasit  Serviliam  legem  Crassus — sed  hjec  Crassi  cum  edita  est  oratio— 
quatuor  &  trigmta  turn  habebat  annos,  totit'emqne  annismihi  astate  prastabat. 
lis  enim  consulibus  earn  legem  suasit,  quibus  no^  ra«-i  sumus,  ;  Brut.  p.  274.3 
Mihi  quidem  a  pueritla,  quasi  magifeira  fuit  ilia  in  legem  Cxpionis  oratio  :  ia 
q^ua  &  auctoritas  ornatur  senatuj,  pro  qao  ordine  ilia  dicuntur— ib.  278. 


THE 

LIFE 


OF 


MARCUS    TULLIUS    CICERO. 


SECTION   I. 

Anno  Urbis,  647. — Coss. — Q^  Servilius  Coepio,  C.  Atilius  Scrranus. 

.ARCUs  TuLLius  CiCERO  was  bom  on  the  third  of* 
January*,  in  the  six-hundred-forty-seventh  year  of 
Rome,  about  a  hundred  and  seven  years  before 
Christ  f .  His  birth,  if  we  beheve  Plutarch,  was  at- 
tended by  prodigies,  foreteUing  the  future  eminence 
and  lustre  of  his  character,  "  which  might  have  pas- 
"  sed,"  he  says,  "  for  idle  dreams,  had  not  the  event 
"  soon  confirmed  the  truth  of  the  prediction :"  but 
since  we  have  no  hint  of  these  prodigies  from  Cicero 
himself,  or  any  author  of  that  age,  we  may  charge  them 
to  the  creduhty,  or  the  invention  of  a  writer,  who  loves 


*   III    Nonas  Jan.  natali  meo.      Ep.  ad  Att.  7.  5.  it.  13.  42. 

f  This  computation  follows  the  common  JEx2i  of  Christ's 
birth,  which  is  placed  three  years  later  than  it  ought  to  be. 
Pompey  the  Great  was  born  also  in  the  same  year  on  the  last 
of  September.     Vid.  Pigh.  Ana.  Piin.  ^7.  ?-. 

Vol..  T.  a 


2  The   life   or  Sect.  I. 

to  raise  the  solemnity  of  his  story  by  the  introduction 
of  something  miraculous. 

His  mother  was  called  Helvia  ;  a  name,  mentioned 
in  history  and  old  inscriptions  among  the  honourable 
families  of  Rome.  She  was  rich,  and  well  descended, 
and  had  a  sister  married  to  a  Roman  Knight  of  dis- 
tinguished merit,  C.  Aculeo,  an  intimate  friend  of  the 
orator  L.  Crassus,  and  celebrated  for  a  singular  know- 
ledge of  the  law ;  in  which  his  sons  hkewise,  our  Ci- 
cero's cousin-germans,  were  afterw^ards  very  eminent*. 
It  is  remarkable,  that  Cicero  never  once  speaks  of  his 
mother  in  any  part  of  his  writings ;  but  his  younger 
brother  Quintus  has  left  a  little  story  of  her,  which 
seems  to  intimate  her  good  management  and  house- 
wifery ;  "  how  she  used  to  seal  all  her  wine  casks,  the 
"  empty  as  well  as  the  full,  that  when  any  of  them 
"  were  found  empty  and  unsealed,  she  might  know 
"  them  to  have  been  emptied  by  stealth  ;  it  being  the 
"  most  usual  theft  among  the  slaves  of  great  families, 
"  to  steal  their  master's  wine  out  of  the  vessels  f ." 

As  to  his  father's  family,  nothing  was  delivered  of  it, 
but  in  extrem.es  %  :  which  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  in 
the  history  of  a  man,  whose  hfe  was  so  exposed  to  en- 
vy, as  Cicero's,  and  who  fell  a  victim  at  last  to  the 
power  of  his  enemies.  Some  derive  his  descent  from 
kings,  others  from  mechanics  §  ;  but  the  truth  lay  be- 


*  De  Orat.  I.  43.  2.  i. 
f  Sicut  ollni  matrem  meam  facere  memini,  quae  lagenas  etiam 
inanes  obslgnabat,  ne  dicerentur  inanes  aliquae  fuisse,  qwM  furtim 
essent  exsiccatse.     Ep.  fam.  16.  26. 

posset  qui  ignoscere  servis, 

Et  signo  loeso  non  insanire  lagense.  Hor. 

X  See  Plutarch's  life  of  Cicero. 
6    Rtgia  progenies  et  TuUo  sanguis  ab  alto.    Sil.  Itai. 


Sect.  I.  CICERO.  3 

tween  both ;  for  his  family,  though  it  had  never  born 
any  of  the  great  offices  of  the  RepubHc,  was  yet  very 
ancient  and  honourable  *  ;  of  principal  distinction  and 
nobility  in  that  part  of  Italy  in  which  it  resided  ;  and 
of  equestrian  rank  f ,  from  its  first  admission  to  the  free- 
dom of  Rome. 

Some  have  insinuated,  that  Cicero  affected  to  say 
but  Httle  of  the  splendour  of  his  family,  for  the  sake 
of  being  considered  as  the  founder  of  it ;  and  chose  to 
suppress  the  notion  of  his  regal  extraction,  for  the  a- 
version  that  the  people  of  Rome  had  to  the  name  of 
King ;  with  which  however  he  was  sometimes  reproach- 
ed by  his  enemies  J.  But  those  speculations  are  wholly 
imaginary  :  for,  as  oft  as  there  was  occasion  to  men- 
It 

*  Hinc  enim  orte  stirpe  antiquissima  :  hie  sacra,  hie  genus, 
hie  majorum  multa  vestigia.     De  Leg.  2.  i.  2. 

f  The  Equestrian  dignity,  or  that  Order  of  the  Roman  peo- 
ple, which  we  commonly  call  Knights,  had  nothing  in  it  analo- 
gous or  similar  to  any  order  of  modern  Knighthood,  but  depend- 
ed entirely  upon  a  census,  or  valuation  of  their  estates,  which  was 
usually  made  every  five  years  by  the  Censors^  in  their  Lustrum, 
or  general  review  of  the  whole  people  :  when  all  those  Citizens, 
whose  entire  fortunes  amounted  to  the  value  of  four  hundred 
Sestertia,  that  is  of  3229I.  of  our  money,  were  enrolled  of  course 
in  the  list  of  Equites  or  Knights,  who  were  considered  as  a  mid- 
dle order  between  the  Senators  and  the  common  people,  yet 
without  any  other  distinction  than  the  privilege  of  wearing  a 
gold,  ring,  which  was  the  peculiar  badge  of  their  order,  (Liv. 
23.  12.  Plin.  Hist.  33.  I.)  The  census,  or  estate  necessary  to 
a  Senator,  was  double  to  that  of  a  Knight  ;  and  if  ever  they  re- 
duced their  fortunes  below  that  standard,  they  forfeited  their 
rank,  and  were  struck  out  of  the  roll  of  their  order  by  the  Censors. 
Si  qaadringentis  sex  septem  millia  desunt, 
Plebs  eris Hor.  Ep.  1.  i.  57. 

The  Order  of  Knights  therefore  included  in  it  the  whole  Pro- 
vincial  Nobility  and  Gentry  of  the  Empire,  which  had  not  yet 
obtained  the  honour  of  the  Senate. 

X  Vid.  Sebast.  Corrad.  Qu?estura,  p,  43.  44. 

A  -2 


4  The   LIFE    of  Sect.  L 

tion  the  character  and  condition  of  his  ancestors,  he 
speaks  of  them  always  with  great  frankness,  declaring 
them  to  have  been  content  with  their  paternal  for- 
tunes, and  the  private  honom's  of  their  own  city,  with- 
out the  ambition  of  appearing  on  the  public  stage  of 
Rome.  Thus,  in  a  speech  to  the  people,  upon  his  ad- 
vancement to  the  Consulship  :  • "  I  have  no  pretence," 
says  he,  "  to  enlarge  before  you,  upon  the  praises  of 
"  my  ancestors  ;  not  but  that  they  were  all  such  as 
*'  myself,  who  am  descended  from  their  blood,  and 
*'  trained  by  their  discipline  ;  but  because  they  lived 
"  without  this  applause  of  popular  fame,  and  the  splen- 
"  dour  of  these  honours  which  you  confer*."  It  is 
on  this  account,  therefore,  that  we  find  him  so  often 
called  a  new  man  ;  not  that  his  •family  was  new  or 
ignoble,  but  because  he  was  the  first  of  it  who  ever 
sought  and  obtained  the  public  Magistracies  of  the 
State. 

The  place  of  his  birth  was  Arpinum ;  a  city  an- 
ciently of  the  Samnites,  now  pa^t  of  the  kingdom  of 
Naples ;  which,  upon  its  submission  to  Rome,  ac- 
quired the  freedom  of  the  city,  and  was  inserted  into 
the  Cornelian  Tribe,  It  had  the  honour  also  of  pro- 
ducing the  great  C.  Marius;  which  gave  occasion  to 
Pompey  to  say,  in  a  pubhc  speech,  "  That  Rome  was 
"  indebted  to  this  corporation  for  two  citizens,  who 
"  had,  each  in  his  turn,  preserved  it  from  ruin  f ."  It 
may  justly  therefore  claim  a  placj^  in  the  memory  of 
posterity,  for  giving  hfe  to  such  worthies,  who  exem- 
phfied  the  character  which  Phny  gives  of  true  glory, 

*  De  lege  Agrar.  con,  Rull.  ad  Quirites,  I. 
f  De  Legib.  2.  3,  Val.  Maxim.  2.  2, 


Sect.  I.  CICERO.  5 

**  by  doing  what  deserved  to  be  written,  and  writing 
*'  what  deserved  to  be  read  f  and  making  the  world 
the  happier  and  the  better  for  tlieir  having  hved  in 
it*. 

The  territory  of  Arpinum  was  rude  and  mountain- 
ous, to  which  Cicero  apphes  Homer's  description  of 
Ithaca : 

'Tis  rough  indeed,  yet  breeds  a  generous  race  f 

The  family-seat  was  about  three  miles  from  the  town, 
in  a  situation  extremely  pleasant,  and  well  adapted  to 
the  nature  of  the  climate.  It  was  surrounded  with 
groves  and  shady  walks,  leading  from  the  house  to  a 
river,  called  Fib  ten  us  ;  "  which  was  divided  into  two 
**  equal  streams,  by  a  little  island,  covered  with  trees 
**  and  a  portico,  contrived  both  for  study  and  exercise, 
"  whither  Cicero  used  to  retire,  when  he  had  any  par- 
"  ticular  work  upon  his  hands.  The  clearness  and 
"  rapidity  of  the  stream,  murmuring  through  a  rocky 
"  channel ;  the  shade  and  verdure  of  its  banks,  plant- 
"  ed  with  tall  poplars ;  the  remarkable  coldness  of 
"  the  water  ;  and,  above  all,  its  falling  by  a  cascade 
"  into  the  nobler  river  Liris,  a  little  below  the  island, 
"  gives  us  the  idea  of  a  most  beautiful  scene,"  as  Ci- 
cero himself  has  described  it.  When  Atticus  first  saw 
it,  he  was  charmed  with  it,  and  wondered  that  Cicero 
did  not  prefer  it  to  all  his  other  houses ;  declaring  a 
contempt  of  the  laboured  magnificence,  marble  pave- 
ments, artificial  canals,  and  forced  streams  of  the  cele- 

*  Plln.  Ep.  f  Ad  Alt.  2.  xi.  Odyss.  9.  27. 

A3 


6  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  I. 

brated  Villa's  of  Italy,  compared  with  the  natural 
beauties  of  this  place  *.  The  house,  as  Cicero  says, 
was  but  small  and  humble  in  his  grandfather's  time, 
according  to  the  ancient  frugality,  hke  the  Sabine 
farm  of  old  Curius ;  till  his  father  beautified  and  en- 
larged it  into  a  handsome  and  spacious  habitation. 

But  there  cannot  be  a  better  proof  of  the  delight- 
fulness  of  the  place,  than  that  it  is  now  possessed  by  a 
convent  of  Monks,  and  called  the  Villa  of  St  Dominic  f. 
Strange  revolution  I  to  see  Cicero's  porticos  converted 
to  Monkish  cloisters  !  the  seat  of  the  most  refined  rea- 
son, wit,  and  learning,  to  a  nursery  of  superstition,  bi- 
gotry, and  enthusiasm  I  What  a  pleasure  must  it  give 
to  these  Dominican  Inquisitors,  to  trample  on  the  ruins 
of  a  man,  whose  writings,  by  spreading  the  light  of 
reason  and  liberty  through  the  world,  have  been  one 
great  instrument  of  obstructing  their  unwearied  pains 
to  enslave  it ! 

Cicero,  being  the  first-born  of  the  family,  received, 
as  usual,  the  name  of  his  father,  and  grandfather,  Mar- 
cus. This  name  was  properly  personal,  equivalent  to 
that  of  baptism  with  us,  and  imposed  with  ceremonies 
somewhat  analogous  to  it,  on  the  ninth  day,  called  the 
lustrical,  or  day  of  purification  %  ;  when  the  child  was 
carried  to  the  temple,  by  the  friends  and  relations  of 
the  family,  and,  before  the  altars  of  the  Gods,  recom- 
mended to  the  protection  of  some  tutelar  Deity. 


*  Dc  Legib.  2.  i,  2,  3. 

f  Appresso  la  Villa  di  S.  Domenico  ,  hora  cosi  nominato 
questo  luoeo,  ove  nacque  Cicerone,  come  dice  Pietro  Marso, 
iaquale  Villa  e  discosta  da  Arpino  da  tremiglia.  Vid.  Leand. 
Albert!  discrittione  d'italia,  p.  267. 

%  Est  Nundina  Romanorum  Dea  a  none  nascentium  die  nun- 
cupata,  qui  /ustricus  dicitur  j  est  auteni  dies  Inslricu?y  quo  in» 
fantes  lustiantur  et  nomea  accipiunt.     Macrob.  Sat.  i*  i6. 


^Sect.  I.  CICERO.  1 

TuUius  was  the  name  of  the  family ;  which,  in  old 
language,  signified  ^^tczV/^  streams,  or  ducts  of  ivater^ 
and  was  derived  therefore  probably  from  their  an- 
cient situation,  at  the  confluence  of  the  two  ri\ers  "*. 

The  third  name  was  generally  added  on  accomit  of 
some  memorable  action,  quality,  or  accident,  which 
distinguish  the  founder,  or  chief  person  of  the  family. 
Plutarch  says,  "  that  the  surname  of  Cicero  was  ow- 
"  ing  to  a  wart  or  excrescence  on  the  nose  of  one  of 
"  his  ancestors,  in  the  shape  of  a  vetch,  which  the  Ro- 
"  mans  called  Cicer  f  :"  but  Phny  tells  us  more  credi- 
bly, "  that  all  those  names,  which  had  a  reference  to 
"  any  species  of  grain,  as  the  Fabii,  Lentuli,  &c.  were 
"  acquired  by  a  reputation  of  being  the  best  husband- 
"  men  or  improvers  of  that  species  J."  As  Tullius, 
therefore,  the  family-name,  was  derived  from  the  si- 
tuation of  the  farm,  so  Cicero,  the  surname,  from  the 
culture  of  it  by  vetches.  This,  I  say,  is  the  most  .pro- 
bable, because  agriculture  vi^s  held  the  m^ost  liberal 
employment  in  old  Rome,  and  those  tribes,  v^^hich  re- 
sided on  their  farms  in  the  country,  the  most  honour- 
able ;  and  this  very  grain,  from  which  Cicero  drew 
his  name,  was,  in  all  ages  of  the  Repubhc,  in  great  re- 
quest with  the  meaner  people ;  being  one  of  the  usual 
largesses  bestowed  upon  them  by  the  rich,  and  sold 


♦   Pompeius  Festus  in  voce  Tullius, 

f  This  has  given  rise  to  a  blunder  of  some  Sculptors,   who, 

in   the   Busts  of  Cicero,  have   formed  the  resemblance  of  this 

tieich  on  his  nose  •,  not  reflecting  that  it  was  the  name  only,   and 

not  the  vetch  itself,  which  was  transmitted  to  him  by  his  anccatori;. 

X  Hist.  Nat.  18.3.  I. 

A4 


S  The   life   of  Sect.  I. 

every  where  in  the  theatres  and  streets  ready  parched 
or  boiled  for  present  use  *. 

Cicero's  grandfather  was  hving  at  the  time  of  his 
birth,  and,  from  the  few  hints  which  are  left  of  him, 
seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  business  and  interest  in 
his  country  f ,  He  was  at  the  head  of  a  party  in  Ar- 
pinum,  in  opposition  to  a  busy  turbulent  man,  M. 
Gratidius,  whose  sister  he  had  married,  who  was  push- 
ing forward  a  popular  law,  to  obhge  the  town  to  trans- 
act all  their  affairs  by  ballot.  The  cause  was  brought 
before  the  Consul  Scaurus ;  in  which  old  Cicero  be- 
haved himself  so  well,  that  the  Consul  paid  him  the 
comphment  to  wish,  "  that  a  man  of  his  spirit  and 
*'  virtue  would  come  and  act  with  them  in  the  great 
"  Theatre  of  the  Repubhc,  and  not  confine  his  talents 
**  to  the  narrow  sphere  of  his  own  Corporation  J." 
There  is  a  saying  likewise  recorded  of  this  old  Gentle- 
man, "  That  the  men  of  those  times  were  like  the 
*'  Syrian  slaves  ;  the  more  Greek  they  knew,  the  great- 
"  er  knaves  they  were  || ;"  which  carries  with  it  the  no- 
tion of  an  old  patriot,  severe  on  the  importation  of 
foreign  arts,  as  destructive  of  the  discipline  and  man- 
ners of  his  country.  This  grandfather  had  two  sons, 
■■  '■  ■  III  ■  ■■ 

*  In  cicere  atque  faba,  bona  tu  perdasq.  luplnis, 
Latus  ut  in  Circo  spatiere  &  asneus  ut  stes. 

Hor.  Sat.  1.  2.  3.  182. 
Nee  slquid  fricti  ciceris  probat  &  nucis  emtor. 

Art.  poet.  249. 
f  De  Legib.  2.  I. 
X  Ac  nostro  quidem  huic,  cum  res  asset  ad  se  delata,  Consul 
Scaurus,  utinam,  inquit,  M.  Cicero,  isto  animo  atque  virtute,  in 
summa  Repub.  nobiscum  versari,  quam  in  municipali,  voluisses  1 
Ibid.  3.  16.  _ 

II  Nostros  homines  similes  esse  Syrorum  venalium  ?  ut  quis- 
que  optime  Grsecc  scirct,  ita  esse  nequissimum.  De  Oiat.  2.  66. 

N.  B. 


Sect.  I.  CICERO.  p 

Marcus  the  elder,  the  father  of  our  Cicero  ;  and  Lu- 
cius, a  particular  friend  of  the  celebrated  orator  M, 
Antonius,  whom  he  accompanied  to  his  government  of 
Cilicia  *  ;  and  who  left  a  son  of  the  same  name,  fre- 
quently mentioned  by  Cicero,  with  great  affection,  as 
a  youth  of  excellent  virtue  and  accomplishments  f . 

His  father  Marcus  also  was  a  wise  and  learned  man, 
whose  merit  recommended  him  to  the  familiarity  of 
the  principal  magistrates  of  the  Republic,  especially 
Cato,  L.  Crassus,  and  L.  Caesar  J  ;  but  being  of  an  in- 
firm and  tender  constitution,  he  spent  his  life  chiefly 
at  Arpinum,  in  an  elegant  retreat,  and  the  study  of 
polite  letters  ||. 

But  his  chief  employment,  from  the  time  of  his  hav- 
ing sons,  was  to  give  them  the  best  education  which 
Rome  could  afford,  in  hopes  to  excite  in  them  an  am- 
bition of  breaking  through  the  indolence  of  the  fami- 
ly, and  aspiring  to  the  honours  of  the  State  They 
were  bred  up  with  their  cousins,  the  young  Aculeo's, 
in  a  method  approved  and  directed  by  L.  Crassus,  a 
man  of  the  first  dignity,  as  well  as  the  first  eloquence 
in  Rome ;  and  by  those  very  masters  v/hom  Crassus 


N.  B.  A  great  part  of  the  slaves  in  Rome  were  Syrians  ;  for 
the  pirates  of  Cilicia,  v.'ho  used  to  infest  the  coasts  of  Syria, 
carried  all  their  captives  to  the  market  of  Delos,  and  sold  them 
there  to  the  Greeks,  through  whose  hands  they  usually  passed 
to  Rome  :  those  slaves  therefore,  who  had  lived  the  longest 
with  their  Grecian  masters,  and  consequently  talked  Greek  the 
best,  were  the  most  practised  in  all  the  little  tricks  and  craft 
that  servitude  naturally  teaches  j  which  old  Cicero,  like  Calo 
the  Censor,  imputed  to  the  arts  and  manners  of  Greece  itself. 
Vid.  Adn  Turneb.  in  jocos  Ciceron. 

*  De  Orat.  2.  i.  f  De  Finlb.  5.  i.  ad  iVtt.  i.  5. 

X   Ep.  fam.  15.  4.  de  Orat.  2.  i. 

II  Qui  cum  esset  infirma  valetudine,  hie  fere  xtatenn  egit  in 
litcris,     De  Legib.  2.  i. 


lo  The   life   of  Sect.  L 

himself  made  use  of*.  The  Romans  were  of  all  peo- 
ple the  most  careful  and  exact  m  the  education  of 
their  children  :  their  attention  to  it  began  from  the 
moment  of  their  birth ;  when  they  committed  them 
to  the  care  of  some  prudent  matron  of  reputable 
character  and  condition,  whose  business  it  was  to  form 
their  first  habits  of  acting  and  speaking ;  to  watch 
their  growing  passions,  and  direct  them  to  their  pro- 
per objects ;  to  superintend  their  sports,  and  suffer  no- 
thing immodest  or  indecent  to  enter  into  them ;  that 
the  mind,  preserved  in  its  innocence,  nor  depraved  by 
a  taste  of  false  pleasure,  might  be  at  liberty  to  pur- 
sue whatever  was  laudable,  and  apply  its  whole  strength 
to  that  profession  in  which  it  desired  to  excel  f . 

It  was  the  opinion  of  some  of  the  old  Masters,  that 
Children  should  not  be  instructed  in  letters,  till  they 
were  seven  years  old ;  but  the  best  judges  advised, 
that  no  time  of  culture  should  be  lost,  and  that  their 
literary  instruction  should  keep  pace  with  their  moral ; 
that  three  years  only  should  be  allowed  to  the  nurses, 
and  when  they  first  began  to  speak,  that  they  should 
begin  also  to  learn  J.  It  was  reckoned  a  matter  Hke- 
wise  of  great  importance,  what  kind  of  language  they 
v/ere  first  accustomed  to  hear  at  home,  and  in  what 
manner  not  only  their  nurses,  but  their  fathers  and  e- 


*  Cumque  nos  cum  consobrinis  nostrls,  Aculeonis  filiis,  &  ea 
disccremus,  qua;  Crasso  placerent,  &  ab  iis  doctoribus,  quibus 
ille  uteretur,  erudiremur.     De  Orat.  2.  t. 

j-  Eligebatur  autem  aliqua  major  natu  propinqua,  cujus  pro- 
batis,  spectatisque  morlbus,  omnis  cujuspiam  familiae  soboles 
committeretur,  &c.  quse  disclplina  et  severitas  eo  pertinebat,  ut 
sincera  et  Integra  et  nulHs  pravitatibus  detorta  uniuscujusque  na- 
tura,  toto  statim  pectore  arriperet  artes  honestas,  &c.  Tacit. 
Dial,  de  Oratorib.  28. 

t  Quintil.  I.  I. 


Sect.  L  CICERO. 


II 


ren  mothers  spoke ;  since  their  first  habits  were  then 
necessarily  formed,  either  of  a  pure  or  corrupt  elocu- 
tion ;   thus  the  two  Gracchi  were  thought  to  owe  that 
elegance  of  speaking,  for  which  they  were  famous,  to 
the  institution  of  their  mother  Cornelia :  a  v^^oman  of 
great  pohteness,  whose  epistles  were  read  and  admired 
long  after  her  death,  for  the  purity  of  their  language  '^. 
This  probably  was  a  part  of  that  domestic  discipline^ 
in  which  Cicero  was  trained,  and  of  which  he  often 
speaks ;  but  as  soon  as  he  was  capable  of  a  more  en- 
larged and  liberal  institution,  his  father  brought  him 
to  Rome,  where  he  had  a  house  of  his  own  f,  and 
placed  him  in  a  public  school,  under  an  eminent  Greek 
master,  which  was  thought  the  best  way  of  educating 
one  who  was  designed  to  appear  on  the  public  stage, 
and  who,  as  Quintilian  observes,  ought  to  be  so  bred, 
as  not  to  fear  the  sight  of  men ;  since  that  can  never 
be  rightly  learnt  in  solitude,  which  is  to  be  produced 
before  crowds  J.     Here  he  gave  the  first  specimen  of 
those  shining  abilities  which  rendered  him  afterwards 
so  illustrious ;  and  his  school-fellows  carried  home  such 
stdries  of  his  extraordinary  parts  and  quickness  in  learn- 
ing, that  their  parents  were  often  induced  to  visit  the 
school,  for  the  sake  of  seeing  a  youth  of  such  surpris- 
ing talents  §. 

About  this  time  a  celebrated  rhetorician,  Plotius, 
first  set  up  a  Latin  school  of  eloquence  in  Rome,  and 

*  Ibid.  It.  in  Brut.  p.  319.  edit.  Sebast,  Corradi. 

f  This  is  a  farther  proof  of  the  wealth  and  flourishing  condi- 
tion of  his  family  j  since  the  rent  of  a  moderate  house  in  Rome, 
in  a  reputable  part  of  the  City,  fit  for  one  of  the  Equestrian  rank, 
was  about  tivo  hundred  pounds  Sterling  per  ann. 

t  L.  I.  2.  X  Plutarch  in  his  life. 


12 


The   life    o?  Sect.  I. 


had  a  great  resort  to  him  §  :  Young  Cicero  was  very 
desirous  to  be  his  scholar,  but  was  over-ruled  in  it  by 
the  advice  of  the  learned,  who  thought  the  Greek 
masters  more  useful  in  forming  to  the  bar,  for  which 
he  was  designed.  This  method  of  beginning  with 
Greek,  is  approved  by  Quintihan ;  because  "  the  La-. 
"  tin  would  come  of  itself,  and  it  seemed  most  natural 
"  to  begin  from  the  fountain,  whence  all  the  Roman 
"  learning  was  derived :  yet  the  rule,"  he  says,  "  must 
"  be  practised  with  some  restriction,  nor  the  use  of  a 
"  foreign  language  pushed  so  far  to  the  neglect  of  the 
"  native,  as  to  acquire  with  it  a  foreign  accent  and  vi-, 
"  cious  pronunciation  *." 

Cicero's  father,  encouraged  by  the  promismg  genius 
of  his  son,  spared  no  cost  nor  pains  to  improve  it  by 
the  help  of  the  ablest  masters,  and,  among  the  other 
instructors  of  his  early  youth,  put  him  under  the  care 
of  the  poet  Archias,  who  came  to  Rome  with  a  high 
reputation  for  learning  and  poetry,  when  Cicero  was 
about  five  years  old,  and  lived  in  the  family  of  Lucul- 
lus  f  :  for  it  was  the  custom  of  the  great  in  those  daya 
to  entertain  in  their  houses,  the  principal  scholars  and 
philosophers  of  Greece,  v/ith  a  liberty  of  opening  a 
school,  and  teaching,  together  with  their  own  children, 
any  of  the  other  young  nobihty  and  gentry  of  Rome. 
Under  this  master,  Cicero  applied  himself  chiefly  to 
poetry,  to  which  he  was  naturally  addicted,  and  made 
such  a  proficiency  in  it,  that  while  he  was  still  a  boy, 
he  composed  and  published  a  poem,  called  Glaueus 
tontiui,  which  was  extant  in  Plutarch's  time  J. 


§    Sueton,  de  claris  R.hetoribus,  c.  2. 

'*   Quintil.   L.  I.  1.  f   Pro  Archia  i.  3. 

X   Plutarch, This  Glaueus  was  a  fisherman  of  Anthedon  ia 

Bosotia ;  who,  upon   eating  a  certain  herb,  jumped  into  the  sea, 

and 


Sect.  I.  CICERO.  i?. 


.) 


After  finishing  the  course  of  these  puerile  studies > 
it  was  the  custom  to  change  the  habit  of  the  boy,  for 
that  of  the  man,  and  take  what  they  called  the  manly 
gown,  or  the  ordinary  robe  of  the  citizens :  this  was  an 
occasion  of  great  joy  to  the  young  men  ;  who  by  this 
change  passed  into  a  state  of  greater  hberty  and  en- 
largement from  the  ^  power  of  their  tutors  ^.  They 
were  introduced  at  the  same  time  into  the  Forum,  or 
the  great  square  of  the  city,  where  the  assemblies  of 
the  people  were  held,  and  the  magistrates  used  to  ha- 
rangue to  them  from  the  Rostra,  and  where  all  the 
pubhc  pleadings  and  judicial  proceedings  were  usual- 
ly transacted :  this  therefore  was  the  grand  school  of 
business  and  eloquence ;  the  scene,  on  w^hich  all  the 
affairs  of  the  empire  were  determined,  and  where  the 
foundation  of  their  hopes  and  fortunes  was  to  be  laid  : 
so  that  they  were  introduced  into  it  with  much  so- 
lemnity, attended  by  all  the  friends  and  dependants 
of  the  family,  and,  after  divine  rites  performed  in  the 
Capitol,  were  committed  to  the  special  protection  of 
some  eminent  senator,  distinguished  for  his  eloquence 
or  knowledge  of  the  laws,  to  be  instructed  by  his  ad- 
vice in  the  management  of  civil  affairs,  and  to  form 
themselves  by  his  example  for  useful  members  and 
magistrates  of  the  Republic. 

Writers  are  divided  about  the  precise  time  of  chang- 
ing   the  puerile  for  the    manly  gown :    what    seems 


and  became  a  sea  god :  the  place  was  ever  after  culled  Glauciis's 
leap;  where  there  was  an  Oracle  of  the  God,  in  great  vogue  with 
all  seamen  j  and  the  story  furnished  the  argument  to  one  of  iEs- 
chylus's  Tragedies.     Pausan.  Boeot.  c.  22. 

*  Cum  piimum   pavido  custos  mihi  purpura  cessit.   Per?.  Sar, 


14  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  I. 

most  probable,  is,  that  in  the  old  Republic  it  was  ne- 
ver done  till  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  year ;  but 
when  the  ancient  discipline  began  to  relax,  parents, 
out  of  indulgence  to  their  children,  advanced  this  aera 
of  joy  one  year  earlier,  and  gave  them  the  gown  at 
sixteen,  which  was  the  custom  in  Cicero's  time.  Un- 
der the  emperors,  it  was  granted  at  pleasure,  and  at 
any  age,  to  the  great^  or  their  own  relations ;  for  Ne- 
ro received  it  from  Claudius,  when  he  just  entered  in- 
to his  fourteenth  year,  which,  as  Tacitus  says,  was  gi- 
ven before  the  regular  season  *. 

Cicero,  being  thus  introduced  into  the  Forum,  was 
placed  under  the  care  of  Q^  Mucins  Scaevola  the  au- 
gur, the  principal  lawyer  as  well  as  statesman  of  that 
age,  who  had  passed  through  all  the  offices  of  the  Re^ 
public,  with  a  singular  reputation  of  integrity,  and  was 
now  extremely  old  :  Cicero  never  stirred  from  his  side, 
but  carefully  treasured  up  in  his  memory  all  the  re- 
markable sayings  which  dropt  from  liim,  as  so  many 
lessons  of  prudence  for  his  future  conduct  f ;  and  af- 
ter his  death  applied  himself  to  another  of  the  same 
family,  Scaevola  the  High-priest,  a  person  of  equal  cha- 
racter for  probity  and  skill  in  the  law :  who,  though 
he  did  not  profess  to  teach,  yet  freely  gave  his  advice 
to  all  the  young  students,  who  consulted  him  J. 

Under  these  masters  he  acquired  a  complete  know- 
ledge of  the  laws  of  his  country ;  a  foundation  useful 
to  all  who  design  to  enter  into  public  affairs ;  and 
thought  to  be  of  such  consequence  at  Rome,  that  it 


*  Ann.  12.41.       Vid.       Norris    Cenotaph.      Pisan.  Disser.  2, 
c.  4.  it.     Sueton.  August.  8.  &.  Notas  Pitisci. 

f  De  Amicit.  i.  %  Brut.  p.  89.  Edit.  Seb.  Corradi. 


Sect.  L  CICERO.  f^ 

was  the  common  exercise  of  boys  at  school,  to  learn 
the  laws  of  the  twelve  tables  by  heart,  as  they  did 
their  poets  and  classic  authors  *.  Cicero  particularly 
took  such  pains  in  this  study,  and  was  so  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  most  intricate  parts  of  it,  as  to  be 
able  to  sustain  a  dispute  on  any  question  with  the 
greatest  Lawyers  of  his  age  f  :  so  that  in  pleading  once 
against  his  friend  S.  Sulpicius,  he  declared,  by  way  of 
raillery,  what  he  could  have  made  good  likewise  in 
fact,  that  if  he  provoked  him,  he  would  profess  him- 
self a  Lawyer  in  three  days  time  J. 

The  profession  of  the  law,  next  to  that  of  arms  and 
eloquence,  was  a  sure  recommendation  to  the  first  ho- 
nours of  the  Republic  ||,  and  for  that  reason  vras  pre- 
served as  it  were  hereditary  in  some  of  the  noblest  fa- 
milies of  Rome  § ;  who,  by  giving  their  advice  gratis 
to  all  who  wanted  it,  engaged  the  favour  and  observ- 
ance of  their  fellow  Citizens,  and  acquired  great  au- 
thority in  all  the  affairs  of  state.  It  was  the  custom 
of  these  old  Senators,  eminent  for  their  wisdom  and 
experience,  to  walk  every  morning  up  and  down  the 
Forum,  as  a  signal  of  their  offering  themselves  freely 
to  all  who  had  occasion  to  consult  them,  not  only  in 
cases  of  law,  but  in  their  private  and  domestic  affairs  ^. 


*  De  Legib.  2.  23.  f   Ep.  fam.  7.  22. 

.t   Pro  Muisena,   13.  If  Ibid.  14. 

j  Quorum  vero  patres  aut  majores  aliqua  gloria  prasstiterunt, 
ii  student  plerumque  in  eodem  ^enere  laudis  excellere  ;  ut  Q^Tdu- 
tlus  P.  filius,  injure  civili.     Off.  i.  32.  2.  19. 

^  M'  vero  Manilium  nos  etiam  vidimus  transverso  ambulan- 
tem  foro  J  quod  erat  insigne,  eum,  qui  id  faceret,  facere  clvibus 
omnibus  consilii  sui  copiam.  Ad  quos  oliin  et  ita  ambulances  ec 
in  solio  sedentes  domi  ita  adibatur,  non  solum  ut  de  jure  civili  ad 
eos,  verum  etiam  de  lilla  collocanda — de  omni  denique  aut  officio 
aut  negotio  referretur,     De  Oi'^K-  3.  $$• 


t^  The   life   or  Sect.  L 

But  in  later  times  they  chose  to  sit  at  home  Vvdth  their- 
doors  open,  in  a  kind  of  throne  or  raised  seat,  hke  the 
confessors  in  foreign  churches,  giving  access  and  au^ 
dience  to  all  people.  This  was  the  case  of  the  two 
Sccevolas,  especially  the  Augur,  whose  house  was  called 
the  Oracle  of  the  City  * ;  and  who,  in  the  Marsic  war, 
when  worn  out  with  age  and  infirmity,  gave  free  ad- 
mission every  day  to  all  the  Citizens,  as  soon  as  it  was 
light,  nor  was  ever  seen  by  any  in  his  bed  during  that 
whole  war  f . 

But  this  was  not  the  point  that  Cicero  aimed  at,  to 
guard  the  estates  only  of  the  Citizens  :  his  views  were 
much  larger ;  and  the  knowledge  of  the  law  was  but 
one  ingredient  of  many,  in  the  character  which  he  a- 
spired  to,  of  an  universal  Patron^  not  only  of  the  for- 
tunes, but  of  the  lives  and  liberties  of  his  countrymen : 
for  that  was  the  proper  notion  of  an  Orator  or  Plead- 
er of  causes ;  whose  profession  it  was,  to  speak  aptly, 
elegantly,  and  copiously,  on  every  subject  which  could 
be  offered  to  him,  and  whose  art  therefore  included  in 
It  all  other  arts  of  the  liberal  kind,  and  could  not  be 
acquired  to  any  perfection,  without  a  competent  know- 
ledge of  whatever  was  great  and  laudable  in  the  uni- 
verse. This  w^as  his  own  idea  of  what  he  had  under- 
taken X  ;  and  his  present  business  therefore  was,  to  lay 
a  foundation  fit  to  sustain  the  weight  of  this  great 
character  :  so  that,  while  he  was  studying  the  law  un- 


*  Est  enim  sine  dubio  domus  Jurisconsult!  totius  Oraculum  ci- 
vitatis.  Testis  est  hujusce  Qj.  Macii  janua,  et  vestibulum,  quod 
in  ejus  infiimissima  valetudine,  afFectaque  jam  aetate,  maxima  quo- 
tidie  frequentia  civjum,  ac  summorum  hominum  splendore  cele- 
bratur.      De  Orat.  i,  45. 

f  Philip.  8.  X.  X  ^^  Orat.  I.  5.  6.  13.  16. 


Sect.  L  CICERO. 


17 


der  the  Sc^vola's,  he  spent  a  large  share  of  his  time 
in  attending  the  pleadings  at  the  bar,  and  the  public 
speeches  of  the  magistrates,  and  never  passed  one  day 
without  writing  and  reading  something  at  home,  con- 
stantly taking  notes,  and  making  comments  on  what 
he  read.  He  was  fond,  when  very  young,  of  an  exer- 
cise, which  had  been  recommended  by  some  of  the 
great  orators  before  him,  of  reading  over  a  number  of 
verses  of  some  esteemed  poet,  or  a  part  of  an  oration, 
so  carefully  as  to  retain  the  substance  of  them  in  me- 
mory, and  then  dehver  the  same  sentiments  in  differ- 
ent words,  the  most  elegant  that  occurred  t©  him.  But 
he  soon  grew  weary  of  this,  upon  reflecting,  that  his 
authors  had  already  employed  the  best  words  which 
belonged  to  their  subject ;  so  that  if  he  used  the  same, 
it  would  do  him  no  good,  and  if  different,  would  even 
hurt  him,  by  a  habit  of  using  worse.  He  applied  him- 
self therefore  to  another  task  of  more  certain  benefit, 
to  translate  into  Latin  the  select  speeches  of  the  best 
Greek  orators,  which  gave  him  an  opportunity  of  ob- 
serving and  employing  all  the  most  elegant  words  of 
his  own  language,  and  of  enriching  it  at  the  same  with 
new  ones,  borrowed  or  imitated  from  the  Greek  *. 
Nor  did  he  yet  neglect  his  poetical  studies ;  for  he  now 
translated  Aratus  on  the  phaenomena  of  the  heavens, 
into  Latin  verse,  of  which  many  fragments  are  still  ex- 
tant ;  and  published  also  an  original  poem  of  the  He- 
roic kind,  in  honor  of  his  countryman  C.  Marius. 
This  was  much  admired  and  often  read  by  Atticus ; 
and  old  Scaevola  was  so  pleased  with  it,  that  in  an  e- 


*  De  Orator,  i    34. 

Vol.  L  R 


i8  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  L 

pigram,  which  he  seems  to  have  made  upon  it,  he  de- 
clares that  it  would  live  as  long  as  the  Roman  name 
and  learning  subsisted  *  :  there  remains  still  a  little 
specimen  of  it  describing  a  memorable  omen  given  to 
Marius  from  the  Oak  of  Arpinum,  which,  from  the 
spirit  and  elegance  of  the  description,  shews,  that  his 
poetical  genius  was  scare  inferior  to  his  oratorial,  if  it 
had  been  cultivated  with  the  same  diligence  f .  He 
published  another  poem  also  called  Limon  ;  of  which 
Donatus  has  preserved  four  lines  in  the  life  of  Terence, 
in  praise  of  the  elegance  and  purity  of  that  poet's 
stile  J.  But  while  he  was  employing  himself  in  these 
juvenile  exercises  for  the  improvement  of  his  inven- 
tion, he  applied  himself  with  no  less  industry  to  philo- 
sophy, for  the  enlargement  of  his  mind  and  understa/id- 
ing  ;  and,  among  his  other  masters,  was  very  fond  at 


*  Eaque,  ut  ait  Scaevola  de  fratris  mei  Mario, — canescet  sseclis 
innumerabllibus.      De  Leg.  i.  i. 

f  Hie  Jovis  altisoni  subito  pinnata  Satelles 
Arboris  e  trunco,  serpentis  saucia  morsu, 
Subjugat  ipsaferis  transfigens  unguibus  anguem 
Semianimum,  &.  varia  graviter  cervice  micantem  j 
(^em  se  intorquentem  lanians  rostroque  cruentans, 
Jam  satiata  animos,  jam  duros  ulta  dolores, 
Abjicit  efflantem,  &.  laceratum  adfligit  in  unda, 
Seque  obitu  a  Solis,  nitidos  convertit  ad  ortus. 
Hanc  ubi  praspetibus  pennis  lapsuque  volantem 
Conspexit  Marius,  divini  Numinis  Augur,  . 
Faustaque  signa  suse  laudis,  reditusque  notavit  j 
Partibus  intonuit  cceli  Pater  ipse  sinistris. 
Sic  Aquilae  clarum  firmavit  Jupiter  omen.  De  Dlvin.  i,  4-:. 

X  We  have  no  account  of  the  argument  of  this  piece,  or  of  the 
meaning  of  it's  title  ;  it  was  probably  nothing  more  than  the 
Greek  wotd  Auf^m  j  to  intimate,  that  the  poem,  like  a  meadow  or 
garden,  exhibited  a  variety  of  different  fancies  and  flowers.  Tlie 
Greeks,  as  Pliny  says,  were  fond  of  giving  such  titles  to  their 
books,  as  Uoiv^iKlxt^  ''Eyy^ii^i^tov,  An^m^^c.  [Pia;f.  Hist.  Nat."}  and 
I'amphilus //j^GVtf/72i?rM«,  as  Suidas  tells  us,  publi(hed  a  Au{<a)v^  or 
a  collection  of  various  subjects.     Vid.  in  Pamphil. 


Sect.  I.  CICERO.  19 

this  age  of  Phaedrus  the  Epicurean  :  but  as  soon  as  he 
had  gained  a  httle  more  experience  and  judgment  of 
things,  he  wholly  deserted  and  constantly  disliked  the 
principles  of  that  sect ;  yet  always  retained  a  particu- 
lar esteem  for  the  man,  on  account  of  his  learning, 
humanity  and  politeness  ^. 

The  peace  of  Rome  was  now  disturbed  by  a  domes- 
tic war,  which  writers  call  the  Italic,  Social,  or  Marsic  :■ 
it  was  begun  by  a  confederacy  of  the  principal  towns  of 
Italy,  to  support  their  demand  of  the  freedom  of  the 
city  :   the  tribune  Drusus  had  made  them  a  promise  of 
it,  but  was  assassinated  in  the  attempt  of  publishing  a 
law  to  confer  it :  this  made  them  desperate,  and  resolve 
to  extort  by  force,  what  they  could  not  obtain  by  en- 
treaty f .     They  alledged  it  to  be  unjust,  to  exclude 
them  from  the  rights  of  a  city,  which  they  sustained  by 
their  arms  ;  that  in  all  it's  wars  they  furnished  twice 
the  number  of  troops  which  Rome  itself  did  ;  and  had 
raised  it  to  all  that  height  of  power,  for  which  it  now 
despised  them  J.     This  war  was  carried  on   for  above 
two  years,  with  great  fierceness  on  both  sides,  and  va- 
rious success  :  two  Roman  consuls  were  killed  in  it, 
and  their  armies  often  defeated  ;  till  the  confederates, 
w^eakened  also  by  frequent  losses,  and  the  desertion  of 
one  ally  after  another,  were  forced  at  last  to  submit  to  - 
the  superior  fortune  of  Rome  ||.    During  the  hurry  of 
the  war,  the  business  of  the  forum  was  intermitted  ; 
the  greatest  part  of  the  magistrates,  as  well  as  the 
pleaders,  being  personally  engaged  in  it ;  Hortensius, 


*  Ep.  fam.  13.  I,  f  Philip.  12.  27, 

t  Veil.  Pat.  2.  15.  II  Flor.  3.  18, 

B  2 


20  The   life   of  Sect.  L 

the  most  flourishing  young  orator  at  the  bar,  was  a  vo-^ 
lunteer  in  it  the  first  year,  and  commanded  a  regi- 
ment the  second  *. 

Cicero  Hkewise  took  the  opportunity  to  make  a  cam- 
paign, along  with  the  consul  Cn.  Pompeius  Strabo,  the 
father  of  Pompey  the  Great :  this  was  a  constant  part 
of  the  education  of  the  young  nobihty ;  to  learn  the 
art  of  war  by  personal  service,  under  some  general  of 
name  and  experience  ;  for  in  an  empire  raised  and  sup- 
ported wholly  by  arms,  a  reputation  of  martial  virtue 
w^as  the  shortest  and  surest  way  of  rising  to  it's  highest 
honors  :  and  the  constitution  of  the  government  was 
such,  that  as  the  generals  could  not  make  a  figure  even 
in  camps,  without  some  institution  in  th^  politer  arts, 
especially  that  of  speaking  gracefully  f  ;  so  those,  who 
applied  themselves  to  the  peaceful  studies,  and  the 
management  of  civil  affairs,  w^re  obliged  to  acquire  a 
competent  share  of  military  skill,  for  the  sake  of  go- 
verning provinces,  and  commanding  armies,  to  which 
they  all  succeeded  of  course  jfrom  the  administration  of 
the  great  oflices  of  the  state. 

In  this  expedition  Cicero  was  present  at  a  conference 
between  Pompeius  the  consul,  and  Vettius  the  gene- 
ral of  the  Marsi,  who  had  given  the  Romans  a  cruel 
defeat  the  year  before,  in  which  the  consul  Rutilius 
was  killed  J.  It  was  held  in  sight  of  the  two  camps, 
and  managed  with  great  decency  ;  the ,  consul's  bro- 
ther Sextus,  being  an  old  acquaintance  of  Vettius, 
came  from  Rome  on  purpose  to  assist  at  it ;  and,  at  the 

*  Brut.  425. 

f  Quantum  diccndi  gravitate  &  copla  valeat,  in  quo  ipso  incst 
quaedam  dignitas  Imperatoria, — pr.  leg.  Manil.  14, 
X  Appian,  Bell.  Civ.  p.  376> 


Sect.  I.  CICERO.  21 

first  sight  of  each  other,  after  lamenting  the  unhappy 
circumstance  of  their  meeting  at  the  head  of  opposite 
armies,  he  asked  Vettius,  bv  what  title  he  should  now 
salute  him,  of  fiiend  or  enemy  :  to  which  Vettius  re- 
plied, call  me  friend  by  inclination,  enemy  by  neces- 
sity *.  Which  shews,  that  these  old  warriors  had  not 
less  politeness  in  their  civil,  than  fierceness  in  their 
hostile  encounters. 

Both  Marius  and  Sylla  served  as  lieutenants  to  the 
consuls  in  this  war,  and  commanded  separate  armaes  in 
different  parts  of  Italy  ;  but  Marius  performed  nothing 
in  it  answerable  to  his  great  name  and  former  glory  : 
his  advanced  age  had  encreased  his  caution,  and,  after 
so  many  triumphs  and  consulships,  he  was  jealous  of  a 
reverse  of  fortune  ;  so  that  he  kept  himself  wholly  on 
the  defensive,  and,  like  old  Fabius,  chose  to  tire  out 
the  enemy  by  declining  a  battle  ;  content  with  snatch- 
ing some  little  advantages,  that  opportunity  threw  in- 
to his  hands,  without  suffering  them  however  to  gain 
any  against  him  f .  Sylla  on  the  other  hand  was  ever 
active  and  enterprising  :  he  had  not  yet  obtained  the 
consulship,  and  was  fighting  for  it,  as  it  were,  in  the 
sight  of  his  citizens  ;  so  that  he  was  constantly  urging 
the  enemy  to  a  battle,  and  glad  of  every  occasion  to 
signalize  his  military  talents,  and  eclipse  the  fame  of 
Marius  ;  in  which  he  succeeded  to  his  wish,  gained 
many  considerable  victories,  and  took  se\'eral  of  their 
cities  by  storm,  particularly  Stahcs,  a  town  of  Campa- 


*  Quem  te  appellem,  inquit  ?    at  ille  )   Voluntate  hospitem,  nc 
ceflltate  hoilem.      Phil.  I2.  xi. 
f  Plutar.  in  Marius. 

B3 


±2  The   life   of  Sect.  L 

hia,  which  he  utterly  demolished  *.  Cicero,  who  seems 
to  have  followed  his  camp,  as  the  chief  scene  of  the 
war,  and  the  best  school  for  a  young  volunteer,  gives 
an  account  of  one  action,  of  which  he  wa$  eye  witness, 
executed  with  great  vigor  and  success ;  that  as  Sylla 
was  sacrificing  before  his  tent  in  the  fields  of  Nola,  a 
snake  happened  to  creep  out  from  the  bottom  of  the 
altar,  upon  which  Posthumius  the  Haruspex,  who  at- 
tended the  sacrifice,  proclaiming  it  to  be  a  fortunate 
omen,  called  out  upon  him  to  lead  his  army  immediate- 
ly against  the  enemy  :  Sylla  took  the  benefit  of  the 
admonition,  and  drawing  out  his  troops  without  delay, 
attacked  and  took  the  strong  camp  of  the  Samnites 
under  the  walls  of  Nola  f .  This  action  was  thought 
so  glorious,  that  Sylla  got  the  story  of  it  painted  after- 
wards in  one  of  the  rooms  of  his  Tusculan  Villa  :j:. 
Thus  Cicero  was  not  less  dihgent  in  the  army,  than  he 
was  in  the  forum,  to  observe  every  thing  that  passed  ; 
and  contrived  always  to  be  near  the  person  of  the  ge- 
neral, that  no  action  of  moment  might  escape'  his 
notice. 

Upon  the  breaking  out  of  this  war,  the  Romans  gave 
the  freedom  of  the  city  to  all  the  towns  which  conti- 
nued firm  to  them  ;  and,  at  the  end  of  it,  after  the  de- 
struction of  three  hundred  thousand  fives,  thought  fit, 
for  the  sake  of  their  future  quiet,  to  grant  it  to  all  the 


*  Plut.  in  Sylla.  In  Campano  autem  agro  Stabiae  oppidum 
fuere  usque  ad  Cn.  Pompeium  &  L.  Carbonem  ColT.  prid.  Kal. 
Maij,  quo  die  L-  Sylla  legatus  bello  social!  id  delevit,  quod  nunc 
in  Villas  abiir.      Intercidit  ibi  &  Taurania.     Plin.  Hift.  N.  3.  <;. 

f  In  Sylla^  scriptum  historia  videmus,  quod  te  inspeftante  faclum 
est,  ut  quum  ille  in  agro  Nolano  immolaret  ante  prsetcrium,  ab 
infima  ara  subito  anguis  emeigeret,  quum  quidem  C.  Postunlias 
haruspex  orabat  ilium,  &c.  De  Divin.  I.  ^3.  2.  30. 

t  Plin.  Hist.  N.  ?.2.6. 


Sect.  I.  CICERO.  23 

i-est :  but  this  step,  v/hich  they  considered  as  the  foun- 
dation of  a  perpetual  peace,  was,  as  an  ingenious  writer 
.  has  observed,  one  of  the  causes  that  hastened  their 
ruin  :  for  the  enormous  bulk  to  which  the  city  was 
swelled  by  it,  gave  birth  to  many  new  disorders,  that 
gradually  corrupted  and  at  last  destroyed  it ;  and  the 
discipline  of  the  laws,  calculated  for  a  people  whom 
the  same  walls  would  contain,  was  too  weak  to  keep  in 
order  the  vast  body  of  Italy ;  so  that  from  this  time 
chiefly,  all  affairs  were  decided  by  faction  and  violence, 
and  the  influence  of  the  great ;  who  could  bring 
whole  towns  into  the  forum  from  the  remote  parts  of 
Italy ;  or  pour  in  a  number  of  slaves  and  foreigners 
under  the  form  of  citizens  ;  for  when  the  names  and 
persons  of  real  citizens  could  no  longer  be  distinguish- 
ed, it  was  not  possible  to  know,  whether  any  act  had 
passed  regularly,  by  the  genuine  suffrage  of  the 
people  *. 

The  Italic  war  was  no  sooner  ended  than  another 
broke  out,  which,  though  at  a  great  distance  from 
Rome,  v/as  one  of  the  most  difficult  and  desparate  in 
which  it  ever  w^as  -engaged  ;  against  Mithridates  King 
of  Pontus ;  a  martial  and  powerful  prince,  of  a  restless 
spirit  and  ambition,  with  a  capacity  equal  to  the  great- 
est designs  :  who,  disdaining  to  see  all  his  hopes  blast- 
ed by  the  overbearing  power  of  Rom.e,  and  confined  to 
the  narrow  boundary  of  his  hereditary  dominions,  broke 
through  his  barrier  at  once,  and  over-ran. the  lesser  A- 
sia  like  a  torrent,  and  in  one  day  caused  eighty  thou- 
sand Roman  citizens  to  be  massacred  in  cold  blood  f . 

*  De  la  grandeur  des  R.oraaIns,  &c.  c.  9,       f  Pr.  leg.  Man'il.  3, 

B4 


24 


The   life   of  Sect,  t 


His  forces  were  answerable  to  the  vastness  of  his  at- 
tempt, and  the  inexpiable  war  that  he  had  now  de- 
clared against  the  republic  ;  he  had  a  fleet  of  above 
four  hundred  ships ;  with  an  army  of  two  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  foot,  and  fifty  thousand  horse  ;  all  com- 
pletely armed,  and  provided  with  military  stores,  fit  for 
the  use  of  so  great  a  body  *. 

Sylla,  who  had  now  obtained  the  consulship,  as  the 
reward  of  his  late  services,  had  the  province  of  Asia  al- 
lotted to  him,  with  the  command  of  the  war  against 
Mithridates  f  :  but  old  Marius,  envious  of  his  growing 
fame,  and  desirous  to  engross  every  commission  which 
offered  either  power  or  wealth,  engaged  Sulpicius,  an 
eloquent  and  popular  tribune,  to  get  that  allotment  re- 
versed, and  the  command  transferred  from  Sylla  to 
himself,  by  the  suffrage  of  the  people.  This  raised 
great  tumults  in  the  city  between  the  opposite  parties^ 
in  which  the  son  of  Q;^  Pompeius  the  consul,  and  the 
son-in-law  of  Sylla  was  killed  :  Sylla  happened  to  be 
absent,  quelling  the  remains  of  the  late  commotions 
near  Nola ;  but,  upon  the  news  of  these  disorders,  he 
hastened  with  his  legions  to  Rome,  and  having  enter- 
ed it  after  some  resistance,  drove  Marius  and  his  ac- 
complices to  the  necessity  of  saving  themselves  by  a 
precipitate  flight.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  first 
civil  war,  properly  so  called,  which  Rome  had  ever 
seen ;  and  what  gave  both  the  occasion,  and  the  ex- 
ample, to  all  the  rest  that  followed :  the  tribune  Sul- 
picius was  taken  and  slain ;  and  Marius  so  warmly  pur- 

: V- 

*  Applan.  Bell.  Mithrldat.  init.  pag.  171. 
I  Appian,  BelL  Civ.  h  i.  38^, 


Sect.  I.  CICERO. 


as 


sued,  that  he  was  forced  to  plunge  himself  into  the 
marshes  of  Minturnum,  up  to  the  chin  in  water ;  in 
which  condition  he  lay  concealed  for  some  time,  till, 
being  discovered  and  dragged  out,  he  was  preserved 
by  the  compassion  of  the  inhabitants,  who,  after  re- 
freshing him  from  the  cold  and  hunger,  which  he  had 
suffered  in  his  flight,  furnished  him  with  a  vessel  and 
all  necessaries  to  transport  himself  into  Afric  *. 

Sylla  in  the  mean  while  having  quieted  the  city,  and 
proscribed  twelve  of  his  chief  adversaries,  set  forward 
upon  his  expedition  against  Mithridates :  but  he  was 
no  sooner  gone,  than  the  civil  broils  broke  out  afresh 
between  the  new  consuls,  Cinna  and  Octavius ;  which 
Cicero  calls  the  Octavian  war  f .  For  Cinna,  attempt- 
ing to  reverse  all  that  Sylla  had  established,  w^as  dri- 
ven out  of  the  city  by  his  colleague,  with  six  of  the 
tribunes,  and  deposed  from  the  consulship :  upon  this 
he  gathered  an  army,  and  recalled  Marius,  who,  hav- 
ing joined  his  forces  with  him,  entered  Rome  in  a  hos- 
tile manner,  and,  with  the  most  horrible  cruelty,  put 
ail  Sylla's  friends  to  the  sword,  without  regard  to  age, 
dignity,  or  former  services.  Among  the  rest  fell  the 
consul  Cn.  Octavius,  the  two  brothers  L.  Caesar  and 
C.  Caesar,  P.  Crassus,  and  the  orator  M.  Antonius; 
whose  head,  as  Cicero  says,  was  fixed  upon  that  rostra 
where  he  had  so  strenuously  defended  the  republic 

*  Pr.  Plan.  x.  This  account  that  Cicero  gives  more  than 
once  of  Mariuss  escape  makes  it  probable,  that  the  common 
story  of  the  Gallic  soldier,  sent  into  the  prison  to  kill  him,  was 
forged  by  some  of  the  later  writers,  to  make  the  relation  more 
tragical  and  affecting. 

f  De  Div.  I.  2.     Philip.  14.  8. 


^6  The   LltE   of  Sect.  L 

when  consul,  and  preserved  the  heads  of  so  many  ci- 
tizens ;  lamenting,  as  it  were  ominously,  the  misery  of 
that  fate,  which' happened  afterwards  to  himself,  from 
the  grandson  of  this  very  Antonius.  Q^  Catulus  also, 
though  he  had  been  Marius*s  colleague  in  the  consul- 
ship, and  in  his  victory  over  theCimbri,  was  treated  with 
the  same  cruelty :  for  when  his  friends  v/ere  interced- 
ing for  his  hfe,  Marius  made  them  no  other  answer, 
but,  he  must  die ;  he  must  die ;  so  that  he  was  obliged 
to  kill  himself*. 

Cicero  saw  this  memorable  entiy  of  his  countryman 
Marius,  who,  in  that  advanced  age,  was  so  far  from 
being  broken,  he  says,  by  his  late  calamity,  that  he 
seemed  to  be  more  alert  and  vigorous  than  ever;  when 
he  heard  him  recounting  to  the  people,  in  excuse  for 
the  cruelty  of  his  return,  the  many  miseries  which  he 
had  lately  suffered ;  when  he  was  driven  from  that 
country,  which  he  had  saved  from  destruction ;  when 
all  his  estates  were  seized  and  plundered  by  his  enemies; 
when  he  saw  his  young  son  also  the  partner  of  his  dis- 
tress ;  when  he  was  almost  drowned  in  the  marshes, 
and  owed  his  life  to  the  mercy  of  the  Minturnensians ; 
when  he  was  forced  to  fly  into  Afric  in  a  small  bark, 
and  become  a  supphant  to  those  to  whom  he  had  gi- 
ven kingdoms ;  but  that  since  he  had  recovered  his 
dignity,  and  all  the  rest  that  he  had  lost,  it  should  be 
his  care  not  to  forfeit  that  virtue  and  courage  which 
he  had  never  lost  f .     Marius  and  Cinna,  having  thus 


*  Cum   necessariis    Catuli    deprecantibus   non  semel  respondit, 
sed  saepe,  moriatur.      Tusc.  Disp.  5.  ir.  De  Orat.  3.  3, 
f   Post.  reii.  ad  Qjlr.  8. 


Sect.  I.  CICERO.  ±i 


got  the  republic  into  their  hands,  declared  themselves 
consuls  :  but  Marius  died  unexpectedly,  as  soon  almost 
as  he  was  inaugurated  into  his  new  dignity,  on  the 
13th  of  January,  in  the  7Cth  year  of  his  age ;  and,  ac- 
cording to  the  most  probable  account,  of  a  pleuritic 
fever  *. 

His  birth  was  obscure,  though  some  call  it  eques- 
trian ;  and  his  education  wholly  in  camps ;  where  he 
learnt  the  first  rudiments  of  war,  under  the  greatest 
master  of  that  age,  the  younger  Scipio,  who  destroyed 
Carthage ;  till,  by  long  service,  distinguished  valour, 
and  a  peculiar  hardiness  and  patience  of  discipline,  he 
advanced  himself  gradually  through  all  the  steps  of 
military  honour,  with  the  reputation  of  a  brave  and 
complete  soldier.  The  obscurity  of  his  extraction, 
which  depressed  him  with  the  nobility,  made  him  the 
greater  favourite  of  the  people ;  who,  on  all  occasions 
of  danger,  thought  him  the  only  man  fit  to  be  trusted 
with  their  lives  or  fortunes,  or  to  have  the  command  of 
a  difficult  and  desperate  w^ar ;  and,  in  truth,  he  twice 
delivered  them  from  the  most  desperate  with  which 
they  had  ever  been  threatened  by  a  foreign  enemy. 
Scipio,  from  the  observation  of  his  martial  talents, 
while  he  had  yet  but  an  inferior  command  in  the  ar- 
my, gave  a  kind  of  prophetic  testimony  of  his  future 
glory :  for  being  asked  by  some  of  his  ofiicers,  who 


*  Plutarch  in  Mar.  The  celebrated  orator  L.  Crassus  died  no.t 
Jong  before  of  the  same  disease,  which  might  probably  be  then, 
as  I  was  told  in  Rome,  that  it  is  now,  the  peculiar  distemper  of 
the  place.  The  modern  Romans  call  it  puntura,  which  seems  to 
carry  the  same  notion  that  the  old  Romans  expressed  by,  percus- 
sut  frigore  j  intimating  the  sudden  stroke  of  cold  upon  a  body  un- 
usually heated. 


2S  The   life   of  Sect.  I. 

v/ere  supping  with  him  at  Numantia^  what  general  the 
repubhc  would  have,  in  case  of  any  accident  to  him- 
self; that  man,  rephed  he,  pointing  to  Marius,  at  the 
bottom  of  the  table.  In  the  field  he  was  cautious  and 
provident ;  and  while  he  was  watching  the  most  fa- 
vourable opportunities  of  action,  affected  to  take  all  his 
measures  from  augurs  and  diviners ;  nor  ever  gave  bat- 
tle, till,  by  pretended  om^ens  and  divine  admonition'^, 
he  had  inspired  his  soldiers  with  a  confidence  of  vic- 
tory :  so  that  his  enemies  dreaded  him,  as  something 
more  than  mortal ;  and  both  friends  and  foes  believed 
him  to  act  always  by  a  peculiar  impulse  and  direction 
from  the  gods.  His  merit  however  was  wholly  mili- 
tary, void  of  every  accomplishment  of  learning,  which 
he  openly  affected  to  despise ;  so  that  Arpinum  had 
the  singular  felicity  to  produce  the  most  glorious  con- 
temner, as  well  as  the  most  illustrious  improver  of  the 
arts  and  eloquence  of  Rome.  He  made  no  figure 
therefore  in  the  gown,  nor  had  any  other  way  of  sus- 
taining his  authority  in  the  city,  than  by  cherishing 
the  natural  jealousy  between  the  Senate  and  the  peo- 
ple ;  that,  by  his  declared  enmity  to  the  one,  he  might 
always  be  at  the  head  of  the  other ;  whose  favour  he 
managed,  not  with  any  view  to  the  pubhc  good,  for 
he  had  nothing  in  him  of  the  statesman,  or  the  patriot, 
but  to  the  advancement  of  his  private  interest  and  glo- 
ry. In  short,  he  was  crafty,  cruel,  covetous,  perfidi- 
ous, of  a  temper  and  talents  greatly  serviceable  abroad, 
but  turbulent  and  dangerous  at  home  :  an  implacable 
enemy  to  the  nobles,  ever  seeking  occasions  to  mortify 
them,  and  ready  to  sacrifice  the  Republic,  which  he 
had  saved,  to  his  ambition  and  revenge.     After  a  life 


Sect.  I.  CICERO. 


2.9 


spent  ill  the  perpetual  toils  of  foreign  or  domestic  wars, 
he  died  at  last  in  his  bed,  in  a  good  old  age,  and  in  his 
seventh  consulship,  an  honour  that  no  Roman  before 
him  ever  attained  ;  which  is  urged  by  Cotta  the  aca- 
demic, as  one  argument,  amongst  others,  against  the 
existence  of  a  Providence  *. 

The  transactions  of  the  Forum  were  greatly  inter- 
rupted by  these  civil  dissensions,  in  which  some  of  the 
best  orators  were  killed,  others  banished  :  Cicero  how- 
ever attended  the  harangues  of  the  magistrates,  who 
possessed  the  rostra  in  their  turns ;  and  being  now  a- 
bout  the  age  of  twenty-one,  drew  up  probably  those 
rhetorical  pieces  which  were  published  by  him,  as  he 
tells  us,  when  very  young,  and  are  supposed  to  be  the 
same  that  still  remain  on  the  subject  of  invention ; 
but  he  condemned,  and  retracted  them  afterwards  in 
his  advanced  age,  as  unworthy  of  his  maturer  judgment, 
and  the  work  only  of  a  boy,  attempting  to  digest  into 
order  the  precepts  which  he  had  brought  away  from 


*  Natus  equestrl  loco.  [Veil.  Pat.  2.  xi.]  Se  P.  Africani 
discipulum  ac  mllitem,  [pr.  Balb.  20.  Val,  Max.  8.  15  ]  Po- 
pulus  Rom,  non  alium  repellendis  tantis  hostibus  magis  idoneum, 
quam  Marium  est  ratus.  [Veil.  Pat.  2.  I2.]  Bis  Italiam  obsi- 
dlone  ct  metu  llberavit  servitutls.  [in  Cat.  4.  x  3  Omnes  socii 
atque  hostes  credere,  illi  aat  mentem  divinam  esse,  aut  Deorum 
Eutu  cuncta  portendi.  [Sallust.  Bell.  Jug.  92.]  Conspicuas  fe- 
licitatis  Arpinum,  sive  unicum  litterarurn  glorisissimum  contemp- 
torem,  sive  abundantlssimum  fontem  intueri  velis.  [Val.  Max. 
2.  2.]  Quantum  bello  optimus,  tantum  pace  pessimus  5  immodi- 
cus  gloriie,  insatiabilis,  impotens,  semperque  inquietus.  [Veil. 
Pat.  2.  xi.J  Cur  omnium  perfidiosissimus,  C.  Marius,  Q^Catu- 
lum,  praestantissima  dignitate  virum,  mori  potuit  jubere  ^  ■ 
cur  tarn  feliciter,  septimum  consul,  domi  sus  senex  est  mortuus^ 
[De  Nat.  Deor.  3.  32.] 


go  The   life   of  Sect.  I. 

school  *.  In  the  mean  while,  Philo,  a  philosopher  of 
the  first  name  in  the  academy,  with  many  of  the  prin- 
cipal Athenians,  fled  to  Rome  from  the  fury  of  Mith- 
ridates,  who  had  made  himself  master  of  Athens,  and 
all  the  neighbouring  parts  of  Greece,  Cicero  immedi- 
ately became  his  scholar,  and  was  exceedingly  taken 
with  his  philosophy ;  and,  by  the  help  of  such  a  profes- 
sor, gave  himself  up  to  that  study  with  the  greater  in- 
clination, as  there  was  cause  to  apprehend,  that  the 
laws  and  judicial  proceedings  which  he  had  designed 
for  the  ground  of  his  fame  and  fortunes,  would  be 
wholly  overturned  by  the  continuance  of  the  public 
disorders  f . 

But  Cinna's  party  having  quelled  all  opposition  at 
home,  while  Sylla  was  engaged  abroad  in  the  MitbrJ- 
datic  war,  there  was  a  cessation  of  arms  within  the  ci-^ 
ty  for  about  three  years,  so  that  the  course  of  pubhc 
business  began  to  flow  again  in  its  usual  channel ;  and 
Molo  the  Rhodian,  one  of  the  principal  orators  of  that 
age,  and  the  most  celebrated  teacher  of  eloquence,  hap- 
pening to  come  to  Rome  at  the  same  time,  Cicero  pre- 
sently took  the  benefit  of  his  lectures,  and  resumed  his 
oratorial  studies  with  his  former  ardour  %.  But  the 
greatest  spur  to  his  industry  was  the  fame  and  splen- 
dour of  Hortensius,  who  made  the  first  figure  at  the 
bar,  and  whose  praises  fired  him  with  such  ambition  of 


*  Quae  puerls  aut  adolescentulis  nobis,  ex  commentariolis  no3- 
trls  inchoata  ac  rudia  exciderunt,  vix  hac  actate  digna,  et  hoc  usu, 
&c.      De  Orat.  i.  2.      Quintil.  I.  3.  6. 

■f-  Eodem  tempore,  cum  princeps  acadcmlae  Philo,  cum  AtKe- 
niensium  optlmatibus,  Mithiidatlco  bello  domo  profugisset,  Ro- 
mamque  venisset  :   totum  ei  me  tradidi,  &c.   Brut.  430. 

%  Eodem  anno  Moloni  dedimus  operam.     Ibid. 


Sect.  L  CICERO. 


31 


acquiring  the  same  glory,  that  he  scarce  allowed  him- 
self any  rest  from  his  studies  either  day  or  night :  he 
had  in  the  house  with  him  Diodotus  the  stoic,  as- his 
preceptor  in  various  parts  of  learning,  but  more  parti- 
cularly in  logic  ;  which  Zeno,  as  he  tells  us,  used  to  call 
a  close  and  contracted  eloquence ;  as  he  called  eloquence 
an  enlarged  and  dilated  logic  ;  comparing  the  one  to  the 
fist  or  hand  doubled ;  the  other ^  to  the  palm  opened  *', 
Yet,  with  all  his  attention  to  logic,  he  never  suffered  a 
day  to  pass,  without  some  exercise  in  oratory  ;  chiefly 
that  of  declaiming,  which  he  generally  performed  with 
his  fellow  students,  M.  Piso  and  Q^  Pompeius,  two 
young  noblemen,  a  little  older  than  himself,  with 
whom  he  had  contracted  an  intimate  friendship. 
They  declaimed  some  times  in  Latin,  but  much  of- 
tener  in  Greek  ;  because  the  Greek  furnished  a  great- 
er variety  of  elegant  expressions,  and  an  opportunity 
of  imitating  and  introducing^  them  into  the  Latin  ;  and 
because  the  Greek  masters,  who  were  far  the  best, 
could  not  correct  and  improve  them,  unless  tliey  de- 
claimed in  that  language  f . 

In  this  interval  Sylla  was  performing  great  exploits 
against  Mithridates,  whom  he  had  driven  out  of  Greece 
and  Asia,  and  confined  once  more  to  his  ov/n  territo- 
ry ;  yet  at  Rome,  where  Cinna  was  master,  he  was  de- 
clared a  public  enemy,  and  his  estate  confiscated  :  this 
insult  upon  his  honour  and  fortunes  made  him  very  de- 


*  Zeno  quidem  ille,  a  quo  difcipllna  Stoicorum  est,  rnaiiu  de- 
monstrare  solebat,  quid  inter  hr»s  artes  interesset.  Nam  cum  com- 
presserat  digitos,  pugnuraque  fecerat,  dialecticam  aiebat  ejusmoMi 
esse  :  curn  autctn  diduxerat,  et  manum  dlLitaverat,  palmie  illius 
similem  eloquentiam  esse  dicebat.  Orator.  259.  edit.  Larah. 
t   Brut.  p.  357.  A%1. 


3^  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  L 

sirous  to  be  at  home  again,  in  order  to  take  his  revenge 
upon  his  adversaries :  so  that,  after  all  his  success  in 
the  war,  he  was  glad  to  put  an  end  to  it  by  an  honour- 
able peace ;  the  chief  article  of  which  was,  that  Mithri- 
dates  should  defray  the  whole  expence  of  it,  and  con- 
tent himself  for  the  future  with  his  hereditary  king- 
dom. On  his  return  he  brought  away  with  him  from 
Athens  the  famous  library  of  ApeUicon  the  Teian,  in 
which  were  the  works  of  Aristotle  and  Theophrastus, 
that  were  hardly  known  before  in  Italy,  or  to  be  found 
indeed  entire  any  where  else  *.  He  wrote  a  letter  at 
the  same  time  to  the  senate,  setting  forth  his  great  ser- 
vices, and  the  ingratitude  with  which  he  had  been 
treated  ;  and  acquainting  them,  that  he  was  coming  to 
do  justice  to  the  Republic,  and  to  himself,  upon  the 
authors  of  those  violences :  this  raised  great  terrors  in 
the  city  ;  which  having  lately  felt  the  horrible  effects 
of  Marius's  entry,  expected  to  see  the  same  tragedy 
acted  over  again  by  Sylla. 

But  while  his  enemies  were  busy  in  gathering  forces 
to  oppose  him,  Cinna,  the  chief  of  them,  was  killed  in 
a  mutiny  of  his  own  soldiers :  upon  this  Sylla  hasten- 
ed his  march,  to  take  the  benefit  of  that  disturbance, 
and  landed  at  Brundisium  with  about  thirty  thousand 
men  :  hither  many  of  the  nobility  presently  resorted 
to  him,  and  among  them  young  Pompey,  about  twen- 
ty three  years  old ;  who,  without  any  pubUc  charac- 
ter or  commission,  brought  along  with  him  three  le- 
gions, which  he  had  raised  by  his  own  credit  out  of  the 
veterans  who  had  served  under  his  father :  he  was 
kindly  received  by  Sylla,  to  whom  he  did  great  service 

»  Plut.  Life  of  Syll. 


Sect.  I.  CICERO.  g3 

in  the  progress  of  the  w£tr,  and  was  ever  after  much 
favoured  and  employed  by  him  *. 

Sylla  now  carried  all  before  him :  he  defeated  one 
of  the  consuls,  Norbanus,  and,  by  the  pretence  of  a 
treaty  wdth  the  other  consul,  Scipio,  found  means  to 
corrupt  his  army,  and  draw  it  over  to  himself  f  :  he 
gave  Scipio  however  his  life,  who  went  into  a  voluntary 
exile  at  Marseilles  J.  The  new  consuls  chosen  in  the 
mean  time  at  Rome,  were  Cn.  Papirius  Carbo  and 
young  Marius ;  the  first  of  whom,  after  several  de- 
feats, was  driven  out  of  Italy,  and  the  second  besieged 
in  Prasneste  ;  where,  being  reduced  to  extremity,  and 
despairing  of  relief,  he  wrote  to  Damasippus,  then  prae- 
tor of  the  city,  to  call  a  meeting  of  the  senators,  as  if 
upon  business  of  importance,  and  put  the  principal  of 
them  to  the  sword  :  in  this  massacre  many  of  the  no- 
bles perished,  and  did  Scaevola,  the  High  Priest,  the 
pattern  of  ancient  temperance  and  prudence,  as  Cice- 
ro calls  him,  v/as  slain  before  the  altar  of  Vesta  ||  :  af- 
ter which  sacrifice  of  noble  blood  to  the  iJianes  of  his 
father,  young  Marius  put  an  end  to  his  own  life. 

Pompey  at  the  same  time  pursued  Carbo  into  Sici- 
ly, a?id,  having  taken  him  at  Lilybeum,  sent  his  head 
to  Sylla,  though  he  begged  his  life  in  an  abject  man- 
ner at  his  feet :  this  drew  some  reproach  upon  Pom- 
pey, for  killing  a  man  to  whom  he  had  been  highly 
obliged,  on  an  occasion  where  his  father's  hon6ur  and 

*  Appian.  Bell,  civ,  1.  i.  397,  399.     , 

f  Sylla  cum  Scipione  inter  Ca  e^  et  Teanum— leges  int^r  se  et 
conditiones  contulerunt ;  no.n  tenuit  omnino  colloquium  illud  fi- 
dem,  a  vi  tamen  et  periculo  abfuit.      Philip.  12.  xi. 

:j:   Pro  Sextio,  3.  ||  De  Nat.  Deor.  3.  32, 

Vol.  I,  G 


34 


The  life   of  Sect.  L 


his  own  fortunes  were  attacked.  But  this  is  the  con- 
stant effect  of  factions  in  states,  to  make  men  prefer 
the  interests  of  a  party  to  all  the  considerations,  either 
of  private  or  public  duty  ;  and  it  is  not  strange  that 
Pompey,  young  and  ambitious,  should  pay  more  re- 
gard to  the  power  of  Sylla,  than  to  a  scruple  of  honour 
or  gratitude  '^.  Cicero  however  says  of  this  Carbo, 
that  there  never  was  a  worse  citizen,  or  more  wicked 
man  f  ;  which  will  go  a  great  way  towards  excusing 
Pompey 's  act. 

Sylla  having  subdued  all  who  were  in  arms  against 
him,  was  now  at  leisure  to  take  his  full  revenge  on  their 
friends  and  adherents ;  in  which,  by  the  detestable 
method  of  a  proscription,  of  which  he  was  the  first  au- 
thor and  inventor,  he  exercised  a  more  infamous  cruel- 
ty than  had  ever  been  practised  in  cold  blood,  in  that, 
or  perhaps  in  any  other  city  J.  The  proscription  w^as 
not  confined  to  Rome,  but  carried  through  all  the 
towns  of  Italy  :  where,  besides  the  crime  of  party, 
which  was  pardoned  to  none,  it  was  fatal  to  be  posses- 


*  Sed  nobis  tacentibus  Cn.  Carbonis,  a  quo  admodum  adolc- 
fcens  de  paternis  bonis  in  foro  dimicans  protectus  es,  jussu  tuo  in- 
terempti  mors  animis  hominum  obversabitur,  non  sine  aliqua  re- 
prehensione  :  quia  tarn  ingrato  facto,  plus  L.  Syih=e  viribus,  quam 
propriae  indulsisti  verecundice.     Val.  Max.  5.  3. 

f  Hoc  veto,  qui  Lilybei  a  Pompeio  nostro  est  interfectus,  im- 
probior  nemo,  meo  judicio,  fuit.     Ep.  fam.  9.  21. 

X  Primus  ille,  et  utinam  ultimus,  exemplum  proscriptionis  in- 
venit,  &:c.  Veil.  Pat,  2.  28.  N.  B.  The  manner  oi pt^oscribing 
was,  to  write  down  the  names  of  those  who  were  doomed  to  die, 
and  expose  them  on  tables  fixt  up  in  the  public  places  of  the  city, 
with  the  promise  of  a  certain  reward  for  the  head  of  each  person 
so  proscribed.  So  that,  though  Marius  and  Cinna  massacred  their 
enemies  with  the  same  cruelty  in  cold  blood,  yet  they  did  not  do 
it  in  the  way  of  proscription^  nor  with  the  offer  of  a  reward  to  the 
muvderers. 


Sect.  I.  CICERO.  35 

sed  of  money,  lands,  or  a  pleasant  seat ;  all  manner  of 
licence  being  indulged  to  an  insolent  army,  of  carving 
for  themselves  w^hat  fortunes  they  pleased  *. 

In  this  general  destruction  of  the  Marian  faction, 
J.  Caesar,  then  about  seventeen  years  old,  had  much 
difficulty  to  escape  with  life  :  he  was  nearly  allied  to 
old  Marius,  and  had  married  Cinna's  daughter  ;  whom 
he  could  not  be  induced  to  put  away,  by  all  the  threats 
of  Sylla  ;  who  considering  him,  for  that  reason,  as  ir- 
reconcileable  to  his  interests,  deprived  him  of  his  wife's 
fortune  and  the  priesthood,  which  he  had  obtained*. 
Caesar,  therefore,  apprehending  still  somewhat  worse, 
thought  it  prudent  to  retire  and  conceal  himself  in  the 
country,  where,  being  discovered  accidentally  by  Syl- 
la's  soldiers,  he  was  forced  to  redeem  his  head  by  a  ve- 
ry large  sum  :  but  the  intercession  of  the  Vestal  Vir- 
gins, and  the  authority  of  his  powerful  relations,  ex- 
torted a  grant  of  his  hfe  very  unwillingly  from  Sylla  ; 
who  bade  them  take  notice,  that  he,  for  whose  safety 
ttiey  were  so  solicitous,  would  one  day  be  the  ruin  of 
that  aristocracy  which  he  was  then  establishing  with 
so  much  pains,  for  that  he  saw  many  Marius's  in  one 
Caesar  f .  The  event  confirmed  Sylla's  prediction ;  for, 
hy  the  experience  of  these  times,  young  Caesar  was  in- 
structed both  how  to  form,  and  to  execute  that  scheme, 

*  Namqne  uti  quisque  domum  aut  vlllam,  postrerao  aut  vas  aut 
vestimentum  alicujus  concuplverat,  dabat  operam,  ut  is  in  pro- 
jcriptorum  numero  esset. — nequc  prius  finis  jugulandi  fuit,  quani 
Sylla  omnes  suos  divitiis  explevit.     Sallust.  c.  51.     Plut.  Sylla, 

f  Scirent  cum,  quam  incolumem  tanto  opere  cuperent,  quando- 
que  optimatium  partibus,  quas  secum  simul  defcndissent,  exitio 
futurum  :  nam  Csesari  multos  Marios  inesse.  [Sueton,  J.  Cxs. 
c.  I.  Plutar.  m  Caes.  J.] — Cinnac  gener,  cujus  filium  ut  repudiaret, 
nuUo  modo  coHipelli  potuit.     Veil.  Pat,  i»  24. 

C2 


^6  The  LIFE  of  Sect,  t 

which  was  the  grand  purpose  of  his  whole  Hfe,  of  op- 
pressing the  liberty  of  his  country. 

As  soon  as  the  proscriptions  were  over,  and  the  scene 
grown  a  httle  calm,  L.  Flaccus,  being  chosen  interrex, 
declared  Sylld  dictator  for  setthng  the  state  of  the  re- 
public, without  any  limitation  of  time,  and  ratified 
whatever  he  had  done,  or  should  do,  by  a  special  law, 
that  empowered  him  to  put  any  citizen  to  death  with- 
out hearing  or  trial  *.  This  office  of  dictator,  which, 
in  early  times,  had  oft  been  of  singular  service  to  the 
republic  in  cases  of  difficulty  and  distress,  was  now 
grown  odious  and  suspected,  in  the  present  state  of  its 
wealth  and  power,  as  dangerous  to  the  pubhc  liberty, 
and  for  that  reason  had  been  wholly  disused  and  laid 
aside  for  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  past  f  :  so  that 
riaccus's  law  was  the  pure  effect  of  force  and  terror ; 
and,  though  pretended  to  be  made  by  the  people,  was 
utterly  detested  by  them.  Sylla,  however,  being  in- 
vested by  it  with  absolute  authority,  made  many  use- 
ful regulations  for  the  better  order  of  the  government ; 
and,  by  the  plenitude  of  his  power,  changed  in  great 
measure  the  whole  constitution  of  it  from  a  democra- 
tical  to  an  aristocratical  form,  by  advancing  the  prero- 
gative of  the  senate,  and  depressing  that  of  the  people. 
He  took  from  the  equestrian  order  the  judgment  of  all 
causes,  which  they  had  enjoyed  from  the  time  of  Grac- 
chi, and  restored  it  to  the  senate  ;  deprived  the  people 


*  De  Leg.  Agrar.  con.  RuU,  3.  2. 

f  Cujus  honoris  usurpatio  per  annos  cxx.  intermissa— ut  ap- 
pareat  populum  Romanum  usum  Dictatoris  non  tam  desiderasse, 
quam  timuisse  potestatem  imperii,  quo  priores  ad  vindicandam 
maximis  periculis  Rempub.  usi  fuerant.     Veil.  Pat.  2.  28. 


Sect,  I,  CICERO.  37 

of  the  right  of  choosing  the  priests,  and  replaced  it  in 
the  colleges  of  priests  ;  but,  above  all,  he  abridged  the 
immoderate  power  of  the  tribunes,  which  had  been  the 
chief  source  of  all  their  civil  dissensions ;  for  he  made 
them  incapable  of  any  other  magistracy  after  the  tri^ 
bunate  ;  restrained  the  liberty  of  appealing  to  them  ; 
took  from  them  their  capital  privilege  of  proposing 
laws  to  the  people  ;  and  left  them  nothing  but  their 
negative  ;  or,  as  Cicero  says,  "  the  power  only  of  help- 
*'  ing,  not  of  hurting  any  one  *."  But  that  he  might 
not  be  suspected  of  aiming  at  perpetual  tyranny,  and 
a  total  subversion  of  the  republic,  he  suffered  the  con- 
suls to  be  chosen  in  the  regular  manner,  and  to  go- 
vern, as  usual,  in  all  the  ordinary  affairs  of  the  city  : 
whilst  he  employed  himself-  particularly  in  reforming 
the  disorders  of  the  state,  by  putting  his  new  laws  in 
execution  ;  and  in  distributing  the  confiscated  lands 
of  the  adverse  party  among  his  legions  :  so  that  the 
republic  seemed  to  be  once  more  settled  on  a  legal  ba- 
sis, and  the  laws  and  judicial  proceedings  began  to 
flourish  in  the  Forum.  About  the  same  time,  Molo 
the  Rhodian  came  again  to  Rome,  to  solicit  the  pay- 
ment of  what  was  due  to  his  country,  for  their  services 
in  the  Mitliridatic  war  ;  which  gave  Cicero  an  oppor- 
tunity of  putting  himself  a  second  time  under  his  di- 
rection, and  perfecting  his  oratorical  talents,  by  the  far- 
ther instructions  of  so  renowned  a  master  f  :  whose  a- 
bilities  an4  character  were  so  highly  reverenced,  that 
he  was  the  first  of  all  foreigners  who  was  ever  allowed 

*  De  Icgib.  3.  10,     It.  vid.  Pigh.  Annal.  ad  A,  Urb,  672. 
j-  Brut,  p,  434. 


38  The  LIFE  ov  Sect.  L 

to  speak  to  the  senate  in  Greek  without  an  interpre- 
ter *.  Which  shews  in  what  vogue  the  Greek  learn- 
ing, and  especially  eloquence,  flourished  at  this  time 
in  Rome. 

Cicero  had  now  run  through  all  that  course  of  dis- 
cipline, which  he  lays  down  as  necessary  to  form  the 
complete  orator :   for,  in  his  treatise  on  that  subject, 
he  gives  us  his  own  sentiments  in  the  person  of  Cras- 
sus,  on  the  institution  requisite  to  that  character ;  de- 
claring, that  no  man  ought  to  pretend  to  it,  without 
being  previously  acquainted  with  every  thing  worth 
knowing  in  art  or  nature ;  that  this  is  implied  in  the 
very  name  of  an  orator,  whose  profession  it  is  to  speak 
upon  every  subject  which  can  be  proposed  to  him ; 
and  whose  eloquence,  without  the  knowledge  of  what 
he  speaks,  would  be  the  prattle  only  and  impertinence 
of  children  f .     He  had  learnt  the  rudiments  of  gram- 
mar, and  languages,  from  the  ablest  teachers ;  gone 
through  the  studies  of  humanity  and  the  politer  let- 
ters with  the  poet  Archias ;  been  instructed  in  philo- 
sophy by  the  principal  professors  of  each  sect ;  Phae- 
drus  the  Epicurean,  Philo  the  Academic,  Diodotus  the 
Stoic  ;   acquired  a  perfect  knov/ledge  of  the  law,  from 
the  greatest  lawyers,  as  well  as  the  greatest  statesmen 
of  Rome,  the  two  Scaevolas ;  all  which  accomphsh- 
ments  were  but  ministerial  and  subservient  to  that  on 
which  his  hopes  and  ambition  were  singly  placed,  the 


*  Eum  ante  omnes  exterarum  gentium  in  senatu  sine  Interprete 
auditum  constat.     Val.  Max.  2.  2. 

f  Ac  raea  quidem  sententia,  nemo  poterit  esse  omni  laude  cu- 
mulatus  orator,  nisi  erit  omnium  rcrum  magnarum,  atque  artium 
sclentiam  consecutus,     De  Orat.  1.  6.  2.  2. 


Sect.  L  CICERO. 


39 


reputation  of  an>rator :  To  qualify  himself  therefore 
particularly  for  this,  he  attended  the  pleadings  of  all 
the  speakers  of  his  time ;  heard  the  daily  lectures  of 
the  most  eminent  orators  of  Greece,  and  \^'as  perpe- 
tually composing  ^somewhat  at  home,  and.  declaiming 
under  their  correction  :  and  that  he  might  neglect  no- 
thing which  could  help  in  any  degree  to  improve  and 
polish  his  stile,  he  spent  the  intervals  of  his  leisure  in 
the  company  of  the  ladies ;  especially  of  those  who 
were  remarkable  for  a  politeness  of  language,  and 
whose  fathers  had  been  distinguished  by  a*fame  and 
reputation  of  their  eloquence.  While  he  studied  the 
law  therefore  under  Scasvola  the  Augur,  he  frequent- 
ly conversed  with  his  wife  Lseha,  whose  discourse,  he 
says,  was  tinctured  with  all  the  elegance  of  her  father 
Laelius,  the  politest  speaker  of  his  age  * :  he  was  ac- 
quainted likewise  with  her  daughter  Mucia,  who  mar- 
ried the  great  orator  L.  Crassus,  and  with  her  grand- 
daughters, the  two  LicinicC ;  one  of  them,  the  wife  of 
L.  Scipio,  the  other  of  young  Marius ;  who  all  excel- 
led in  that  delicacy  of  the  Latin  tongue,  which  was 
peculiar  to  their  families,  and  valued  themselves  on 
preserving  and  propagating  it  to  their  posterity. 

Thus  adorned  and  accomplished,  he  offered  himself 
to  the  bar  about  the  age  of  twenty-six ;  not  as  others 
generally  did,  raw  and  ignorant  of  their  business,  and 
wanting  to  be  formed  to  it  by  use  and  experience  f , 

*  Lcglmus  epistolas  Corneliae,  matris  Gracchorum — auditus  est 
nobis  Lgelisc,  Caii  fillae,  saepe  sermo  :  ergo  illam  patris  elegantia 
tinctam  vidimus;  et  filius  ejus  Mucias  ambas,  quarum  sermo  mihi 
fuit  notus,  &c.     Brut.  319. 

•j   lb.  433- 

C4 


^0  Thbt  life   or  Sect.  L 

but  finished  and  qualified  at  once  to  sustain  any  cause 
which  should  be  committed  to  him.  It  has  been  con- 
troverted, both  by  the  ancients  and  moderns,  what 
was  the  first  cause  in  which  he  was  engaged ;  some 
give  it  for  that  of  P.  Quinctius,  others  for  S.  Roseius : 
but  neither  of  them  are  in  the  right ;  for,  in  his  ora- 
tion for  Quinctius,  he  expressly  declares,  that  he  had 
pleaded  other  causes  before  it ;  and  in  that  for  Ros- 
eius, says  only,  that  it  was  the  first  public  or  criminal 
cause  in  which  he  was  concerned  :  and  it  is  reasonable 
to  imagine,  that  he  tried  his  strength,  and  acquired 
some  credit  in  private  causes,  before  he  would  venture 
upon  a  public  one  of  that  importance ;  agreeably  to 
the  advice  which  Quintilian  gives  to  his  young  plead-- 
ers  *,  whose  rules  are  generally  drawn  from  the  prac- 
tice and  example  of  Cicero. 

The  cause  of  P.  Quinctius,  was  to  defend  him  fron^ 
^n  action  of  bankruptcy  brought  against  him  by  a  cre-r 
ditor,  who,  on  pretence  of  his  having  forfeited  his  re- 
cognizance, and  withdrawn  himself  from  justice,  had 
obtained  a  decree  to  seize  his  estate,  and  expose  it  to 
sale.  The  creditor  was  one  of  the  public  criers,  who 
attended  the  niagistrates,  and,  by  his  interest  among 
them,  was  likely  to  oppress  Quinctius,  and  had  already 
gained  an  advantage  against  him,  by  the  authority  of 
Hortensius,  who  was  his  advocate.  Cicero  entered  in- 
to the  cause,  at  the  earnest  desire  of  the  famed  come- 
dian Roseius,  whose  sister  was  Quinctius*s  wife  f  :  he 
endeavoured  at  first  to 'excuse  himself;  alleging,  that 
he  should  not  be  able  to  speak  a  word  against  Hor- 

f  QuintiL  12,  6.  t  P'^o  Quinct.  2:\. 


Sect.  1  GICERO.  4t 

tensius,  any  more  than  the  other  players  could  act 
with  any  spirit  before  Roscius ;  but  Roscius  would 
take  no  excuse,  having  formed  such  a  judgment  of 
him,  as  to  think  no  man  capable  of  so  supporting  a  des- 
perate cause  against  a  crafty  and  powerful  adversary. 
After   he  had  given  a  specimen  of  himself  to  the 
city,  in  this  and  several  other  private  causes,  he  un- 
dertook the  celebrated  defence  of  S.  Roscius  of  Ame- 
ria,  in  his  27th  year;  the   same  age,  as  the  learned 
have   observed,  in  which  DemostSenes  first  began  to 
distinguish  himself  in  Athens ;  as  if  in  these  geniuses 
of  the  first  magnitude,  that  was  the  proper  season  of 
blooming  towards  maturity.     The  case  of  Roscius  was 
this : — His  father  was  killed  in  the  late  proscription  of 
Sylla,  and  his  estate,  worth  about  6o,oqo1.  Sterling, 
was  sold  among  the  confiscated  estates  of  the  proscrib- 
ed, for  a  trifling  sum,  to  L.  Cornelius  Chrysogonus,  a 
young  favourite  slave,  whom  Sylla  had  made  free ; 
who,  to  secure  his  possession  of  it,  accused  the  son  of 
the  murder  of  his  father,  and  had  provided  evidence 
to  convict  him ; — so  that  the  young  man  was  like  to 
be  deprived,  not  only  of  his  fortunes,  but,  by  a  more 
villainous  cruelty,  of  his  honour  also,  and  his  life.    All 
the  old  advocates  refused  to  defend  him,  fearing  the 
power  of  the  prosecutor,  and  the  resentment  of  Syl- 
la * ;  since  Roscius's  defence  would  necessarily  lead 

*  Ita  loqui  homines  •, — huic  patronos  propter  ChrysogonI  gra- 
tiam  defuturos, — ipso  nomine  parricidii  et  atrocitate  criminis  fore, 
ut  hlc  nuUo  negotio  tolleretur,  cum  a  nuUo  defensus  sit. — Patro- 
nos huic  defuturos  putaverunt  j  desunt.  Qui  libere  dicat,  qui 
pum  fide  defendat,  non  deest  profecto,  Judices. — Pr.  Roscia 
Amor.  10,  II. 


4^  The   LIFE   of  Sect,  L 

them  into  many  complaints  on  the  times,  and  the  op- 
pressions of  the  great :  but  Cicero  readily  undertook 
it,  as  a  glorious  opportunity  of  enlisting  himself  into 
the  service  of  his  country,  and  giving  a  public  testi- 
mony of  his  principles  and  zeal  for  that  liberty  to 
which  he  had  devoted  the  labours  of  his  life.  Roscius 
was  acquitted,  to  the  great  honour  of  Cicero,  whose 
courage  and  address,  in  defending  him,  was  applaud- 
ed by  the  whole  city ;  so  that  from  this  moment  he 
was  looked  upon  as  an  advocate  of  the  first  class,  and 
equal  to  the  greatest  causes  *. 

Having  occasion,  in  the  course  of  his  pleading,  to 
mention  that  remarkable  punishment  which  their  an- 
cestors had  contrived  "  for  the  murder  of  a  parent,  of 
"  sewing  the  criminal  alive  into  a  sack,  and  throwing 
"  him  into  a  river,"  he  says,  "  that  the  meaning  of  it 
"  was,  to  strike  him  at  once  as  it  were  out  of  the  sys- 
"  tem  of  nature,  by  taking  him  from  the  air,  the  sun, 
"  the  water,  and  the  earth ;  that  he  who  had  destroy- 
"  ed  the  author  of  his  being,  should  lose  the  benefit  of 
"  those  elements  whence  all  things  derive  their  being. 
"  They  would  not  throw  him  to  the  beasts,  lest  the 
"  contagion  of  such  wickedness  should  make  the  beasts 
"  themselves  more  furious :  they  would  not  commit 
"  him  naked  to  the  stream,  lest  he  should  pollute  the 
"  very  sea,  which  was  the  purifier  of  all  other  pollu- 
"  tions :  they  left  him  no  share  of  any  thing  natural, 
"  how  vile  or  common  soever :  for  what  is  so  common 


*  Prima  causa  publica,  pro  S.  Roscio  dicta,  tantum  commen. 
dationis  habuit,  ut  non  uUa  esset,  quae  non  nostro  digna  patroci- 
mo  videretur.     Deinceps  inde  multae.     Brut.  434. 


Sect.  I.  CICERO. 


43 


"  as  breath  to  the  living,  earth  to  the  dead,  the  sea  to 
"  those  who  float,  the  shore  to  those  who  are  cast  up  ? 
"  Yet  these  wretches  hve  so,  as  long  as  they  can,  as 
"  not  to  draw  breath  from  the  air ;  die  so,  as  not  to 
"  touch  the  ground ;  are  so  tossed  by  the  waves,  as 
"  not  to  be  washed  by  them ;  so  cast  out  upon  the 
"  shore,  as  to  find  no  rest  even  on  the  rocks  *."  This 
passage  was  received  with  acclamations  of  applause ; 
yet  speaking  of  it  afterwards  himself,  he  calls  it  "  the 
"redundancy  of  a  juvenal  fancy,  which  wanted  the 
"  correction  of  his  sounder  judgment  ^  nad,  like  all  the 
"  compositions  of  young  men,  was  not  applauded  so 
"  much  for  its  own  sake,  as  for  the  hopes  which  it 
"  gave  of  his  more  improved  and  ripened  talents  f ." 

The  popularity  of  his  cause,  and  the  favour  of  the 
audience,  gave  him  such  spirits,  that  he  exposed  the 
insolence  and  villany  of  the  favourite  Chrysogonus 
with  great  gaiety,  and  ventured  even  to  mingle  seve- 
ral bold  strokes  at  Sylla  himself;  which  he  took  care 
however  to  palhate,  by  observing,  "  that,  through  the 
"  multipHcity  of  Sylla's  affairs,  who  reigned  as  abso- 
"  lute  on  earth  as  Jupiter  did  in  heaven,  it  was  not 
"  possible  for  him  to  know,  and  necessary  even  to 
"  connive  at,  many  things  which  his  favourites  did  a- 
"  gainst  his  will  J.  He  would  not  complain,"  he  says, 
"  in  times  like  those,  that  an  innocent  man's  estate 
"  was  exposed  to  pubhc  sale ;  for,  were  it  allowed  to 
"  him  to  speak  freely  on  that  head,  Roscius  was  not  a 
"  person  of  such  consequence,  that  he  should  make  a 


*  Pro  Rose.  26.  f  Orat.  258.  ed.  Lamb. 

%  Pro  Rose.  45» 


44 


Th£   life   of  Sect.  1. 


"  particular  complaint  on  his  account ;  but  he  must 
*'  insist  upon  it,  that,  by  the  law  of  the  proscription  it- 
"  self,  whether  it  was  Flaccus^s  the  Interrex,  or  Sylla's 
*'  the  Dictator,  for  he  knew  not  which  to  call  it,  Ro~ 
"  scius's  estate  was  not  forfeited,  nor  hable  to  be  sold  *. 
In  the  conclusion,  he  puts  the  judges  in  mind,  "  that 
"  nothing  was  so  much  aimed  at  by  the  prosecutors  in 
**  this  trial,  as,  by  the  condemnation  of  Roscius,  to  gain 
**  a  precedent  for  destroying  the  children  of  the  pro- 
"  scribed  :  he  conjures  them  therefore,  by  all  the  gods, 
"  not  to  be  the  authors  of  reviving  a  second  proscrip- 
"  tion,  more  barbarous  and  cruel  than  the  first :  that 
"  the  Senate  refused  to  bear  any  part  in  the  first,  lest 
"  it  should  be  thought  to  be  authorised  by  the  public 
*'  council ; — that  it  was  their  business,  by  this  sen- 
^'  tence,  to  put  a  stop  to  that  spirit  of  cruelty  which 
"  then  possessed  the  city,  so  pernicious  to  the  republic, 
*'  and  so  contrary  to  the  temper  and  character  of  their 
"  ancestors." — : — 

As  by  this  defence  he  acquired  a  great  reputation 
in  his  youth,  so  he  reflects  upon  it  with  pleasure  in  old 
age,  and  recommends  it  to  his  son,  as  the  surest  way 
to  true  glory  and  authority  in  his  country  ;  to  defend 
the  innocent  in  distress,  especially  when  they  happen 
to  be  oppressed  by  the  power  of  the  great ;  as  I  have 
often  done,  says  he,  in  other  causes,  but  particularly 
in  that  of  Roscius,  against  Sylla  himself  in  the  height 
pf  his  power  f .     A  noble  lesson  to  all  advancers,  to 

*   Pro  Rose.  43. 

f  Ut  nos  &  ssepe  alias  &.  adolescentes,  contra  L.  Sullae  domi- 
nantls  opes  pro  S.  Roscio  AmerinQ  fecimus  j  quse,  ut  scis,  cxt^t 
Oratio.     De  Offic.  2.  14, 


Sect.  I.  CICERO, 


45 


apply  their  talents  to  the  protection  of  innocence  and 
injured  virtue ;  and  to  make  justice,  not  profit,  the 
rule  and  end  of  their  labours. 

Plutarch  says,  that  presently  after  this  trial  Cicero 
took  occasion  to  travel  abroad,  on  pretence  of  his 
health,  but  in  reahty  to  avoid  the  effeds  of  Sylla's 
displeasure  :  but  there  seems  to  be  no  ground  for  this 
notion  :  for  Sylla's  revenge  was  now  satiated,  and 
his  mind  wholly  bent  on  restoring  the  public  tran- 
quillity; and  it  is  evident,  that  Cicero  continued  a 
year  after  this  in  Rome  without  any  apprehen- 
sion of  danger,  engaged,  as  before,  in  the  same  task 
of  pleading  causes*;  and  in  one  especially,  more 
obnoxious  to  Sylla's  resentment,  even  than  that  of 
Roscius ;  for,  in  the  case  of  a  woman  of  Arretium,  he 
d-efended  the  right  of  certain  towns  of  Italy  to  the 
freedom  of  Rome,  though  Sylla  himself  had  deprived 
him  of  it  by  an  express  law ;  maintaining  it  to  be  one 
of  those  natural  rights,  which  no  law  or  power  on  earth 
could  take  from  them ;  in  which  also  he  carried  his 
point,  in  opposition  to  Cotta,  an  orator  of  the  first  cha- 
racter and  abilities,  who  pleaded  against  him  f . 

But  we  have  a  clear  account  from  himself  of  the 
real  motive  of  his  journey ;  "  my  body,"  says  he,  "  at  this 


*  Prima  causa  publlca  pro  S.  Roscio  dicta — deinceps  inde  mult* 
—Itaque  cum  essem  biennlum  versatus  in  causis.   Brut.  p.  434.  437- 

f  Populas  Romanus,  L.  Sulla  Dictatore  ferente,  comitils  cen- 
turiatis,  municiplis  civitatem  ademit :  ademit  iisdem  agros :  de  a- 
gris  ratum  est :  fuit  enim  populi  potestas  :  de  civitate  ne  tamdiu 
quldem  valuit,  quamdiu  ilia  Sullani  temporis  arma  valuerunt.  At- 
que  ego  lianc  adolescentulus  causam  cum  agercm,  contra  hominera 
disertissimum  contradlcente  Cotta,  &  Sulla  vivo,  judicatum  est. 
Pr.  dom.  ad  Pontif.  ^^,  pr.  Csecina.  35. 


46  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  L 

"  time  was  exceedingly  weak  and  emaciated;  my  neck 
"  long  and  small ;  which  is  a  habit  thought  liable  to 
"  great  risk  of  life,  if  engaged  in  any  fatigue  or  labour 
"  of  the  lungs;  and  it  gave  the  greater  alarm  to  those 
"  who  had  a  regard  for  me,  that  I  used  to  speak  with- 
"  out  any  remission  or  variation,  with  the  utmost  stretch 
"  of  my  voice,  and  great  agitation  of  my  body  ;  when 
"  my  friends  therefore  and  physicians  advised  me  to 
"  meddle  no  more  with  causes,  I  resolved  to  run  any 
"  hazard,  rather  than  quit  the  hopes  of  glory,  which  I 
•'  proposed  to  myself  from  pleading  :  but  when  I  consi- 
"  dered,  that,  by  managing  my  voice,  and  changing 
"  my  way  of  speaking,  I  might  both  avoid  all  danger, 
"  and  speak  with  more  ease,  I  took  a  resolution  of  tra- 
"  veiling  into  Asia,  merely  for  an  opportunity  of  cor- 
"  recting  my  manner  of  speaking  :  so  that  after  I 
"  had  been  two  years  at  the  bar,  and  acquired  a  re- 
"  putation  in  the  forum,  I  left  Rome,"  &c.  *. 

He  was  twenty-eight  years  old,  when  he  set  for- 
wards upon  his  travels  to  Greece  and  Asia ;  the  fa- 
shionable tour  of  all  those  who  travelled  either  for 
curiosity  or  improvement ;  his  first  visit  was  to  Athens, 
the  capital  seat  of  arts  and  sciences  ;  where  some  wri- 
ters tell  us,  that  he  spent  three  years  f ,  though  in 
truth  it  was  but  six  months :  he  took  up  his  quarters 
with  Antiochus,  the  principal  philosopher  of  the  old  a- 
cademy  ;  and  under  this  excellent  master  renewed,  he 
says,  those  studies  which  he  had  been  fond  of  from  his 
earliest  youth.     Here  he  met  with  his  school-fellow, 

*  Brut.  437.  f  Eusebii  Chron, 


Sect.  L  CICERO. 


47 


T.  Pomponius,  who  from  his  love  to  Athens,  and  his 
spending  a  great  part  of  his  days  in  it,  obtained  the 
surname  of  Atticus*;  and  here  they  revived  and  con- 
firmed that  memorable  friendship,  which  subsisted 
between  them  through  life,  with  so  celebrated  a  con- 
stancy and  affection.  Atticus,  being  an  Epicurean, 
was  often  drawing  Cicero  from  his  host  Antiochus  to 
the  conversation  of  Phaedrus  and  old  Zeno,  the  chief 
professors  of  that  sect,  in  hopes  of  making  him  a  con- 
vert ;  on  which  subjed:  they  used  to  have  many  dis- 
putes between  themselves :  but  Cicero's  view  in  these 
visits  was  but  to  convince  himself  more  effectually  of 
the  weakness  of  that  doctrine,  by  observing  how  easi- 
ly it  might  be  confuted,  when  explained  even  by  the 
ablest  teachers  f .  Yet  he  did  not  give  himself  up  so 
entirely  to  philosophy,  as  to  neglect  his  rhetorical  ex- 
ercises, which  he  performed  still  every  day  very  dili- 
gently with  Demetrius  the  Syrian,  an  experienced 
master  of  the  art  of  speaking  J. 

It  was  in  this  first  journey  to  Athens,  that  he  was 
initiated  most  probably  into  the  Eleusinian  mysteries : 
for  though  we  have  no  account  of  the  time,  yet  we 
cannot  fix  it  better  than  in  a  voyage  midertaken  both 
for  the  improvement  of  his  mind  and  body.  The  re- 
verence with  which  he  always  speaks  of  these  myste- 
ries, and  the  hints  that  he  has  dropt  of  their  end  and 


*  Pomponius-— ita  enim  se  Athenis  coUocavit,  ut  sit  paene  uniis 
ex  Atticis,  Sc  id  etiam  cognomine  videatur  habiturus.  De  Fin.  5.  2. 
f  De  Fin.  i.  5.  de  Nat.  Deor.  i.  2i. 

4:  Eodem  tamen  tempore  apud  Demetrium  Syrum,  veterem  & 
non  ignobilem  dicendi  magistrum,  studlose  exerceri  solcbam. 
Brut,  437. 


48  The   LIFE   of  Sect.! 

use,  sfeem  to  coniirm  what  a  very  learned  and  ingeni- 
ous \rater  has  dehvered  of  them,  that  they  were  con- 
trived  to  inculcate  the  unity  of  God,  and  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul  *.  As  for  the  first,  after  observing 
to  Atticus,  who  was  one  also  of  the  initiated,  how  the 
gods  of  the  popular  religions  were  all  but  deceased 
mortals,  advanced  from  earth  to  heaven,  he  bids  him 
remember  the  doctrines  of  the  mysteries,  in  order  to 
recollect  the  universality  of  that  truth  :  arid  as  to  the 
second,  he  declares  his  initiation  to  be  in  fact,  what 
the  name  itself  implied,  a  real  beginning  of  hfe  ta 
him ;  as  it  taught  the  way,  not  only  of  living  with 
greater  pleasure,  but  of  dying  also  with  a  better  hopef - 


*  See  Mr  Warburton's  Divine  Legation  of  Mosesy  Vol.  I. 

f  Ipsi,  illi,  inajorum  gentium  Dii  qui  habentur,  hinc  a  nobis 
in  ccelum  profecti  reperientur— reminiscere,  quoniam  cs  initiatus, 
quse  traduntur  mvsteriis  j  turn  denlque  quam  hoc  late  pateat  in- 
telliges.     Tusc.  Qusest.  i.  13. 

Initiaque,  ut  appellantur,  ita  revera  principia  vitae  cognovi- 
mus  :  neque  solum  cum  Igetitia  vivendi  rationem  accepimus,  sed 
etiam  cum  spe  meliore  morendi.     De  Leg.  2.  14. 

N.  B.  These  mysteries  were  celebrated  at  stated  seasons  of 
the  year,  with  solemn  shews  and  a  great  pomp  of  machinery, 
which  drew  a  mighty  concourse  to  them  from  all  countries.  L. 
Crassus  the  great  orator  happened  to  come  two  days  after  they 
were  over,  and  would  gladly  have  persuaded  the  Magistrates  to 
renew  them,  but  not  being  able  to  prevail,  left  the  city  in  disgust 
* :  which  shews  how  cautious  they  were  of  making  them  too 
cheap,  when  they  refused  the  sight  of  them  out  of  the  proper  sea- 
son to  one  of  the  first  senators  of  Rome.  The  shews  are  suppos- 
ed to  have  exhibited  a  representation  of  Heaven,  Hell,  Elysium, 
Purgatory,  and  all  that  related  to  th*  future  state  of  the  dead  j 
being  contrived  to  inculcate  more  sensibly,  and  exemplify  the 
doctrines  delivered  to  the  initiated  ;  and  as  they  were  a  proper 
subject  for  poetry,  so  they  are  frequently  alluded  to  by  the  an- 
cient Poets.  Cicero,  in  one  of  his  Letters  to  Atticus,  begs  of 
him,  at  the  request  of  Chilius,  an  eminent  poet  of  that  age,  to 
send  them  a  relation  of  the  Elcusinian  rites,  which  were  designed 

•  Diutius  essem  moratus,  nisi  Atheniensibus,  qHod  mysteria  non  referrent,  ad 
g,tJ»biduo  sciius  vcneram,  succensuissem.    Dc  Qrat,  3.  jc 


Sect.  I.  CICERO.  49 

From  Athens  he  passed  into  Asia,  where  he  gather- 
ed about  him  all  the  principal  orators  of  the  country, 
who  kept  him  company  through  the  rest  of  his  voyage ; 
and  with  whom  he  constantly  exercised  himself  in  e- 
very  place,  where  he  made  any  stay.  "  The  chief 
"  of  them,"  says  he,  "  was  Menippus  of  Stratonica, 
"  the  most  eloquent  of  all  the  Asiatics ;  and  if  to  be 
"  neither  tedious,  nor  impertinent,  be  the  character- 
"  istic  of  an  Attic  orator,  he  may  justly  be  ranked  in 
*'  that  class :  Dionysius  also  of  Magnesia,  ^schylus 
"  of  Cnidos,  and  Xenocles  of  Adramyttus,  were  con- 
"  tinually  with  me,  who  were  reckoned  the  first  rhe- 
"  toricians  of  Asia  :  nor  yet  content  with  these,  I  went 
*'  to  Rhodes,  and  applied  myself  again  to  Molo,  whom 
"  I  had  heard  before  at  Rome  ;  who  was  both  an  ex^ 
"  perienced  pleader,  and  a  fine  writer,  and  particular- 
"  ly  expert  in  observing  the  faults  of  his  scholars,  as 
"  well  as  in  his  method  of  teaching  and  improving 
"  them  :  his  greatest  trouble  with  me  was  to  restrain 
*'  the  exuberance  of  a  juvenile  imagination,  always 
"  ready  to  overflow  its  banks,  within  its  due  and  pro- 
'*  per  channel  *. 

But  as  at  Athens,  where  he  employed  himself  chief- 
ly in  philosophy,  he  did  not  intermit  his  oratorical 


probably  for  an  episode  or  embellishment  to  some  of  Chilius's 
works*.  This  confirms  also  the  probability  of  that  i.igenious 
comment,  which  the  s^me  excellent  writer  has  given  on  the  sixth 
book  of  the  ^^  leid,  where  Virgl,  as  he  observes  in  describing 
the  descent  inio  Hell,  is  but  tricing  out  in  their  genuine  order 
the  several  scenes  of  the  Eleusinian  shews  f. 

*  Chilius  tc  rogat,  &  egcJ  ejus  rogatu  'Ev/xox-rtSuv  Tra-rpta  Ad  Att.  X.  5. 
f  See  Div.  LegaC   cf  Moses,  p.  lJ^2. 

*  Brut.  437. 

Vol.  r.  D 


so- 


The  life  of  Sect.  L 


studies,  so  at  Rhodes,  where  his  chief  study  was  ora- 
tory, he  gave  some  share  also  of  his  time  to  philoso- 
phy with  Posidonius,  the  most  esteemed  and  learned 
Stoic  of  that  age  ;  whom  he  often  speaks  of  with  ho- 
nour, not  only  as  his  master,  but  as  his  friend  *.  It 
was  his  constant  care,  that  the  progress  of  his  know- 
ledge should  keep  pace  with  the  improvement  of  his 
eloquence  ;  he  considered  the  one  as  the  foundation: 
of  the  other,  and  thought  it  in  vain 'to  acquire  orna- 
ments, before  he  had  provided  necessary  furniture  : 
he  declaimed  here  in  Greek,  because  Molo  did  not  un- 
derstand Latin ;  and,  upon  ending  his  declamation, 
while  the  rest  of  the  company  were  lavish  of  their 
praises,  Molo,  instead  of  paying  any  compliment,  sat 
silent  a  considerable  time,  till  observing  Cicero  some- 
what disturbed  at  it,  he  said,  "  as  for  you,  Cicero,  I 
*'  praise  and  admire  you,  but  pity  the  fortune  of  Greece, 


*  He  mentions  a  story  of  this  Posidonius,  which  Pompey  of- 
ten used  to  tell  ^  that  after  the  *'  Mithridatic  war,  as  he  was  re- 
*'  turning  from  Syria  towards  Rome,  he  called  at  Rhodes,  on 
*'  purpose  to  hear  him ;  but  being  informed,  on  his  arrival  there, 
*'  that  he  was  extremely  ill  of  the  gout,  he  had  a  mind  however 
**  to  see  him  ;  and  in  his  visit,  when  after  the  first  compliments, 
*'  he  began  to  express  his  concern  for  finding  him  so  ill,  that  he 
**  could  not  have  the  pleasure  to  hear  him  :  But  you  can  hear 
*'  me,''  replied  Posidonius  •  "•'  nor  shall  it  be  said,  that  on  the 
"  account  of  any  bodily  pain,  I  suffered  so  great  a  man  to  come 
**  to  me  in  vain  :  upon  which  he  entered  presently  into  an  argu- 
*'  ment,  as  he  lay  upon  his  bed,  and  maintained,  with  great  elo- 
*'  quence,  that  nothing  was  really  good,  but  what  was  honest  : 
"  and  being  all  the  while  in  exquisite  torture,  he  often  cried  out, 
"  O  pain,  thou  shalt  never  gain  thy  point  j  for  be  as  vexatious  as 
*'  thou  wilt,  I  will  never  own  thee  to  be  an  evil."  This  was  the 
perfection  of  Stoical  heroism,  to  defy  sense  and  nature  to  the 
last  :  while,  another  poor  Stoic,  Dionysius,  a  scholar  of  Zeno,  the 
founder  of  the  sect,  when,  by  the  torture  of  the  stone,  he  was  for- 
<^d  to  confess,  that   what  his  master  had  taught  him  was  fal&e, 


Sect.  I.  CICERO. 


51 


"  to  see  arts  and  eloquence,  the  only  ornaments  which 
*'  were  left  to  her,  transplanted  by  you  to  Rome  *." 
Having  thus  finished  the  circuit  of  his  travels,  he  came 
back  again  to  Italy,  after  an  excursion  of  two  years, 
extremely  improved,  and  changed  as  it  were  into  a  new" 
man  :  the  vehemence  of  his  voice  and  action  was  mo- 
derated ;  the  redundancy  of  his  stile  and  fancy  cor- 
rected ;  his  lungs  strengthened ;  and  his  whole  con- 
stitution confirmed  f . 

This  voyage  of  Cicero  seems  to  be  the  only  scheme 
and  pattern  of  travelHng,  from  which  any  real  benefit 
is  to  be  expected  :  he  did  not  stir  abroad,  till  he  had 
completed  his  education  at  home ;  for  nothing  can 
be  more  pernicious  to  a  nation,  than  the  necessity  of  a 
foreign  one ;  and,  after  he  had  acquired  in  his  own 
country  whatever  was  proper  to  form  a  worthy  citizen 
and  magistrate  of  Rome,  he  went  confirmed  by  a  ma  ^ 
turity  of  age  and  reason  against  the  impressions  of  vice, 
not  so  much  to  learn  as  to  polish  v/hat  he  had  learnt, 
by  visiting  those  places  where  arts  and  sciences  flou- 
rished in  their  greatest  perfection.  In  a  tour  the  most 
delightful  of  the  world,  he  saw  every  thing  that  could 
entertain  a  curious  traveller,  yet  staid  no  where  any 
longer  than  his  benefit,  not  his  pleasure,  detained  him. 
By  his  previous  knowledge  of  the  law^s  of  Rome,  he 
was  able  to  compare  them  with  those  of  other  cities, 
and  to  bring  back  with  him  whatever  he  found  useful. 


and  that  he  felt  pain  to  be  an  evil,  Is  treated  by  all  their  writer^ 
as  a  poltroon  and  b^se  deserter.  Which  shews,  that  all  their 
boasted  firmness  was  owing  rather  to  a  false  notion  of  honour  and 
reputation,  than  to  any  real  principle,  or  conviction  of  reason. 
Nat.  Deor.  2.  24.  de  Finib, 

*  Plutar.  Lif.  of  Cic.  Brut.  43S. 

D2 


52  The   LIFE    of  '    Sect,  t 

either  to  his  country  or  to  himself.  He  was  lodged, 
wherever  he  came!^  in  the  houses  of  the  great  and  the 
eminent ;  not  so  much  for  their  birth  and  wealth,  as 
for  their  virtue,  knowledge,  and  learning ;  men  ho- 
noured and  reverenced  in  their  several  cities,  as  the 
principal  patriots,  orators,  and  philosophers  of  the  age  : 
these  he  tnade  the  coiistant  companions  of  his  travels ; 
that  he  might  not  lose  the  opportunity,  even  on  the 
road,  of  profiting  by  their  advice  and  experience  :  and, 
from  such  a  voyage,  it  is  no  wonder  that  he  brought 
back  every  acconiplishment  which  could  improve  and 
adorn  a  man  of  sense. 

Pompey  returned  about  this  time  victorious  from 
Afric  ;  where  he  had  greatly  enlarged  the  bounds  of 
the  empire,  by  the  conquest  and  addition  of  many 
new  countries  to  the  Roman  dominion.  He  was  re- 
ceived with  great  marks  of  respect  by  the  dictator  Syl- 
la,  \vho  went  out  to  meet  him  at  the  head  of  the  no- 
bility, and  saluted  him  by  the  title  of  Magnus,  or  the 
Great ;  which,  from  that  authority,  was  ever  after  given 
to  him  by  all  people.  But  his  demand  of  a  triumph 
disgusted  both  Sylla  and  the  senate  ;  who  thought  it 
too  ambitious  in  orie,  who  had  passed  through  none  of 
the  public  offices,  nor  was  of  age  to  be  'a  senator,  to 
aspire  to  an  hoiiour,  w^hich  had  never  been  granted, 
except  to  consuls  or  prcetors :  but  Pompey,  insisting  on 
his  demand,  extorted  Sylla's  consent,  and  was  the  first 
whose  triumphal  car  is  said  to  have  been  drawn  by  e- 
lephants,  and  the  only  one  of  the  equestrian  order  who 
ever  triumphed  :  which  gave  an  unusual  joy  to  the 
people,  to  see  a  man  of  their  own  body  obtain  so  signal 
an  honour  ;  and  much  more,  to  see  him  descend  again 


Sect.  I.  CICERO. 


5^ 


from  it  to  his  old  rank  and  private  condition  among 
the  knights  '*. 

While  Pompey,  by  his  exploits  in  war,  liad  acquired 
the  surnam.e  of  the  Great,  J.  Cresar,  about  six  years 
younger,  was  giving  proofs  likewise  of  his  military  ge- 
nius, and  serving  as  a  volunteer  at  the  siege  of  Mity- 
lene  ;  a  splendid  and  flourishing  city  of  Lesbos,  which 
had  assisted  Mithridates  in  the  late  war,  and  perfidious- 
ly delivered  up  to  him  M.  Aquilius,  a  person  of  consu- 
lar dignity,  who  had  been  sent  embassador  to  that  king, 
and,  after  the  defeat  of  the  Roman  army,  had  taken 
refuge  in  Mitylene,  as  in  a  place  of  the  greatest  securi- 
ty. Mithridates  is  said  to  have  treated  him  with  the 
last  indignity  ;  carrying  him  about  in  triumph,  mount- 
ed upon  an  ass,  and  forcing  him  to  proclaim  every 
where  aloud,  that  he  was  Aquilius,  who  had  been  the 
chief  cause  of  the  war.  But  the  town  now  paid  dear 
for  that  treachery,  being  taken  by  storm,  and  almost 
demolished  by  Q^  Thermus :  though  Pompey  restored 
it  afterw^ards  to  its  former  beauty  and  liberty,  at  the 
request  of  his  favourite  freedman  Theophanes.  In  this 
siege  Caesar  obtained  the  honour  of  a  civic  crown  ; 
which,  though  made  only  of  oaken  leaves,  was  esteem- 
ed the  most  reputable  badge  of  martial  virtue  ;  and 
never  bestowed,  but  for  saving  the  life  of  a  citizen,  and 
killing  at  the  same  time  an  enemy  f . 


*  Belliim  in  Africa  maKlmiim  confecit,  victorem  exercitum  d*- 
portavit.  Q^iid  vero  tarn  inauditum,  quam  equitem  Rom.  trium- 
phare  ?  Pro  leg.  Man.  2i.  Africa  vero  tota  siibacta— -Magni- 
nue  nomine,  spolio  inde  capto,  eques  Romanus,  id  quod  antea  ne- 
mo, curru  triumphali  invectus  est.  [Plin.  Hist.  Nat.  7.  26.]  Ro- 
mie  primum  juncti  elephantes  subicre  currum  Pompeii  Magni  A- 
fricano  triumpho.  lb.  8.  2.  Plutar.  in  Pomp. 
"  f  Quid  Mitylence  ?  quce  certe  vestrce,  Qyirites,  belli  lege,  et 
£)  3  victorlsu 


54 


The   life   of  Sect.  I. 


Sylla  died  while  Cicero  was  at  Athens,  after  he  had 
laid  down  the  dictatorship  and  restored  hberty  to  the 
repubhc,  and,  with  an  uncommon  greatness  of  mind, 
lived  many  months  as  a  private  senator,  and  with  per- 
fect security,  in  that  city,  where  he  had  exercised  the 
most  bloody  tyranny  :  but  nothing  was  thought  to  be 
greater  in  his  character,  than  that,  during  the  three 
years,  in  which  the  Marians  were  masters  of  Italy,  he 
neither  dissembled  his  resolution  of  pursuing  them  by 
arms,  nor  neglected  the  war  which  he  had  upon  his 
hands  ;  but  thought  it  his  duty,  first  to  chastise  a  fo- 
reign enemy,  before  he  took  his  revenge  upon  citi- 
zens *.  His  family  was  noble  and  patrician,  which 
yet,  through  the  indolence  of  his  ancestors,  had  made 
no  figure  in  the  republic  for  many  generations,  and 
was  almost  ^unk  into  obscurity,  till  he  produced  it  a- 
gain  into  light,  by  aspiring  to  the  honours  of  the  state. 
He  was  a  lover  and  patron  of  polite  letters ;  having 
been  carefully  instituted  himself  in  all  the  learning  of 
Greece  and  Rome  ;  but,  from  a  peculiar  gaiety  of 
temper,  and  fondness  for  the  company  of  mimics  and 
players,  was  drav/n,  when  young,  into  a  life  of  luxury 
and  pleasure  ;  so  that,  v/hcn  he  was  sent  quaestor  to 
Marius  in  the  Jugurthine  w^ar,  Marius  complained,  that, 


vlctorige  jure  factpe  funt  :  Urbs  et  natura  et  situ,  et  descriptione 
sediiiciorum  et  pulcliritudine  imprimis  nobilis.  [De  leg.  Agrar. 
2,  16.]  A  Thermo  in  expugnatione  Mitylenarum  corona  civica 
donatus  est.  [Suet.  J.  Ca:;s.  2.]  Hinc  civicse  coronx,  miiitum 
virtutis  insigne  clarissimuni.  Piin.  Nat.  Hist,  16.  4.  Veil.  Pat. 
2.  18.     Vid.  Appian.  Bell.  Mithrid.  p.  1S4.     Val.  Max.  9.  13. 

*  Vix  quidcjuam  in  Syllse  operibus  clarius  duxerim,  quam  quod, 
cum  per  triennium  ClnnantC  Marianieque  partes  Italiara  obsiderent, 
neque  illaturiira  se  beilum  cis.dissimulavit,  nee  quod  erat  in  ma- 
Tiibus  omisit  \  exiatimavitque  ante  frang^endum  hostem,  quam  ul- 
cisctiiJuni  civera.     Veil.  Pdt.  2.  24. 


Sect.  I.  CICERO.  55 

in  so  rough  and  desperate  a  service,  chance  had  given 
him  so  soft  and  delicate  a  quaestor.  But,  whether 
roused  by  the  example,  or  stung  by  the  reproach  of  his 
general,  he  behaved  himself  in  that  charge  with  the 
greatest  vigour  and  courage,  suffering  no  man  to  outdo 
him  in  any  part  of  military  duty  or  labour,  making 
himself  equal  and  familiar  even  to  the  lowest  of  the 
soldiers,  and  obliging  them  all  by  his  good  offices  and 
his  money  ;  so  that  he  soon  acquired  the  favour  of  the 
army,  with  the  character  of  a  brave  and  skilful  com- 
mander ;  and  lived  to  drive  Marius  himself,  banished 
and  proscribed,  into  that  very  province  where  he  had 
been  contemned  by  him  at  first  as  his  quaestor  *.  He 
had  a  wonderful  faculty  of  concealing  his  passions  and 
purposes,  and  was  so  different  from  himself  in  different 
circumstances,  that  he  seemed,  as  it  w^ere,  to  be  two 
men  in  one  :  no  man  w^as  ever  more  mild  and  mode- 
rate before  victory  ;  none  more  bloody  and  cruel  after 
it  f .  In  war  he  practised  the  same  art  that  he  had 
seen  so  successful  to  Mariu-s,  of  raising  a  kind  of  en- 
thusiasm and  contempt  of  danger  in  his  army,  by  the 

*  Gentis  Patriciae  nobilis  fult  5  famllia  prope  jam  extlncta  ma- 
jorum  ignavia  :  litteris  Grascis  atque  Latinls  juxta  atque  doctisslme 
eruditus.  [Sallust.  Bell.  Jugurth.  95,]  Usque  ad  qusesturte  suiu 
comitia,  vitam  libidini,  vino,  ludlcrse  artis  amore  inquinatam  per- 
duxlt.  Quapropter  C.  Marlum  consulem  moleste  tullsse  traditiir. 
quod  sibi,  asperrimum  in  Africa  bellum  gcrcnti,  tarn  delicatus 
qu^stor  forte  obvenisset,  &c.     [Val.  I\Iax.  6.  9.]      Sallust.  ib. 

f  Ad  simulanda  negotia  altitudo  ingenii  incredibilis. — [Sallust. 
ib.] — quse  tarn  divcrsa,  tamque  iiter  se  contraria,  si  quis  apud  a- 
nimum  suum  expendere  velit,  duos  in  uno  homine  Syllas  fuisse 
crediderit.  [Val.  M.  6.  9.]  Adeo  enim  Sylla  fuit  dissimllis  bel- 
lator  ac  victor,  ut  dum  vincit  justissimo  lenior  j  post  victoriam 
audito  fuerit  crudelior — ut  in  eodem  homine  duplicis  ac  dlversis- 
simi  animi  conspiceretur  cxemplum.     Veil.  Pat.  2.  25. 

I>4     . 


$6  The   LIFE   of  Sect,  t 

forgery  of  auspices  and  divine  admonitions :  for  which 
end  he  carried  ahvays  about  with  him  a  Httle  statue 
of  Apollo  taken  from  the  Temple  of  Delphi :  and, 
whenever  he  had  resolved  to  give  battle,  used  to  em- 
brace it  in  sight  of  the  soldiers,  and  beg  the  speedy 
confirmation  of  its  promises  to  him.  *.  From  an  unin- 
terrupted course  of  success  and  prosperity,  he  assumed 
a  surname,  unknown  before  to  the  Romans,  of  Felix, 
or  '/^ '  Fjrtu  ate  :  "  and  would  have  been  fortunate 
"  indeed  "  says  Velleius,  *'  if  his  life  had  ended  with 
"  his  victories  f ."  Pliny  calls  it  a  wicked  title,  drawn 
from  the  blood  and  oppression  of  his  country ;  for 
which  posterity  would  think  him  more  unfortunate,  e- 
van  than  those  whom  he  had  put  to  death  :f .  He  had 
one  felicity,  however,  peculiar  to  himself,  of  being  the 
only  man  in  history,  in  whom  the  odium  of  the  most 
barbarous  cruelties  was  distinguished  by  the  glory  of 
his  great  acts.  Cicero,  though  he  had  a  good  opinion 
of  his  cause,  yet  detested  the  inhumanity  of  his  victo- 
ry, and  never  speaks  of  him  with  respect,  nor  of  his  go- 
vernment, but  as  a  proper  tyranny  ;  calling  him  a  mas- 
ter of  three  most  pestilent  vices,  luxury,  avarice,  cruel- 
ty ||.  He  was  the  first  of  his  family  whose  dead  body 
was  burnt :  for,  having  ordered  Marius's  remains  to  be 


*  Quoties  prEellum  committere  destinabat,  p-^rvum  Apollinis 
signum  Delphis  sublatum,  in  cons'/ecta  militum  complexus,  ora- 
bat.  uti  promlssa  maturaret.      Val.  M.  i.  2.  de  Div.  i.  33, 

•f-  Quod  quidem  u^urpasset  justissirae,  si  euiidem  et  vincendl  et 
vivendi  finem  habuisset.      Veil.  Pat.  2.  27. 

X  Unus  h  minum  ad  hoc  aevi  Felic;s  sibl  cognomen  asserult — 
civili  nempe  sanguine,  ac  patiiae  oppugnatione  adoptatus,  &c. 
Plin.  Hist.  Nat.  7.  43. 

II  Qiii  trium  pestiterorum  vitiorum  luxurlse,  avaritlse,  crudcli-. 
tatis  magistcr  fuit.     De  Fin.  3,  22,  de  Offic.  2.  8. 


Sect.  I.  CICERO. 


57 


taken  out  of  his  grave,  and  thrown  into  the  river  Anio, 
he  was  apprehensive  of  the  same  insult  upon  his  own, 
if  left  to  the  usual  way  of  burial  *.  A  little  before  his 
death,  he  made  his  own  epitaph,  the  sum  of  which  was, 
"  that  no  man  had  ever  gone  beyond  him,  in  doing 
"  good  to  his  friends,  or  hurt  to  his  enemies  f . 

As  soon  as  Sylla  was  dead,  the  old  dissensions,  that 
had  been  smothered  a  while  by  the  terror  of  his  pow- 
er, burst  out  again  into  a  flame  between  the  two  fac- 
tions, supported  severally  by  the  two  consuls,  Q^  Ca- 
tulus  and  M.  Lepidus,  who  were  wholly  opposite  to 
each  other  in  party  and  politics.  Lepidus  resolved  at 
all  adventures  to  rescind  the  acts  of  Sylla,  and  recal 
the  exiled  Marians  ;  and  began  openly  to  solicit  the 
people  to  support  him  in  that  resolution  :  but  his  at- 
tempt, though  plausible,  was  factious  and  unseasona- 
ble, tending  to  overturn  the  present  settlement  of  the 
Republic,  which  after  its  late  wounds  and  loss  of  civil 
blood,  wanted  nothing  so  much  as  rest  and  quiet,  to 
recover  a  tolerable  degree  of  strength.  Catulus's  fa- 
ther, the  ablest  statesman  of  liis  time,  and  the  chief 
assertor  of  the  Aristocratical  interest,  had  been  con- 

*  Quod  baud  scio  an  tJmens  suo  corpori,  primus  e  Patriciis  Cor- 
neliis  igiie  voluit  cremari.     De  Leg.  2.  22.     Val.  Max.  o.  2. 
f   Plutar   in  Sylla. 

The  following  votive  inscription  was  found  in  Italy,  in  the  year 
1723,  near  Cicero's  Arpinum,  between  Atina  and  iiora,  which 
had  been  dedicated  probably  by  Sylla,  about  the  time  of  his  as- 
sumin;T  the  surname  of  Felix,  soon  after  his  first  success,  and  de- 
feat of  the  chiefs,  who  were  in  arms  against  him  at  home  : — 

lOVI 

QUOD  PERICVLVM 

FELICITER  EVASERIT 

L.  SVLLA. 

V.  S.  LA. 


5^  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  L 

demned  to  die  by  Marius :  the  son,  therefore,  who  in- 
herited his  virtues,  as  Well  as  his  principles,  and  was 
confirmed  in  them  by  a  resentment  of  that  injury,  vi- 
gorously opposed  and  effectually  disappointed  all  the 
designs  of  his  colleague  ;  who,  finding  himself  unable 
to  gain  his  end  v/ithout  recurring  to  arms,  retired  to 
his  government  of  Gaul,  with  intent  to  raise  a  force 
sufBcient  to  subdue  all  opposition  ;  where  the  fame  of 
his  levies  and  military  preparations  gave  such  umbrage 
to  the  senate,  that  they  soon  abrogated  his  command. 
Upon  this  he  came  forward  into  Italy  at  the  head  of  a 
great  army,  and  having  possessed  himself  of  Etruria 
without  opposition,  marched  in  an  hostile  manner  to- 
wards the  city,  to  the  demand  of  a  second  consulship. 
He  had  with  him  several  of  the  chief  magistrates,  and 
the  good  wishes  of  all  the  tribunes,  and  hoped,  by  the 
authority  of  the  Marian  cause,  Vviiich  was  always  fa- 
voured by  the  populace,  to  advance  himself  into  Syl- 
la's  place,  and  usurp  the  sovereign  power  of  Rome. 
Catulus,  in  the  mean  time,  upon  the  expiration  of  his 
office,  was  invested  with  proconsular  authority,  and 
charged  with  the  defence  cf  the  government ;  and 
Pompey  also,  by  a  decree  of  the  senate,  was  joined 
with  him  in  the  same  commission  ;  who  having  unit- 
ed their  forces  before  Lepidus  could  reach  the  city, 
came  to  an  engagement  with  him  near  the  Milvian 
bridge,  within  a  mile  or  two  from  the  walls,  where 
they  totally  routed  and  dispersed  his  whole  army. 
But  the  Cisalpine  Gaul  being  still  in  the  possession  of 
his  Lieutenant,  M.  Brutus,  the  father  of  him  who  af- 
terwards killed  Caesar,  Pompey  marched  forward  to 
reduce  that  province  :  where  Brutus,  after  sustaining 


Sect.  I.  CICERO, 


S^ 


a  siege  in  Modena,  surrendered  himself  into  his  hands; 
but  being  conducted,  as  he  desired  by  a  guard  of  horse 
to  a  certain  village  upon  the  Po,  he  was  there  killed 
by  Pompey's  orders.  This  act  was  censured  as  cruel 
and  unjust,  and  Pompey  generally  blamed  for  kilhng 
a  man  of  the  first  quality,  who  had  surrendered  him- 
self voluntarily  and  on  the  condition  of  his  hfe  :  but 
he  acted  probably  by  the  advice  of  Catulus,  in  laying 
hold  of  the  pretext  of  Brutus's  treason,  to  destroy 
a  man,  who,  from  his  rank  and  authority,  might  have 
been  a  dangerous  head  to  the  Marian  party,  and  cap- 
able of  disturbing  that  aristocracy,  which  Sylla  had 
established,  and  which  the  senate  and  all  the  better 
sort  were  very  desirous  to  maintain.  Lepidus  escap- 
ed into  Sardinia,  where  he  died  soon  aftef  of  grief,  to 
see  his  hopes  and  fortunes  so  miserably  blasted  :  and 
thus  ended  the  civil  war  of  Lepidus,  as  the  Roman 
writers  call  it,  which,  though  but  short  lived,  was 
thought  considerable  enough  by  Sallust  to  be  made 
the  subject  of  a  distinct  history,  of  which  several  frag- 
ments are  still  remaining  ^. 

As  Cicero  was  returning  from  his  travels  towards 
Rome,  full  of  hopes,  and  aspiring  thoughts,  his  ambi- 
tion was  checked,  as  Plutarch  tells  us,  by  the  Delphic 
oracle  :  for,  upon  consulting  Apollo,  by  what  means 
he  might  arrive  at  the  height  of  glory,  he  was  answer- 


*  M.  Lepido,  Q^  Catulo  Coss.  civile  bellum  paene  cltius  op- 
pressum  est,  quam  inciperet — fax  illius  motus  ab  ipso  Syllce  rogo 
exarsit.  Cupidus  namque  rerum  novarum  per  insolentiain  Lepi- 
dus, acta  tanti  viri  rescindere  parabat  nee  immerito,  fi  tamen  pos- 
set sine  magna  clade  Reipub.  &c.  Flor.  3.  27.  Vid.  Plutar.  in 
Pomp,  Appian.  1.  i,  416.  Sallust.  Fragment.  Hist.  1.  J.  Val. 
Max.  6.  2.  Pigb.  Annal.  A.  U.  676. 


6o  The   LIFE    of  Sect.  L 

ed,  "  by  making  his  own  genius  and  not  the  opinion 
"  of  the  people,  the  guide  of  his  hfe  ;"  upon  which  he 
carried  himself  after  his  return  with  great  caution, 
and  was  very  shy  of  pretending  to  pubhc  honours. 
But  though  the  rule  be  very  good,  yet  Cicero  was 
certainly  too  wise,  and  had  spent  too  much  of  his 
time  with  philosophers,  to  fetch  it  from  an  oracle, 
which,  according  to  his  own  account,  had  been  in  the 
utmost  contempt  for  many  ages,  and  was  considered 
by  all  men  of  sense  as  a  mere  imposture  *.  But  if 
he  really  went  to  Delphi,  of  which  we  have  not  the 
least  hint  in  any  of  his  writings,  we  must  impaite  it 
to  the  same  motive,  that  draws  so  many  travellers  at 
this  day  to  the  holy  house  of  Loretto ;  the  curiosity 
of  seeing  a  place  so  celebrated  through  the  world  for 
ks  sanctity  and  riches.  After  his  return  however,  he 
was  so  far  from  observing  that  caution  which  Plutarch 
speaks  of,  that  he  freely  and  forwardly  resumed  his 
former  employment  of  pleading  ;  and  after  one  year 
more  spent  at  the  bar,  obtained  in  the  next,  the  digni- 
ty of  ^Ksstor, 

Among  the  causes  which  he  pleaded  before  his  quaes- 
torship  was  that  of  the  famous  comedian  Roscius, 
whom  a  singular  merit  in  his  art  had  recommended  to 
the  famiUarity  and  friendship  of  the  greatest  men  in 
Rome  f .     The  cause  was  this : — One  Fannius   had 

*  PynVsi  temporlbus  jam  Apollo  versus  facere  desierat^ — eur 
isto  njodo  jam  oracula  non  eduntur,  non  modo  nostra  tetate,  sed 
jam  diu,  ut  modo  nihil  possit  esse  contemptius  P  Quomodo  au- 
tem  ista  vis  evanuit  ?  an  postquam  homines  minus  creduU  esse 
cceperunt  ?     De  Div.  2.  56,  57. 

f  Nee  vulgi  tantum  favorem,  verum  etiara  principum  familia- 
rilates  amplexus  est.     Val.  Max.  8.  7. 


SEct.  t  CiCERO.  Cj 

made  over  to  Roscius  a  young  slave,  to  be  formed  by 
him  to  the  stage,  on  condition  of  a  partnership  in  the 
profits  which  the  slave  should  acquire  by  acting :  the 
slave  was  afterwards  killed,  and  Roscius  prosecuted  the 
murderer  for  damages,  and  obtained,  by  a  composition, 
a  little  farm,  worth  about  eight  hundred  pounds,  for 
his  particular  share  :  Fannius  also  sued  separately,  and 
w^s  suj^posed  to  have  gained  as  much  ;  but  pretending 
to  have  recovered  nothing,  sued  Roscius  for  the  moie- 
ty of  what  he  had  received.  One  cannot  but  observe, 
from  Cicero's  pleading,  the  wonderful  esteem  and  re- 
putation in  which  Roscius  then  flourished,  of  whom  he 
draws  a  very  amiable  picture. — **  Has  Roscius  then," 
says  he,  '*  defrauded  his  partner  ?  Can  such  a  stain 
"  stick  upon  such  a  man  ?  who,  I  speak  it  with  confi- 
*'  dence,  has  more  integrity  than  skill,  more  veracity 
"  than  experience  :  whom  the  people  of  Rome  know 
"  to  be  a  better  man  than  he  is  an  actor ;  and  while  he 
"  makes  the  first  figure  on  the  stage  for  his  art,  is  wor- 
"  thy  of  the  senate  for  his  virtue  f ."  In  another  place 
he  says  of  him,  "  that  he  was  such  an  artist,  as  to  seem 
"  the  only  one  fit  to  come  upon  the  stage ;  yet  such  a 
"  man,  as  to  seem  the  only  one  tmfit  to  come  upon  it  at 
"  all  J  :"  "  and  that  his  action  was  so  perfect  and  ad- 
**  mirable,  that  when  a  man  excelled  in  any  other  pro- 
"  fession,  it  was  grown  into  a  proverb  to  call  him  a 
"  Roscius  *."     His  daily  pay  for  acting  is  said  to  have 

f  Quem  pop.  Rom.  mellorem  virum,  quam  histrionem  esse  ar- 
bitratur  j  qui  ita  dignissimus  est  Scena,  propter  artificium,  ut 
tllg^nissimus  sit  cyria,  propter  abstinentiam.      Pr.  (T.  Rose.  6. 

t    Pro  Quinct.  25. 

*  Ut  in  quo  quisque  artlficio  excellerct,  is  in  suo  genere  Ros- 
cius diceretur.     De  Orar.  i.  28. 


6^  The   LIFE    of  Sect.  I. 

been  about  thirty  pounds  Sterling  f .  Pliny  computes 
his  yearly  profit  at  four  thousand  pounds  J  ;  but  Ci- 
cero seems  to  rate  it  at  five  thousand  pounds.  He 
was  generous,  benevolent,  and  a  contemner  of  money ; 
and  after  he  had  raised  an  ample  fortune  from  the 
stage,  gave  his  pains  to  the  public  for  many  years 
without  any  pay :  whence  Cicero  urges  it  as  incredi- 
ble, that  he  who  in  ten  years  past  might  honestly  have 
gained  fifty  thousand  poimds,  which  he  refused,  should 
be  tempted  to  commit  a  fraud,  for  the  paltry  sum  of 
four  hundred  *. 

At  the  time  of  Cicero's  return  from  Greece,  there 
reigned  in  the  forum  two  orators  of  noble  birth,  and 
great  authority,  Cotta  and  Hortensius,  whose  glory  in- 
flamed him  with  an  emulation  of  their  virtues.  Cot^ 
ta's  way  of  speaking  v/as  calm  and  easy,  flowing  with 
great  elegance  and  propriety  of  diction  ;  Hortensius's 
sprightly,  elevated,  and  warming,  both  by  his  words 
and  action,  who  being  the  nearer  to  him  in  age,  about 
eight  years  older,  and  excelling  in  his  own  taste  and 
manner,  was  considered  by  him  more  particularly  as  his 
pattern,  or  competitor  rather  in  glory  f.  The  business 
of  pleading,  though  a  profession  of  all  others  the  most 
laborious,  yet  was  not  mercenary,  or  undertaken  for  any 
pay ;  for  it  was  illegal  to  take  money,  or  to  accept 


f  Ut  mercedem  diurnam  de  publico  mlUe  denarios  solus  acce- 
perit.     Macrob.  Saturn.  2.  lO. 

X  HS.   quingenta  annua  meritasse  prodatur.     Plln.  Hist.  Nat, 

7.  39. 

*  Decern  his  annis  proximis  HS.  sexagies  lionestlssime  conse- 
qui  potuit  1  noluit.     Pro  Roscio,  8. 

f  Duo  turn  excellebant  oratores,  qui  me  imltandi  cuplditate 
Incitarent,  Cotta  et  Hortensius,  5cc.     iirut.  440. 


Sect.  L  CICERO.  6^ 

even  a  present  for  it :  but  the  richest,  the  greatest,  and 
the  noblest  of  Rome,  freely  offered  their  talents  to  the 
service  of  their  citizens,  as  the  common  guardians  and 
protectors  of  the  innocent  and  distressed  f .  This  was 
a  constitution  as  old  as  Romulus,  who  assigned  the  pa- 
tronage of  the  people  to  the  Patricians  or  Senators, 
without  fee  or  reward :  but  in  succeeding  ages,  when, 
through  the  avarice  of  the  nobles,  it  was  become  a  cus- 
tom for  all  clients,  to  make  annual  presents  to  their 
patrons,  by  which  the  body  of  the  citizens  was  made 
tributary  as  it  were  to  the  senate,  M.  Cincius,  a  tri- 
bune, pubHshed  a  law,  prohibiting  all  senators  to  take 
money  or  gifts  on  any  account,  and  especially  for 
pleading  causes.  In  the  contest  about  this  law,  Ci- 
cero mentions  a  smart  reply  made  by  the  tribune  to 
C.  Cento,  one  of  the  orators  who  opposed  it ;  for  when 
Cento  asked  him  with  some  scorn,  "  What  is  it,  my 
*'  little  Cincius,  that  you  are  making  all  this  stir  a- 
*'  bout?"  Cincius  replied,  "  That  you,  Caius,  may 
*'  pay  for  what  you  use  *."  We  must  not  imagine,, 
hov/ever,  that  t^iis  generosity  of  the  great  Vv^as  wholly 


X  Diserti  igitur  hominis,  et  facile  laborantis,  quodque  in  patriis 
est  moribus,  multorum  causas  et  non  gravate  et  gratuito  defenden- 
tis,  benefiela  et  patrocinia  late  patent.     De  Offic,  2.  19. 

*  Quid  legem  Cinciara  de  donis  et  muneribus,  nisi  quia  vecti- 
^alis  jam  et  stipendiaria  plebs  esse  senatui  coeperat  ?  [Liv.  34.  4.  J 
Consurgunt  Patres  legemque  Cinciara  flagitant,  qua  cavetur  anti. 
quitus,  ne  quis  ob  causam  orandam  pecuniam  donuinve  accipiar. 
[Tacit.  Annal.  11.  5.]  M.  Cincius,  quo  die  legem  de  donis  et 
muneribus  tulit  cum  C.  Cento  prodisset,  et  satis  cotumeliosc,  quid 
fers  Cinciole  !■  quaesisset  j  ut  emas,  inquit,  Cai,  si  uti  vehs.  Cic. 
de  Orat.  2.  71. 

This  Cinian  law  was  made  In  the  year  of  RoTie  549,  and  re- 
commended to  the  people,  as  Cicero  tells  us,  by  Q^  Fabius  IMaxi- 
mr.s,  in  the  extremity  of  his  age.  De  Senect.  4.  Vid.  Pigh. 
Annal.  torn.  2.  p.  2i8f 


64  The  LIFE   or  Sect.  I. 

disinterested,  or  without  any  expectation  of  fruit ;  for 
it  brought  the  noblest  which  a  liberal  mind  could  re- 
ceive, the  fruit  of  praise  and  honour  from  the  public 
voice  of  their  country  :  it  was  the  proper  instrument  of 
their  ambition,  and  the  sure  means  of  advancing  them 
to  the  first  dignities  of  the  state  :  they  gave  their  la- 
bours to  the  people,  and  the  people  repaid  them  with 
the  honours  and  preferments  which  they  had  the  power 
to  bestow :  this  was  a  wise  and  happy  constitution, 
where,  by  a  necessary  connection  betweeri  virtue  and 
honour,  they  served  mutually  to  produce  and  perpe- 
tuate each  other,  where  the  rewards  of  honours  excit- 
ed merit,  and  merit  never  failed  to  procure  honours, 
the  only  policy  which  can  make  a  nation  great  and 
prosperous. 

Thus  the  three  orators  just  mentioned,  according  to 
the  custom  and  constitution  of  Rome,  were  all  several- 
ly employed  this  summer,  in  suing  for  the  different  of- 
fices, to  which  their  different  age  and  rank  gave  them 
a  right  to  pretend ;  Cotta  for  the  consulship,  Horten- 
sius  the  aedileship,  Cicero  the  quaestorship ;  in  which 
they  all  succeeded  :  and  Cicero,  especially,  had  the  ho- 
nour to  be  chosen  the  first  of  all  his  competitors,  by 
the  unanimous  suffrage  of  the  tribes ;  and  in  the  first 
year  in  which  he  was  capable  of  it  by  law,  the  thirty- 
first  of  his  age  *. 

The  quaestors  were  the  general  receivers  or  trea- 
surers of  the  republic,  whose  number  had  been  gradu- 
ally enlarged  with  the  bounds  and  revenues  of  the 

*  Mc  cum  qusestorem  in  prlmls— cunctis  sufFragris  populus  Ro' 
manus  faciebat.     In  Pis,  i.     Brut.  440. 


Sect.  I.  CICERO.  65 

empire,  from  two  to  twenty,  as  it  now  stood  froyn  the 
last  regulation  of  Sylla.  They  w^ere  sent  annually  in- 
to the  several  provinces,  one  with  every  proconsul  or 
governor,  to  whom  they  were  the  next  in  authority, 
and  had  the  proper  eqli^page  of  magistrates,  the  hctors 
carrying  the  fasces  before  them,  which  was  not  how- 
ever allowed  to  them  at  Rome.  Besides  the  care  of 
the  revenues,  it  was  their  business  also  to  provide  corn, 
and  all  sorts  of  grain,  for  the  use  of  the  armies  abroad, 
and  the  public  consumption  at  home. 

This  was  the  first  step  in  the  legal  ascent  and  gra^ 
dation  of  public  honours,  which  gave  an  immediate 
right  to  the  senate,  and,  after  the  expiration  of  the  of- 
fice, an  actual  admission  into  it  during  life :  and  though, 
srictly  speaking,  none  were  held  to  be  complete  sena- 
tors, till  they  were  inrolled  at  the  next  lustrum  in  the 
list  of  the  censors,  yet  that  was  only  a  matter  of  form, 
and  what  could  not  be  denied  to  them,  unless  for  the 
charge  and  notoriety  of  some  crime,  for  which  every 
other  senator  was  equally  liable  to  be  degraded. 
These  qu^stors,  therefore,  chosen  annually  by  the 
people,  were  the  regular  and  ordinary  supply  of  the 
vacancies  of  the  senate,  which  consisted  at  this  time  of 
about  five  hundred  :  by  which  excellent  institution  the 
way  to  the  highest  order  of  the  state  w^as  laid  open 
to  the  virtue  and  industry  of  every  private  citizen, 
and  the  dignity  of  this  sovereign  council  maintained 
by  a  succession  of  members,  whose  distinguished  merit 
had  first  recommended  them  to  the  notice  and  favour 
of  their  country  *. 

*  Qugestura,  primus  gradus  honoris — [in  Ver.  Ace.  I.  4.  ]  Po- 
pulum  Roraanum,  cujus  hoaoribus  in  amplissiiuo  concilio,  et  in 

Vol.  I.  E 


66  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  L 

The  consuls  of  this  year  were  Cn.  Octavms,  and 
C.  Scribonius  Curio ;  the  first  was  Cicero's  particular 
friend,  a  person  of  singular  humanity  and  benevolence, 
but  cruelly  afflicted  with  the  gout,  whom  Cicero 
therefore  urges  as  an  example^  against  the  Epicureans, 
to  shew  that  a  hfe  supported  by  innocence  could  not 
be  made  miserable  by  pain  *.  The  second  was  a  pro- 
fessed orator,  or  pleader  at  the  bar,  where  he  sustain- 
ed some  credit,  without  any  other  accomplishment  of 
art  or  nature,  than  a  certain  purity  or  splendour  of 
language,  derived  from  the  institution  of  a  father, 
who  was  esteemed  for  his  eloquence :  his  action  was 
vehement,  wath  so  absurd  a  manner  of  waving  his 
body  from  one   side  to  the  other,   as  to  give  occasion 


altissimo  gradu  dignitatis,  atque  in  hac  omnium  terrarum  arce  col- 
locati  sumus.  fPost  red.  ad  Sen.  i.]  Ita  magistratus  annuos 
creaverunt,  ut  concilium  senatus  reip.  proponerent  sempiternum  j 
deligerentur  autem  in  id  concilium  ab  universo  populo,  aditusque 
in  ilium  summum  ordinem  omnium  civium  industriae  ac  virtuti  pa- 
teret.     Pro  Sext.  6^. 

This  account  of  the  manner  of  filling  up  the  senate,  is  confirm- 
ed by  many  other  passages  of  Cicero's  works  :  for  example,  when 
Cicero  was  elected  sedile,  the  next  superior  magistrate  to  the 
qusesor,  and  before  his  entrance  into  that  office,  he  took  a  jour- 
ney into  Sicily,  to  collect  evidence  against  Verre?  j  in  the  account 
of  Ivhich  voyage  he  says,  "  That  he  went  at  his  own  charges, 
*'  though  a  senator,  into  that  province,  where  he  had  before  been 
*'  quajstor."  [In  Ver.  1.  i.  6,]  Again,  when  the  government 
of  Cilicia  was  allotted  to  him,  he  begged  of  young  Curio,  as  he 
did  of  all  his  friends  in  the  senate,  not  to  suffer  it  to  be  prolong- 
ed to  him  beyond  the  year.  In  his  absence,  Curio,  who  before 
had  been  only  quaestor,  was  called  tribune  j  upon  which  Cicero, 
in  a  congratulatory  letter  to  him  on  that  promotion,  taking  occa- 
sion to  renew  his  former  request,  says,  *'  That  he  asked  it  of  him 
*'  before,  as  of  a  senator  of  the  noblest  birth,  and  a  youth  of  the 
**  greatest  interest,  but  now  of  a  tribune  of  the  people,  who  had 
*'  the  power  to  grant  him  what  he  asked.''     Ep.  fani,  2.  7, 

*  De  Finib.  2.  28. 


Sect.  L  CICERO.  67 

to  a  jest  upon  him,  that  he  had  learnt  to  speak  in  a 
boat.  They  were  both  of  them,  however,  good  ma- 
gistrates, such  as  the  present  state  of  the  republic  re- 
quired ;  firm  to  the  interests  of  the  state,  and  the  late 
establishment  made  by  Sylla,  which  the  tribunes  were 
labouring  by  all  their  arts  to  overthrow.  These  con- 
suls, therefore,  were  called  before  the  people  by  Sici- 
nius,  a  bold  and  factious  tribune,  to  declare  their  opi- 
nion about  the  revocation  of  Sylla's  acts,  and  the  re- 
storation of  the  tribunician  power,  which  w^as  now  the 
only  question  that  engaged  the  zeal  and  attention  of 
the  city :  Curio  spoke  much  against  it,  with  his  usual 
vehemence  and  agitation  of  body,  while  Octavius  sat 
by,  crippled  with  the  gout,  and  wrapped  up  in  plas- 
ters and  ointments :  when  Curio  had  done,  the  tri- 
bune, a  man  of  humourous  wit,  told  Octavius,  that  he 
could  never  make  amends  to  his  colleague  for  the  ser- 
vice of  that  day ;  for  if  he  had  not  taken  such  pains 
to  beat  away  the  flies,  they  w^ould  certainly  have  de- 
voured him  *.  But  while  Sicinius  was  pursuing  his 
seditious  practices,  and  using  all  endeavours  to  excite 
the  people  to  some  violence  against  the  senate,  he  was 
killed  by  the  management  of  Curio,  in  a  tumult  of  his 
ov/n  raising  f . 


*  Curio  copla  nonnulla  verborum,  nullo  alio  bono,  tenuit  ora- 
tornm  locum.  [Brut.  350  it.  323.]  Motus  erat  is,  quern  C.Ju- 
lius in  perpetuum  notavit,  cum  ex  eo,  in  utramque  partem  toto 
corpore  vacillante,  quaesivit,  quis  loquerttur  e  linire — Nunqnam, 
inquit,  Octavi,  collegfe  tuo  frratiam  referes  :  qui  nisi  se  suo  more 
jactavisset,  hodie  te  istic  muscae  commedissent.      lb.  324. 

f  Vid,  Sallust.  Fragm.  Hist.  1.  3.  Orat.  IVIacri.  Pigh,  Ann.  677- 

Da 


68  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  L 

We  have  no  account  of  the  precise  time  of  Cicero's 
marriage,  which  was  celebrated  most  probably  in  the 
end  of  the  preceding  year,  immediately  after  his  re- 
turn to  Rome,  when  he  was  about  thirty  years  old  :  it 
cannot  be  placed  later,  because  his  daughter  was  mar- 
ried the  year  before  his  consulship,  at  the  age  only  of 
thirteen;  though  we  suppose  her  to  be  born  this-year, 
on  the  5th  of  August,  which  is  mentioned  to  be  her 
birtli«-day  *.  Nor  is  there  any  thing  certain  dehvered 
of  the  family  and  condition  of  his  wife  Terentia ;  yet 
from  her  name,  her  great  fortune,  and  her  sister  Fa- 
bia's  being  one  of  the  vestal  virgms  f ,  we  may  con- 
clude, that  she  was  nobly  descended.  This  year, 
therefore,  was  particularly  fortunate  to  him,  as  it 
brought  an  increase,  not  only  of  issue,  but  of  dignity 
into  his  family,  by  raising  it  from  the  equestrian  to  the 
senatorian  rank ;  and,  by  this  early  taste  of  popular  fa- 
vour, gave  him  a  sure  presage  of  his  future  advance- 
ment to  the  superior  honours  of  the  republic. 

*  Nonis  Sextil.  add  Att.  4.  i.       f   Ascon.  Orat.  in  Togcand. 


Sect.il  CICERO.  '69 


SECTION     11. 


JL  HE  provinces  of  the  quaestors  being  distributed  to 
them  always  by  lot,  the  island  of  Sicily  happened  to 
fall  to  Cicero^s  share  ^.  This  was  the  first  country 
which,  after  the  reduction  of  Italy,  became  a  prey  to 
the  power  of  Rome  f ,  and  was  then  thought  consider- 
able enough  to  be  divided  into  two  provinces,  of  Lily- 
beum  and  Syracuse  ;  the  former  of  which  was  allotted 
to  Cicero :  for  though  they  were  both  united  at  this 
time  under  one  praetor,  or  supreme  governor,  S.  Pe- 
duc^us,  yet  they  continued  still  to  have  each  of  them 
a  distinct  quaestor  J.  He  received  this  office,  not  as 
a  gift,  but  a  trust ;  "  and  considered  it,"  he  says,  "  as  a 
""  public  theatre,  in  which  the  eyes  of  the  world  were 
*'  turned  upon  him ;"  and,  that  he  might  act  his  part 
\vith  the  greater  credit,  resolved  to  devote  his  whole 
attention' to  it,  and  to  deny  himself  every  pleasure, 
every  gratification  of  his  appetites,  even  the  most  in- 
nocent and  natural,  which  could  obstruct  the  laud- 
able discharge  of  it  §. 


E  3 


*  Me  qusestorem  Siciliensis  excepit  annus.     Brut.  440. 

f  Prima  oranium,  id  quod  ornamentum  imperii  est,  provincia 
est  appellata.     In  Verr.  1.  3.  i.  ' 

X  Qasestores  utriusque  •provincial,  qui  isto  prrctore  fuerunt. 
ib.  4. 

*  Ita  quaestor  sum  factus,  ut  milil  lionorem  iilum  non  solum 
datum,  sed  etiam  creditum,  ut  me  qnaiSturamque  meam  quasi  in 
aliguo  terrarum  orbis  tbeatro  versari  existimdrem  >  ut  omnia  sem- 

}■:    ;  per, 


JO  The  life  of  Sect.  II. 

Sicily  was  usually  called  the  granary  of  the  re-- 
public  f ;  and  the  quaestor's  chief  employment  in  it 
was  to  supply  corn  and  provisions  for  the  use  of  the 
city :  but  there  happening  to  be  a  peculiar  scarcity 
this  year  at  Rome,  it  made  the  people  very  clamour- 
ous, and  gave  the  tribunes  an  opportunity  of  inflam- 
ing them  the  more  easily,  by  charging  it  to  the  loss 
of  the  tribunician  power,  and  their  being  left  a  prey 
by  that  means  to  the  oppressions  of  the  great  %,  It 
was  necessary,  therefore,  to  the  public  quiet,  to  send 
out  large  and  speedy  supplies  from  Sicily,  by  wjiich 
the  island  was  Hke  to  be  drained ;  so  that  Cicero  had 
a  difficult  task  to  furnish  what  was  sufficient  for  the 
demands  of  the  city,  without  being  grievous  at  the 
same  time  to  the  poor  natives ;  yet  he  managed  the 
matter  with  so  much  prudence  and  address,  that  he 
made  very  great  exportations,  without  any  burden  up- 
on the  province ;  shewing  great  courtesy  all  the  while 
to  the  dealers,  justice  to  the  merchants,  generosity  to 
the  inhabitants,  humanity  to  the  allies,  and,  in  short, 
doing  all  manner  of  good  offices  to  every  body,  by 
which  he  gained  the  love  and  admiration  of  all  the 
Sicilians,  who  decreed  greater  honours  to  him  at  his 
departure,  than  they  had  ever  decreed  before  to  any 
of  their  chief  governors  *.     During  his  residence  in 


per,  qua;  jucunda  videntur  esse,  non  modo  his  extraordinariis.cU- 
piditatibus,  sed  etiam  ipsi  naturx  ac  necessitati  denegarem.  In 
Verr.  1.  5.  14. 

f  llle  M.  Cato  sapiens,  cellam  penariam  republicae,  nutricem 
plebis  Romance  S'ciliam  nomlnavit.      In  Verr.  1.  2.  2. 

X  Vid.  Orat.  Cottae  in  fragment.  Sallust. 

*  Fiumenti  in  summa  caritate  maximum  nuraerum  miseram  : 
y:ffgoci4toribus  comis,  mercatoribus  Justus,  municipibus  libcralis, 

soeiit 


Sect.  IL  CidERO. 


7J 


the  country,  several  young  Romans  of  quality,  who 
served  in  the  army,  having  committed  some  great  dis~ 
order  and  offence  against  martial  discipline,  ran  away 
to  Rome  for  fear  of  punishment,  where  being  seized  by 
the  magistrates,  they  were  sent  back  to  be  tried  be- 
fore the  praetor  in  Sicily :  but  Cicero  undertook  their 
defence,  and  pleaded  for  them  so  well,  that  he  got 
them  all  acquitted  f ,  and  by  that  means  obliged  many 
considerable  families  of  the  city. 

In  the  hours  of  leisure  from  his  provincial  affairs, 
he  employed  himself  very  diligently,  as  he  used  to  do 
at  Rome,  in  his  rhetorical  studies,  agreeably  to  the 
rule  which  he  constantly  inculcates,  never  to  let  one 
day  pass  without  some  exercise  of  that  kind ;  so  that, 
0n  his  return  from  Sicily,  his  oratorical  talents  were, 
according  to  his  ow^n  judgment,  in  their  full  perfec- 
tion and  maturity  f .  The  country  itself,  famous  of 
old  for  its  school  of  eloquence,  might  afford  a  particu- 
lar invitation  to  the  revival  of  those  studies :  for  the 
Sicihans,  as  he  tells  us,  being  a  sharp  and  litigious 
people,  and,  after  the  expulsion  of  their  tyrants,  hav- 
ing many  controversies  among  themselves  about  pro- 
perty, which  required  much  pleading,  were  the  first 
who  invented  rules,  and  taught  an  art  of  speaking,  of 
which  Corax  and  Tysias  were  the  first  professors; 

4 


sociis  abstinens,  omnibus  eram  visus  in  omni  ofHcio  diligcntissi- 
mus  :  excogitati  quidam  erant  a  Siculis  honoies  in  me  inauditi. 
Pr.  Plane.  26. 

f    Plutarch's  life  of  Cicero. 

X  Jam  videbatur  illud  in  me,  quicquid  esset,  esse  perfectum,  ft 
habere  maturitatem  qi;andam  suam.     Brut.  440, 


^1  The   life   of  Sect.  IL 

an  art  which,  above  all  others,  owes  its  birth  to  hber-- 
ty,  and  can  never  flourish  but  in  a  free  air  *. 

Before  he  left  Sicily,  he  made  the  tour  of  the  island, 
to  see  every  thing  in  it  that  was  curious,  and  especial- 
ly the  city  of  Syracuse,  which  had  alw^ays  made  the 
principal  figure  in  its  history.  Here  his  first  request 
to  the  magistrates,  who  were  shewing  him  the  curio- 
sities of  the  place,  was  to  let  him  see  the  tomh  of  Ar- 
chimedes, whose  name  had  done  so  much  honour  to 
it ;  but,  to  his  surprise,  he  perceived  that  they  knew 
nothing  at  all  of  the  matter,  and  even  denied  that 
there  was  any  such  tomb  remaining :  yet  as  he  was 
assured  of  it  beyond  all  doubt,  by  the  concurrent 
testimony  of  writers,  and  remembered  the  verses  in- 
scribed, and  that  there  was  a  sphere  with  a  cylinder, 
engraved  on  some  part  of  it,  he  would  not  be  dissuad- 
ed from  the  pains  of  searching  it  out.  When  they 
had  carried  him  therefore  to  the  gate  where  the  great- 
est number  of  their  old  sepulchres  stood,  he  observed, 
in  a  spot  overgrown  with  shrubs  and  briars,  a  small 
column,  whose  head  had  just  appeared  above  the 
bushes,  "  with  the  figure  of  a  sphere  and  cylinder  up- 
^*  on  it ;  this,  he  presently  told  the  company,  was  the 
"  tiling  that  they  were  looking  for ;  and  sending  in 
"  some  men  to  clear  the  ground  of  the  brambles  and 
"'  rubbish,  he  found  the  inscription  also  which  he  ex- 
"  pected,  though  the  latter  part  of  all  the  verses  was 


*  Cum  subhtis  in  SIcilia  tyrannis  res  prtvatye  lons^o  intervallo 
judlcils  icpeterentur,  turn  primum,  quod  esset  acuta  ilia  ^ens  et 
controveisa  natura,  artem  et  prtecepta  Siculos  Corac-rm  et  Tysiam 
conscripsisse.  Brut.  75.  Kltbc  una  res  in  omni  libero  ponulo, 
maximeque  in  pacatis,  tranqullllsque  civitatibus  semper  fioruit, 
sempeique  djininata  Ci>t.     De  Ora:.  i,  8, 


Sect.il  .CICERO.  73 

"  effaced.  Thus/'  says  he,  "  one  of  the  noblest  citiei? 
"  of  Greece,  and  once  likewise  the  most  learned,  had 
"  known  nothing  of  the  monument  of  its  most  deserv-* 
*'  ing  and  ingenious  citizen,  if  it  had  not  been  disco- 
"  vered  to  them  by  a  native  of  Arpinum  *."  At  the 
expiration  of  his  year,  he  took  leave  of  the  Sicilians, 
by  a  kind  and  affectionate  speech,  assuring  them  of 
his  protection  in  all  their  affairs  at  Rome,  in  which  he 
was  as  good  as  his  word,  and  continued  ever  after  their 
constant  patron,  to  the  great  benefit  and  advantage  of 
the  provinces. 

He  came  away  extremely  pleased  with  the  success 
of  his  administration ;  and  flattering  himself,  that  all 
Rome  was  celebrating  his  praises,  and  that  the  people 
would  readily  grant  him  every  thing  that  he  desired ; 
in  which  imagination  he  landed  at  Puteoli,  a  consi- 
derable port  adjoining  to  Baiae,  the  chief  seat  of  plea- 
sure in  Italy,  where  there  was  a  perpetual  resort  of  all 
the  rich  and  the  great,  as  v/eil  for  the  delights  of  its 
situation  as  the  use  of  its  baths  and  hot  waters.  But 
here,  as  he  himself  pleasantly  tells  the  story,  he  was 
not  a  little  mortified  by  the  first  friend  whom  he  met  ; 
who  asked  him,  "  How  long  he  had  left  Rome,  and 
"  what  news  there  ?"  when  he  answered,  "  That  he 
"  came  from  the  provinces  :" — "  From  Afric,  I  sup- 
*'  pose,"  says  another :  and  upon  his  replying,  with 
some  indignation,  "  No ;  I  come  from  Sicily  :"  a  third, 
who  stood  by,  and  had  a  mind  to  be  thought  wiser, 
said  presently,  "  How  I  did  you  not  know  that  Cicero 
was  qusestor  of  Syracuse  ?' — Upon  which,  perceiving  it 


*  Tusc.  Quest.  5.  3. 


74  The  LIFE   of  Sect.  IL 

in  vain  to  be  angry,  he  fell  into  the  humour  of  the 
place,  and  made  himself  one  of  the  company  who  came 
to  the  waters.  This  mortification  gave  some  little 
check  to  his  ambition,  or  taught  him  rather  how  to 
apply  it  more  successfully  ;  "  and  did  him  more 
"  good,"  he  says,  "  than  if  he  had  received  all  the 
"  comphments  that  he  expected ;  for  it  made  him  re- 
"  fleet,  that  the  people  of  Rome  had  dull  ears,  but 
"  quick  eyes ;  and  that  it  was  his  business  to  keep 
"  himself  always  in  their  sight ;  nor  to  be  so  solicitous 
*'  how  to  make  them  hear  of  him,  as  to  make  them 
"  see  him  :  so  that,  from  this  moment,  he  resolved  to 
"  stick  close  to  the  forum,  and  to  live  perpetually 
"  in  the  view  of  the  city  ;  nor  to  suffer  either  his 
"  porter  or  his  sleep  to  hinder  any  man's  access  to 
"  him  *." 

At  his  return  to  Rome  he  found  the  consul,  L.  Lu- 
cullus,  employing  all  his  power  to  repel  the  attempts 
of  a  turbulent  tribune,  L.  Quinctius,  who  had  a  man- 
ner of  speaking  peculiarly  adapted  to  inflame  the  mul- 
titude, and  was  perpetually  exerting  it,  to  persuade 
them  to  reverse  Sylla's  acts  f .  These  acts  were  o- 
dious  to  all  who  affected  popularity,  especially  to  the 
tribunes,  who  could  not  brook  with  any  patience  the  di- 
minution of  their  ancient  power  ;  yet  all  prudent  men 
were  desirous  to  support  them,  as  the  best  foundation 
of  a  lasting  peace  and  firm  settlement  of  the  republic. 
The  tribune  Sicinius  made  the  first  attack  upon  them, 

*  Pro  Plancio,  26, 

f  Homo  cum  summa  potestate  prjeditus,  turn  ad  intlammandos 
animns  multhudinis  accommodatus.  Pro  Cluent.  29.  Plutar.  ia 
tucull. 


Sect.  IL  CICERO.  75 

soon  after  Sylla's  death,  but  lost  his  life  in  the  quar- 
rel ;  which,  instead  of  quenching,  added  fuel  to  the 
llame ;  so  that  C.  Cotta,  one  of  the  next  consuls,  a 
man  of  moderate  principles,  and  obnoxious  to  neither 
party,  made  it  his  business  to  mitigate  these  heats,  by- 
mediating  between  the  senate  and  the  tribunes,  and 
remitting  a  part  of  the  restraint  that  Sylla  had  laid 
upon  them,  so  far  as  to  restore  them  to  a  capacity  of 
holding  the  superior  magistracies.  But  a  partial  res- 
titution could  not  satisfy  them  ;  they  were  as  clamo- 
rous still  as  ever,  and  thought  it  a  treachery  to  be 
quiet,  till  they  had  recovered  their  whole  rights :  for 
which  purpose  Quinctius  was  now  imitating  his  pre- 
decessor Sicinius,  and  exciting  the  populace  to  do 
themselves  justice  against  their  oppressors,  nor  suffer 
their  power  and  liberties  to  be  extorted  from  them  by 
the  nobles.  But  the  vigour  of  Lucullus  prevented 
him  from  gaining  any  farther  advantage,  or  making 
any  impression  this  year  to  the  disturbance  of  the  pu- 
bic peace  *. 

C.  Verres,  of  whom  we  shall  have  occasion  to  say 
more  hereafter,  was  now  also  praetor  of  the  city,  or  the 
supreme  administrator  of  justice  ;  whose  decrees  were 
not  restrained  to  the  strict  letter  of  the  law,  but  form- 
ed usually  upon  the  principles  of  common  equity ; 
which,  while  it  gives  a  greater  liberty  of  doing  what 
is  right,  gives  a  greater  latitude  withal  of  doing  wrong ; 


*  Nisi  forte  C.  Cotta  ex  factione  media  consul,  aliter  qnam  me^ 
ta  juia  quaedam  tribunis  pleh.  restituit  -,  et  quanqaam  L.  Sicinius 
primus  de  potestate  tribunicia  loqui  ausiis,  mussitaiitibus  vobis  cir- 
cumventus  erat. — Lucullus  superiore  anno  quantis  animis  ierlt  in 
L.  Quinctium,  vidistis, — Vid,  Sallust.  Hist.  Fragment.  1-  3.  Orar. 
Macri  Llcinii.  Plut.  in  Lucull. 


y6  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  II. 

and  the  power  was  never  in  worse  hands,  or  more  cor- 
ruptly administered  than  by  Verres  :  "  for  there  was 
*•  not  a  man  in  Italy,"  says  Cicero,  "  who  had  a  law- 
*'  suit  at  Rome,  but  knew,  that  the  rights  and  proper- 
*'  ties  of  the  Roman  people  were  determined  by  the 
"  will  and  pleasure  of  his  whore  ■*. 

There  was  a  very  extraordinary  commission  grant- 
ed this  year  to  M.  Antonius,  the  father  of  the  trium- 
vir,— the  inspection  and  command  of  all  the  coasts  of 
the  Mediterranean  :  "  a  boundless  power,"  as  Cicero 
calls  it  f ,  which  gave  him  an  opportunity  of  plunder- 
ing the  provinces,  and  committing  all  kinds  of  outrage 
on  the  allies.  He  invaded  Crete  vvithout  any  decla- 
ration of  w^ar,  on  purpose  to  enslave  it,  and  with  such 
an  assurance  of  victory,  that  he  carried  more  fetters 
with  him  than  arms  f .  But  he  met  with  the  fate  that 
he  deserved  :  for  the  Cretans  totally  routed  him  in  a 
naval  engagement,  and  returned  triumphant  into  their 
ports,  with  the  bodies  of  tlieir  enemies  hanging  on  their 
masts.  Antonius  died  soon  after  this  disgrace,  infa- 
mous in  his  character,  "  nor  in  any  respect  a  better 
*'  man,"  says  Asconius,  "  than  his  son  ||."  But  Me- 
tellas  made  the  Cretans  pay  dear  for  their  triumph, 
by  the  entire  conquest  of  their  country  :  "  in  which 

*  Ut  nemo  tam  rusticanus  homo,  Romam  ex  uUo  munlcipio  va- 
dimonii  causa  venerit,  qu'in  sciret  jura  omnia  prtEtoris  urban!  nutu 
atque  arbltrio  Chelidonis  mcretrlcul.e  crubernari.      In  Verr.  5.  13. 

j'  M.  Antonii  infinitum  illud  imperium.     lb.  2.  3. 

X  Primus  invasit  insulam  M.  Antonius,  cum  ingenti  quidem 
victorise  spe  stque  fiducia,  adeo  ut  plures  catenas  in  navibus  quam 
arma  portaret.      Flor.  3.  7. 

II  Antoniurn,  cum  multa  contra  sociorum  saUitem,  multi  con- 
tra utilitatem  provinciarum  ct  faceret  et  coj^jitaret,  in  mediis  ej'js 
injurlis  ct  cupiditatibus  mors  oppressit.     In  Verr.  3«  91. 


Sect.  II.  CICERO. 


77 


*'  war,"  as  Floms  says,  "  if  the  truth  must  he  told,  the 
*'  Romans  were  the  aggressors ;  and  though  they  charg- 
"  ed  the  Cretans  with  favouring  Mithridates,  yet  their 
"  real  motive  was,  the  desire  of  conquering  so  noble 
"  an  island  f ." 

Mithridates  also  had  now  renewed  the  war  against 
Rome  ;  encouraged  to  it  by  the  diversion  which  Ser^ 
torius  was  giving  at  the  same  time  in  Spain,  to  their 
best  troops  and  ablest  generals,  Metellus  and  Pom- 
pey  :  so  that  Lucullus,  who,  on  the  expiration  of  his 
consulship,  had  the  province  of  Asia  allotted  to  him, 
obtained  with  it  of  course  the  command  of  this  war. 
But  while  their  arms  were  thus  employed  in  the  dif- 
ferent extremities  of  the  empire,  an  ugly  disturbance 
broke  out  at  home,  which,  though  contemptible  enough 
in  its  origin,  began  in  a  short  time  to  spread  terror  and 
and  consternation  through  all  Italy.  It  took  its  rise 
from  a  few  gladiators,  scarce  above  thirty  at  first,  who 
broke  out  of  their  school  at  Capua,  and,  having  seized 
a  quantity  of  arms,  and  drawn  a  number  of  slaves  af- 
ter them,  posted  tliemseh  es  on  Mount  Vesuvius  :  here 
they  were  presently  surrounded  by  the  pnetor  Cio- 
dius  Glaber,  with  a  good  body  of  regular  troops  ;  but, 
forcing  their  way  through  them-,  with  sword  in  hand, 
they  assaulted  and  took  his  camp, .and  made  them- 
^elves  masters  of  all  Campania.  From  this  success 
their  numbers  presently  increased  to  the  size  of  an 
army  of  forty  thous;:fnd  fighting  men  :  \vith  which 
they  made  head  against  the  Roman  legions,  and  sus- 
tained a  vigorous  war  for  three  years  in  the  very  bow-> 


f  Creucum  belluni,  si  vera  volumus  noscere,   ncs  fccimus  sola 
vincendi  nobilcm  inful:im  cr»pidit;Uc.     Flor,  lb. 


78  The   LIFE   of  Sixt,  IL 

els  of  Italy  ;  where  they  defeated  several  commanders 
of  consular  and  pnetorian  rank  ;  and,  pufted  up  with 
their  victories,  began  to  talk  of  attacking  Rome.  But 
M.  Crassus  the  praetor,  to  whom  the  war  was  commit- 
ted,  having  gathered  about  him  all  the  forces  which 
were  near  home,  chastised  their  insolence,  and  drove 
them  before  him  to  the  extremity  of  Rhegium ;  where, 
for  want  of  vessels  to  make  their  escape,  the  greatest 
part  was  destroyed,  and  among  them  their  general 
Spartacus,  fighting  bravely  to  the  last  at  the  head  of 
his  desperate  troops  *.  This  was  called  the  Servile 
War,  for  which  Crassus  had  the  honour  of  an  ovation, 
it  being  thought  beneath  the  dignity  of  the  republic 
to  grant  a  full  triumph  for  the  conquest  of  slaves  :  but, 
to  bring  it  as  near  as  possible  to  a  triumph,  Crassus 
procured  a  special  decree  of  the  senate  to  authorize 
him  to  wear  the  laurel  crown,  which  was  the  proper 
ornament  of  the  triumph,  as  myrtle  w^as  of  the  ova- 
tion f . 

The  Sertorian  war  happened  to  be  finished  also  for- 
tunately  near  the  same  time.  The  author  of  it,  Ser- 
torius,  was  bred  under  C.  Marius,  with  whom  he  had 
served  in  all  his  wars,  with  a  singular  reputation,  not 
only  of  martial  virtue,  but  of  justice  and  clemency  ; 
for,  though  he  was  firm  to  the  Marian  party,  he  al- 
ways disliked  and  opposed  their  cruelty,  and  advised 
a  more  temperate  use  of  their  power.  After  the  death 
of  Cinna,  he  fell  into  Sylla's  hands,  along  with  the 


*  Vid.  Flor.  3.  20. 

•f-  Plut.  in  Crass. — Crasse,  quid  est,  quod  confecto  formidolo- 
sissimo  bcUo,  coronam  iilam  lauream  tibi  tantopere  decerni  va- 
lueris  I     In  Pison,  24. 


SEcr.  IL  ClCERO. 


79 


consul  Scipio,  when  the  army  abandoned  them  :  Sylla 
dismissed  him  with  Hfe,  on  the  account  perhaps  of  his 
known  moderation  :  yet,  taking  him  to  be  an  utter 
enemy  to  his  cause,  he  soon  after  proscribed  and  drove 
him  to  the  necessity  of  seeking  his  safety  in  foreign 
countries.  After  several  attempts  on  Afric  and  the 
coasts  of  the  Mediterranean,  he  found  a  settlement  in 
Spain,  whither  all  who  fled  from  Sylla's  cruelty  resort- 
ed to  him,  of  whom  he  formed  a  senate,  which  gave 
laws  to  the  whole  province.  Here,  by  his  great  cre- 
dit and  address,  he  raised  a  force  sufficient  to  sustain 
a  war  of  eight  years  against  the  whole  power  of  the 
republic  ;  and  to  make  it  a  question,  whether  Rome 
or  Spain  should  possess  the  empire  of  the  world.  Q^ 
Metellus,  an  old  experienced  commander,  was  sent  a- 
gainst  him  singly  at  first ;  but  was  so  often  baffled 
and  circumvented,  by  his  superior  vigour  and  dexte- 
rity, that  the  people  of  Rome  were  forced  to  send  their 
favourite  Pompey  to  his  assistance,  with  the  best  troops 
of  the  empire.  Sertorius  maintained  his  ground  against 
them  both  ;  and,  after  many  engagements,  in  which 
he  generally  came  off  equal,  often  superior,  was  base- 
ly murdered  at  a  private  feast  by  the  treacliery  of 
Perperna ;  who  being  the  next  to  him  in  command, 
was  envious  of  his  glory,  and  wanted  to  usurp  his  pow- 
er. Perperna  was  of  noble  birth,  and  had  been  prae- 
tor of  Rome,  where  he  took  up"*  his  arms  withtlie  con- 
sul Lepidus  to  reverse  the  acts  of  Sylla,  and  recal  the 
proscribed  Marians,  and  after  their  defeat  carried  off 
the  best  part  of  their  troops  to  the  support  of  Sertori- 
us *  ;  but,  instead  of  gaining  what  he  expected  from 

*   Sylla  &.  Consulem,   ut   pr^ediximus,  exarmatumqae  Sertori- 

ujn, 


8o  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  IL 

Sertorius's  death,  he  ruined  the  cause,  of  which  he  had 
made  himself  the  chief,  and  put  an  end  to  a  war  that 
was  wholly  supported  by  the  reputation  of  the  gene- 
ral :  for  the  revolted  provinces  presently  submitted ; 
and  the  army  having  no  confidence  in  their  new  lead- 
er,  w^as  easily  broken  and  dispersed,  and  Perperna  him- 
self taken  prisoner. 

Pompey  is  celebrated  on  this  occasion  for  an  act  of 
great  prudence  and  generosity  :  for  when  Perperna, 
in  hopes  of  saving  his  hfe,  offered  to  make  some  im- 
portant discoveries,  and  to  put  into  his  hands  all  Ser- 
torius's papers,  in  which  were  several  letters  from  the 
principal  senators  of  Rome,  pressing  him  to  bring  his 
army  into  Italy  for  the  sake  of  overturning  the  present 
government,  he  ordered  the  papers  to  be  burnt  with- 
out reading  them,  and  Perperna  to  be  killed  without 
seeing  him  *.  He  knew,  that  the  best  way  of  heal- 
ing the  disconteilts  of  the  city,  where  faction  was  per- 
petually at  work  to  disturb  the  public  quiet,  v/as,  to 


um,   proh  quanti   mox  belli  facein  I   8i  multos  alios  dimisit  inco- 
lumes.     Veil.  Pat.  2.  25.  29. 

Jam  AfrJcfE,  jam  Baleanbus  Insulis  fortunam  expertus,  miss- 
usque  in  oceanum — tandem  Hispaniam  armavit — Satis  tantobos- 
ti  lino  Imperatore  resistere  res  Romana  non  potuit  :  additus  Me- 
tello  Cn.  Porapeius.  Hi  coplas  viri  diii,  &  ancipiti  semper  acie 
attrivere  :  nee  tamen  prius  belle,  quam  suorum  scelere,  &  insidiis, 
cxtinctus  est.     Flor.  3.  22. 

lUud  in  tantum  Sertoriunu  armis  extulit,  ut  per  quinquennium 
dijudicarl  non  potuerit,  Hispanis,  Romanisve  in  armis  plus  esset 
roboris,   &  uter  populus  alteri  pariturus  foret.     Veil.  Pat    2.  90. 

A  M.  Perperna  &  aliis  conjuratis  convivio  interfectus  est,  oc- 
tavo ducatus  sui  anno  j  mag^nus  dux,  &.  adversos  duos  Impera- 
tores,  Pompelum  et  Metellum,  saepe  par,  frcquentius  victor.  Epit. 
Liv.  96.  Vid.  etiam  Plutarch,  in  Sertorio  et  Pomp.  Appian. 
p.  418. 

*  Plutarch,  in  Pomp.  Appian.  423. 


Sect.  IL  CICERO.  8x 

ease  people  of  those  fears  which  a  consciousness  of 
guilt  would  suggest,  rather  than  push  them  to  the  ne- 
cessity of  seeking  their  security  from  a  change  of  af- 
fairs, and  the  overthrow  of  the  state  *.  As  he  return- 
ed into  Italy  at  the  head  of  his  victorious  army,  he 
happened  to  f.dl  in  luckily  with  the  remains  of  those 
fugitives,  who,  after  the  destruction  of  Spartacus,  had 
escaped  from  Crassus,  and  were  making  their  way  in 
a  body  towards  the  Alps,  whom  he  intercepted  and 
entirely  cut  off  to  the  number  of  five  thousand  ;  and, 
in  a  letter  upon  it  to  the  senate,  said  that  Crassus  in- 
deed had  defeated  the  Gladiators,  but  that  he  had 
plucked  up  the  war  by  the  roots  f .  Cicero,  likewise^ 
from  a  particular  dislike  to  Crassus,  affected  in  his  pub- 
lic speeches  to  give  Pompey  the  honour  of  finishing 
this  war,  declaring,  that  the  very  fame  of  his  coming 
had  broken  the  force  of  it,  and  his  presence  extinguish- 
ed it  X, 

For  this  victory  in  Spain  Pompey  obtained  a  se- 
cond triumph,  while  he  was  still  only  a  private  citi- 
zen, and  of  the  Equestrian  rank  :  but  the  next  day  he 
took  possession  of  the  consulship,  to  which  he  had  been 
elected  in  his  absence  ;  and,  as  if  he  had  been  born  to 
command,  made  his  first  entry  into  the  senate  in  the 
proper  post  to  preside  in  it.  He  was  not  yet  full  thir- 
ty six  years  old,  but  the  senate,  by  a  decree,  dispen- 


*   In  tanto  civilim    nufnero,  magna  multitudo    est    eorum,'  qui 
propter   metiim  pocnce,   peccatorum  suorum   conscii,  novos  motus 
conversionesque  Rep.  quaerunt.  Fro  Sext.  46. 
f   Plut.  Ibid. 

%  Quod  bellum  expectatione  Pompeii  attenuatum  atque  immf- 
tiUtum  est  J  adventu  sublatum  et  sepultum.  Pro  leg.  Maiiil.  xi. 
it. — Qui  etiam  seivitia  virtute  victoriaque  dorauisset.  Pro  Sect.  3  i« 

Vol.  I.  F 


S2  The  life  of  Sect.  H. 

sed  with  the  incapacity  of  his  age  and  absence  ;  and 
quahfied  him  to  hold  the  highest  magistracy,  before 
he  was  capable  by  law  of  pretending  even  to  the 
lowest :  and  by  his  authority  M.  Crassus  was  elected 
also  for  his  colleague  *. 

Crassus's  father  and  elder  brother  Ipst  their  lives  in 
the  massacres  of  Marius  and  Cinna  ;  but  he  himself 
escaped  into  Spain,  and  lay  there  concealed  till  Sylla's 
return  to  Italy,  whither  he  presently  resorted  to  him, 
in  hopes  to  revenge  the  ruin  of  his  fortunes  and  fami- 
ly on  the  opposite  faction.  As  he  was  attached  to 
Sylla's  cause  both  by  interest  and  inclination,  so  he 
was  much  considered  in  it  ;  and,  being  extremely 
greedy  and  rapacious,  made  use  of  all  his  credit  to 
enrich  himself  by  the  plunder  of  the  enemy,  and  the 
purchase  of  confiscated  esates,  which  Cicero  calls  his 
harvest  f.  By  these  methods  he  raised  an  immense 
wealth,  computed  at  many  millions,  gathered  from 
the  spoils  and  calamities  of  his  country.  He  used  to 
say,  "  that  no  man  could  be  reckoned  rich,  who  was 
"  not  able  to  maintain  an  army  out  of  his  own  rents  J :" 
and  if  the  accounts  of  antiquity  be  true,  the  number 
of  his  slaves  was  scarce  inferior  to  that  of  a  full  army ; 
which,  instead  of  being  a  burthen,  made  one  part  of 

*  Pompeius  hoc  quoque  triumpho,  adhuc  Eques  Romanus,  an- 
te diem  quam  Consulatum  iniret,  curru  urbeni  invectus  est.  VelL 
Pat.  2.  30. 

Quid  tarn  singulare,  qu-.im  ut  ex  S.  C.  leglbus  solutus  consul 
ante  fieret,  quam  ullum  alium  magistratum  per  leges  capere  licu- 
isset  ?  On'id  tarn  incredibile,  quam  ut  iterum  Eques  Romanus  S. 
C.  triumpharet  >      Pio  leg.  Man.  21.     Vid  Plutarch,  in  Pomp, 

f  lUam  Syllani  temporis  messem — Parad.  6.  2. 

X  Multi  exte  audierunt,cum  dicere.  neminem  esscdivitem,  nisi; 
qui  exerciton;  ajere  posset  suis  fructibus.     lb.  i. 


Sect.  L  CICERO,  83 

his  revenue  ;  being  all  trained  to  some  useful  art  or 
profession,  which  enabled  them  not  only  to  support 
themselves,  but  to  bring  a  share  of  profit  to  their  mas- 
ter. Among  the  other  trades  in  his  family,  he  is  said 
to  have  had  above  five  hundred  masons  and  architects 
constantly  employed  in  building  or  repairing  the  houses 
of  the  city  J.  He  had  contracted  an  early  envy  to 
Pompey,  for  his  superior  credit  both  with  Sylla  and 
the  people ;  which  was  still  aggravated  by  Pompey's 
late  attempt  to  rob  him  of  the  honour  of  ending  the 
Servile  war ;  but,  finding  himself  wholly  unequal  to 
his  rival  in  military  fame,  he  apphed  himself  to  the 
arts  of  peace  and  eloquence ;  in  which  he  obtained 
the  character  of  a  good  speaker,  and,  by  his  easy  and 
familiar  address,  and  a  readiness  to  assist  all,  who  want- 
ed either  his  protection  or  his  money,  acquired  a  great 
authority  in  all  the  public  affairs ;  so  that  Pompey  was 
glad  to  embrace  and  oblige  him,  by  taking  him  for  his 
partner  in  the  consulship. 

Five  years  were  now  almost  elapsed,  since  Cicero's 
election  to  the  Questorship  :  which  was  the  proper 
interval  prescribed  by  law,  before  he  could  hold  the 
next  office  of  Tribune  or  JKdxlQ  ;  and  it  was  necessa- 
ry to  pass  through  one  of  these  in  his  way  to  the  su- 
perior dignities :  he  chose  therefore  to  drop  the  Tri- 
bunate, as  being  stript  of  its  ancient  power  by  the  late 
ordinance  of  Sylla,  and  began  to  make  interest  for  the 
iEdileship,  while  Hortensius,  at  the  same  time,  was 
suing  for  the  Consulship.  He  had  employed  all  this 
interval  in  a  close  attendance  on  the  forum,  and  a  per- 


I  Plutarch,  in  Crass. 


84  The   LIFE   OF  Sect.  IL 

petual  course  of  pleading  *,  which  greatly  advanced 
his  interest  in  the  city  ;  especially  when  it  was  observ- 
ed that  he  strictly  complied  with  the  law,  by  refusing 
not  only  to  take  fees,  but  to  accept  even  any  presents, 
in  which  the  generahty  of  patrons  were  less  scrupu- 
lous f .  Yet  all  his  orations  within  this  period  are  lost ; 
of  which  number  were  those  for  M.  Tullius  and  L. 
Varenus,  mentioned  by  Quintihan  and  Priscian,  as 
extant  in  their  time. 

Some  writers  tell  us,  that  he  improved  and  perfect- 
ed his  action  by  the  instructions  of  Roscius  and  ^so- 
pus ;  the  two  most  accomplished  actors  in  that,  or  per- 
haps in  any  other  age,  the  one  in  comedy,  the  other 
in  tragedy  J.  He  had  a  great  esteem  indeed  for  them 
both,  and  admired  the  uncommon  perfection  of  their 
art :  but,  though  he  condescended  to  treat  them  as 
friends,  he  would  have  disdained  to  use  them  as  mas- 
ters. He  had  formed  himself  upon  a  nobler  plan, 
drawn  his  rules  of  action  from  nature  and  philosophy, 
and  his  practice  from  the  most  perfect  speakers  then 
living  in  the  world  ;  and  declares  the  theatre  to  be  an 
improper  school  for  the  institution  of  an  orator,  as 
teaching  gestures  too  minute  and  unmanly,  and  la- 
bouring more  about  the  expression  of  words  than  of 
things  §  :    nay,  he  laughs  sometimes  at  Hortensius  for 


*  Cum  igitur  essem  In  plurimis  causis,  et  In  principlbus  patro- 
nls  quinquennium  fere  versatus.      Brut.  p.  440. 

f    Plutarch.  Cicer.  :|:   Ibid. 

§  Quis  neget  opj?  esse  cratorl  in  lioc  oratorio  motu,  statuque 
Roscii  gestuni  r — tamen  nemo  suaserit  studiosis  dicendi  adole- 
scentibus  in  gestu  discendo  histrionum  more  elaborate.  De  Orat, 
1..59.     Vid.  '^I'usc.  Disp.  4.  25. 

Omnes  autem  bos  motu$  subsequi  debet  gestus  3  non  hie,  verba 

exprimens. 


Sect.  II.  CICERO.  85 

an  action  too  foppish  and  theatrical  *,  who  used  to  be 
be  rallied,  on  th;it  very  account,  by  the  other  pleaders, 
with  the  title  of  the  Player;  so  that,  in  the  cau^e  of 
P.  Sylla,  Torquatus,  a  free  speaker  on  the  other  side, 
called  him,  by  way  of  ridicule,  Dionysia,  an  actress  of 
those  times,  in  great  request  for  her  dancing  f .  Yet 
Hortensius  himself  was  so  far  from  borrowing  his  man- 
ner from  the  stage,  that  the  stage  borrowed  from  him  ; 
and  the  two  celebrated  actors  just  mentioned,  Roscius 
and  iEsopus,  are  said  to  have  attended  all  the  trials 
in  which  he  pleaded,  in  order  to  perfect  the  action  of 
the  theatre  by  that  of  the  forum  :  which  seems  indeed 
to  be  the  more  natural  method  of  the  two,  that  they 
who  act  in  feigned  life  should  take  their  pattern  from 
the  true  ;  not  those,  who  represent  the  true,  copy  from 
that  which  is  feigned  %.  We  are  told  however  by  o- 
thers,  what  doth  not  seem  wholly  improbable,  that  Ci- 
cero used  to  divert  himself  sometimes  with  Roscius, 
and  make  it  an  exercise,  or  trial  of  skill  between  them, 
"  "which  could  express  the  same  passion  the  most  va- 
*'  riously,  the  one  by  w^ords,  the  other  by  gestures  ||." 


exprimens,  scenicus,  sed  universam  rem  et  sententiam  :  non  de- 
monstratione,  sed  si^nificatione  declarans,  laterum  Intiectione  hac 
forti  ac  virili,  non  ab  scena  et  histrionibus.     lb.  3.  59. 

*  Putamus — Patronum  tuum  cervlculam  jactalurum.  In  Verr 
1.  3.  19. 

f  L.  Torquatus,  subagresti  homo  ingenio  etinfestivo — nonj^i 
histrlonem  iilum  diceret,  sed  gesticularlam,  ijionysiamque  ^^ 
notissimfe  sallatriculte  nomine  appellaret.     Aul.  Gel]»  i.  c. 

:|:  Genus  hoc  totum  oratores,  qui  sunt  veritatis  ipsius  afor^^i 
reliquerunt  j  imitatores  autem  ventatis,  histriones  occup?«'cr^nJ- 
— At  sine  dubio  in  omnI  re  vincit  imltationem  Veritas.  ^'^  ^- 
rat.  3.  ^d.  _ 

II   batis  constat,  contendere  eum  cum  ipso  lii?trianc'«i'ti-.m,  u- 

^  Y  ■.  truiH 


86  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  H. 

As  he  had  now  devoted  himself  to  a  life  of  business 
and  ambition,  so  he  omitted  none  of  the  usual  arts  of 
recommending  himself  to  popular  favour,  and  facihtat- 
ing  his  advancement  to  the  superior  honours.  He 
thought  it  absurd,  "  that  when  every  httle  artificer 
"  knew  the  name  and  use  of  all  his  tools,  a  statesman 
"  should  neglect  the  knowledge  of  men,  who  were 
"  the  proper  instruments  with  which  he  was  to  work  : 
"  he  made  it  his  business  therefore  to  learn  the  name, 
"  the  place,  and  the  condition  of  every  eminent  citi- 
"  zen  ;  what  estate,  what  friends,  what  neighbours  he 
"  had ;  and  could  readily  point  out  their  several  houses, 
"  as  he  travelled  through  Italy  *.'*  This  knowledge, 
which  is  useful  in  all  popular  governments,  was  pecu- 
liarly necessary  at  Rome ;  where  the  people,  having 
much  to  give,  expected  to  be  much  courted ;  and 
where  their  high  spirits  and  privileges  placed  them  as 
much  above  the  rank  of  all  other  citizens,  as  the  gran- 
deur of  the  republic  exceeded  that  of  all  other  states  ; 
so  that  every  man,  who  aspired  to  any  public  dignity, 
kept  a  slave  or  two  in  his  family,  whose  sole  business 
it  v/as  to  learn  the  names  and  know  the  persons  of  e- 
very  citizen  at  sight,  so  as  to  be  able  to  whisper  them 
to  his  master,  as  he  passed  through  the  streets,  that  he 
might  be  ready  to  salute  them  all  familiarly,  and  shake 
lands  with  them,  as  his  particular  acquaintance  f . 


trutTiJlle  ssepius  eandem  sententiam  variis  gestibus  efficeret,  an 
ipse  ier  eloquentlcc  copiam  sermone  diverio  pronunciaret.  Ma* 
crob.  ^qturn.  2.  x. 

*   P\^ar.  in  Cic. 

t    Vid,<}e  petitione  Consulat.  xi. 

'%rcemur  servum,  qui  dictet  nomina,  Jajvum 
Qi?  fodicet  latus,  et  cogat  trans  pondera  dextram 

Porrhrere. 


Sect.  II.  CICERO.  87 

Plutarch  says,  "  that  the  use  of  these  nomenclators 
"  was  contrary  to  the  laws ;  and  that  Cato,  for  that 
*'  reason,  in  suing  for  the  pubhc  offices,  would  not  em- 
*'  ploy  any  of  them,  but  took  all  that  trouble  upon 
**  himself*/'      But  that  notion  is  fully  confuted  by 
Cicero,  who,  in  his  oration  for  Murena,  rallies  the  ab- 
surd rigour  of  Cato's  stoical  principles,  and  their  in- 
consistency with  common  life,  from  the  very  circum- 
stance of  his  having  a  nomenclator. — "  What  do  you 
"  mean,"  says  he,  "  by  keeping  a  nomenclator  ? — 
"  The  thing  itself  is  a  mere  cheat :  for  if  it  be  your 
"  duty  to  call  the  citizens  by  their  names,  it  is  a  shame 
"  for  your  slave  to  know  them  better  than  yourself. — 
"  Why  do  you  not  speak  to  them  before  he  has  v/his- 
"  pered  you  ?     Or,  after  he   has  v/hispered,  w-hy  do 
*"■  you  salute  them,  as  if  you  knew  them  yourself?  Or, 
"  when  you  have  gained  your  election,  why  do  you 
"  grow  careless  about  saluting  them  at  all  ?     All  this, 
*'  if  examined  by  the  rules  of  social  life,  is  right ;  but 
"  if  by  the  precepts  of  your  philosophy,  very  wick- 
"  ed  f ."     As  for  Cicero  himself,  whatever  pains  he  is 
said  to  have  taken  in  this  way,  it  appears  from  several 
passages  in  his  letters,  that  he  constantly  had  a  no- 
inenclator  at  his  elbow  on  all  public  occasions  J. 

He  was  now  in  his  thirty-seventh  year,  the  proper 
age  for  holding  the  ^dileship,  which  was  the  first  pu 
bhc  preferment  that  was  properly  called  a  Magistra- 


Porrigere-.     Hie  raultum  In  Fabia  valet,  ille  Velina  : 
Cuilibet  hie  fasces  dabit,  &c. 

Hor.  Epist.  I.  6. 

*   Piutar.  in  Cato.  f  Pro  Tvlurena,  ^6. 

X   Ut  nemo  nuUius  ordinis  homo  nomenclatori  notus  fuerit,  o^m 
ivAhi  obviam  noii  venerit.     Ad  Att.  4.  i. 


88  Tht.   life   of  Sect.  IL 

cy  ;  the  Quaestorship  being  an  office  only  or  place  of 
trust,  without  any  jurisdiction  in  the  city,  as  the  JE,- 
diles  had  "*.     These  iEdiles,  as  well  as  all  the  inferior 
officers,  were  chosen  by  the  people  voting  in  their 
tribes  ;  a  manner  of  electing  of  all  the  most  free  and 
popular  :  in  which  Cicero  was  declared  ^dile,  as  he 
was  before  elected  Quaestor,  by  the  unanimous  suffi'age 
of  all  the  tribes,  and  preferably  to  all  his  competitors  f. 
There  were  originally  but  two  vEdiles  chosen  from 
the  body  of  the  people,  on  pretence  of  easing  the  tri- 
bunes of  a  share  of  their  trouble  :  whose  chief  duty^ 
from  which  the  name  itself  was  derived,  was  to  take 
care  of  the  Edifices  of  the  city  ;  and  to  inspect  the 
markets,  weights,  and  measures  ;    and  regulate  the 
shews  and  games,  which  were  publicly  exhibited  on 
the  festivals  of  their  gods  J.     The  senate  afterwards, 
taking  an  opportunity  when  the  people  were  in  good 
humour,  prevailed  to  have  two  more  created  from 
their  order  and  of  superiqr  rank,  called  Curule  j^Ediles, 
from  the  arm-chair  of  ivory  in  which  they  sat  ||  :    But 

*  Tbis  will  explain  what  Cicero  sa)s  above  of  Pompev's  en- 
tering upon  the  Consulship,  at  an  age  when  fie  was  incapable  e- 
ven  of  the  lowest  Maaistracy.  But,  though  strictly  speaking, 
the  iEdileship  was  the  first  xvhich  was  called  a  Magistracy  ;  yet 
Cicero  himself,  and  all  the  old  writers,  give,  the  same  title  also  to 
the  Tribunate  and  (pastorship. 

•f  Me    cum    Qusestorem   in  primi':,   j^dilem  priorem — cuncti^ 
suffragils  populus  Romanus  faciebat.     lii  Pison.  i. 
X  Dionys.  Hal.  I.  6.  411. 
II  — . — dabit,  eripietque  corule 
Cui  volet,  importunus  ebur 

Hor.  Ep.  I.  6. 
Signa  quoque  in  sella  nossem  formata  curuli, 
Et  totum  Numidw5  sculptile  dentis  opus. 

Ovid,  de  Pont  4.  9. 


SixT,  II.  CICERO.-  ^9 

the  Tribunes  presently  repented  of  their  concession, 
and  forced  the  senate  to  consent,  that  these  new  JE.- 
diles  should  be  chosen  indifferently  from  the  Patrician 
or  Plebeian  families  *.  But  whatever  difference  there 
might  be  at  first  between  the  Curule  and  Plebeian 
./Ediles,  their  province  and  authority  seem  in  later 
times  to  be  the  same,  without  any  distinction  but  what 
was  nominal ;  and  the  two  who  were  chosen  the  first, 
were  probably  called  the  Curule  JK(\i\ts,  as  we  find 
Cicero  to  be  now  stiled.  This  magistracy  gave  a  pre- 
cedence in  the  senate,  or  a  priority  of  voting  and 
speaking,  next  after  the  Consuls  ^nd  Piasters ;  and 
was  the  first  that  qualified  a  man  to  have  a  picture  or 
statue  of  himself,  and  consequently  ennobled  his  fa- 
mily f  :  for  it  was  from  the  number  of  these  statues 
of  ancestors,  v^ho  had  born  Curule  offices,  that  the  fa- 
milies of  Rome  were  esteeined  the  more  or  less  noble. 

After  Cicero's  election  to  the  ^dileship,  but  before 
his  entrance  into  the  office,  he  undertook  the  famed 
prosecution  of  C,  Verres,  the  late  Praetor  of  Sicily ; 
charged  with  many  flagrant  acts  of  injustice,  rapine, 
and  cruelty,  during  his  triennial  government  of  that 
island.  And,  since  this  was  one  of  the  memorable 
transactions  of  his  hfe,  and  for  which  he  is  greatly  ce- 
lebrated by  antiquity,  it  will  be  necessary  to  give  a 
distinct  and  particular  relation  of  it. 

The  public  administration  was,  at  this  time,  in  e- 
very  branch  of  it,  most  infamously  corrupt :  the  great, 
exhausted  by  their  luxury  and  vices,  made  no  other 


*   Liv.  1.  6.  ad  fin. 

f   Antiquiorem  in   senatu  sententioe  dlcendae  locum — ^jus  iraa- 
ginis  ad  memoriam,  posteritatemque  prodsndara.     In  Verr.  5.  14. 


9^  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  II. 

\ise  of  llicir  governments,  than  to  enrich  themselves 
hy  the  spoils  of  the  foreign  provinces  :  their  business 
vras  to  extort  money  abroad,  that  they  might  purchase 
offices  at  home,  and  to  plunder  the  allies,  in  order  to 
corrupt  the   citizens.     The  oppressed,  in  the  meafi 
while,  found  it  in  vain  to  seek  reHef  at  Rome,  v/here 
there  was  none  who  cared  either  to  impeach  or  to  con- 
demn a  noble  criminal ;  the  decision  of  all  trials  being 
in  the  hands  of  men  of  the  same  condition,  who  were 
usually  involved  in  the  same  crimes,  and  openly  pros- 
tituted their  judgment,  en  these  occasions,  for  favour 
or  a  bribe.     This  had  raised  a  general  discontent  thro' 
the  empire,  with  a  particular  disgust  to  that  change 
made  by  Sylla,  of  transferring  the  right  of  judicature 
from  the  Equestrian  to  the  Senatorian  order,  which 
the  people  vv-ere  now  impatient  to  get  reversed  :  the 
prosecution  therefore  of  Verres  was  both  seasonable 
and  popular,  as  it  was  hkely  to  give  some  check  to 
the  oppressions  of  the  nobility,  as  well  as  comfort  and 
relief  to  the  distressed  subjects. 
^  AU  the  cities  of  Sicily  concurred  m  the  impeach- 
ment, excepting  Syracuse  and  Messana ;  for  these  two 
being  the  most  considerable  of  the  provinces,  Verres 
had  taken  care  to  keep  up  a  fair  correspondence  with 
them.     Syracuse  was  the  place  of  his  residence,  and 
Messana  the  repository  of  his  plunder,  whence  he  ex- 
ported it  all  to  Italy  :  and  though  he  would  treat  even 
these  on  certain  occasions  very  arbitrarily,  yet  in  some 
flagrant  instances  of  his  rapine,  that  he  might  ease 
himself  of  a  part  of  the  envy,  he  used  to  oblige  them 
v/ith  a   share   of  the    spoil  *  :  so  that,  partly  by  fear, 

,  *   Ero-o,  inquiet  aliquis,  dornvit  popuia  Syracusano  Istam  li^ir- 
eltatem,  Sec.     In  Ver.  :.  j.S. 


Sict,  11.  CICERO.  §t 

and  partly  by  favour,  he  held  them  generally  at  his 
devotion,  and  at  the  expiration  of  his  government  pro- 
cured ample  testimonials  from  them  both,  in  praise  of 
his  administration.  All  the  other  towns  were  zealous 
and  active  in  the  prosecution,  and,  by  a  common  pe- 
tition to  Cicero,  implored  him  to  undertake  the  ma- 
nagem.ent  of  it ;  to  which  he  consented,  out  of  regard  to 
the  relation  which  he  had  borne  to  them  as  quasstor^ 
and  his  promise  made  at  parting,  of  his  protection  in 
all  their  affairs.  Verres,  on  the  other  hand,  was  sup^ 
ported  by  the  most  powerful  families  of  Rome,  the 
Scipios  and  the  MeteUi,  and  defended  by  Hortensius, 
who  was  the  reigning  orator  at  the  bar,  and  usually 
stiled  the  king  of  the  forum  f ;  yet  the  difficulty  of 
the  cause,  instead  of  discouraging,  did  but  animate  Ci- 
cero the  more,  by  the  greater  glory  of  the  victory. 

He  had  no  sooner  agreed  to  undertake  it,  than  an 
unexpected  rival  started  up,  one  Q^  C^cilius,  a  Sici- 
lian by  birth,  who  had  been  quaestor  to  Verres ;  and, 
by  a  pretence  of  personal  injuries  received  from  him, 
and  a  particular  knowledge  of  his  crimes,  claimed  a 
preference  to  Cicero,  in  the  task  of  accusing  him,  or 
at  least  to  bear  a  joint  share  in  it.  But  this  pretend- 
ed enemy  was  in  reality  a  secret  friend,  employed  by 
Verres  himself,  to  get  the  cause  into  his  hands,  in  or- 
der to  betray  it :  his  pretensions,  however,  vvere  to  be 
previously  decided  by  a  kind  of  process  called  divina- 
tion, on  account  of  its  being  wholly  conjectural ;  in 


Messana  tuorum  adjutrix  sceleium,  llbidinum  testis,  praidarum 
ac  furtorum  receptrix,  &c.      In  Verr.  5.  8.  it.  11. 

+  In  foro  ob  eloquentlam  Rege  causarum.     Ascon.  Argum.  in 
Divlnat. 


92  The    LIFE  of  Sect.  II. 

which  the  judges,  without  the  help  of  witnesses,  were 
to  divine,  as  it  were,  what  was  fit  to  be  done ;  but,  in 
the  first  hearing,  Cicero  easily  shook  off  this  weak  an- 
tagonist, rallying  his  character  and  pretensions  with  a 
great  deal  of  wit  and  humour,  and  shewing,  "  that 
"  the  proper  patron  of  such  a  cause  could  not  be  one 
"  who  offered  himself  forwardly,  but  who  was  drawn 
"  to  it  unwilhngly,  from  the  mere  sense  of  his  duty ; 
"  one  whom  the  prosecutors  desired,  and  the  criminal 
"  dreaded ;  one  qualified  by  his  innocence,  as  well  as 
"  experience,  to  sustain  it  with  credit,  and  whom  the 
"  custom  of  their  ancestors  pointed  out,  and  preferred 
"  to  it.'  In  this  speech,  after  opening  the  reasons 
why,  contrary  to  his  former  practice,  and  the  rule 
which  he  had  laid  down  to  himself,  of  dedicating  his, 
labours  to  the  defence  of  the  distressed,  he  now  ap- 
peared as  an  accuser,  he  adds :  "  The  provinces  are 
•'  utterly  undone  ;  the  allies  and  tributaries  so  miser- 
**  ably  oppressed,  that  they  have  lost  even  the  hopes 
"  of  redress,  and  see  only  some  comfort  in  their  ruin  : 
*^  those,  who  would  have  the  trials  remain  in  the  hands 
**  of  the  senate,  complain,  that  there  are  no  men  of  re- 
"  putation  to  undertake  impeachments,  no  severity  in 
"  the  judges  :  the  people  of  Rome,  in  the  mean  while, 
"  though  labouring  under  many  other  grievances,  yet 
"  desire  nothing  so  ardently  as  the  ancient  disciphne 
*'  and  gravity  of  trials.  For  the  want  of  trials,  the  tri- 
**  bunician  power  is  called  for  again ;  for  the  abuse  of 
"  trials,  a  new  order  of  judges  is  demanded ;  for  the 
"  scandalous  behaviour  of  judges,  the  authority  of  the 
**  censors,  hated  before  as  too  rigid,  is  now  desired, 
"  and  grown  popular.     In  this  licence  of  profligate 


Sect.il  CICERO. 


93 


"  criminals,  in  the  daily  complaints  of  the  Roman 
"  people,  the  infamy  of  trials,  the  disgrace  of  the  whole 
"'  senatorian  order,  as  I  thought  it  the  only  remedy  to 
''  these  mischiefs,  for  men  of  abilities  and  integrity  to 
*'  undertake  the  cause  of  the  republic,  and  the  laws, 
*'  so  I  was  induced  the  more  readily,  out  of  regard  to 
**  our  common  safety,  to  come  to  the  relief  of  that  part 
"  of  the  administration  w^hich  seemed  the  most  to 
*'  stand  in  need  of  it  *." 

This  previous  point  being  settled  in  favour  of  Ci- 
cero, a  hundred  and  ten  days  w^ere  granted  to  him  by 
law,  for  preparing  the  evidence ;  in  which  he  was 
obliged  to  make  a  voyage  to  Sicily,  in  order  to  exa- 
mine witnesses,  and  collect  facts  to  support  the  indict- 
ment. He  was  aware,  that  all  Verres's  art  would  be 
employed  to  gain  time,  in  hopes  to  tire  out  the  prose- 
cutors, and  allay  the  heat  of  the  public  resentment : 
so  that  for  the  greater  dispatch  he  took  along  with 
him  his  cousin  L.  Cicero,  to  ease  him  of  a  part  of  the 
trouble,  and  finished  his  progress  through  the  island  in 
less  than  half  the  time  which  was  allowed  to  him  f . 

In  all  the  journeys  of  this  kind  the  prosecutor's 
charges  used  to  be  publicly  defrayed  by  the  province, 
or  the  cities  concerned  in  the  impeachment :  but  Ci- 
cero, to  shew  his  contempt  of  money,  and  disinterest- 
edness in  the  cause,  resolved  to  put  the  island  to  no 
charge  on  his  account ;  and  in  all  the  places  to  which 
he   came,   took  up  his  quarters  with  his   particular 

*  DiVInat.  3. 
f  Ego   SIciliam  totam  (^Mlnf^uagiuta  diebus  bic  ohlL     Ip  Verr. 
Act.  I.  2.      '.  ' 


94  The  LIFE  of  Sect.  IL 

friends  and  acquaintance,  in  a  private  manner,  and  at 
liis  own  expence  X* 

The  Sicilians  received  him  every  where  with  all  the 
honours  due  to  his  uncommon  generosity,  and  the 
pains  which  he  was  taking  in  their  service :  but  at 
Syracuse  he  met  with  some  little  affronts,  from  the  in- 
fluence of  the  praetor  Metellus,  who  employed  all  his 
power  to  obstruct  his  enquiries,  and  discourage  the 
people  from  giving  him  information.  He  was  invited, 
however,  by  the  magistrates,  with  great  respect,  into 
their  senate,  where,  after  he  had  expostulated  with  them 
a  httle,  for  the  gilt  statue  of  Verres,  which  stood  there 
before  his  face,  and  the  testimonial  which  they  had 
sent  to  Rome  in  his  favour,  they  excused  themselves 
to  him  in  their  speeches,  and  alleged,  that  what  they 
had  been  induced  to  do  on  that  occasion,  was  the  ef-= 
feet  of  force  and  fear,  obtained  by  the  intrigues  of  a 
few,  against  the  general  inclination ;  and,  to  convince 
him  of  their  sincerity,  delivered  into  his  hands  the  au- 
thentic accounts  of  many  robberies  and  injuries  which 
their  own  city  had  suffered  from  Verres,  in  common 
with  the  rest  of  the  province.  As  soon  as  Cicero  re- 
tired, they  declared  his  cousin  Lucius  the  public  guest 
and  friend  of  the  city,  for  having  signified  the  same 
good  will  towards  them,  which  Cicero  himself  had  al- 
ways done ;  and,  by  a  second  decree,  revoked  the  pu- 
bUc  praises  v/hich  they  had  before  given  to  Verres. 


f  In  Sicilam  sum  inquirendi  causa  profectus,  quo  in  negotio — 
ad  hospites  meos,  ac  necessaiios,  causae  communis  defensor  diver- 
li  potius,  qufim  ad  eos,  qui  a  me  consilium  petivissent.  Nemini 
meus  adventus  labori  aut  sumntui,  neque  publice  neque  privatim 
hh.     In  Vcrr.  i,  i.  6. 


Sect.  n.  CICERO.  95 

Here  Cicero's  old  antagonist,  Caecilius,  appealed  against 
them  to  the  praetor,  which  provoked  the  populace  to 
such  a  degree,  that  Cicero  could  hardly  restrain  them 
from  doing  him  violence :  the  praetor  dismissed  the 
senate,  and  declared  their  act  to  be  irregular,  and 
would  not  suffer  a  copy  of  it  to  be  given  to  Cicero ; 
whom  he  reproached  at  the  same  time  for  betraying 
the  dignity  of  Rome,  by  submitting  not  only  to  speak 
in  a  foreign  senate,  but  in  a  foreign  language,  and  to 
talk  Greek  among  Grecians  :j:.  But  Cicero  answered 
him  with  such  spirit  and  resolution,  urging  the  sanc- 
tion of  the  laws,  and  the  penalty  of  contemning  them, 
that  the  praetor  was  forced  at  last  to  let  him  carry  a- 
way  all  the  vouchers  and  records  which  he  required  ^, 
But  the  city  of  Messana  continued  obstinate  to  the 
last,  and  firm  to  its  engagements  with  Verres ;  so  that 
when  Cicero  came  thither,  he  received  no  compli- 
ments from  the  magistrates,  no  offer  of  refreshments 
or  quarters,  but  was  left  to  shift  for  himself,  and  to  be 
taken  care  of  by  private  friends.  An  indignity,  he 
says,  which  had  never  been  offered  before  to  a  sena^ 
tor  of  Rome ;  whom  there  was  not  a  king  or  city  up-^ 


t  Ait  indignum  facinus  esse,  quod  ego  in  senatu  Gr£Bca  verba, 
facissem  :  quod  quidem  apud  Gnscos  Greece  locutus  essera,  id 
feni  nullo  modo  posse.      In  Verr.  4.  66.     Vid.  62,  6^,  64. 

^  Valerius  Maximus  says,  that  the  Roman  magistrates  were  an- 
ciently so  jealous  of  the  honour  of  the  republic,  that  they  never 
gave  an  answer  to  foreigners  but  in  Latin  ;  and  obliged  the  Greeks 
themselves  to  speak  to  them  always  by  an  interpreter,  not  only 
in  Rome,  but  in  Greece  and  Asia  ;  in  order  to  inculcate  a  reve- 
rence  tor  the  Latin  tongue  through  all  nations.  [Lib.  2.  2.]  But 
this  piece  of  discipline  had  long  been  laid  aside  ;  and  the  Greek 
language  had  obtained  such  a  vogue  in  Rome  itself,  that  all  the 
great  and  noble  were  obliged  not  only  to  learn,  but  ambitious  e- 
%'£ry  where  to  speak  it. 

*  Vid.  in  Vcrr.  1,  4.  62,  6^^  64,  6y 


^6  The   life   of  SfcT.  IL 

on  earth,  that  was  not  proud  to  invite  and  accommo- 
date with  a  lodging.  But  he  mortified  them  for  it 
severely  at  the  trial,  and  threatened  to  call  them  to 
an  account  before  the  senate,  as  for  an  affront  to  the 
whole  order  f .  After  he  had  finished  his  business  in 
Sicily,  having  reason  to  apprehend  some  danger  in  re- 
turning home  by  land,  not  only  from  the  robbers  who 
infested  all  those  roads,  but  from  the  malice  and  con* 
trivance  of  Verres,  he  chose  to  come  back  by  sea,  and 
arrived  at  Rome,  to  the  surprise  of  his  adversaries, 
much  sooner  than  he  was  expected  J,  and  full  charged 
with  most  manifest  proofs  of  Verres's  guilt. 

On  his  return  he  found,  v/hat  he  suspected,  a  strong 
cabal,  formed  to  prolong  the  affair,  by  all  the  arts  of 
delay  which  interest  or  money  could  procure  *,  with 
design  to  throw  it  off  at  least  to  the  next  year,  when 
Hortensius  and  Metellus  were  to  be  consuls,  and  Me- 
tellus's  brother  a  prastor,  by  whose  united  authority 
the  prosecution  might  easily  be  baffled  :  and  they  had 
already  carried  the  raatter  so  far,  that  there  was  not 
time  enough  left  within  the  current  year  to  go  through 
the  cause  in  the  ordinary  forms.  This  put  Cicero  up- 
on a  new  project,  of  shortening  the  method  of  pro  - 
ceeding  f ,  so  as  to  bring  it  to  an  issue  at  any  rate  be  - 


f  Ecquse  civitas  est— Rex  denique  ecqiiis  est,  qui  senatorem 
populi  Romani  tecto  ac  domo  non  invitet  ?  &c.      In  Verr.  4.  u.. 

X  Non  ego  a  Vibone  Veliam  parvulo  naviglo  Inter  fajji'ivorum, 
praidoniim,  ac  tua  tela,  venlssera — omnis  ilia  mea  festinatio  fuit 
cum  periculo  capitis.  3n  Verr.  1.  2.  40.  Vid.  Ascon,  Argum.  la 
Divinat. 

*  Reperio,  judlces,  Videc  ab  istis  consilia  inita  et  constltuta,  ut 
quacunque  opus  esset  ratione  res  ita  duceretur,  ut  apuJ  M.  Me- 
tellum  Praetorem  causa  diceretur.     In  Verr.  Act.  i.  9. 

f  Cicero   summo  con^llio   videtur   in   Verrem   vel  contrahere 

tempore 


Sect.  IL  CICERO.  95 

fore  the  present  praetor  M.  Glabrio  and  his  assessors, 
who  were  hke  to  be  equal  judges  *,  Instead,  there- 
fore, of  spending  any  time  in  speaking,  or  employing 
his  eloquence,  as  usual,  in  enforcing  and  aggravating 
the  several  articles  of  the  charge,  he  resolved  to  do 
nothing  more  than  produce  his  witnesses,  and  offer 
them  to  be  interrogated :  where  the  novelty  of  the 
thing,  and  the  notoriety  of  the  guilt,  which  appeared 
at  once,  from  the  very  recital  of  the  depositions,  so 
confounded  Hortensius,  that  he  had  nothing  to  say  for 
his  client,  who,  despairing  of  all  defence,  submitted, 
without  expecting  the  sentence,  to  a  voluntary  exile  f . 
From  this  account  it  appears,  that  of  the  seven  ex- 
cellent orations,  which  now  remain  on  the  subject  of 
this  trial,  the  two  first  only  were  spoken,  the  one  cal- 
led the  divination,  the  other  the  first  action,  which  m' 
nothing  more  than  a  general  preface  to  the  whole 
cause  :  the  other  five  were  published  afterwards,  as 
tbey  were  prepared  and  intended  to  be  spoken,  if  Ver^ 
res  had  made  a  regular  defence  :  for  as  this  was  the 
only  cause  in  which  Cicero  had  yet  been  engaged,  or 
ever  designed  to  be  engaged,  as  an  accuser,  so  he  was 
willing  to  leave  these  orations  as  a  specimen  of  his  a- 
bihties  in  that  way,  and  the  pattern  of  a  just  and  dili«. 

tempora  dicendi  maluisse,  quam  in  eum  annum,  quo  erat  Q^  Hor- 
tensius Consul  futurus,  incidere.  Quintil.  6.  5. 

*  Mihi  certum  est  non  committere,  ut  in  hac  causa  praetor  no- 
bis consiliumque  mutetur.     Act.  1.  18. 

f  Faciam  hoc — ut  utar  testibus  statim*  Ibid. — Sed  tantum- 
modo  cit^ret  testes — et  eos  Hortensio  interrogandos  daret :  qua 
arte  ita  est  fatigatus  Hortensius,  ut  nihil,  contra  quod  diceret,  in- 
veniret :  ipse  etiam  Vcrres,  desperato  patrocinio,  sua  sponte  dis* 
cederet  in  exilium,  Argum,  Asconii  in  Act.  i* 

Vol.  I,  G 


98  The   LIFE  of  Sect.  II. 

the  sequel  of  this  history ;  for  though  few  of  their  go- 
vernors ever  came  up  to  the  full  measure  of  Verres's 
iniquity,  yet  the  greatest  part  were  guilty  in  some  de- 
gree of  every  kind  of  oppression,  with  which  Verres 
himself  was  charged.  This  Cicero  frequently  inti- 
mates in  his  pleading,  and  urges  the  necessity  of  con- 
demning him  for  the  sake  of  the  example,  and  to  pre- 
vent such  practices  from  growing  too  general  to  be 
controuled  *. 

The  accusation  was  divided  into  four  heads ;  i.  Of 
corruption  in  judging  causes ;  2.  Of  extortion  in  col- 
lecting the  tithes  and  revenues  of  the  republic  :  3.  Of 
plundering  the  subjects  of  their  statues  and  wrought 
plate,  which  was  his  pecuhar  taste  :  4.  Of  illegal  and 
tyrannical  punishments.  I  shall  give  a  specimen  or 
two  of  each,  from  the  great  number  that  Cicero  has 
collected,  w^hich  yet,  as  he  tells  us,  was  but  a  small 
extract  from  an  infinitely  greater,  of  which  Verres  had 
been  actually  guilty. 

There  was  not  an  estate  in  Sicily,  of  any  consider- 
able value,  which  had  been  disposed  of  by  will  for 
twenty  years  past,  where  Verres  had  not  his  emissaries 
at  work  to  find  some  flaw  in  the  title,  or  some  omis- 
sion in  executing  the  conditions  of  the  testator,  as  a 
ground  of  extorting  money  from  the  heir.  Dio  of 
Halesa,  a  m^tn  of  eminent  quality,  was  in  quiet  posses- 
sion of  a  great  inheritance,  left  to  him  the  by  will  of  a  re- 
lation, w^ho  had  enjoined  him  to  erect  certain  statues- 


*  Quid  igitur  dicet  ?  fecisse  alios. — Sunt  quoedam  omnino  in  te 
slngulaiia — qusedam  t.ibi  cum  multis  communia.  Ergo  omittani 
tuos  peculatus,  ut  ob  jus  dicendum  pecunias  acceptas — quae  foiii- 
tan  alii  quoque  fecerinl,  Sec.     In  Verr.  1,  3.  88r 


Sect.il  CICERO.'  :g^ 

in  the  square  of  the  city,  on  the  penalty  of  forfeiting 
the  estate  to  the  Erycinian  Venus.  The  statues  were 
erected  according  to  the  will ;  yet  Verres  having  found 
some  httle  pretence  for  cavilling,  suborned  an  ob- 
scure Sicihan,  one  of  his  own  informers,  to  sue  for  the 
estate  in  the  name  of  Venus ;  and,  when  the  cause 
was  brought  before  him,  forced  Dio  to  compound  with 
him  for  about  nine  thousand  pounds,  and  to  yield  to 
him  also  a  famous  breed  of  mares,  Avith  all  the  valua- 
ble plate  and  furniture  of  his  house  ^, 

Sopater,  an  eminent  citizen  of  Halici^e,  had  been 
accused  before  the  late  praetor  C.  Sacerdos  of  a  capital 
crime,  of  which  he  was  honourably  acquitted  :  but 
when  Ven-es  succeeded  to  the  government,  the  pro- 
secutors renewed  their  charge,  and  brought  him  to  a 
second  trial  before  their  new  pr^tor ;  to  which  Sopa- 
ter, trusting  to  his  innocence  and  the  judgment  of  Sa- 
cerdos, readily  submitted  without  any  apprehension  of . 
danger.  After  one  hearing  the  cause  was  adjourned, 
when  Timarchides,  the  freedman  and  principal  agent 
of  V'erres,  came  to  Sopater,  and  admonished  him  as  a 
friend,  not  to  depend  too  much  on  the  goodness  of  his 
cause  and  his  former  absolution,  for  that  his  adver- 
saries had  resolved  to  offer  money  to  the  praetor,  who 
would  rather  take  it  for  saving,  than  destroying  a 
criminal,  and  was  unwilling  likewise  to  reverse  the 
judgment  of  his  predecessor.     Sopater,  surprized  at 

*  Hie  est  Dio — de  quo  multis  primartis  viris  testibus  satlsfac- 
tum  est,  H-S  undecies  numeratum  esse,  ut  earn  causam,  in  qua  ne 
tenuissima  quidem  susplcio  posset  esse,  isto  cognoscente  obtineret : 
praeterea  p^reges  nobilisslmarum  equarum  abactos  :  argenti  vestis- 
que  stragulaj  domi  c^uod  fuerit  e^se  direptum,      In  Vcrr.  1.  2.  7- 

G   3 


too  twz  LIFE  OF  Sect,  it 

this  intimation,  and  not  knowing  what  answer  to  make, 
promised  to  consider  of  it ;  but  declared  himself  un- 
able to  advance  any  large  sum.     Upon  consulting  his 
friends,  they  all  advised  him  to  take  the  hint,  and  make 
up  the  matter  ;  so  that,  in  a  second  meeting  with  Ti- 
marchides,  after  alleging  his  particular  want  of  money, 
he  compounded  the  affair  for  about  seven  hundred 
pounds,  which  he  paid  down  upon  the  spot  *.     He 
now  took  all  his  trouble  to  be  over  :  but  after  another 
hearing,  the  cause  was  still  adjourned ;  and  Timar- 
chides  came  again  to  let  him  know,  that  his  accuser*? 
had  offered  a  much  larger  sum  than  what  he  had  gi- 
ven, and  advised  him,  if  he  was  wise,  to  consider  well 
what  he  had  to  do.     But  Sopater,  provoked  by  a  pro- 
ceeding  so  impudent,  had  not  the  patience  even  to 
hear  Timarchides,  but  flatly  told  him,  that  they  might 
do  what  they  pleased,  for  he  was  determined  to  give 
no  more.     All  his  friends  were  of  the  same  mind, 
imagining,  that  whatever  Verres  himself  might  intend 
to  do,  he  would  not  be  able  to  draw  the  other  judges 
into  it,  being  all  men  of  the  first  figure  in  Syracuse, 
who  had  judged  the  same  cause  already  with  the  late 
praetor,  and  acquitted  Sopater.  When  the  third  hearing 
came  on,  Verres  ordered  Petilius,  a  Roman  knight,  who 
was  one  of  the  bench,  to  go  and  hear  a  private  cause, 
appointed  for  that  day,  and  of  which  he  was  like-r 
wise  the  judge.  Petilius  refused,  alleging  that  the  rest 


*  Post  ad  amicos  retnlit.  Qui  cum  ei  fulssent  auctores  redi-. 
mendte  salutis,  ad  Tlmarchidem  venit.  Exposltis  guis  difBculta- 
tibus,  homlnem  ad  H  S  lxxx  pcrducit,  eamque  ei  pccuniam  nuvo 
merat.     In  Verr.  !.  2.  28. 


Sect.  IL  CICERO.  lor 

of  his  assessors  would  be  engaged  in  the  present  trial. 
But  Verres  declared,  that  thej  might  all  go  with  him 
too  if  they  pleased,  for  he  did  not  desire  to  detain 
them  ;  upon  which  they  all  presently  withdrew,  some 
to  sit  as  judges,  and  to  serve  theii^  friends  in  the  other 
cause.  Minucius,  Sopater's  advocate,  seeing  the  bench 
thus  cleared,  took  it  for  granted  that  Verres  would 
not  proceed  in  the  *  trial  that  day,  and  was  going  out 
of  the  Court  along  with  the  rest ;  when  Verres  called 
him  back,  and  ordered  him  to  enter  upon  the  defence 
of  his  client.  "Defend  him!"  savs  he, '"  before  whom? 
"  Before  me,"  rephed  Verres,  "  if  you  think  me  wor- 
"  thy  to  try  a  paultry  Greek  and  Sicihan.  I  do  not 
"  dispute  your  worthiness,"  says  Minucius,  "  but  wish 
"  only  that  your  assessors  were  present,  who  were  so 
"  well  acquainted  with  the  merits  of  the  cause.  Be- 
**  gin,  I  tell  you,"  says  Verres,  "  for  they  cannot  be 
"  present.  No  more  can  I,"  replied  Minucius ;  for 
"  Petilius  begged  of  me  also  to  go  and  sit  with  him 
"  upon  the  other  trial."  And  when  Verres  with  many 
threats  required  him  to  stay,  he  absolutely  refused  to 
act,  since  the  bench  was  dismissed,  and  so  left  the 
Coi^rt  together  with  all  the  rest  of  Sopater's  friends. — 
This  somewhat  discomposed  Verres ;  but  after  he  had 
been  whispered  several  times  by  his  clerk  Timarchides, 
he  commanded  Sopater  to  speak  what  he  had  to  say 
^n  his  own  defence.  Sopater  implored  him  by  all  the 
gods  not  to  proceed  to  sentence,  till  the  rest  of  the 
judges  could  be  present :  but  Verres  called  for  the 
witnesses,  and,  after  he  had  heard  one  or  two  of  them 
in  a  nummary  way,  without  their  being  interrogated 

G4 


102  The   life   of  Sect.  II. 

by  any  one,  put  an  end  to  the  trial,  and  condemned 
the  criminal  *. 

Among  the  various  branches  of  Verres's  illegal  gains, 
the  sale  of  offices  was  a  considerable  article  :  for  there 
was  not  a  magistracy  of  any  kind  to  be  disposed  of 
either  by  lot  or  a  free  vote,  which  he  did  not  arbitra- 
rily sell  to  the  best  bidder.  The  priesthood  of  Jupi- 
ter at  Syracuse  was  of  all  others  the  most  honourable  : 
the  method  of  electing  into  it,  was  to  chuse  three  by 
a  general  vote  out  of  three  several  classes  of  the  citi- 
zens, whose  names  were  afterwards  cast  into  an  urn, 
and  the  first  of  them  that  was  drawn  out  obtained  the 
priesthood.  Verres  had  sold  it  to  Theomnastus,  and 
procured  him  to  be  named  in  the  first  instance  among 
the  three  ;  but  as  the  remaining  part  was  to  be  decid- 
ed by  lot,  people  were  in  great  expectation  to  see  how 
he  would  manage  that  which  was  not  so  easily  in  his 
power.  He  commanded,  therefore,  in  the  first  place, 
that  Theomnastus  should  be  declared  priest  without 
casting  lots ;  but  when  the  Syracusans  remonstrated 
against  it  as  contrary  to  their  rehgion  and  the  law, 
he  called  for  the  law,  which  ordered,  "  that  as  many 
"  lots  should  be  made  as  there  were  persons  nominat- 
"  ed,  and  that  he,  whose  name  came  out  the  first, 
"  should  be  the  priest."  He  asked  them,  "  How  ma- 
"  ny  were  nominated  ?"  they  answered,  "  Three  :" — 
•*  And  what  more  then,"  says  he,  "  is  required  by  the 
y— 

*  Turn  repente  iste  testes  citari  jubet.  Dicit  unus  Sc  alter  bre- 
viter.  Nihil  interrogatur.  PraBco,  dixisse  pronunciat.  lite — 
properans  de  sella  exiluit  ;  hominem  innorentem,  a  C.  Sacerdote 
absoJu'.Lim,  indicta  causa,  de  sentcntia  scribie,  medici,  haruspicis*. 
que  condemnavit,     lb,  ^.o. 


Sect.  II.  CICERO.  J03 

"  law,  than  that  three  lots  should  be  cast,  and  one  of 
*'  them  drawn  out  ?"  They  answered,  "■  Nothing  :" 
upon  which  he  presently  ordered  three  lots,  with 
Theomnastus's  name  upon  every  one  of  them,  to  be 
cast  into  the  urn,  and  so,  by  drawing  out  any  one,  the 
election  was  determined  in  his  favour  *. 

The  tenth  of  the  corn  of  all  the  conquered  towns  in 
Sicily  belonged  to  the  Romans,  as  it  had  formerly 
done  to  their  own  princes,  and  was  always  gathered 
in  kind  and  sent  to  Rome  :  but  as  this  was  not  suffi- 
cient for  the  public  use,  the  pr^tors  had  an  appoint- 
ment also  of  money  from  the  treasury,  to  purchase 
such  farther  stores  as  were  necessary  for  the  current 
year.  Now,  the  manner  of  collecting  and  ascertain- 
ing the  quantity  of  the  tithes,  was  settled  by  an  old 
law  of  king  Hiero,  the  most  moderate  and  equitable 
of  all  their  ancient  tyrants :  but  Verres,  by  a  strange 
sort  of  edict,  ordered,  that  the  owner  should  pay  what- 
ever the  collector  demanded  ;  but  if  he  exacted  more 
than  his  due,  that  he  should  be  liable  to  a  fine  of  eight 
times  the  value  f .  By  this  edict  he  threw  the  pro- 
perty, as  it  were,  of  the  island,  into  the  power  of  his 
officers,  to  whom  he  had  farmed  out  the  tithes  ;  who, 
in  virtue  of  the  new  law,  seized  into  their  hands  the 
whole  crop  of  every  town,  and  obhged  the  owners  to 

*  Numquid  igitur  opportet  nisi  tres  sortesxconjici,  unam  eda- 
ci  ?  Nihil.  Conjici  jubet  tres,  in  quibus  omnibus  scriptum  esset 
nomen  Theomnasti.  Fit  clamor  maximus — ita.  Jovis  illud  sa- 
cerdotium  amplissimum  per  banc  rationem  Theomnasto  datur. 
Ibid.  51. 

f  Tota  Hieronica  lege — rejecta  et  repudiata— edictum,  judi- 
ces,  audite  praeclarum  :  quantum  decumanus  edidisset  aratorcm 
sibi  decumae  dare  opportere,  ut  tantum  arator  decuraano  dare  co- 
geretur,  &c.     In  Verr.  1.  5.  10, 


io4  The  life   of  Sect.  IL 

give  them  whatever  share  of  it,  or  composition  in  mo- 
ney, they  thought  fit ;  and,  if  any  refused,  they  not 
only  plundered  them  of  all  their  goods,  but  even  tor- 
tured their  persons,  till  they  had  forced  them  to  a 
compliance  *.  By  these  means,  Verres  having  gather- 
ed a  sufficient  quantity  of  corn  from  the  very  tithes 
to  supply  the  full  demand  of  Rome,  put  the  whole 
money,  that  he  had  received  from  the  treasury,  into 
his  own  pocket  f ;  and  used  to  brag,  that  he  had  got 
enough  from  this  single  article  to  screen  him  from  a- 
ny  impeachment :  and  not  without  reason  ;  since  one 
of  his  clerks,  who  had  the  management  of  this  corn- 
money,  was  proved  to  have  got  above  ten  thousand 
pounds  from  the  very  fees  which  were  allowed  for  col- 
lecting it  f .  The  poor  husbandmen  in  the  mean  time, 
having  no  remedy,  were  forced  to  run  away  from  their 
houses,  and  desert  the  tillage  of  the  ground  ;  so  that, 
from  the  registers,  which  were  punctually  kept  in  e  - 
very  town,  of  all  the  occupiers  of  arable  lands  in  the 
island,  it  appeared,  that,  during  the  three  years  go- 
vernment of  Verres,  above  two-thirds  of  the  whole 
iiumber  had  entirely  deserted  their  farms,  and  left 
their  lands  uncultivated  11 . 


*  ApTonius  venit,  omne  Instrumentum  diripoiit,  fam'rliam  ab- 
duxit,  pecus  abegit — hominem  corripi  et  suspend!  jussit  in  oleasr 
tro,   &c.     lb.  23. 

f  jam  vero  ab  isto  omnem  illnm  ex  aerario  pecunlam,  quain 
his  oportuit  civitatlbus  pro  framento  dari,  lucrifactam  videti*. 
lb.  75,  &c. 

:|:  Tu  ex  pecunia  public?  H.  S.  tredecies  scribam  tuum  per- 
mJssu  tuo  cum  abstulisse  tateare,  reliquam  tibi  ullam  defensionem 
putas  esse  ?      lb.  80. 

II  Agyrinensis  ager — ducentos  quinquaginta  aratores  habult  pri- 
xno  anno  Prceturae  tuae.  Quid  tertio  anno  ?  Octoginta — hoc 
perseque  in  omni  agro  dccumano  reperietis.     lb.  51,  52,  &:c. 


SrxT.  IL  CICERO.  lo^ 

Apronius,  a  man  of  infamous  life  and  character, 
was  the  principal  farmer  of  the  tithes  :  who,  when  re- 
proached with  the  cruelty  of  his  exactions,  made  no 
scruple  to  own,  that  the  chief  share  of  the  gain  was 
placed  to  the  account  of  the  praetor.  These  words 
were  charged  upon  him  in  the  presence  of  Verres  and 
the  magistrates  of  Syracuse  by  one  Rubrius,  who  of- 
fered a  wager  and  trial  upon  the  proof  of  them  ;  but 
Verres,  without  shewing  any  concern  or  emotion  at 
it,  privately  took  care  to  hush  up  the  matter,  and  pre- 
vent the  dispute  from  proceeding  any  farther  *. 

The  same  wager  was  offered  a  second  time,  and  in 
the  same  public  manner,  by  one  Scandilius,  who  loud- 
ly demanded  judges  to  decide  it :  to  which  Verres, 
not  being  able  to  appease  the  clamour  of  the  man, 
was  forced  to  consent,  and  named  them  presently  out 
of  his  own  band,  Cornelius  his  physician,  Volusius  his 
soothsayer,  and  Valerius  his  crier  ;  to  whom  he  usual- 
ly referred  all  disputes,  in  which  he  had  any  interest. 
Scandilius  insisted  to  have  them  named  out  of  the  ma- 
gistrates of  Sicily,  or  that  the  matter  should  be  refer- 
red to  Rome  :  but  Verres  declared,  that  he  would  not 
trust  a  cause  in  which  his  own  reputation  was  at  stake-, 
to  any  but  his  own  friends  ;  and  when  Scandilius  re- 
fused to  produce  his  proofs  before  such  arbitrators, 
Verres  condemned  him  in  the  forfeiture  of  his  wager, 
which  was  forty  pounds,  to  Apronius  f . 

*  Eorum  omnium,  qui  decumani  vocabautur,  pvinceps  erat 
Q^  ille  Apronius,  quern  videtis  :  de  cujas  improbitate  singular! 
gravissimarum  legationum  querimonias  audistls.      lb.  9. 

Cum  palam  Syracusis,  te  audlente,  maxirao  conventu,  P.  Ru- 
brius Q-^  Apronium  sponsione  lacessivit,  ni  Apronius  dictitaret,  te 
sibi  in  decumis  esse  socium,  &c.     lb.  57. 

f  Hie  tu  medicum  et  haruspicera,  et  praeconetn  tuum  rscupera. 


io6  The  LIFE  of  Sect.  II, 

C.  Heius  was  the  principal  citizen  of  Messana,  where 
he  hved  very  splendidly  in  the  most  magnificent  house 
of  the  city,  and  used  to  receive  all  the  Roman  magis- 
trates with  great  hospitality.  He  had  a  chapel  in  his 
house,  built  by  his  ancestors,  and  furnished  with  cer- 
tain images  of  the  gods,  of  admirable  sculpture  and 
inestimable  value.  On  one  side  stood  a  Cupid  of  mar- 
ble, made  by  Praxiteles  :  on  the  other,  a  Hercules 
of  brass,  by  Miron ;  with  a  httle  altar  before  each 
god,  to  denote  the  rehgion  and  sanctity  of  the  place. 
There  Vv^ere  likewise  two  other  figures  of  brass  of  two 
yoLtng  women,  called  Canephorae,  with  baskets  on 
their  heads,  carrying  things  proper  for  sacrifice  after 
the  manner  of  the  Athenians,  the  work  of  Polycletus. 
These  statues  were  an  ornament  not  only  to  Heius, 
but  to  Messana  itself,  being  known  to  every  body  at 
Rome,  and  constantly  visited  by  all  strangers,  to 
whom  Heius's  house  was  always  open.  The  Cupid 
Iiad  been  borrowed  by  C.  Claudius,  for  the  decoration 
of  the  forum  in  his  ^dilesliip,  and  was  carefully  sent 
back  to  Messana ;  but  Verres,  while  he  was  Heius's 
guest,  would  never  suffer  him  to  rest,  till  he  had 
stript  his  chapel  of  the  gods  and  the  Canephorae  ;  and, 
to  cover  the  act  from  an  appearance  of  robbery,  forced 
Heius  to  enter  them  into  his  accounts,  as  if  they  had 
been  sold  to  him  for  fifty  pounds ;  whereas  at  a  pubHc 


tores  dabis  ?  [lb.  60.]  Iste  viros  optimos  recuperatores  dat, 
eundem  ilium  medicum  Cornelium,  et  haruspicem  Volusium,  et 
Valerlum  praeconem.      Jbid.  21.  it.  11. 

Scandilius  postulate  de  conventu  recuperatores.  Turn  iste  ne- 
^at  se  de  existimatione  sua  cuiquam,  nisi  suis,  commi^suium — co- 
get  Scandiliam  quinqiie  ilia  millia  nummum  dare  atque  adnu- 
inerare  Apronio.     ib.  60. 


Sect.  II.  CICERO.  107 

auction  iii  Rome,  as  Cicero  says,  they  had  known  one 
single  statue  of  brass,  of  a  moderate  size,  sold  a  little 
before  for  a  thousand  *.  Verres  had  seen  likewise  at 
Heius's  house  a  suit  of  curious  tapestry,  reckoned  the 
best  in  Sicily,  being  of  the  kind  which  was  called  At- 
talic,  richly  interwoven  with  gold ;  this  he  resolved 
also  to  extort  from  Heius,  but  not  till  he  had  secured 
the  statues.  As  soon  therefore  as  he  left  Messana,  he 
began  to  urge  Heius  by  letters,  to  send  him  the  tapes- 
try to  Agrigentum,  for  some  particular  service  which 
he  pretended  ;  but  when  he  had  once  got  it  into  his 
hands,  he  never  restored  it  f .  Now  Messana,  as  it 
is  said  above,  was  the  only  city  of  Sicily  that  perse- 
vered to  the  last  in  the  interest  of  Verres  ;  and  at  the 
time  of  the  trial  sent  a  public  testimonial  in  his  praise 
by  a  deputation  of  its  eminent  citizens,  of  which  this 
very  Heius  was  the  chief.  Yet  when  he  came  to  be 
interrogated  and  cross-examined  by  Cicero,  he  frank- 
ly declared,  that  "  though  he  was  obliged  to  perform 
**■  what  the  authority  of  his  city  had  imposed  upon 
"  him,  yet  that  he  had  been  plundered  by  Verres  of 
"  his  gods,  which  were  left  to  him  by  his  ancestors. 


*  Erat  apud  Heium  sacrarium  magna  cum  dignitate  In  tedlbus, 
a  majoribus  traditum,  perantiquum  :  in  quo  signa  pulcherrima  qua- 
tuor,  summo  artificio.  summa  nobilitate,  &.c.  [In  Verr.  1.  4.  2.J 
C.  Claudius,  cujus  iEdilitatem  raagnificentissimum  scimus  fuisse, 
usus  est  hoc  Cupidine  tarn  diu,  dum  forum  Diis  immortalibus, 
populoque  Romano  habult  ornatum. — Hsec  omnia,  quce  d'xi, 
signa  ah  Heio,  de  sacrario  Verres  abstulit,  &.C.  ib.  3.  Itajus- 
sisti,  opinor,  ipsum  in  tabuhs  referre.  [ib.  6.]  In  aucliune* 
signum  geneum  non  magnum  H.  S.  cxx.  nnllibus  venire  non  vidi- 
mus ?   lb.  7. 

t  Quid  ?  ilia  Attalica,  tota  Sicilia  norainata,  ab  eodera  Heio 
peripetasmata  cracre  oblitus  es  f—At  quomodo  abstulit  ?  6ic, 
ib.  12. 


lo-S  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  U'. 

**  and  which  he  never  would  have  parted  with  on  any 
*'  condition  whatsoever,  if  it  had  been  in  his  power 
"  to  keep  them  *." 

Verres  had  in  his  family  two  brothers  of  Cilicia^ 
the  one  a  painter,  the  other  a  sculptor,  on  whose 
judgment  he  chiefly  relied,  in  his  choice  of  pictures 
and  statues,  and  all  other  pieces  of  art.  They  had 
been  forced  to  fly  from  their  country,  for  robbing  a 
temple  of  Apollo,  and  were  now  employed  to  hunt 
out  every  thing  that  was  curious  and  valuable  in  Si- 
cily, whether  of  public  or  private  property.  These 
brothers  having  given  Verres  notice  of  a  large  silver 
ewer,  belonging  to  Pamphilus  of  Lilybaeum,  of  most 
elegant  work,  made  by  Boethus  f ,  Verres  immediate^ 
ly  sent  for  it,  and  seized  it  for  his  own  use  :  and  while 
Pamphilus  was  sitting  pensive  at  home,  lamenting  the 
loss  of  his  rich  vessel,  the  chief  ornament  of  his  side- 
board, and  the  pride  of  his  feasts,  another  messenger 
came  running  to  him,  with  orders  to  bring  two  silver 
cups  also,  which  he  was  known  to  have,  adorned  with 
figures  in  relief,  to  be  shewn  to  the  praetor,  Pamphi- 
lus, for  fear  of  greater  mischief,  took  up  his  cups,  and 
carried  them  away  himself:  when  he  came  to  the  pa- 
lace, Verres  happened  to  be  asleep,  but  the  brothers 
were  walking  in  the  hall,  and  waiting  to  receive  him  : 
v/ho,  as  soon  as  they  saw  him,  asked  for  the  cups, 


*  Qoid  enlm  poterat   Hems   respondere  ? Prlmo   dixit,  se 

ilium  publice  kudare,  quod  sibi  ita  mandatum  esset  :  delnde 
iieque  se  ilia  habuisse  venalia,  neq_ue  ulla  conditione,  si  utrum 
vellet  liceret,  adduci  unquam  potulsse  ut  venderet  ilia,  &.c.  Jn 
Vcrr.  4.  7. 

f  A  celebrated  Carthaginian  sculptor,  who  left  many  famous 
tfrorks  behind  him.     Vid.  Plin.  Hist.  Nat.  lib.  33,  1 2.  it  lib.  .^4.  8. 


Sect.  IL  CICERO. 


K>Q 


which  he  accordmgly  produced.  They  commended 
the  work,  whilst  he,  with  a  sorrowful  face,  began  to 
complain,  that  if  they  took  his  cups  from  him,  he 
should  have  nothing  of  any  value  left  in  his  house. 
The  brothers,  seeing  his  concern,  asked  how  much  he 
would  give  to  preserve  them ;  in  a  word,  they  de- 
manded forty  crowns ;  he  offered  twenty  :  but  while 
they  were  debating,  Verres  awaked  and  called  for  the 
cups,  which  being  presently  shewn  to  him,  the  bro- 
thers took  occasion  to  observe,  that  they  did  not  an- 
swer to  the  account  that  had  been  given  of  them, 
and  were  but  of  paultry  work,  not  fit  to  be  seen  a- 
mong  his  plate ;  to  whose  authority  Verres  readily 
submitted,  and  so  Pamphilus  saved  his  cups  f . 

In  the  city  of  Tindaris  there  was  a  celebrated  image  of 
Mercury,  which  had  been  restored  to  them  from  Carth- 
age by  Scipio,  and  was  worshipped  by  the  people  with 
singular  devotion,  and  an  annual  festival  held  in  honour 
of  it.  This  statue  Verres  resolved  to  have,  and  command- 
ed  the  chief  magistrate,  Sopater,  to  see  it  taken  down, 
and  conveyed  to  Messana.  But  the  people  were  so 
inflamed  and  mutinous  upon  it,  that  Verres  did  not 
persist  in  his  demand  at  that  time ;  but  when  he  was 
leaving  the  place,  renewed  his  orders  to  Sopater,  with 
severe  threats,  to  see  his  command  executed.  Sopa- 
ter proposed  the  matter  to  the  senate,  who  universal- 


f  Cybirate  sunt  fratres — quorum  alterum  fingere  opiniore  cera 
solitum  esse,  alterum  esse  pictorem. — Canes  venaticos  diceres,  ita 
odorabantur  omnia  et  pervestigabant.      In  Verr.  4.  i^, 

Memini  Pamphilum  Lllyb£etenam — mihi  narrare,  cum  istc  ab 
sese  hydriam  Boethi  manu  factam,  prseclaro  opere  et  grandi  pon- 
dere  per  potestatem  abstulisset  j  sc  sane  trlsten^^  et  conturb-itum 
domum  revertiss*!;,  &c.     lb.  i^. 


no  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  I. 

ly  protested  against  it :  in  short,  Verres  returned  to 
the  town,  and  enquired  for  the  statue ;  but  was  told 
by  Sopater,  that  the  senate  would  not  suffer  it  to  be 
taken  down,  and  had  made  it  capital  for  any  one  to 
meddle  with  it  without  their  orders.  "  Do  not  tell 
"  me,"  says  Verres,  "  of  your  senate  and  your  orders ; 
*'  if  you  do  not  presently  deliver  the  statue,  you  shall 
*'  be  scourged  to  death  wdth  rods."  Sopater,  with 
tears,  moved  the  affair  again  to  the  senate,  and  related 
the  praetor's  threats ;  but  in  vain ;  they  broke  up  in 
disorder,  without  giving  any  answer.  This  was  re- 
ported by  Sopater  to  Verres,  who  was  sitting  in  his 
tribunal :  it  was  in  the  midst  of  winter,  the  weather 
extremely  cold,  and  it  rained  very  heavily,  when  Ver- 
res ordered  Sopater  to  be  stripped,  and  carried  into  the 
market-place,  and  there  to  be  tied  upon  an  equestrian 
statue  of  C.  Marcellus,  and  exposed,  naked  as  he  was, 
to  the  rain  and  the  cold,  and  stretched  in  a  kind  of 
torture  upon  the  brazen  horse,  where  he  must  neces- 
sarily have  perished,  if  the  people  of  tiie  town,  out  of 
compassion  to  him,  had  not  forced  theic  senate  to  grant 
the  Mercury  to  Verres  '^. 

Young  Antiochus,  king  of  Syria,  having  been  at 
Rome,  to  claim  the  kingdom  of  Egypt,  in  right  of  his 


*  Turn  iste  ;  Quam  mihi  religionem  narras  ?  quam  pcenam  ? 
<fuem  senatum  ?  Vivum  te  non  relinquam:  moricre  virgis,  nisi 
signum  traditur — Erat  hiems  summa,  tempestas,  ut  ipsum  Sopa- 
trum  djcere  audlstis,  perfrigida ;  imber  maximus,  cum  ipse  im- 
perat  lictoribus,  ut  Sopatrum — praecipitem  in  forum  dejiclant, 
nudumque  constituant — cum  esset  vinctus  nudus  in  cere,  in  irabri, 
in  frigor*.  Neque  tamen  finis  huic  injuriai  crudelitatique  fiebat, 
donee  populus  atque  universa  multitudo,  atrocltate  rei  comraota, 
senatum  clamore  coegit,  ut  ei  simulacrum  iljud  Mercuiii  poUice- 
retur.     lb.  39,  40. 


Sect.  II.  CICERO.  iit 

mother,  passed  through  Sicily  at  this  time  on  his  re- 
turn home,  and  came  to  Syracuse,  where  Verres,  who 
knew  that  he  had  a  great  treasure  with  him,  received 
him  with  a  particular  civihty ;  miade  him  large  pre- 
sents of  wine,  and  all  refreshments  for  his  table,  and 
entertained  him  most  magnificently  at  supper.  The 
king,  pleased  with  this  compliment,  invited  Verres,  in 
his  turn,  to  sup  with  him,  when  his  side-board  wa^ 
dressed  out  in  a  royal  manner,  with  his  richest  plate, 
and  many  vessels  of  solid  gold  set  with  precious  stones, 
am.ong  which  there  was  a  large  jug  for  wine,  made 
out  of  an  entire  gem,  with  a  handle  of  gold  to  it* 
Verres  greedily  surveyed  and  admired  every  piece, 
and  the  king  rejoiced  to  see  the  Roman  praetor  so 
well  satisfied  with  his  entertainment.  The  next  morn- 
ing Verres  sent  to  the  king,  to  borrow  some  of  his 
choicest  vessels,  and  particularly  the  jug,  for  the  sake 
of  shewing  them,  as  he  pretended,  to  his  own  work- 
men ;  all  which  the  king,  having  no  suspicion  of  him, 
readily  sent.  But  besides  these  vessels  of  domestic 
use,  the  king  had  brought  with  him  a  large  candle- 
stick, or  branch  for  several  lights,  of  inestimable  va- 
lue, all  made  of  precious  stones,  and  adorned  with  the 
richest  jev/els,  which  he  had  designed  for  an  offering 
to  Jupiter  Capitolinus ;  but  finding  the  repairs  of  the 
Capitol  not  finished,  and  no  place  yet  ready  for  the 
reception  of  his  offering,  he  resolved  to  carry  it  back, 
without  shewing  it  to  any  body,  that  the  beauty  of  it 
might  be  new  and  the  more  surprising,  when  it  came 
to  be  first  seen  in  that  temple.  Verres,  having  got  in- 
telligence of  this  candlestick,  sent  again  to  the  king, 
to  beg,  by  all  means,  that  he  would  favour  him  with 
Vol.  L  H 


112 


The   life   of  Sect.  H. 


a  sight  of  it,  promising  that  he  would  not  suffer  any 
one  else  to  see  it.  The  king  sent  it  presently  by  his 
servants,  who,  after  they  had  uncovered  and  shewn  it 
to  Verres,  expected  to  carry  it  back  with  them  to  the 
king ;  but  Verres  declared,  that  he  could  not  suffi- 
ciently admire  the  beauty  of  the  work,  and  must  have 
more  time  to  contemplate  it ;  and  obliged  them  there- 
fore to  go  away  and  leave  it  with  him.  Several  days 
passed,  and  the  king  heard  nothing  from  Verres :  so 
that  he  thought  proper  to  remind  him,  by  a  civil  mes- 
sage, of  sending  back  the  vessels  :  but  Verres  ordered 
the  servants  to  call  again  some  other  time.  In  short, 
after  a  second  message,  with  no  better  success,  the 
king  was  forced  to  speak  to  Verres  himself:  upon 
which  Verres  earnestly  entreated  him  to  make  him  a 
present  of  the  candlestick.  The  king  affirmed  it  to 
be  impossible,  on  account  of  his  vow  to  Jupiter,  to 
which  many  nations  were  witnesses.  Verres  then  be- 
gan to  drop  some  threats ;  but  finding  them  of  no 
more  effect  than  his  entreaties,  he  commanded  the 
king  to  depart  instantly  out  of  his  province,  declaring, 
that  he  had  received  intelligence  of  certain  pirates, 
who  were  coming  from  his  kingdom  to  invade  Sicily. 
The  poor  king,  finding  himself  thus  abused  and  rob- 
bed of  his  treasure,  went  into  the  great  square  of  the 
city,  and,  in  a  public  assembly  of  the  people,  calhng 
upon  the  gods  and  men  to  bear  testimony  to  the  inju- 
ry, made  a  solemn  dedication  to  Jupiter  of  the  candle- 
stick, which  he  had  vowed  and  designed  for  the  Capi- 
tol, and  which  Verres  had  forcibly  taken  from  him  *. 

*   Rex  maximo  conventu  Syracusis  in  foro — flens,  ac  Deos  ho- 
minesque  contestans,  clamare  coepitj  candelabrum  factum  e  gem- 
mis. 


Sect.  IL  CICERO.  113 

When  any  vessel,  richly  laden,  happened  to  arrive 
in  the  ports  of  Sicily,  it  was  generally  seized  by  his 
spies  and  informers,  on  pretence  of  its  coming  from 
Spain,  and  being  filled  with  Sertorius's  soldiers :  and 
when  the  commanders  exhibited  their  bills  of  lading, 
with  a  sample  of  their  goods,  to  prove  themselves  to 
be  fair  traders,  who  came  from  different  quarters  of 
the  world,  some  producing  Tyrian  purple,  others  A- 
rabian  spices,  some  jewels  and  precious  stones,  others 
Greek  wines  and  Asiatic  slaves,  the  very  proof  by 
which  they  hoped  to  save  themselves  was  their  cer- 
tain ruin :  Verres  declared  their  goods  to  have  been 
acquired  by  piracy,  and  seizing  the  ships  with  their 
cargoes  to  his  own  use,  committed  the  whole  crew  to 
prison,  though  the  greatest  part  of  them  perhaps  were 
Roman  citizens.  There  was  a  famous  dungeon  at 
Syracuse,  called  the  Latomiae,  of  a  vast  and  horrible 
depth,  dug  out  of  a  sohd  rock,  which  having  original- 
ly been  a  quarry  of  stone,  was  converted  to  a  prison 
by  Dionysius  the  Tyrant.  Here  Verres  kept  great 
numbers  of  Roman  citizens  in  chains,  whom  he  had 
first  injured  to  a  degree  that  made  it  necessary  to  de- 
stroy them,  whence  few  or  none  ever  saw  the  light  a- 
gain,  but  were  commonly  strangled  by  his  orders  f . 


mis,  quod  in  Capitolium  missurus  esset — id  sibi  C.  Verrem  abstii- 
lisse. — Id  etsi  antea  jam  mente  et  cogitatlone  sua  consecratum 
esset,  tamen,  turn  se  in  illo  conventu  civium  Romanorum  dare, 
donare,  dicare,  consecare  Jovl  Opt.  Max.  &c.     lb.  28,  2q. 

f  Qusecunque  navis  ex  Asia — veniret,  statim  certis  indicibus 
€t  custodibus  tenebatur  :  vectores  omnes  in  Latomias  conjicie- 
bantur  :  onera  atque  merces  in  praetoriam  domum  deferebantur — 
COS  Sertorianos  milites  esse,  atque  a  Dianio  fiigere  dicebat,  &c. 
In  Verr.  J.  5.  i;6. 

H  2  Latomia? 


114  The   LIFE   or  \Sect.  IL 

One  Gavins,  however,  a  Roman  citizen  of  the  town 
of  Cosa,  happened  to  escape  from  this  dreadful  place, 
and  run  away  to  Messana,  w^here,  fancying  himself  out 
of  danger,  and  being  ready  to  embark  for  Italy,  he 
began  to  talk  of  the  injuries  which  he  had  received, 
and  of  going  straight  to  Rome,  where  Verres  should 
be  sure  to  hear  of  him.  But  he  might  as  well  have 
said  the  words  in  the  praetor's  palace  as  at  Messana ; 
for  he  -was  presently  seized  and  secured  till  Verres's 
arrival,  who  coming  thither  soon  after,  condemned  him 
as  a  spy  of  the  fugitives,  first  to  be  scourged  in  the 
market-place,  and  then  nailed  to  a  cross  erected  for 
the  purpose,  on  a  conspicuous  part  of  the  shore,  and 
looking  towards  Italy,  that  the  poor.wretch  might  have 
the  additional  misery  of  suffering  that  cruel  death  in 
sight  as  it  v/ere  of  his  home  *. 

The  coasts  of  Sicily  being  much  infested  by  pirates, 
it  was  the  custom  of  all  praetors  to  fit  out  a  fleet  eve- 
ry year,  for  the  protection  of  its  trade  and  navigation. 
This  fleet  was  provided  by  a  contribution  of  the  mari- 
time towns,  each  of  which  usually  furnished  a  ship, 
with  a  certain  number  of  men  and  provisions :  but 
Verres,  for  a  valuable  consideration,  sometimes  remit- 


Latomias  Syracusanas  omnes  audistis.  Opus  est  in^ens  mag- 
nificum  regum  ac  tyrannorum.  Totum  est  ex  saxo  mirandam  in 
altitudinem  depresso — nihil  tam  clausura  ad  exitus,  nihil  tarn  tu- 
tnra  ad  custodias  nee  fieri  nee  cogitari  potest.  [lb.  27.]  Career 
ille,  qui  est  a  erudelissirao  tyranno  Dionysio  factus,  cjuae  Lato- 
miae  voeantur,  in  istius  imperio  domicilium  eivium  Romanorum 
fuit.     lb.  5S' 

*  Gavius  hie,  quern  dico,  Cosanus,  cum  in  illo  numero  eivium 
ab  isto  in  vincla  conjeetus  esset,  et  nescio  qua  ratione  clam  e  La« 
tomiis  profugisset — loqui  Messance  coepit,  et  queri,  se  eivem  Ro- 
manum  in  vincla  conjcetum,  sibi  recta  iter  esse  Romam,  Verri 
se  prttsto  advenienti  futurum,  &.c.     lb.  6^1. 


Sect.il  CICERO.  115 

ted  the  ship,  and  always  discharged  as  many  of  the 
men  as  were  able  to  pay  for  it.  A  fleet,  however, 
was  equipped  of  seven  ships,  but  for  shew  rather  than 
service,  without  their  complement  either  of  men  or 
stores,  and  wholly  unfit  to  act  against  an  enemy  ;  and 
the  command  of  it  was  given  by  him,  not  to  his  quccs- 
tor,  or  one  of  his  lieutenants,  as  it  was  usual,  but  to 
Cieomenes,  a  Syracusian,  whose  wife  was  his  mistress, 
that  he  might  enjoy  her  company  the  more  freely  at 
home,  while  her  husband  was  employed  abroad.  For, 
instead  of  spending  the  summer,  as  other  governors 
used  to  do,  in  a  progress  through  his  province,  he  quit- 
ted the  palace  of  Syracuse,  and  retired  to  a  little  island 
■adjoining  to  the  city,  to  lodge  in  tents,  or  rich  pavi- 
lions, pitched  close  by  the  fountain  of  Arethusa,  where, 
forbidding  the  approach  of  men  or  business  to  disturb 
him,  he  passed  two  of  the  hot  months  in  the  company 
of  his  favourite  wom.en,  in  all  the  delicacy  of  pleasure 
that  art  and  luxury  could  invent  *. 

The  fleet  in  the  mean  time  sailed  out  of  Syracuse 
in  great  pomp,  and  saluted  Verres  and  his  company, 
as  it  passed ;  when  the  Roman  Praetor,  says  Cicero, 
who  had  not  been  seen  before  for  many  days,  shewed 
himself  at  last  to  the  sailors,  standing  on  the  shore  in 


*  Erat  et  Nice,  facie  eximia,  uxor  Cleomenis  Syracusani— i^te 
autem  cum  vir  esset  Syracusis,  uxorem  ejus  parum  poterat  animo 
soluto  ac  libero  tot  in  act-i  dies  secuni  habere.  Itaque  excogitat 
rem  sin^ularem.  Naves,  quibus  legatus  prjsfuerat,  Cleomeni  tra- 
dit.  Classi  populi  Romani  Cleomenem  Syracusanum  praeesse  ju- 
bct.  Hoc  eo  facit,  ut  non  solum  ille  abesset  a  domo—Nam  tcs- 
tare  summa,  quo  tempore  ceeteri  praetores  obire  provinciara,  et 
concursare  consueverunt— -eo  tempore  ad  luxurlam,  libidinesque 
suas — tabernacula — carbaseis  iiueuta  velis  collocaii  jussit  111  lit- 
toie^  &c.     In  Verr.  5.  31. 

H3 


Ii6  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  II, 

slippers,  with  a  purple  cloak  and  vest  flowing  down 
on  his  heels,  and  leaning  on  the  shoulder  of  a  girl,  to 
view  this  formidable  squadron  f :  which,  instead  of 
scowring  the  seas,  sailed  no  farther  after  several  days, 
than  into  the  port  of  Pachynus.  Here,  as  they  lay 
peaceably  at  anchor,  they  were  surprised  with  an  ac- 
count of  a  number  of  pirate  frigates,  lying  in  another 
harbour  very  near  to  them :  upon  which  the  Admiral 
Cleomenes  cut  his  cables  in  a  great  fright,  and  with  all 
the  sail  that  he  could  make,  fled  away  towards  Pelo- 
rus,  and  escaped  to  land  :  the  rest  of  the  ships  follow- 
ed him  as  fast  as  they  could  ;  but  two  of  them,  which 
sailed  the  slowest,  were  taken  by  the  pirates,  and  one 
of  the  captains  killed  :  the  other  captains  quitted  their 
ships,  as  Cleomenes  had  done,  and  got  safe  to  land. 
The  pirates  finding  the  ships  deserted,  set  fire  to  them 
all  that  evening,  and  the  next  day  sailed  boldly  into 
the  port  of  Syracuse,  which  reached  into  the  very 
heart  of  the  town  ;  where,  after  they  had  satisfied  their 
curiosity,  and  filled  the  city  with  a  general  terror,  they 
sailed  out  again  at  leisvire,  and  in  good  order,  in  a 
kind  of  triumph  over  Verres  and  the  authority  of 
Rome  *. 


f  Ipse  autera,  qui  visus  multis  diebus  non  esset,  turn  se  ta-. 
men  in  conspectum  nautis  paullisper  dedit.  Stetit  soleatus  prae- 
tor populi  Roniani  cum  palllo  purpureo,  tunlcaque  talari,  muli- 
ercula  nixus  in  llttore.      lb.  ^^. 

Quintilian  greatly  admires  this  short  description,  as  placing 
the  very  scene  and  fact  before  our  eyes,  and  suggesting  still 
much  more  than  is  expressed  by  it  ;  [1.  8.  3.]  but  the  concise 
elegance  and  expressive  brevity,  in  which  its  beauty  consists, 
cannot  possibly  be  preserved  in  a  translation. 

f  Tunc  Pra-^donum  dux  Heracleo  repente  praeter  spem,  non 
sua  yirtute-!— victor,  classem  pulcherrimam  populi  Komani  in  lit- 
mus. 


Sect.  II.  CICERO.  117 

The  news  of  a  Roman  fleet  burnt,  and  Syracuse 
insulted  by  Pirates,  made  a  great  noise  through  all 
Sicily.  The  captains,  in  excuse  of  themselves,  were 
forced  to  tell  the  truth ;  that  their  ships  were  scan- 
dalously unprovided  both  with  men  and  stores,  and 
in  no  condition  to  face  an  enemy  ;  each  of  them  re- 
lating hov/  many  of  their  sailors  had  been  discharged 
by  Verres's  particular  orders,  on  w^hom  the  whole 
blame  was  justly  laid.  When  this  came  to  his  ears, 
he  sent  for  the  captains,  and,  after  threatening  them 
very  severely  for  talking  in  that  manner,  forced  them 
to  declare,  and  to  testify  it  also  in  writing,  that  every 
one  of  their  ships  had  its  full  complement  of  all  things 
necessary  :  but  finding  after  all,  that  there  was  no 
way  of  stifling  the  clamour,  and  that  it  would  neces- 
sarily reach  to  Rome,  he  resolved,  for  the  extenua- 
tion of  his  own  crime,  to  sacrifice  the  poor  captains, 
and  put  them  all  to  death,  except  the  Admiral  Cleo- 
menes,  the  most  criminal  of  them  all,  and  at  his  re- 
quest the  commander  also  of  his  ship.  In  consequence 
of  this  resolution,  the  four  remaining  captains,  after 
fourteen  days  from  the  action,  when  they  suspected 
no  danger,  were  arrested  and  clapt  into  irons.  They 
were  all  young  men  of  the  principal  famihes  of  Sicily, 
some  of  them  the  only  sons  of  aged  parents,  who  came 
presently  in  great  consternation  to  Syracuse,  to  solicit 
the  praetor  for  their  pardon.  But  Verres  v/as  inexor- 
able ;  and,  having  thrown  them  into  his  dungeon, 
where  nobody  was  sufiered  to  sj)eak  with  them,  con- 

tus  expulsam   &   ejectarn,  cum   primum  advesperasceret,  Inflam- 
mari  iiicendique  jussit,  &.c.     lb.  35.  36, 

H4 


Ii8  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  II. 

demned  them  to  lose  their  heads ;  whilst  all  the  ser- 
vice that  their  unhappy  parents  could  do  for  them, 
was  to  bribe  the  executioner  to  dispatch  them  with 
one  stroke,  instead  of  more,  which  he  brutally  refused 
to  do,  unless  he  was  paid  for  it,  and  to  purchase  of 
Timarchides  the  liberty  of  giving  them  burial  *. 

It  happened  however  before  this  loss  of  the  fleet, 
that  a  single  pirate  ship  was  taken  by  Verres's  heute- 
nants,  and  brought  into  Syracuse  ;  which  proved  to 
be  a  very  rich  prize,  and  had  on  board  a  great  num- 
ber of  handsome  young  fellows.  There  was  a  band 
of  musicians  among  them,  whom  Verres  sent  away  to 
Rome  as  a  present  to  a  friend  ;  and  the  rest,  who  had 
either  youth  or  beauty,  or  skill  in  any  art,  were  dis- 
tributed to  his  clerks  and  dependents,  to  be  kept  for 
his  US9 ;  but  the  few  who  were  old  and  deformed, 
were  committed  to  the  dungeon  and  reserved  for  pu- 
nishment f .  The  captain  of  these  pirates  had  long 
been  a  terror  to  the  Sicilians  ;  so  that  they  were  all 
eager  to  see  his  person,  and  to  feed  their  eyes  with 
his  execution :  but  being  rich,  he  found  means  to  re- 


*  Cleomenem  &  navarchos  ad  se  vocari  jubet  ;  accusal  eos, 
quod  iTUJusmodi  de  se  sermones  habueritit ,  rogat  ut  id  facere  de- 
sistant,  &  in  sua  quisque  navi  dicat  se  tantum  habuisse  nauta- 
rum,  quantum  oportuerit. — Uli  se  ostendunt  quod  vellet  esse  fac- 
turos— Iste  in  tabulas  refert  ^  obsiynat  signis  amicorum — Ute 
homiuibus  miscris  innocentibusque  injici  catenas  jubet — Veniuat 
Syracusas  paientes  propiriquique  miserorum  adolescentium,  &c. 
In  Verr.  5    39    40.  &:c. 

f  Erat  ea  navis  plera  juventutis  formoslssimae,  plena  argenti 
fact!  a'que  signati,  multa  cum  strrigula  veste— siqui  senes  aut 
deformes  erant,  eos  in  hostium  aumero  ducit :  qui  aliquid  for- 
inae,  setatis,  artiiiciique  habebant,  abducit  omnes,  nonnulios  scri- 
bis  suis,  filio,  cohortique  distiibuit  Syraphoniacos  homines  sex 
cuidam  amico  suo  Romam  muneri  misit,  &c.     ib.  2j,  &c. 


Sect.  II.  CICERO. 


19 


deem  his  head,  and  was  carefully  kept  out  of  sight, 
and  conveyed  to  some  private  custody,  till  Verres 
could  make  the  best  market  of  him.  The  people  in 
the  mean  time  grew  impatient  and  clamorous  for  the 
death  of  the  pirates,  whom  all  other  prastors  used  to 
execute  as  soon  as  taken  ;  and  knowing  the  number 
of  them  to  be  great,  could  not  be  satisfied  with  the 
few  old  and  decrepit,  whom  Verres  wiUingly  sacri- 
ficed to  their  resentment.  He  took  this  opportunity 
therefore  to  clear  the  dungeon  of  those  Roman  citi- 
zens, whom  he  had  reserved  for  such  an  occasion,  and 
now  brought  out  to  execution  as  a  part  of  the  pirati- 
cal crew  ;  but  to  prevent  the  imprecations  and  cries, 
which  citizens  used  to  make  of  their  being  free  Ro- 
mans, and  to  hinder  their  being  known  also  to  any 
other  citizens  there  present,  he  produced  them  all 
with  their  heads  and  faces  so  muffled  up,  that  they 
could  neither  be  heard  or  seen,  and  in  that  cruel  man- 
ner destroyed  great  numbers  of  innocent  men  '*.  But 
to  finish  at  last  this  whole  story  of  Verres :  After  he 
had  lived  many  years  in  a  miserable  exile,  forgotten 
and  deserted  by  all  his  friends,  he  is  said  to  have  been 
reheved  by  the  generosity  of  Cicero  f  ;   yet  was  pro- 


*  Archipiratam  ipsum  vldlt  nemo— cura  omnes,  ut  mos  est, 
concurrerent,  quaereient,  videre  cuperent,  &c.  [ib.  26.]  Cum 
maximus  numerus  deesset,  turn  iste  in  eorum  locum,  quos  domuia 
suam  de  piratis  abduxerut,  substltuere  coepic  cives  Romanos,  quos 
in  carcerem  antea  conjecerat—  Itaqae  alii  cives  Romani  ne  cog. 
noscerentur,  capitibus  obvQlutibus  de  carcere  ad  palum  atque  ne- 
cem  rapiebantur,  &.c.  lb.  28.  &c. 

Quid  de  multitudine  dicehius  eorum,  qui  capitibus  Involutls  in 
piratarum  captivorumque  numcro  produccbantur,  ut  securi  feri- 
rentur,     Ib.  60. 

f  Senec.  1.  6,  Suasor.  6. 


I2C  The   life   of  Sect.  IL 

scribed  and  murdered  afrer  all  by  Marc  Anthony,  for 
the  sake  of  his  fine  statues  and  Corinthian  vessels, 
which  he  refused  to  part  with  *  :  happy  only,  as  Lac- 
tantius  says,  before  his  death,  to  have  seen  the  more 
deplorable  end  of  his  old  enemy  and  accuser  Cicero  f . 
But  neither  the  condemnation  of  this  criminal,  nor 
the  concessions  already  made  by  the  senate,  were  able 
to  pacify  the  discontents  of  the  people  :  they  de- 
manded still,  as  loudly  as  ever,  the  restoration  of  the 
tribunician  power,  and  the  right  of  judicature  to  the 
JEquestrian  order  ;  till,  after  various  contests  and  tu- 
mults, excited  annually  on  that  account  by  the  tri- 
bunes, they  were  gratified  this  year  in  them  both  ; 
in  the  first  by  Pompey  the  Consul,  in  the  second  by 
L.  Cotta  the  Praetor  f .  The  tribunes  were  strenu- 
ously assisted  in  all  this  struggle  by  J.  Caesar  ||,  and 
as  strenuously  opposed  by  all  who  wished  well  to  the 
tranquillity  of  the  city  ;  for  long  experience  had 
shewn,  that  they  had  always  been,  not  only  the  chief 
disturbers  of  the  pubhc  peace,  by  the  abuse  of  their 
extravagant  power,  but  the  constant  tools  of  all  the 
ambitious,  who  had  any  designs  of  advancing  them- 
selves above  the  laws  §  :  for,  by  corrupting  one  or 
more  of  the  tribunes,  which  they  were  sure  to  effect 
by  paying  their  full  price,  they  could  either  obtain 
from  the  people  whatever  they  wanted,  or  obstruct  at 

*  PUn.  Hist.  N.  1.  34.  2. 

f  Lactan.   2.  4. 

X  Hoc  consulatu  Pompeius  Tribuniclam  potestatem  restitult, 
cujus  imaginem  Sylla  sine   re  rellquer&t.     Veil.  Pat.  2.  30. 

11  Auctores  restituendtc  Tribuniciie  potestatis  enixisi-ime  juvit, 
Sueton.  J.  Cces.  5. 

§    De  Legib.  3.  9. 


Sect.  II.  CICERO.  121 

least  whatever  should  be  attempted  against  them  ;  so 
that  this  act  was  generally  disliked  by  the  better  sort, 
and  gave  a  suspicion  of  no  good  intentions  in  Pom- 
pey ;  who  to  remove  all  jealousies  against  him  on  this, 
or  any  other  account,  voluntarily  took  an  oath,  that 
on  the  expiration  of  his  consulship  he  would  accept 
no  public  command  or  government,  but  content  him- 
self with  the  condition  of  a  private  senator  ■^. 

Plutarch  speaks  of  this  act,  as  the  effect  of  Pom- 
pey's  gratitude  to  the  people  for  the  extraordinary  ho- 
nours which  they  had  heaped  upon  him  :  but  Cicero 
makes  the  best  excuse  for  it  after  Pompey's  death, 
which  the  thing  itself  would  bear,  by  observing,  "  that 
"  a  statesman  must  always  consider  not  only  what  is 
"  best,  but  what  is  necessary  to  the  times ;  that  Pom- 
"  pey  well  knew  the  impatience  of  the  people  ;  and 
"  that  they  would  not  bear  the  loss  of  the  tribunician 
''  power  much  longer ;  and  it  was  the  part  therefore 
"  of  a  good  citizen,  not  to  leave  to  a  bad  one  the  cre- 
"  dit  of  doing  what  was  too  popular  to  be  withstood  f ." 
Eut  whatever  were  Pompey's  views  in  the  restitution 
of  this  power,  whether  he  wanted  the  skill  or  the  in- 
clination to  apply  it  to  any  bad  purpose,  it  is  certain, 
that  he  had  cause  to  repent  of  it  afterwards,  when 
Caesar,  who  had  a  better  head  with  a  worse  heart,  took 
the  advantage  of  it  to  his  ruin  ;  and,  by  the  help  of 
the  tribunes,  was  supplied  both  with  the  power  and 
the  pretext  for  overturning  the  republic  J. 


*  Qui  cum  Consul  laudabillter  jurasset,  se   in  nuUam  provin- 
clam  ex  eo  magistratu  iturum.     Veil.  Pat.  2.  31. 
f   De  Legib.  3.  11. 

ccvS(?  Itti  ra  ^.py^Siov,      Appian.  2.   o.  44J« 


122  The   life   of  Sect.  II. 

As  to  the  other  dispute,  about  restoring  the  right  of 
judging  to  the  knights,  it  was  thought  the  best  way  of 
correcting  the  insolence  of  the  nobles,  to  subject  them 
to  the  judicature  of  an  inferior  order,  who,  from  a  na- 
tural jealousy  and  envy  towards  them,  would  be  sure 
to  punish  their  oppressions  with  proper  severity.  It 
was  ended  however  at  last  by  a  compromise,  and  a 
new  law  was  prepared  by  a  common  consent,  to  vest 
this  power  jointly  in  the  senators  and  the  knights ; 
from  each  of  which  orders  a  certain  number  was  to 
be  drawn  annually  by  lot,  to  sit  in  judgment  together 
with  the  praetor  upon  all  causes  *. 

But,  for  the  more  effectual  cure  of  that  general  H- 
cence  and  corruption  of  morals,  which  had  infected 
all  orders,  another  remedy  was  also  provided  this  year, 
an  election  of  censors  :  it  ought  regularly  to  have 
been  made  every  five  years,  but  had  now  been  inter- 
mitted from  the  time  of  Sylla  for  about  seventeen. 
These  censors  were  the  guardians  of  the  discipline  and 
manners  of  the  city  f ,  and  had  a  power  to  punish 
vice  and  immorality  by  some  mark  of  infamy  in  all 
ranks  of  men,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest.  Thq 
persons  now  chosen  were  L.  Gellius  and  Cn.  Lentu^ 
lus ;  both  of  them  mentioned  by  Cicero  as  his  partis 
cular  acquaintance,  and  the  last  as  his  intimate  friend  J, 


*  Per  idem  tempus  Cotta  judicandi  munus,  quod  C.  Gracchus 
erepturn  Senatut,  ad  Equites,  Sylla  ab  illis  ad  Senatum  transtu- 
lerat,  aequaliter  inter  utrumque  ordinem  partitus  est.     Veil.  Pat, 

2.  32. 

f  Tu  es  prsefectus  moribus,  magister  veterls  disciplinie  ac  se- 
veritatis.     Pro  Cluen.  46. 

X  Nam  mihi — cum  ambobus  est  amicitia  :  cum  akero  vero-^ 
magnus  usus  et  summa  necessitudo.     Pro  Clucntio,  42. 


Sect.  II.  CICERO. 


123 


Their  authority,  after  so  long  an  intermission,  was  exer- 
cised with  that  severity  which  the  Hbertinism  of  the 
times  required;  for  they  expelled  above  sixty  four 
from  the  senate  for  notorious  immorahties,  the  greatest 
part  for  the  detestable  practice  of  taking  money  for 
judging  causes  *,  and,  among  them,  C.  Antonius,  the 
uncle  of  the  triumvir  ;  subscribing  their  reasons  for  it, 
that  he  had  plundered  the  allies,  dechned  a  trial,  mort- 
gaged his  lands,  and  was  not  master  of  his  estate  f  : 
yet  this  very  Antonius  was  elected  asdile  and  soon  af- 
ter, in  his  proper  course,  and  within  six  years,  advanced 
to  the  consulship  :  which  confirms  what  Cicero  says 
of  this  censorian  animadversion,  that  "  it  was  become 
"  merely  nominal,  and  had  no  other  effect,  than  of 
"  putting  a  man  to  the  blush  J." 

From  the  impeachment  of  Verres,  Cicero  entered 
upon  the  ^dileship,  and,  in  one  of  his  speeches,  gives 
a  short  account  of  the  duty  of  it :  "I  am  now  chosen 
"  ^dile,"  says  he,  "  and  am  sensible  of  what  is  com- 
"  mitted  to  me  by  the  Roman  people  :  I  am  to  exhi- 
"  bit,  with  the  greatest  solemnity,  the  most  sacred 
"  sports  to  Ceres,  Liber,  and  Libera ;  am  to  appease 
*'  and  conciliate  the  mother  Flora  to  the  people  and 
"  city  of  Rome  by  the  celebration  of  the  public  games ; 
"  am  to  furnish  out  those  ancient  shews,  the  first 


*  Quos  autem  duo  Censores,  clarisslmi  viri  furti  et  captarum 
pecuniarum  nomine  notaverunt  j  ii  non  mode  in  Senatum  redie- 
runt,  sed  etiam  illarum  ipsarum  rerum  judiciis  absoluti  sunt.  I- 
bid.     Vid.  Pigh.  Annal.  ad  A.  U.  683. 

f   Asconius  in  Orat.  in  Tog.  cand. 

X  Censoris  judicium  nihil  fere  damnato  afFert  praeter  ruborem. 
Itaque  quod  omnis  ea  judicatio  versatur  tantummodo  in  nomine, 
animadversio  ilia  ignominia  dicta  est.  Fragment,  e  lib.  4.  dc* 
Repub.  ex  Nonio. 


124 


The   life   of  Sect.  IL 


"  which  were  called  Roman,  with  all  possible  dignity 
"  and  religion,  in  honour  of  Jupiter,  Juno,  Minerva  ; 
"  am  to  take  care  also  of  all  the  sacred  edifices,  and 
"  indeed  of  the  whole  city  ^,"  &c.  The  people  were 
passionately  fond  of  all  these  games  and  diversions ; 
and  the  public  allowance  for  them  being  but  small, 
according  to  the  frugality  of  the  old  republic,  the  as- 
diles  supplied  the  rest  at  their  own  cost,  and  w^ere  of- 
ten ruined  by  it.  For  every  part  of  the  empire  was 
ransacked  for  what  was  rare  and  curious  to  adorn  the 
splendour  of  their  shows  :  the  Forum,  in  which  they 
were  exhibited,  was  usually  beautified  v/ith  porticos 
built  for  the  purpose,  and  filled  with  the  choicest  sta- 
tues and  pictures  which  Rome  and  Italy  afforded.  Ci- 
cero reproaches  Appius  for  draining  Greece  and  the 
Islands  of  all  their  furniture  of  this  kind,  for  the  orna- 
ment of  his  sedileship  f  :  and  Verres  is  said  to  have 
supplied  his  friends  Hortensius  arid  Metellus  with  all 
the  fine  statues  of  which  he  had  plundered  the  pro- 
vinces J. 

Several  of  the  greatest  m.en  of  Cicero's  time  had 
distinguished  themselves  by  an  extraordinary  expence 
and  magnificence  in  this  magistracy  ;  Lucullus,  Scau- 
rus,  Lentulus,  Hortensius  §,  and  C.  Antonius ;  who, 
though  expelled  so  lately  from  the  senate,  entertain- 
ed the  city  this  year  with  stage-plays,  whose  scenes 
were  covered  with  silver  ;  in  which  he  was  followed 


*  In  Verr.  5.  14. 

f  Omnia  signa,  tabulas,  ornamentorum  quod  superfult  in  fanis 
et  communibus  locis,  tota  e  Grecia  atque  Insulis  omnibus,  honoris 
populi  Rom.  causa — deportavit.     Pro  Dom.  ad  Pont  43. 

t-  Asconius.  §  De  Offic.  2.  16. 


Sect.  II.  CICERO.  125 

afterwards  by  Murena  *  :  yet  J.  Caesar  outdid  them 
all ;  and  in  the  sports  exhibited  for  his  father's  funeral, 
made  the  whole  furniture  of  the  theatre  of  sohd  silver, 
so  that  wild  beasts  were  then  first  seen  to  tread  on 
that  metal  f  :  but  the  excess  of  his  expence  was  but 
in  proportion  to  the  excess  of  his  ambition ;  for  the 
rest  were  only  purchasing  the  consulship,  he  the  em- 
pire.    Cicero  took  the  middle  way,  and  observed  the 
rule  which  he  prescribed  afterwards  to  his  son,  of  an 
expence  agreeable  to  his  circumstances  J ;  so  as  nei- 
ther to  hurt  his  character  by  a  sordid  illiberality,  nor 
his  fortunes  by  a  vain  ostentation  of  magnificence  ; 
since  the  one,  by  making  a  man  odious,  deprives  him 
of  the  power  of  doing  good  ;  the  other,  by  making 
him  necessitous,  puts  him  under  the  temptation  of  do- 
ing ill :  thus  Mamercus,  by  declining  the  ccdileship 
through  frugality,  lost  the  consulship  §  :    and  C^sar, 
by  his  prodigality,  was  forced  to  repair  his  own  ruin 
by  ruining  the  republic. 

But  Cicero's  popularity  was  built  on  a  more  solid 
foundation,  the  affection  of  his  citizens,  from  a  sense  of 
his  merit  and  services ;  yet,  in  compliance  with  the 
custom  and  humour  of  the  city,  he  furnished  the  three 

*  Ego  qui  trinos  ludos  ^dills  feceram,  tamen  Antonii  ludls 
commovebar.  Tibi,  qui  casu  nullos  feceras,  nihil  hujus  istam  ip- 
sam,  quam  tu  irrides,  argenteam  scenam  adversatam  putas  ?  Pro 
Muren.  20. 

Mox,  quod  etiam  in  municipiis  imitgntur,  C.  Antonius  ludos 
scena  argentea  fecit  :  item  L.  Murena.     Plin.  Hist.  N.  ^^.  3. 

f  Caesar,  qui  postea  Dictator  fuit,  primus  in  iEdilitate,^  munere 
palris  funebri,  omni  apparatu  arenge  argenteo  usus  est,  fergeque 
argenteis  yasis  incedere  turn  primum  visaj.     Ibid. 

X  Quare  si  postulatur  a  populo — faciendum  est,  modo  pro  fa- 
cultatibus ;  nos  ipsi  ut  fecimus.     De  Offic.  2.  17. 

§   Ibfd. 


126  The   LIFE   of  Sect,  tt 

solemn  shews  above-mentioned,  to  the  entire  satisfac- 
tion of  the  people  :  an  expence  which  he  calls  little, 
in  respect  of  the  great  honours  which  he  had  received 
from  them  *.  The  Sicilians,  during  his  ^dileship, 
gave  him  effectual  proofs  of  their  gratitude,  by  sup- 
plying him  largely  with  all  manner  of  provisions,  which 
their  island  afforded,  for  the  use  of  his  table  and  the 
public  feasts,  which  he  was  obhged  to  provide  in  this 
magistracy  :  but,  instead  of  making  any  private  ad- 
vantage of  their  liberality,  he  applied  the  whole  to  the 
benefit  of  the  poor  ;  and,  by  the  help  of  this  extraor- 
dinary supply,  contrived  to  reduce  the  price  of  victuals 
in  the  markets  f . 

Hortensius  was  one  of  the  consuls  of  this  year ; 
which  produced  nothing  memorable  but  the  dedica- 
tion of  the  Capitol  by  Q^Lutatius  Catulus.  It  had  been 
burnt  down  in  Sylla's  time,  who  undertook  the  care  of 
rebuilding  it,  but  did  not  live  to  see  it  finished,  which 
he  lamented  in  his  last  illness,  as  the  only  thing  want- 
ing to  complete  his  fehcity  J.  By  his  death  that  charge 
fell  to  Catulus,  as  being  consul-  at  the  time,  who  dedi- 
cated it  this  summer  with  great  pomp  and  solemnity, 
and  had  the  honour  to  have  his  name  inscribed  on  the 
front  II. 


*  Nam  pro  amplitudine  honorum,  quos  cunctis  suffragiis  adep- 
ti  sumus — sane  exiguus  sumptus  aedilitatis  fuit.  Ibid. 

f  Plutarch,  in  Cic. 

X  Hoc  tamen  felicitati  sute  defulsse  confessus  est^quod  Capito- 
lium  non  dedicavisset.  Plin.  Hist.  N.  7.  43. 

Curam  victor  Sylla  suscepit,  neque  tamen  dedicavit  :  hoc  un- 
um  felicitati  negatum.     Tacit.  Hist    3.  72. 

II  The  following  inscription  was  found  in  the  ruins  of  the  Capi- 
tol, and  is  supposed  by  some  to  be  the  very  original  which  Catu- 
lus 


Sect.il  CICERO:  12^ 

On  the  occasion  of  this  festival,  he  is  said  to  have 
introduced  some  instances  of  luxury  not  known  be- 
fore in  Rome,  of  covering  the  area,  in  which  the  peo- 
ple sat,  with  a  purple  veil,  imitating  the  colour  of  the 
sky,  and  defending  frorh  the  injuries  of  it ;  and  of  gild- 
ing the  tiles  of  this  noble  fabric,  which  were  made  of 
copper  :  for  though  the  ceilings  of  temples  had  before 
been  sometimes  gilt,  yet  this  was  the  first  use  of  gold 
bn  the  outside  of  any  building  *.  Thus  the  Capitol, 
like  all  ancient  structures,  rose  the  more  beautiful  from 
its  ruins ;  which  gave  Cicero  an  opportunity  of  pay- 
ing a  particular  comphment  to  Catiilus  in  Verres'S 
trial,  where  he  was  one  of  the  judges :  for  Verres  hav  - 
ing  intercepted,  as  it  is  said  above,  the  rich  candlestick 
of  King  Antiochus,  which  was  designed  for  the  Capi- 


lus  put  up  J  where  it  remained,  as  Taeitiis  says,   to  the   time  of 
Vitellitis,     Ibido 

q,  LVTATIVS  Q.  F. 

<>i  N.  CATVLVS.  COS. 

SVBSTRVCTIONEM.  ET 

TABVLARIVM.  EXS.  C. 

FACIVNDVM.   CVRAV. 

•  Quod  primus  omnium  invenit  Q^Catulus,  cum  Ca|5lto1ium  de- 

dicaret.    Plin.  19.  I.  Cum  sua  setas  varie  de  Catulo  existlm^verit, 

quod  tegulas  sereas  Capitolii  inaurasset  primus.  lb.  33.  3.    i  hough 

Pliny  calls  Catulus  the  first   invenior   of  these    puiple  vell>,    yet 

Lucretius,  who,   as  some  think,    died  in  this  year,   or,   as  others 

roore   probably,  about   sixteen   years  after,  speaks  of  them  as  of 

tomriion  use  in  all  the  theatres. 

Carbasus  ut  quondam  raai^nis  intenta  theatric. 

Lib.  6.  108. 
Et  vulgo  faciunt  id  iutea,  russaque  vela, 
Et  ferrugina  cam  magnis  intenia  theatris,  ^ 

Per  malos  volgata,  trabesque  trementia  flutant. 

Lib.  4.  73. 
J,  Csesar  covered  the  whole    Forum  with  them,   end   the   later 
Emperors  the  Amphitheatres,  in  all  their  shews  oE  Gladiators  and 
Other  sports.     Dio.  1.  43. 

Vol.  L  I 


128  The    LIFE"  of  Sect.  IL 

tol,  Cicero  after  he  had  charged  him  with  it,  takes  oc- 
casion to  say,  "  I  address  myself  here  to  you,  Catulus, 
"  for  I  am  speaking  of  your  noble  and  beautiful  monu- 
"  ment :  it  is  your  part  to  shew  not  only  the  severity 
"  of  a  judge,  but  the  animosity  of  an  accuser.  Your 
"  honour  is  united  with  tljiat  of  this  temple,  and,  by 
"  the  favour  of  the  senate  and  people  of  Rome,  your 
*'*  name  is  consecrated  with  it  to  all  posterity  :  it  must 
"  be  your  care  therefore  that  the  Capitol,  as  it  is  now 
**  restored  more  splendidly,  may  be  furnished  also 
"  more  richly  than  it  w^as  before  :  as  if  the  fire  had 
"  been  sent  on  purpose  from  heaven,  not  to  destroy  the 
"  temple  of  Jupiter,  but  to  require  from  us  one  more 
"  shining  and  m.agnificent  than  the  former  *." 

In  this  year  Cicero  is  supposed  to  have  defended 
Fonteius  and  Caecina.  Fonteius  had  been  praetor  of 
the  Narbonese  Gaul  for  three  years,  and  was  afterwards 
accused  by  the  people  of  the  province  and  one  of  their 
princes,  Induciomarus,  of  great  oppression  and  exac- 
tions in  his  government,  and  especially  of  imposing  an 
arbitrary  tax  on  the  exportation  of  their  wines.  There 
Vv^re  two  hearings  in  the  cause,  yet  but  one  speech  of 
Cicero's  remaining,  and  that  so  imperfect,  that  we  can 
hardly  form  a  judgment  either  of  the  merit,  or  the  is- 
sue of  it.  Cicero  allows  the  charge  of  the  wines  to  he 
a  heavy  one,  if  true  f  ;  and,  by  his  method  of  defence^ 
one  would  suspect  it  to  be  so,  since  his  pains  arc  chiefly 
employed  in  exciting  an  aversion  to  the  accusers,  and 
a  compassion  to  the  criminal.  For,  to  destroy  the  cre- 
dit of  the  witnesses,  he  represents  the  whole  nation, 

*  In  Verr.  4.  31.  f  Pro  Fonteio,  5. 


Sect.  II.  CICERO.  l2g 

"  as  a  drunken,  impious,  faithless  people  ;  natural  ene^ 
"  mies  to  all  religion,  without  any  notion  of  the  sancti- 
"  ty  of  an  oath,  and  polluting  the  altars  of  their  gods 
"  with  human  sacrifices  :  and  what  faith,  what  piety," 
"  says  he,  "  can  you  imagine  to  be  in  those,  who  think 
"  that  the  gods  are  to  be  appeased  by  cruelty  and  hu- 
"  man  blood  * ,?"  And,  to  raise  at  last  the  pity  of  the 
judges,  he  urges  in  a  pathetic  peroration  the  interces- 
sion and  tears  of  Fonteius's  sister,  one  of  the  vestal 
virgins,  who  was  then  present ;  opposing  the  piety  and 
prayers  of  this  holy  supphant,  to  the  barbarity  and 
perjuries  of  the  impious  Gauls ;  and  admonishing  the 
bench  of  the  danger  and  arrogance  of  shghting  the 
suit  of  one,  whose  petitions,  if  the  gods  should  reject, 
they  themselves  must  all  be  undone,  &c.  f . 

The  cause  of  Caecina  was  about  the  right  of  succes- 
sion to  a  private  estate,  which  depended  on  a  subtle 
point  of  law  J,  arising  from  the  interpretation  of  the 
prastor's  interdict :  it  shews  however  his  exact  know- 
ledge and  skill  in  the  civil  law,  and  that  his  pubhc 
character  and  employment  gave  no  interruption  to  his 
usual  diligence  in  pleading  causes. 

After  the  expiration  of  his  ^dileship,  he  lost  his  cou-^ 
sin  Lucius  Cicero,  the  late  companion  of  his  journey  to 
Sicily  ;  whose  death  he  laments  with  all  the  marks  o'f 
a  tender  affection,  in  the  following  letter  to  Atticus. 

"  You,  who  of  all  men  know  me  the  best,  will  easi- 
"  ly  conceive  how  much  I  have  been  afflicted,  and 
'*  what  a  loss  I  have  sustained  both  in  my  public  and 


*  Ibid.  10.  f  I'oid.  17.^ 

X  Tota  mihi   causa  pro  Caecina,  de  verbis  interdlcti  fuit  :  res 

involutas  definier.do  explicavimus.  Orator.  29. 

I   2 


r-p  TrtE  LIFE  OF  Sect.  IL 

*•  domestic  life  :  for  in  him  I  liad  every  tiling  whicii 
*'  could  be  agreeable  to  man,  from  the  obliging  tem- 
"  per  and  behaviour  of  another.  I  make  no  doubt 
''  therefore,  but  that  you  also  are  affected  with  it,  not 
"  only  for  the  share  which  you  bear  in  my  grief,  but 
"  for  your  own  loss  of  a  relation  and  a  friend,  accom- 
"  plished  with  every  virtue  ;  who  loved  you,  as  well 
*'  from  his  own  inclination,  as  of  what  he  used  to  hear 
"  of  you  from  me,"  *  &c. 

What  made  his  kinsman's  death  the  more  unlucky 
to' him  at  this  juncture  was  the  want  of  his  help  in 
making  interest  for  the  praetorship,  for  which  he  now 
offered  himself  a  candidate,  after  the  usual  interval  of' 
two  years  f ,  from  the  time  of  his  being  chosen  ^dile  : 
but  the  city  was  in  such  ferment  all  this  summer,  tha? 
there  was  like  to  be  no  election  at  all :  The  occasion 
of  it  arose  from  the  pubHcation  of  some  new  laws, 
which  were  utterly  disliked  and  fiercely  opposed  by 
the  senate.  The  first  of  them  was  proposed  in  favour 
of  Pompey  by  A.  Gabinius,  one  of  the  tribunes,  as  a 
testimony  of  their  gratitude,  and  the  first  fruits  as  it 
were  of  that  power  which  he  had  restored  to  them; 
It  was  to  grant  him  an  extraordinary  commission  for 
quelling  the  pirates  who  infested  the  coasts  and  navi- 
gation of  the  Mediterranean,  to  the  disgrace  of  the 
empire,  and  the  ruin  of  all  commerce  J ;  by  which 
an  absolute  command-  was  conferred  upon  him  through 


*  Ad  Attie.  I.  5. 

f  Ut  si  i^dilis  fuisset,  post  biennlum  tuus  annus  esset.  Ep, 
fam.  10.  25. 

X  Quis  navigavit,  qui  non  se  aut  mortis  aut  servitutis  periculo 
committeret,  cum  aut  hieme  aut  referto  piceJonum  mari  naviga- 
ret  ?     Pro  leg-  Manil.  11. 


Sect.  IL  -CICERO.  J31 

all  the  provinces  bordering  on  that  sea,  as  far  as  fifty 
'tiiles  within  land.  These  pirates  were  grown  so 
strong,  and  so  audacious,  that  they  had  taken  several 
Roman  magistrates  and  ambassadors  prisoners,  made 
some  successful  descents  on  Italy  itself,  and  burnt  the 
navy  of  Rome  in  the  very  port  of  Ostia  *.  Yet  the 
grant  of  a  jx)wer  so  exorbitant  and  unknown  to  the 
laws  was  strenuously  opposed  by  Catulus,  Hortensius, 
and  all  the  other  chiefs  of  the  senate,  as  dangerous  to 
the  public  liberty,  nor  fit  to  be  entrusted  to  any  sin- 
gle person  :  they  alleged,  "  That  these  unusual  grants 
"  were  the  cause  of  all  the  misery  that  the  republic 
"  had  suffered  from  the  proscriptions  of  Marius  and 
"  Sylla,  who,  by  a  perpetual  succession  of  extraordi- 
"  nary  commands,'  were  made  t<30  great  to  be  con- 
"  trouled  by  the  authority  of  the  laws ;  that  though 
"  the  same  abuse  of  power  was  not  to  be  apprehended 
**  from  Pompey,  yet  the  thing  itself  was  pernicious, 
*'  and' contrary  to  the  constitution  of  Rome  ;  that  the 
"  equality  of  a  democracy  required,  that  the  public 
"  honours  should  be  shared  alike  hy  all  who  were  wor« 
*'  thy  of  th^m  ;  that  there  was  no  other  way  to  make 
"  men  w^orthy,  and  to  furnish  the  city  with  a  number 
"  and  choice  of  experienced  commanders :  ^nd  if,  as 
"  it  was  said  by  some,  there  were  really  none  at  that 
^'  time  fijt  to  command  but  Pompey,  the   true  reason 

*  OmI  ad  vos  ab  exteris  nationibus  venirei"jt,  querar,  cum  lega- 
t\  pGpiili  Roman?  redemptl  sint  ?  Mercatoribus  tutum  mare  non 
fuisse  dica^n,  cum  duodecim  secures  in  potestatera  prtedonum 
perrenerinf^ — Qu:d  ego  Ostiense  incommodurT),  atque  illam  la- 
bem  &.  ignorainiam  Rejpub,  querar,  cum  prope  Inspectantibus 
vobis,  classis  ea,  cui  Consul  populi  Romani  praepositus  esset,  & 
pjcwedonxbus  capta  atque  oppressa  est  ?   Pro  leg.  Manil.  I2. 

^  I  3 


j[32  The  LIFE  of  Sect.  IL 

"  was,  because  they  would  suffer  none  to  command 
"  but  Pompey  *."  All  the  friends  of  Lucullus  were 
particularly  active  in  the  opposition  ;  apprehending, 
that  this  new  commission  would  encroach  upon  his 
province  and  command  in  the  Mithridatic  war  :  so 
that  Gabinius,  to  turn  the  popular  clamour  on  that 
side,  got  a  plan  of  the  magnificent  palace,  which  Lu- 
cullus was  building,  painted  upon  a  banner,  and  car-, 
lied  about  the  streets  by  his  mob  ;  to  intimate,  that 
he  was  making  all  that  expence  out  of  the  spoils  of 
the  republic  f . 

Catulus,  in  speaking  to  the  people  against  this  law, 
demanded  of  them,  "  If  every  thing  must  needs  be 
"  committed  to  Pompey,  what  they  would  do  if  any 
"  accident  should  befall  him  ?  Upon  which,  as  Cicero 
"  says,  he  reaped  the  just  fruit  of  his  virtue,  when 
"  they  all  cried  out  with  one  voice^  that  their  depend- 
"  ence  would  then  be  upon  him  t.  Pompey  himself, 
who  was  naturally  a  great  dissembler,  affected  not  on- 
ly an  indifference,  but  a  dislike  to  the  employment, 
"  and  begged  the  people  to  confer  it  on  some  body 
*'  else  ;  and,  after  all  the  fatigues  which  he  had  un- 
*'  dergone  in  their  service,  to  give  him  leave  to  retire 
"  to  the  care  of  his  domestic  affairs,  and  spare  him  the 
^'  trouble  and  odium  of  so  invidious  a  commission  L" 


*  Dio.  1.  ^6.  p.  15. 

j-  Tugurium  ut  iam  videatur  esse  Ilia  villa,  quam  ipso  Tribu- 
rus  plebis  pictam  olim  in  concionibus  explicabat,  quo  fortissimum 
ac  summum  civem — in  invidiam  vocaret.     Pro  Sext.  43.     , 

:|:  Qdi  cum  ex  vobis  qucereret,  si  in  uno  Cn;  Pompcio  omuio 
poneretis,  si  quid  eo  factum,  esset,  in  quo  spc-m  essetis  habiturl  ? 
Cepit  ma_[Tnuai  suae  virtutis  fructum,  cum  omnes  una  prope  voce, 
ij  eo  ipso  vos  spera  htbituios  esse  dixistis.     Pro  leg,  Man.  20. 

^    Dio.  1.  c;6.  rs.  II. 


Sect.  II.  CICERO.  135 

But  this  seeming  self-denial  gave  a  handle  only  to 
his  friends  to  extol  his  modesty  and  integrity  the  more 
-effectually  ;  and  since  there  had  been  a  precedent  for 
the  law  a  few  years  before,  in  favour  of  a  man  much 
inferior  both  in  merit  and  interest,  M.  Antonius  *,  it 
was  carried  against  the  united  authority  of  all  the  ma- 
gistrates, but  with  the  general  inclination  of  the  peo- 
ple :  when,  from  the  greatest  scarcity  of  provisions 
which  had  been  known  for  a  long  time  in  Rome,  the- 
credit  of  Pompey's  name  sunk  the  price  of  them  at 
once,  as  if  plenty  had  been  actually  restored  f .  But 
though  the  senate  could  not  hinder  the  law,  yet  they 
had  their  revenge  on  Gabinius  the  author  of  it,  by- 
preventing  his  being  chosen  one  of  Pompey's  lieute- 
nants, which  v/as  what  he  chiefly  aimed  at,  and  what 
Pompey  himself  solicited  J  ;  though  Pompey  probably 
made  him  amends  for  it  in  some  other  way  ;  since, 
as  Cicero  says,  he  was  so  necessitous  at  this  time,  and 
so  profligate,  that,  if  he  had  not  carried  his  law,  hs 
must  have  turned  pirate  himself  ||.  Pompey  had  a 
fleet  of  five  hundred  sail  allowed  for  this  expedition, 
with  twenty-four  lieutenants  chosen  out  of  the  se- 

*  Sed  idem  hoc  ante  biennium  in  M.  Antonil  prnetura  decre- 
tum.      Veil.  Pat.  2.  31. 

f  Q_iio  die  a  vobis  maritimo  bella  prnspositus  est  imperator, 
tanta  repente  vilitas  annonse  ex  summa  inopia  &,  caritate  rei  fru- 
mentari-cC  consecuta  est,  unius  hcminis  spe  &  nomine,  qu?ntura 
vix  ex  summa  ubertate  agrorum  diuturna  pax  efficere  potuisset. 
Pro  leg.  Man.  15. 

:|:  Ne  legaretur  A.  Gabinius  Cr.  Porcpeio  expetenti  gc  pcs- 
tulanti.     lb     19, 

{{  Nisi  rogationem  de  piratico  bsllo  tulisset,  profecto  egestate 
&c  improbitate  coactus  piraticam  ipse  fecisset.  Post  rcdit  in 
Senat.  5. 

I4 


J34 


The  life  of  Sect.  II, 


nate  * ;  whom  he  distributed  so  skilfully  through  the 
several  stations  of  the  Mediterranean,  that  in  less  than 
fifty  days  he  drove  the  pirates  out  of  all  their  lurking 
holes,  and  in  four  months  put  an  end  to  the  v^^hole 
war :  for  he  did  not  prepare  for  it  till  the  end  of 
winter,  set  out  upon  it  in  the  beginning  of  spring,  and 
finished  it  in  the  middle  of  summer  f . 

A  second  law  was  pubhshed  by  L.  Otho,  for  the 
assignment  of  distinct  seats  in  the  theatres  to  the  e- 
questrian  order,  who  used  before  to  sit  promiscuously 
v/ith  the  populace  :  but  by  tlais  law  fourteen  rows  of 
benches,  next  to  those  of  the  senators,  were  to  be  ap- 
propriated to  their  use ;  by  which  he  secured  to  them, 
as  Cicero  says,  both  their  dignity  and  their  pleasure  J. 
The  senate  obtained  the  same  privilege  of  separate 
seats  about  an  hundred  years  before,  in  the  consul- 
ship of  vScipio  Africanus,  which  highly  disgusted  the 
people,  and  gave  occasion,  says  Livy,  as  all  innova- 
tions are  apt  to  do,  to  much  debate  and  censure ;  for 
many  of  the  wiser  sort  condemned  all  such  distinc- 
tions in  a  free  city,  as  dangerous  to  the  public  peace : 
and  Scipio  himself  afterwards  repented,  and  blamed 
himself  for  suffering  it  §*     Otho's  law,  we  may  ima- 


*  Plutarch,  in  Pomp, 

-f  Ipse  autem,  ut  a  Krundisio  profectus  est,  undequinquage- 
simo  die  totam  ad  imperium  populi  Romani  Ciliciam  adjunxit— 
ita  tahtum  bellum — Cn.  Pompeius  extrema  hieme  apparavit, 
ineunte  vere  suscepit,  media  estate  confecit.     Pro  leg.  Man.  I2. 

X  L.  Otho,  vir  foitis,  meus  necessarius,  equestri  ordinj  resti* 
tuit  noh  solum  dignitatem,   sed  etiam  voluptatera.     Pro  Mur.  ig, 

^  P.  Africanus  ille  superior,  ut  dicitur,  non  solum  a  sapientis- 
-imis  hominibus,  qui  turn  erant,  verum  etiam  a  seipso  saepe  accu« 
satus  'est,  quod  cam  consul  esset — passirs  esset  turn  primum  a  po- 
pulari  confessu  senatoria  subsellia  separari.    Pro  Cornel,  i,    Frag- 

"     '  mcntc 


Sect.  II.  CICERO.  ^135 

gine,  gave  still  greater  ofFence,  as  it  was  a  greater  af- 
front to  the  people,  Xo  be  removed  yet  farther  fron\ 
what  of  all  things  they  were  fondest  of,  the  sight  of 
plays  and  shews :  it  was  carried,  however,  by  the  au^ 
thority  of  the  tribune,  and  is  frequently  referred  to  by 
the  classic  writers,  as  an  act  very  memorable,  and  J, 
what  made  much  noise  in  its  tinie. 

C.  Cornehus  also,  another  tribune,  was  pushing  for- 
ward a  third  law,  of  a  graver  kind,  to  prohibit  bribe- 
ry in  elections,  by  the  sanction  of  the  severest  penal- 
ties :  the  rigour  of  it  highly  displeased  the  senate, 
whose  warm  opposition  raised  great  disorders  in  the 
city;  so  that  all  other  business  was  interrupted,  the 
elections  of  magistrates  adjourned,  and  the  consuls 
forced  to  have  a  guard.  The  matter,  however,  was 
compounded,  by  moderating  the  severity  of  the  pe- 
nalties in  a  new  law  offered  by  the  consuls,  v/liich  was 
accepted  by  Cornehus,  and  enacted  in  proper  form, 
under  the  title  of  the  Calpurnian  law,  from  the  name 
of  the  consul  C.  Calpurnius  Piso  *.  Cicero  speaks  of 
it  still  as  rigourously  drawn  f ;  for,  besides  a  pecuniary 
fine,  it  rendered  the  guilty  incapable  of  any  pubhc 
office  or  place  in  the  senate.  This  Cornehus  seems. 
to  have  been  a  brave  and  honest  tribune,  though 
somewhat  too  fierce  and  impetuous  in  asserting  the 
rights  of  the  citizens ;  he  pubhshed  another  law,  to 


iTient.  ex  Asconio.      [Liv.  1.  34.  54.]      Ea  res  avertit  vulgi  anf- 
mum  et  favorem  Scipionis  vehementer  quassavit.     Val.  Max.  2.  4. 
X  — sedillbusque  magnus  in  primis  eques 

Othone  contcmpto  sedet Hor    Ep.  4.  15. 

Sic  libitum  vano,  qui  nos  distinxit,  Othoni.     Juv.  3.  1^5^, 
♦  Dio.  1.  36.  c.  18. 
f  Erat  eniin  sxverissirae  scripta  Calpurnia.     Pro  Mur.  23. 


135  The  LIFE  of   '  Sect.  IL 

prohibit  any  man's  being  absolved  from  the  obligation 
of  the  laws,  except  by  the  authority  of  the  people ; 
which,  though  a  part  of  the  old  constitution,  had  long 
been  usurped  by  the  senate,  who  dispensed  with  the 
laws  by  their  own  decrees,  and  those  often  made  clan- 
destinely, when  a  few  only  were  privy  to  them.  The 
senate,  being  resolved  not  to  part  with  so  valuable  a 
privilege,  prevailed  with  another  tribune,  to  inhibit 
the  publication  of  it,  when  it  came  to  be  read,  upon 
which. Gomehus  took  the  book  from  the  clerk,  and 
read  it  himself.  This  was  irregular,  and  much  in- 
veighed against,  as  a  violence  of  the  rights  of  the  tri- 
bunate ;  so  that  Cornelius  was  once  more  forced  to 
compound  the  matter  by  a  milder  law,  forbidding  the 
senate  to  pass  any  such  decrees,  unless  when  two  hun- 
dred senators  were  present  J.  These  disturbances, 
howe\^r,  proved  the  occasion  of  an  unexpected  ho- 
nour to  Cicero,  by  giving  him  a  more  ample  and  pu- 
blic testimony  of  the  people's  affection ;  for  in  three 
different  assemblies  convened  for  the  choice  of  prae- 
tors, two  of  which  were  dissolved  without  effect,  he 
was  declared  every  time  the  first  praetor,  by  the  suf- 
frages of  all  the  centuries  ^, 

The  Praetor  was  a  magistrate  next  in  dignity  to  the 
consuls,  created  originally  as  a  colleague  or  assistant 
to  them  in  the  administration  of  justice,  and  to  sup- 
ply their  place  also  in  absence  f .  At  first  there  was 
but  one ;  but  as  the  dominion  and  affairs  of  the  re- 


i   Ascor.ii  argument,  pro  Cornclio. 

*   Nam  cum  propter  dllationem  comitlorum  per  prustor  primu? 
centuTiis  cunctis  renunciatus  sum.      Fro  leg.  rvlanll.  i, 
f  Aul.  Gellius,   13.   I  c. 


Sect.II.  CICERO.  137 

public  increased,  so  the  number  of  praetors  was  gra- 
dually enlarged  from  one  to  eight.  They  were  cho- 
sen, not  as  the  inferior  magistrates,  by  the  people  vot- 
ing in  their  tribes,  but  in  their  centuries,  as  the  con- 
suls and  censors  also  were.  In  the  first  method,  the 
majority  of  votes  in  each  tribe  determined  the  gene- 
ral vote  of  the  tribe,  and  a  majority  of  tribes  deter- 
mined the  election,  in  which  the  meanest  citizen  had 
as  good  a  vote  as  the  best :  but  in  the  second,  the  ba- 
lance of  power  was  thrown  into  the  hands  of  the  bet- 
ter sort,  by  a  wise  contrivance  of  one  of  their  kings, 
Servius  Tullius,  who  divided  the  whole  body  of  the 
citizens  into  a  hundred  and  ninety-three  centuries, 
according  to  a  census  or  valuation  of  their  estates ; 
and  then  reduced  these  centuries  into  six  classes,  ac- 
cording to  the  same  rule,  assigning  to  the  first  or  rich- 
est class  ninety-seven  of  these  centuries,  or  a  majority 
of  the  whole  number  :  so  that  if  the  centuries  of  the 
first  class  agreed,  the  affair  was  over,  and  the  votes  of 
aU  the  rest  insignificant :]:. 

The  business  of  the  prastors  was  to  preside  and 
judge  in  all  causes,  especially  of  a  public  or  criminal 
kind,  where  their  several  jurisdictions  were  assigned 
to  them  by  lot  * ;  and  it  fell  to  Cicero's  to  sit  upon 
actions  of  extortion  and  rapine,  brought  against  magi- 
strates and  governors  of  provinces  f ,  in  which,  he  tells 


X  From  this  division  of  the  people  into  dasses,  the  word  C/as-. 
sica/f  which  we  now  apply  to  writers  of  the  first  rank,  is  deriv- 
ed :  for  it  signifies  originally  persons  of  the  first  class,  all  the  rest 
being  stiled  infra  classem.     lb,  7.  13. 

*   In  Verr.   Act.  i.  8. 

\  Postulatur  apud  me  prcetorem  primum  de  pecuniis  repetun- 
dls.     Pro  Cornel,  i.  fragm.. 


tsl  The   life  of  Sect.  It 

us  himself,  he  had  acted  as  an  accuser,  sat  as  a  judge^ 
and  presided  as  praetor :):.  In  this  office  he  acquired 
c  great  reputation  of  integrity,  by  the  condemnation 
cf  Licinius  Macer,  a  person  of  praetorian  dignity  and 
great  eloquence,  who  would  have  made  an  eminent 
figure  at  the  bar,  if  his  abihties  had  not  been  sulHed 
by  the  infamy  of  a  vicious  life  *.  "  This  man,  as 
**  Plutarch  relates  it,  depending  upon  his  interest,  and 
"  the  influence  of  Crassus,  who  supported  him  with  all 
**  his  power,  was  so  confident  of  being  acquitted,  that, 
**  without  waiting  for  sentence,  he  went  home  to  dress 
"  himself,  and,  as  if  already  absolved,  was  returning 
*'  towards  the  court  in  a  white  gown ;  but  being  met 
**  on  his  way  by  Crassus,  and  informed  that  he  was 
*'  condemned  by  the  unanimous  suffrage  of  the  bench, 
*'  he  took  to  his  bed,  and  died  immediately."  The 
story  is  told  differently  by  other  writers :  "  That  Ma- 
*'  cer  was  actually  ^t  the  court  expecting  the  issue ; 
*'  but  perceiving  Cicero  ready  to  give  judgment  against 
•**  him,  he  sent  one  to  let  him  know  that  he  was  dead, 
**  and  stopping  his  breath  at  the  same  time  with  an 
^'  handkerchief,  instantly  expired ;  so  that  Cicero  did 
•*  not  proceed  to  sentence,  by  which  Macer's  estate 
**  was  saved  to  his  son  Licinius  Calvus,  an  orator 
**  afterwards  of  the  first  merit  and  eminence  f  "  But 
from  Cicero's  own  account  it  appears,  that,  after  treat- 
ing Macer  in  the  trial  with  great  candour  and  equity, 
he  actually  condemned  him  with  the  universal  appro- 


X  Accusavi  de  pecuniis  repetundis,  judex  scdi,  praetor  quqesl. 
vl,  &c.     Pro  Rabin.  Post.  4. 
f   Brutus,   352. 
I  Plutarch.     Cic.     Valer.     Max.  5.  t2. 


Sect.  12.  CICERO; 


^3? 


bation  of  the  people  ;  and  did  himself  much  more  ha- 
nour  and  service  by  it,  than  he  could  have  reaped,  he 
says,  by  Macer's  friendship  and  interest,  if  he  had  ac^ 
quitted  him  J. 

Manilins,  one  of  the  new  tribunes,  no  sooner  enter- 
ed itito  his  office,  than  he  I'aised  a  fresh  disturbance 
in'  the  city,  by  the  promulgation  of  a  law  for  granting 
to  slaves  set  free  a  right  of  voting  among  the  tribes ; 
which  gave  so  much  scandal  to  all,  and  was  so  vigour^ 
ously  opposed  by  the  senate,  that  be  was  presently 
obliged  to  drop  it  *  :  but  being  always  venal,  as  Vel- 
leius  says,  and  the  tool  of  other  mens  power,  that  he 
might  recover  his  credit  with  the-  people,  and  engage 
the  favour  of  Pompey,  he  proposed  a  second  law,  that 
Pompey,  who  was  then  in  Ciiicia,  extinguishing  the 
remains  of  the  piratic  war,  should  have  the  govern- 
ment of  Asia  added  to  his  commission,  with  the  com- 
mand of  the  Mithridatiq  war,  and  of  all  the  Romai> 
armies  in  those  parts  f .  It  was  about  eight  years 
since  LucuUus  was  first  sent  to  that  war,  in  which, 
by  a  series  of  many  great  and  glorious  acts,  he  had 
acquired  reputation  both  of  courage  and  conduct,  e- 
qual  to  that  of  the  greatest  genera-ls^:  he  had  driveu 
Mithridates  out  of  his  kingdom  of  Pontus,  and  gained 
several  memorable  victories  against  him,  though  sup-» 


X  Nas  hie  incredlbili  ac  singularl  populi  voluntate  de  C.  Ma- 
cro transegimus  :  cui  cum  aequi  fuisseraus,  tamen  multQ  majorem 
fructum  ex  populi  existimatione,  illo  damnato,  cepimuj:,  quam  tjc 
ipsius,  si  absolutus  esset,   gratia  cepissimus.     x'Vd  Att.  I.  4. 

*   Ascan.  in  Orat.  pro  Cornel.  Dio.  1.  36.  23. 

■f  Semper  venalis,  et  alienre  mluister  putentise,  legem  tulit,  ut 
bellum  Mithridaticura  per  Cii.  Pompeium  administraretur*  V«il, 
Pat.  2.  s^. 


140  The  LIFE  of  Sect.  it. 

ported  by  the  whole  force  of  Tigranes,  the  most  po- 
tent prince  of  Asia,  till  his  army,  harrassed  by  perpe^ 
tual  fatigues,  and  debauched  by  his  factious  officers, 
particularly  by  his  brother-in-law  young  Clodius  J, 
began  to  grow  impatient  of  his  discipline,  and  to  de- 
mand their  discharge.  Their  disaffection  was  still  in- 
creased, by  the  unlucky  defeat  of  one  of  his  lieute- 
nants, Triarius,  who,  in  a  rash  engagement  with  Mith- 
ridates,  was  destroyed,  with  the  loss  of  his  camp,  and 
the  best  of  his  troops ;  so  that  as  soon  as  they  heard 
that  Glabrio,  the  consul  of  the  last  year,  was  appoint- 
ed to  succeed  him,  and  actually  arrived  in  Asia,  they 
broke  out  into  an  open  mutiny,  and  refused  to  follow 
him  any  farther,  declaring  themselves  to  be  no  longer 
his  soldiers :  but  Glabrio,  upon  the  news  of  these  dis- 
orders, having  no  inclination  to  enter  upon  so  trouble- 
some a  command,  chose  to  stop  short  in  Bithynia, 
without  ever  going  to  the  army  ^. 

This  mutinous  spirit  in  LucuUus's  troops,  and  the 
loss  of  his  authority  with  them,  which  Glabrio  was  still 
less  qualified  to  sustain,  gave  a  reasonable  pretext  to 
Manilius's  law ;  and  Pompey's  success  against  the  pi- 
rates, and  his  being  upon  the  spot  with  a  great  army, 
made  it  likewise  the  more  plausable ;  so  that,  after  a 
sharp  contest  and  opposition  from  some  of  the  best 
and  greatest  of  the  senate,  the  tribune  carried  his 
point,  and  got  the  law  confirmed  by  the  people.  Ci- 
cero supported  it  with  all  his  eloquence,  in  a  speech 
from  the  rostra,  which  he  had  never  mounted  till  this 


;|:   Post,  exercitu  L.  LucullI   sollicitato   per  nefandum  scelus, 
fugit  illinc.     De  Arusplcum  respons.  20.      Plutarch,  in  Lucull.- 
*  Pro  leg.  Manil,  2.  9.     Plutarch,  ib.  Dio.  1.  36.  p.  7. 


Sect.  IL  CICERO.  141 

occasion :  where,  in  displaying  the  character  of  Pom- 
pey,  he  draws  the  picture  of  a  consummate  general^ 
with  all  the  strength  and  beauty  of  colours  which 
words  can  give.  He  was  now  in  the  career  of  his  for- 
tunes, and  in  the  sight,  as  it  were,  of  the-  consulship, 
the  grand  object  of  his  ambition ;  so  that  his  conduct 
was  suspected  to  flow  from  an  interested  view  of  faci- 
litating his  own  advancement,  by  paying  his  court  to 
Pompey's  power :  but  the  reasons  already  intimated^ 
and  Pompey's  singular  character  of  modesty  and  ab- 
stinence, joined  to  the  superiority  of  his  military  fame, 
might  probably  convince  him,  that  it  was  not  only 
safe,  but  necessary,  at  this  time,  to  commit  a  war, 
which  no  body  else  could  finish,  to  such  a  general, 
and  a  power  which  no  body  else  ought  to  be  entrust- 
ed with,  to  such  a  man.  This  he  himself  solemnly 
affirms  in  the  conclusion  of  his  speech :  "  I  call  the 
"  gods  to  witness,"  says  he,  "  and  especially  those  who 
"  preside  over  this  temple,  and  inspect  the  minds  of 
"  all  who  administer  the  public  affairs,  that  I  neither 
■  "  do  this  at  the  desire  of  any  one,  nor  to  conciliate 
*'  Pompey's  favour,  nor  to  procure  from  any  man's 
*'  greatness,  either  a  support  in  dangers,  or  assistance 
"  in  honours :  for  as  to  dangers,  I  shall  repel  them 
*'  as  a  man  ought  to  do,  by  the  protection  of  my 
"  ninocence ;  and  for  honours,  I  shall  obtain  them, 
"  not  from  any  single  man,  nor  from  this  place, 
"  but  from  my  usual  laborious  course  of  life,  and 
"  the  continuance  of  your  favour.  Whatever  pains, 
*'  therefore,  I  have  taken  in  this  cause,  I  have  ta- 
*'  ken  it  all,  I  assure  you,  for  the  sake  of  the  repu- 
"  blic ;  and,  so  far  from  serving  any  interest  of  my 


142  The   life    of  Sect.  11. 

"  own  by  it,  have  gained  the  ill-will  and  enmity  cf 
**  many,  partly  secret,  partly  declared,  unnecessary 
"  to  myself,  yet  not  useless  perhaps  to  you :  biit,  after 
**  so  many  favours  received  from  you,  and  this  very 
"  honour  which  I  now  enjoy,  I  have  made  it  my  reso- 
"  lution,  citizens,  to  prefer  your  will,  the  dignity  of 
"  the  republic,  and  the  safety  of  the  provinces,  to  all 
"  my  own  interests  and  advantages  w^hatsoever  "*." 

J.  Caesar  also  was  a  violent  promoter  of  this  law ; 
but  from  a  different  motive  than  the  love  either  of 
Pompey,  or  the  republic  :  his  design  was,  to  recom- 
mend himself  by  it  to  the  people,  whose  favour,  he 
foresaw,  would  be  of  more  use  to  him  than  the  se- 
nate's, and  to  cast  a  fresh  load  of  envy  on  Pompey, 
which,  by  some  accident,  might  be  improved  after- 
wards to  his  hurt ;  but  his  chief  view  was  to  make  the 
precedent  famihar,  that,  whatever  use  Pompey  might 
make  of  it,  he  himself  might  one  day  make  a  bad 
one  f.  For  this  is  the  common  effect  of  breaking 
through  the  barrier  of  the  laws,  by  which  many  states 
have  been  ruined  ;  when,  from  a  confidence  in  the  a- 
bihties  and  integrity  of  some  eminent  citizen,  tliey  in- 
vest him,  on  pressing  occasions,  with  extraordinary 
powers,  for  the  common  benefit  and  defence  of  tlie 
society  ;  for  though  power  so  entrusted,  may,  in  parti- 
cular cases,  be  of  singular  service,  and  sometimes  even 
necessary  ;  yet  the  example  is  always  dangerous,  fur- 
nishing a  perpetual  pretence  to  the  ambitious  and  ill 
designing,  to  grasp  at  every  prerogative  which  had 

,         — — — / 

*  Pro  leg,  Manil.  24-     «  f  DIo.  1.  56.  2iv 


Sect.  IL  CICERO.  143 

been  granted  at  any  time  to  the  virtuous,  till  the  same 
power,  which  would  save  a  country  in  good  hands, 
oppresses  it  at  last  in  bad. 

Though  Cicero  had  now  full  employment  as  Prae- 
tor, both  in  the  affairs  of  state  and  pubUc  trials :  yet 
he  found  time  still  to  act  the  Advocate,  as  well  as  the 
Judge,  and  not  only  to  hear  causes  in  his  own  tribu- 
nal, but  to  plead  them  also  at  the  tribunals  of  the  o- 
ther  Praetors.  He  now  defended  A.  Cluentius,  a  Ro- 
man knight  of  splendid  family  and  fortune,  accused 
before  the  praetor  <^  Naso,  of  poisoning  his  father-in- 
law  Oppianicus,  who  a  few  years  before  had  been  tri- 
ed and  banished  for  an  attempt  to  poison  Cluentius. 
The  oration,  which  is  extant,  lays  open  a  scene  of 
such  complicated  villainy,  by  poison,  murder,  incest, 
suborning  witnesses,  corrupting  judges,  as  the  poets 
themselver  have  never  feigned  in  any  one  family  ;  all 
contrived  by  the  mother  of  Cluentius,  against  the  life 
and  fortunes  of  her  son  :  "  But  what  a  mother  I"  says 
Cicero  ;  "  one,  who  is  hurried  blindfold  by  the  most 
*'  cruel  and  brutal  passions ;  whose  lust  no  sense  of 
"  shame  restrains ;  who  by  the  viciousness  of  her  mind 
"  perverts  all  the  laws  of  men  to  the  worst  ends ;  who 
*'  acts  with  such  folly,  that  none  can  take  her  for  a 
"  human  creature  ;  with  such  violence,  that  none  can 
"  imagine  her  to  be  a  woman ;  with  such  cruelty, 
"  that  none  can  conceive  her  to  be  a  mother ;  one, 
"  who  has  confounded  not  only  the  name  and  the 
"  rights  of  nature,  but  all  the  relations  of  it  too  :  the 
*'  wife  of  her  son-in-law  !  the  stepmother  of  her  son  I 
"  the  invader  of  her  daughter's  bed  I  in  short,  wlio 
Vol.  I.  K 


i44  The  LIFE  of  Sect.  1L 

"  has  nothing  left  in  her  of  the  human  species,  but 
"  the  mere  form  *." 

He  is  supposed  to  have  defended  several  other  cri- 
itlinals  this  year,  though  the  pleadings  are  now  lost, 
and  particularly  M.  Fundanius ;  but  what  gives  the 
most  remarkable  proof  of  his  industry,  is,  that  during 
his  (jraetorship,  as  some  of  the  ancient  writers  tell  us, 
though  he  was  in  full  practice  and  exercise  of  speak- 
ing, yet  he  frequented  the  school  of  a  celebrated  Rhe- 
torician, Gnipho  f .  We  cannot  suppose  that  his  de- 
sign was  to  learn  any  thing  new,  but  to  preserve  and 
confirm  that  perfection  which  he  had  already  acquired, 
and  prevent  any  ill  habit  from  growing  insensibly  up- 
on him,  by  exercising  himself  under  the  observation  of 
so  judicious  a  master.  But  his  chief  viev/  ceitainly  vras, 
to  give  some  countenance  and  encouragement  to  Gni- 
pho himself,  as  well  as  to  the  art  which  he  professed  ; 
and,  by  the  presence  and  authority  of  one  of  the  first 
magistrates  of  Rome,  to  inspire  the  young  nobles  with 
an  ambition  to  excel  in  it. 

When  his  magistracy  was  just  at  an  end,  Manilius, 
whose  tribunate  expired  a  few  days  before,  was  accus- 
ed before  him  of  rapine  and  extortion  :  and  though  ten 
days  were  always  allowed  to  the  criminal  to  prepare 
for  his  defence,  he  appointed  the  very  next  day  for 
the  trial.  This  startled  and  offended  the  citizens,  who 
generally  favoured  Manilius,  and  looked  upon  the  pro- 
secution as  the  efi^eet  of  malice  and  resentment  on  tlie 


*  Pro  Cluent.  70. 

■f  Scholam  ejus  claros  vlros  frequentasse  aiunt  3  In  his  I\I.  Ci- 
ceronem  etiam  cum  prsetura  fungerstur.  Sueton.  de  clar.  Gram- 
mat.  7.  Macrob.  Saturn,  3.  12. 


Sect.  II.  CICERO*  145 

part  of  the  senate,  for  his  law  in  favour  of  Pompey. 
The  tribunes  therefore  called  Cicero  to  an  account  be- 
fore the  people,  for  treating  Manilius  so  roughly  ;  who 
in  defence  of  himself  said,  That  as  it  had  been  his 
practice  to  treat  all  criminals  with  humanity,  so  he  had 
no  design  of  acting  otherwise  with  Manilius,  but  on 
the  contrary  had  appointed  that  short  day  for  the  trial, 
because  it  was  the  only  one  of  which  he  was  master ; 
and  that  it  was  not  the  part  of  those,  who  wished  well 
to  Manilius,  to  throw  off  the  cause  to  another  judge. 
This  made  a  wonderful  change  in  the  minds  of  the 
audience,  who,  applauding  his  conduct,  desired  then, 
that  he  would  undertake  the  defence  of  Manihus,  to 
which  he  consented  ;  and,  stepping  up  again  into  the 
rostra,  laid  open  the  source  of  the  whole  affair,  with 
many  severe  reflections  upon  the  enemies  of  Pom.pey  *. 
The  trial  however  was  dropt,  on  account  of  the  tu- 
mults which  arose  immediately  after  in  the  city,  from 
some  new  incidents  of  much  greater  importance. 

At  the  consular  election,  which  was  held  this  sum- 
mer, P.  Autronius  P^tus  and  P.  Cornelius  Sylla  were 
declared  consuls ;  but  their  election  was  no  sooner 
published,  than  they  were  accused  of  bribery  and  cor- 
ruption by  the  Calpurnian  law,  and  being  brought  to 
trial,  and  found  guilty  before  their  entrance  into  office, 
forfeited  the  consulship  to  their  accusers  and  competi- 
tors,  L.  Manlius  Torquatus  and  L.  Aurelius  Cotta. 
Catiline  also,  who  from  his  praetorsliip  had  obtained 
the  province  of  Afric,  came  to  Rome  this  year  to  ap- 
pear a  candidate  at  the  election,  butj  being  accused  of 


*  Plutarch,  in  Cic. 

K  3 


J4^  The   LIFE  of  Sect.  IE 

extortion  and  rapine  in  that  government,  was  not  per-* 
mitted  by  the  consuls  to  pursue  his  pretensions  *. 

This  disgrace  of  men  so  powerful  and  desperate  en- 
gaged them  presently  in  a  conspiracy  against  the  state, 
in  which  it  was  resolved  to  kill  the  new  consuls,  with 
several  others  of  the  senate,  and  share  the  government 
among  themselves  :  but  the  effect  of  it  Vv^as  prevented 
by  some  information  given  of  the  design,  which  was  too 
jprecipitately  laid  to  be  ripe  for  execution.  Cn.  Pisa, 
an  audacious,  needy,  factious  young  nobleman,  was 
privy  to  it  f ;  and,  as  Suetonius  says,  two  more  of  much 
greater  weight,  M.  Crassus  and  J.  Caesar ;  the  first  of 
whom  was  to  be  created  dictator,  the  second  his  mas- 
ter of  the  horse  :  but  Crassus's  heart  failing  him,  either 
through  fear  or  repentance,  he  did  not  appear  at  the 
appointed  time,  so  that  Caesar  would  not  give  the  sig- 
nal agreed  upon,  of  letting  his  robe  drop  from  his 
shoulder  J.  The  senate  was  particularly  jealous  of 
Piso,  and,  hoping  to  cure  his  disaffection,  by  making 
him  easy  in  his  fortunes,  or  to  remove  him  at  least 
from  the  cabals  of  his  associates,  gave  him  the  govern- 
ment of  Spain,  at  the  instance  of  Crassus,  who  strenu- 

*  Qh*^  f^^'*  ^^^  ^'  Volcatius  consul  in  consilio  faisset,  ne  pe- 
tendi  quidem  potestatem  esse  voluerunt.     Orat,  in  Tog.  cand. 

CatlUna,  pecuniarum  repetundarum  reus,  prohibitus  erat  petere 
conHilatum.     Sail.  i8. 

f  Cn.  Piso,  adolescens  nobilis.  summa;  audaci?e,  egens,  factlcr- 
sus — cum  hoc  Catilina  &.  Autronlus — consilio  communicato,  para- 
bant  in  Capitolio  L.  Cottam  &  L.  Torquatum,  Coss.  interficere. 
Ea  re  cognita,  rursus  in  Nonas  Feb.  consilium  ccedis  transtulcr- 
ant,     Ibid. 

X  Vt  principio  anni  Senatum  adorirentur,  &  trucidatis,  quos 
placitum  esset,  Dictaturam  Crassus  invaderet,  ipse  ab  eo  magister 
equltum  diceretur. — Crass'um  pocnitentia  vel  metu  diem  csedi  des- 
tinatum  non  obiisse,  idcirco,  ne  Ccesarem  quidem  signum,  quod  ab 
eo  dari  convenerat,  dedisse#     Sueton*  in  J,  Ctes.  9. 


Sect.  II.  CICERO.  147 

ously  supported  him  as  a  determined  enemy  to  Pom-  , 
pey.  But,  before  his  setting  out,  Ceesar  and  he  are 
eaid  to  have  entered  into  a  new  and  separate  engage- 
ment, that  the  one  should  begin  some  disturbance  a- 
broad,  while  the  other  was  to  prepare  and  inflame 
matters  at  home  :  but  this  plot  also  was  defeated  by 
the  unexpected  death  of  Piso  ;  who  was  assassinated 
by  the  Spaniards,  as  some  say,  for  his  cruelty,  or,  as 
others,  by  Pompey's  clients,  and  at  the  instigation  of 
Fompey  himself*, 

Cicero,  at  the  expiration  of  his  prastorship,  wouldn  ot 
accept  any  foreign  province  f ,  the  usual  reward  of  that 
magistracy,  and  the  chief  fruit  which  the  generahty 
proposed  from  it.  He  had  no  particular  love  for  mo- 
ney, nor  genius  for  arms,  so  that  those  governments 
had  no  charms  for  him  :  the  glory  which  he  pursued 
was  to  shine  in  the  eyes  of  the  city,  as  the  guardian  of 
its  laws,  to  teach  the  magistrates  how  to  execute,  and 
the  citizens  how  to  obey  them.  But  he  vras  now  pre- 
paring to  sue  for  the  consulship,  the  great  object  of  all 
his  hopes ;  and  his  whole  attention  was  employed  how 
to  obtain  it  in  his  proper  year,  and  without  a  repulse. 
There  were  two  years  necessarily  to  intervene  between 
the  proctorship  and  consulship :  the  first  of  which  was 
usually  spent  in  forming  a  general  interest,  and  solicit- 
ing for  it  as  it  were  in  a  private  manner  ;  the  second 


*  Pactumque,  ut  simul  forls  ille,  ipse  Romx,  ad  res  novas  cou- 
surgerent.     Ibid. 

Sunt,  qui  dicunt,  imperia  ejus  injusta — barbaros  nequlvisse  pati : 
alii  autem,  equites  illos,  Cn.  Pompeii  veteres  clientes,  voluntate 
ejus  Pisonem  aggressos.     Sail.  19. 

f  Tu  in  provinciam  iie  noluisti  ;  non  possum  id  in  te  repre* 
^endere,  niiod  in  meipso  picctor — piobavl.     Pro  Muren.  2O0 

^3 


t 


I4S  Thl   LIFE   OF  Sect.  n. 

in  suing  for  it  openly,  in  the  proper  form  and  habit  of 
a  candidate.  The  affection  of  the  city,  so  signally  de- 
clared for  him  in  all  the  inferior  steps  of  honour,  gave 
him  a  strong  presumption  of  success  in  his  present 
pretensions  to  the  highest :  but  as  he  had  reason  to 
apprehend  a  great  opposition  from  the  nobility,  who 
looked  upon  the  public  dignities  as  a  kind  of  birth- 
right, and  could  not  brook  their  being  intercepted  and 
snatched  from  them  by  new  men  *  ;  so  he  resolved  to 
put  it  out  of  their  power  to  hurt  him,  by  omitting  no 
pains  which  could  be  required  of  a  candidate,  of  visit- 
ing and  sohciting  all  the  citizens  in  person.  At  the 
election  therefore  of  the  tribunes  on  the  sixteenth  of 
July,  where  the  whole  city  was  assembled  in  the  field 
of  Mars,  he  chose  to  make  his  first  effort,  and  to  mix 
himself  with  the  crowd,  on  purpose  to  caress  and  sa- 
lute them  familiarly  by  name  ;  and  as  soon  as  there 
was  any  vacation  in  the  forum,  which  happened  usual- 
ly in  August,  he  intended  to  make  an  excursion  into 
the  Cisalpine  Gaul,  and  in  the  character  of  a  Lieuten- 
ant to  Piso,  the  governor  of  it,  to  visit  the  towns  and 
colonies  of  that  province,  which  was  reckoned  very 
strong  in  the  number  of  its  votes,  and  so  return  to 
Rome  in  January  following  f .  While  he  was  thus 
employed  in  suing  for  the  consulship,  L.  Cotta,  a  re- 
markable lover  of  wine,  was  one  of  the  censors,  which 
gave  occasion  to  one  of  Cicero's  jokes,  that  Plutarch 


*  Non  idem  mihi  licet  quod  iis,  qui  nobili  genere  riRti  sunt, 
«]uibus  omnia  populi  Romani  beneficia  dormlentibus  deferuntur. 
In  Verr.  5.  70. 

f  Quoniara  videtuv  in  sufTragiis  multum  posse  Gallia,  cun^  Ro» 
TCi'^  a  judicils  forum  refrixerit,  excuiremus  mense  Septembri  lega* 
i\  ad  nsonem.  Ad  Att.  ;,  i. 


Sect.  H.  CICERO.  149 

has  transmitted  to  us,  that  happenhig  one  day  to  be 
dry  with  the  fatigue  of  his  task,  he  called  for  a  glass 
of  water  to  quench  his  thirst ;  and  when  his  friends 
stood  close  around  him  as  he  was  drinking,  "  You  do 
"  well,"  says  he,  *'  to  cover  me,  lest  Cotta  should  cen- 
*'  sure  me  for  drinking  water." 

He  wrote  about  the  same  time  to  Atticus,  then  at . 
Athens,  to  desire  him  to  engage  all  that  band  of  Pom- 
pey's  dependents,  who  were  serving  under  him  in  the 
Mithridatic  war,  and,  by  way  of  jest,  bids  him  tell 
Pompey  himself,  "  that  he  would  not  take  it  ill  of 
**  him,  if  he  did  not  com.e  in  person  to  his  election  *." 
Atticus  spent  many  years  in  this  residence  at  Athens, 
which  gave  Cicero  an  opportunity  of  employing  him 
to  buy  a  great  number  of  statues  for  the  ornament  of 
his  several  villas,  especially  that  at  Tusculum,  in  which 
he  took  the  greatest  pleasure  f ,  for  its  delightfvd  si- 
tuation in  the  neighbourhood  of  Rome,  and  the  con- 
venience of  an  easy  retreat  from  the  hurry  and  fa- 
tigues of  the  city  :  here  he  had  built  several  rooms  and 
galleries,  in  imitation  of  the  schools  and  porticos  of 
Athens,  which  he  called  likewise  by  their  Attic  names, 
of  the  Academy  and  Gyinnasium^  and  designed  for  the 
same  use  of  philosophical  conferences  with  his  learn- 
ed friends.  He  had  given  Atticus  a  general  commis- 
sion to  purchase  for  him  any  piece  of  Grecian  art  or 
sculpture,  which  was  elegant  and  curious,  especially 
of  the  hterary  kind,  or  proper  for  the  furniture  of  his 

*  Illara  manum  tu  mihl  cura  ut  piatstes,  Pompeii  nostri  a-nicl. 
Nega  me  ei  iratum  fore,  si  ad  mea  comitia  non  venerlt.     Ibid. 

f  Qa-fC  tlbi  mandavi,  et  qui-^  tti  cunveniri  intelllges  nQstro  Tus- 
culanc,  velim,  ut  scribis,  csires  : — nos  ex  omnibus  molestiis  et  ia« 
boribus  uno  illo  in  loco  conqulescimus.     Ibid.  5. 

K  4 


ISO  The   LIFE   of  Segt.  II. 

academy  *  ;  which  Atticus  executed  to  his  great  sa- 
tisfaction, and  sent  him  at  diiierent  times  several  car^ 
goes  of  statues,  which  arrived  safe  at  the  port  of  Ca- 
jeta,  near  to  his  Formian  villa  f;  and  pleased  him  al- 
w^ays  so  well,  ^  both  in  the  choice  and  the  price  of 
them,  that,  upon  the  receipt  of  each  parcel,  he  still 
renewed  his  orders  for  more. 

"  I  have  paid,"  says  he,  "  a  hundred  and  sixty-four 
**  pounds,  as  you  ordered,  to  your  agent  Cincius,  for 
*'  the  Megaric  statues.  The  Mercuries  which  you 
"  mentioned,  of  Pentelician  marble,  with  brazen  heads, 
"  give  me  already  great  pleasure  :  Wherefore  I  would 
"  have  you  send  me  as  many  of  them  as  you  can,  and 
"  as  soon  as  possible,  with  any  other  statues  and  or- 
"  naments  which  you  think  proper  for  the  place,  and 
"  in  my  taste,  and  good  enough  to  please  yours  ;  but, 
"  above  all,  such  as  will  suit  my  gymnasium  and  por- 
"  tico ;  for  I  am  grown  so  fond  of  all  things  of  that 
"  kind,  that,  though  others  probably  may  blame  me, 
"  yet  I  depend  on  you  to  assist  me  f  .** 

Of  all  the  pieces  which  Atticus  sent,  he  seems  to 
have  been  the  most  pleased  with  a  sort  of  compound 
emblematical  figures,  representing  Mercury  and  Mi- 
nerva, or  Mercury  and  Hercules,  jointly  upon  one 
base,  called  Hermathenas  and  Hermeraclse  :  for  Her- 
cules being  the  proper  Deity  of  the  Gymnasium,  Mi- 
nerva of  the  Academy,  and  Mercury  common  to  both, 
they  exactly  suited  the  purpose  for  which  he  desired 

*  Quicquid  ejusdem  generis  habebis,  dignum  Academia  quod. 
tJbi  videbitur,  ne  dubitaverls  mittere,  et  arcai  nostrae  confidito. 
Ad  Att.  I.  9.     Vid.  it.  5,  6,  ic. 

j-  SIgna  qua  curasti,  ea  sunt  ad  Cajetara  exposita,     lb,  3» 

.t  Ibid,  8. 


Sect.  II.  CICERO.  151 

them  *.  But  he  was  so  intent  on  embellishing  this 
Tuscuian  villa  with  all  sorts  of  Grecian  work,  that  he 
sent  over  to  Atticus  the  plans  of  his  ceilings,  which 
were  of  stucco-work,  in  order  to  bespeak  pieces  of 
sculpture  or  painting  to  be  inserted  in  the  compart- 
ments ;  with  the  covers  of  two  of  his  wells  or  foun- 
tains, which,  according  to  the  custom  of  those  times, 
they  used  to  form  after  some  elegant  pattern,  and  a- 
dorn  with  figures  in  relief f. 

Nor  was  he  less  eager  in  making  a  collection  of 
Greek  books,  and  forming  a  library,  by  the  same  op- 
portunity of  Atticus's  help.  This  was  Atticus's  own 
passion,  who,  having  free  access  to  all  the  libraries  of 
Athens,  was  employing  his  slaves  in  copying  the  works 
of  their  best  writers,  not  only  for  his  own  use,  but  for 
sale  also,  and  the  common  profit  both  of  the  slave  and 
the  master :  for  Atticus  was  remarkable,  above  all 
men  of  his  rank,  for  a  family  of  learned  slaves,  having 
scarce  a  foot-boy  in  his  house,  who  was  not  trained 


*  Hermathena  tua  me  valde  delectat.  lb.  i.  Quod  ad  me  de 
Hermathena  sciibis,  per  mihi  gratum  est — quod  et  Hermes  com- 
mune omnium,  et  Minerva  singulare  est  insigne  ejus  gymnasii. 
lb.  4.  Signa  nostra  ct  Hermeraclas,  cum  commodissime  poteris, 
velim  impona.s.      lb.  lo. 

The  learned  generally  take  these  Hermeraclcv  and  l{2rmathencc 
to  be  nothing  more  than  a  tall  square  pedestal  of  stone,  which  was 
the  emblem  of  PJercury,  with  the  head  of  the  othrr  deity,  Mi- 
nerva or  Hercules,  upon  it,  of  which  sort  there  are  several  still 
extant,  as  we  see  them  described  in  the  books  of  Antiquities. 
But  1  am  apt  to  think,  that  the  heads  of  both  the  deities  were 
sometimes  also  joined  together,  upon  the  same  pedestal,  looking 
different  ways,  as  we  see  in  those  antique  figures  which  are  now 
indiscriminately  called  Janus'^s, 

f  Pristerea  typos  tibi  mando,  quos  in  tectorio  atrioli  possim 
includere,  et  putealia  sigilbita  duo.     ibid. 


15a  The  life   or  Sect.  IL 

"both  to  read  and 'Write  for  him  ^.  By  this  advantage 
he  had  made  a  very  large  collection  of  choice  and  cu- 
xious  books,  and  signified  to  Cicero  his  design  of  sel- 
ling them  ;  yet  seems  to  have  intimated  vi^ithal,  that 
he  expected  a  larger  sum  for  them  than  Cicero  would 
easily  spare  :  which  gave  occasion  to  Cicero  to  beg  of 
him,  in  several  letters,  to  reserve  the  whole  number 
for  him,  till  he  could  raise  money  enough  for  the  pur- 
chase. 

"  Pray  keep  your  books,"  says  he,  "  for  me,  and  do 
"  not  despair  of  my  being  able  to  make  them  mine  ; 
**  which,  if  I  can  compass,  I  shall  think  myself  richer 
"  than  Crassus,  and  despise  the  fine  villas  and  gardens 
"  of  them  all  f ."  Again  :  "  Take  care  that  you  do 
"  not  part  with  your  library  to  any  man,  how  eager 
"  soever  he  may  be  to  buy  it ;  for  I  am  setting  apart 
"  all  my  little  rents  to  purchase  that  rehef  for  my  old 
*'  age  J."  In  a  third  letter,  he  says,  "  That  he  had 
"  placed  all  his  hopes  of  comfort  and  pleasure,  when- 
*'  ever  he  should  retire  from  business,  on  Atticus's  re- 
*'  serving  these  books  for  him  §." 

But  to  return  to  the  affairs  of  the  city.  Cicero  was 
now  engaged  in  the  defence  of  C.  Cornelius,  v/ho  was 

*  In  ea  erant  pueri  llteratissimi,  anagnostae  optlmi.  et  plurimi 
jibrarii ;  ut  ne  pedissequus  ouidera  quisquam  esset,  qui  non  utrum- 
qoe  horum  pulchre  facere  posset.     Corn.  Nep.  in  vita  Attici  13. 

■f  Libros  tuos  conserva,  et  noli  desperare,  eos  me  meos  facere 
posse  :  quod  si  assequor,  supero  Crassum  divitiis,  atque  omnium 
vicos  et  prata  contemno.     Ad  Attic,  i.  4. 

X  Bibliothecam  tuam  cave  cuiquam  despondeas,  quamvis  acrem 
amatorem  inveneris.     Ibid.  10. 

§  Velim  cogites,  id  quod  mihi  poUicitus  es,  quemadirjodum  bi- 
bliothecam  nobis  conficere  possis.  Omnem  spem  delcctationis 
postrce,  quam  cum  in  otium  venerimus,  habere  voluraus,  in  tu^ 
Lumanitate  positam  habemus.     Ibid.  7. 


Sect.  IL  CICERO. 


^53 


accused  and  tried  for  practices  against  the  state  in  his 
late  triumvirate,  before  the  praetor  Q^  Gallius.  This 
trial,  which  lasted  four  days,  was  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant in  which  he  had  ever  been  concerned  :  the 
two  consuls  presided  in  it ;  and  all  the  chiefs  of  the 
senate,  (^  Catullus,  L.  LucuUus,  Hortensius,  &c.  ap- 
peared as  witnesses  against  the  criminal  *  ; — "  whor^ 
"  Cicero  defended,"  as  Quintilian  says,  *'  not  only 
"  with  strong,  but  shining  arms,  and  with  a  force  of  e- 
*'  loquence  that  drew  acclamations  from  the  people  f ." 
He  pubhshed  two  orations  spoken  in  this  cause,  whose 
loss  is  a  pubhc  detriment  to  the  literary  world,  since 
they  were  reckoned  among  the  most  finished  of  his 
compositions :  he  himself  refers  to  them  as  such  J  ; 
and  the  old  critics  have  drawn  many  examples  from 
them  of  that  genuine  eloquence,  which  extorts  ap- 
plause and  excites  admiration. 

C.  Papius,  one  of  the  tribunes,  published  a  law  this 
year,  to  oblige  all  strangers  to  quit  the  city,  as  one  of 
his  predecessors,  Pennius,  had  done  likewise,  many 
years  before  him.  The  reason  which  they  alleged  for 
it,  was  the  confusion  occasioned  by  the  multitude  and 
insolence  of  foreigners,  who  assumed  the  habit  and  u- 
surped  the  rights  of  citizens  :  but  Cicero  condemns 
all  these  laws  as  cruel  and  inhospitable,  and  a  viola- 
tion of  the  laws  of  nature  and  humanity  ^. 


*  Ascon.  Argum. 

f  Nee  fortibus  roodo,  sed  etiam  fulgentibus  prsellatus  est  Ci- 
cero in  causa  Cornelii.     Lib.  8.  3. 

X   Orator.  67,  70. 

J  Usu  vero  urbis  prohibere  peregrinas  sane  inliumanum  est. 
Be  Offic.  3.  II, 


154  The   LIFE   of  Sect,  II, 

Catiline  was  now  brought  to  a  trial  for  his  oppres- 
sion in  Afric  :  he  had  been  sohciting  Cicero  to  under- 
take his  defence  ;  who,  at  one  time,  was  much  inchn- 
ed,  or  determined  rather  to  do  it,  for  the  sake  of  o- 
bhging  the  nobles,  especially  Gtesar  and  Crassus,  or  of 
making  Catihne  at  least  his  friend,  as  he  signifies  in  a 
letter  to  Atticus :  "  I  design,"  says  he,  "  at  present, 
'•  to  defend  my  competitor  Catiline  :  We  have  judges 
"  to  our  mind,  yet  such  as  the  accuser  himself  is  pleas- 
"  ed  with  :  I  hope,  if  he  be  acquitted,  that  he  will  be 
*'  the  more  ready  to  serve  me  in  our  common  peti- 
^'  tion  ;  but,  if  it  fall  out  otherwise,  I  shall  bear  it  with 
^'  patience.  It  is  of  great  importance  to  me  to  have 
"  you  here  as  soon  as  possible  :  for  there  is  a  general 
^  persuasion,  that  certain  nobles  of  your  acquaintance 
"  will  be  against  me  ;  and  you,  I  know,  could  be  of 
"  the  greatest  service  in  gaining  them  over  *."  But 
Cicero  changed  his  mind,  and  did  not  defend  him  f  ; 
upon  a  nearer  view,  perhaps,  of  his  designs  and  trai- 
terous  practices ;  to  which  he  seems  to  allude,  when 
describing  the  art  and  dissimulation  of  Catiline,  he  de- 
clares, "  that  he  himself  was  once  almost  deceived  by 
**  him,  so  as  to  take  him  for  a  good  citizen,  a  lover  of 
*^'  honest  men,  a  firm  and  faithful  friend  J,"  &c.  But 
it  is  not  strange,  that  a  candidate  for  the  consulship, 
in  the  career  of  his  ambition,  should  think  of  defend- 
ing a  man  of  the  first  rank  and  interest  in  the  city, 
when  all  the  consular  senators,  and  even  the  consul 


*   Ad  Attic.  I,  2.  f  Ascon.  in  Tog.  candid. 

J  Meipsum,  me,  inquam,  quondam  ille  pstne  decepit,  cum  et  ci- 
vis  mihi  bonus,  et  optimi  cujusque  cupidus,  et  firmus  amicus  et  fi~ 
delis  videretur.     Pro  Cailio,  6. 


Sect.  II.  CICERO.  i« 


himself,  Torquatus,  appeared  with  him  at  the  trial, 
and  gave  testimony  in  his  favour.  Whom  Cicero  ex- 
cused, when  they  were  afterwards  reproached  with  it, 
by  observing,  *'  that  they  had  no  notion  of  his  trea- 
"  sons,  nor  suspicion  at  that  time  of  his  conspiracy ; 
"  but,  out  of  mere  humanity  and  compassion,  defend- 
"  ed  a  friend  in  distress,  and,  in  that  crisis  of  his  dan- 
"  ger,  overlooked  the  infamy  of  his  life  "*." 

His  prosecutor  was  P.  Clodius,  a  young  nobleman 
as  profligate  as  himself;  so  that  it  was  not  difficult  to 
make  up  matters  Vvdth  such  an  accuser,  who,  for  a  sum 
of  money,  agreed  to  betray  the  cause,  and  suffer  him 
to  escape  f  :  which  gave  occasion  to  what  Cicero  said 
afterwards,  in  a  speech  against  him  in  the  senate, 
while  they  were  suing  together  for  the  consulship  : — 
"  Wretch  !  not  to  see  that  thou  art  not  acquitted,  but 
*'  reserved  only  to  a  severer  trial,  and  heavier  punish- 
"  ment  :}:.'*  It  was  in  this  year,  as  Cicero  tells  us,  un- 
der the  consuls  Cotta  and  Torquatus,  that  those  pro- 
digies happened,  which  were  interpreted  to  portend 
the  great  dangers  and  plots  that  were  now  hatching 
against  the  state,  and  broke  out  two  years  after,  in  Ci- 
cero's consulship  ;  when  the  turrets  of  the  Capitol,  the 
statues  of  the  gods,  and  the  brazen  image  of  the  infant 


*  Accusati  sunt  uno  nomine  Consulares — affuerunt  Catilina*, 
eumque  laudarunt.  Nulla  turn  patebat,  nulla  erat  cognita  conju- 
ratio,  &.C.     Pro  Syll.  29. 

f  A  Catllina  pecuniam  accepit,  ut  turpissime  prcevaricaretur. 
De  Harusp.  resp.  20. 

t  O  miser,  qui  non  sentlas  illo  judicio  te  non  absolutum,  verum 
ad  -aliquod  severius  judicium,  ac  majus  supplicium  rieservatum, 
Orat.  in  Tog.  cand. 


15^  The  LIFE   of  Sect.  IL 

Romulus  sucking  the  wolf,   were  struck  down  by 
lightning  *. 

Cicero  being  now  in  his  forty-third  year,  the  proper 
tige  required  by  law  f ,  declared  himself  a  candidate 
for  the  consulship,  along  with  six  competitors,  P.  Sul- 
picius  Galba,  L.  Sergius  Catilina,  C.  Antonius,  L. 
Cassius  Longinus,  Q^Cornificius,  C.  Licinius  Sacerdos. 
The  two  first  were  patricians,  the  two  next  plebeians, 
yet  noble  ;  the  two  last,  the  sons  of  fathers  who  had 
first  imported  the  public  honours  into  their  families  : 
Cicero  was  the  only  new  man  among  them,  or  one 


*  Tactus  est  ille  etiam,  qui  hanc  urbem  condidit,  Romulus  : 
quern  inauratum  in  Capitolio  parvum  atque  lactantem,  uberibus  lu- 
pinis  inliiantem  fuisse  meministis.     In  Catil.  3.  8. 

This  same  figure,  as  it  is  generally  thought,  formed  in  brass,  of 
the  infants  Romulus  and  R.emus  sucking  the  wolf,  is  still  preserv- 
ed and  shewn  in  the  Capitol,  with  the  marks  of  a  liquefaction  by  a 
stroke  of  lightning  on  one  of  the  legs  of  the  w^olf.     Cicero  himself 
has  described  the  prodigy  in  the  following  lines  : 
Hie  silvestris  erat  Romani  nominis  altrix 
Martia  j  quse  parvos  Mavortis  semine  natos 
Uberibus  gravidis  vitali  rore  rigabat. 
Quse  turn  cum  pueris  fiammato  fulminis  ictu 
Concidit,  atque  avulsa  pedum  vestigia  liquit, 

De  Divlnat.  i.  12. 

It  was  the  same  statue,  most  probably,  whence  Virgil  drew  his 
elegant  description : — 

— Geminos  hulc  ubera  circum 
Ludere  pendentes  pueros,  et  lambere  matreiti 
Impavidos.     lilam  tereti  cervice  reflexam 
Mulcere  alternos,  et  corpora  fingere  lingua. 

iEneid.  8.  63 1. 

The  martial  twins  beneath  their  mother  lay, 
And,  hanging  on  her  dugs,  with  wanton  play 
Securely  suck'd  :  whilst  she  reclin'd  her  head 
To  lick  their  tender  limbs,  and  form  them  as  they  fed. 
f  Nonne  tertio  et  tricesimo  anno  mortem  obiit  ?    quae  est  aetas, 
nostris  legibus,  decern  annis  minor,  quam  consularis,     Philip.  5.  17. 


Sect.H.      •  CICERO.  157 

born  of  equestrian  rank  ^.  Galba  and  Cornificius  were 
persons  of  great  virtue  and  merit ;  Sacerdos,  without 
any  particular  blemish  upon  him ;  Cassius,  lazy  and 
weak,  but  not  thought  so  wicked  as  he  soon  after  ap- 
peared to  be  ;  Antonius  and  Catiline,  though  infamous 
in  their  lives  and  characters,  yet,  by  intrigue  and  fac- 
tion, had  acquired  a  powerful  interest  in  the  city,  and 
joined  all  their  forces  against  Cicero,  as  their  most  for- 
midable antagonist,  in  which  they  were  vigorously 
supported  by  Crassus  and  Caesar  f . 

This  was  the  state  of  the  competition  ;  in  which  the 
practice  of  bribing  was  carried  on  so  openly  and 
shamefully  by  Antonius  and  Catiline,  that  the  senate 
thought  it  necessary  to  give  some  check  to  it  by  a  new 
and  more  rigorous  law  ;  but  when  they  were  proceed- 
ing to  publish  it,  L.  Mucins  Orestinus,  one  of  the  tri- 
bunes, put  his  negative  upon  them.  This  tribune  had 
been  Cicero's  client,  and  defended  by  him  in  an  im- 
peachment of  plunder  and  robbery  ;  but,  having  now 

*  The  distmction  of  Patrician,  Plebeian,  and  Noble,  may  want 
a  little  explication. — The  title  of  Patrician  belonged  only,  in  a  pro- 
per sense,  to  those  families  of  which  the  senate  was  composed  in  the 
earliest  times,  either  of  the  kings,  or  the  first  consuls,  before  the 
commons  had  obtained  a  promiscuous  admission  to  the  public  ho- 
nours, and  by  that  means  into  the  senate.  All  other  families,  how 
considerable  soever,  were  constantly  stiled  Plebeian^  Patrician^ 
then,  and  Plebeian  are  properly  opposed  to  each  other  j  but  'Nfjbla 
common  to  them  both  :  for  the  character  cf  nobility  v.as  wholly 
derived  from  the  Curule  Magistracies  which  any  family  had  born  ^ 
and  those  v^hich  could  boast  of  the  greatest  number  were  always 
accounted  the  Noblest ;  so  that  many  Plebeians  surpassed  the  Pa- 
tricians themselves  in  the  point  cf  Nobility.  Vid.  Ascon.  argum. 
in  Tog.  cand. 

f  Catilina  et  Antonius,  quanquam  omnibus  maxime  infamis  co- 
rum  vita  esset,  tameti  multum  poterant.  Coierant  enim  ambo,  ut 
Ciceronem  consulatu  dejicerent,  adjutorlbus  usi  firmissimis,  I\i. 
Crasso  et  C.  Cicsare.     Ascon.  arguni.  in  Tog.  cand. 


!t58  The   LIFE   df  •    Sect.  IL 

sold  himself  to  his  enemies,  made  it  the  subject  of  all  . 
his  harangues  to  ridicule  his  birth  and  character,  as 
unworthy  of  the  consulship  :  In  the  debate  therefore 
which  arose  in  the  senate,  upon  the  merit  of  his  nega- 
tive, Cicero,  provoked  to  find  so  desperate  a  confe- 
deracy against  him,  rose  up,  and,  after  some  raillery 
and  expostulation  with  Mucins,  m.ade  a  most  severe 
invective  on  the  flagitious  lives  and  practices  of  his 
two  competitors,  in  a  speech  usually  called  iii  Toga 
Candida,  because  it  v/as  delivered  in  a  white  gown, 
the  proper  habit  of  all  candidates,  and  from  which  the 
name  itself  was  derived  ^, 

Though  he  had  now  business  enough  upon  his 
hands  to  engage  his  whole  attention,  yet  we  find  him 
employed  in  the  defence  of  (^  Gallius,  the  praetor  of 
the  last  year,  accused  of  corrupt  practices  in  procur- 
ing that  magistracy.  Gallius,  it  seems,  when  chosen 
^dile,  had  disgusted  the  people  by  not  providing  any 
wild  beasts  for  their  entertainment  in  his  public  shows  ; 
so  that,  to  put  them  in  good  humour  when  he  stood 
for  the  praetorship,  he  entertained  them  with  gladia- 
tors, on  pretence  of  giving  them  in  honour  of  his  de- 
ceased  father  f .  This  was  his  crime,  of  which  he 
was  accused  by  M.  Callidius,  whose  father  had  been 
impeached  before  by  Gallius.  Callidius  was  one  of 
the  most  eloquent  and  accurate  speakers  of  his  time, 
of  an  easy,  flowing,  copious  stile,  always  delighting, 
though  seldom  warming  his  audience  ;  which  was 
the  only  thing  wanting  to  make  him  a  complete  ora- 
tor.    Besides  the  public  crime  just   mentioned,    he 

*  Ibid.  f  Ascon.  not.  ibid* 


SIect.  11  CICERO:  159 

charged  Gallius  with  a  private  one  against  himself,  ^ 
design  to  poison  him ;  of  which  he  pretended  to  have 
manifest  proofs,  as  well  from  the  testimony  of  wit- 
nesses, as  of  his  own  hand  and  letters  :  but  he  told 
his  story  with  so  much  temper  and  indolence,  that 
Cicero,  from  his  coldness  in  opening  a  fact  so  interest- 
ing, and  where  his  life  had  been  attempted,  formed 
an  argument  to  prove  that  it  could  not  be  true, 
"  How  is  it  possible,"  says  he,  "  Callidius,  for  you  to 
"  plead  in  such  a  manfier,  if  you  did  not  knoW  the 
"  thing  to  be  forged  ?  Kovv  could  you,  who  act  with 
"  such  force  of  eloquence  in  other  men's  dangers,  be 
"  so  indolent  in  your  own  ?  Where  was  that  grief, 
"  that  ardour,  which  was  to  extort  cries  and  lamenta- 
"  tions  from  the  most  stupid?.  We  saw  no  emotion 
"  of  your  mind,  none  of  your  body  ;  no  striking  your 
*'  forehead,  or  your  thigh ;  ho  stamping  with  your 
"  foot :  so  that,  instead  of  feeling  ourselves  inflamed, 
*'  we  could  hardly  forbear  sleeping,  while  you  were 
"  urging  all  that  part  of  your  charge  *."  Cicero's 
speech  is  lost,  but  Gallius  was  acquitted  ;  for  we  find 
him  afterwards  revencrino:  hirnself  in  the  same  kind 
on  this  very  Callidius,  by.  accusing  him  of  bribery  in 
his  suit  for  the  consulship  f . 

J.  Caesar  was  one  of  the  assistant  judges  this  year 
to  the  praetor,  whose  province  it  was  to  sit  upon  the 
Sicarii,  that  is,  thos;e  \vho  were  accused  of  killing,  or 
Carrying  a  dagger  with  mtent  to  kill.  This  gave  him 
an  opportunity  of  citing  before  him  as  criminals,  and 
condemning  by  the  law  of  assassination,  all  those  who 

*  Brutus,  p.  Jo,  2,  ^.  f   Epist.  fam.  8.  A. 

YoL,  I.  '        ^        L' 


ii6o  The   life  of  Sect.  Ef. 

in  Sylla's  proscription  had  been  known  to  kill,  or  re- 
ceive money  for  killing,  a  proscribed  citizen  ;  which 
money  Cato  also,  when  he  was  quaestor  the  year  be- 
fore, had  made  them  refund  to  the  treasury  *.  C ve- 
lar's view  was,  to  mortify  the  senate  and  ingratiate 
himself  with  the  people,  by  reviving  the  Marian  cause, 
which  had  always  been  popular,  and  of  which  he  was 
naturally  the  head,  on  account  of  his  near  relation  to 
old  Marius :  for  which  purpose  he  had  the  hardiness 
likewise  to  replace  in  the  Capftol  the  trophies  and  sta- 
tues of  Marius,  which  Sylla  had  ordered  to  be  thrown: 
down  and  broken  to  pieces  f .  But  while  he  was  pro- 
secuting with  such  severity  the  agents  of  Sylla's  cru- 
elty, he  not  only  spared,  but  favoured  Catiline,  who 
was  one  of  the  most  cruel  in  spilling  the  blood  of  the 
proscribed ;  having  butchered  with  his  own  hands, 
and  in  a  manner  the  most  brutal,  C.  Marius  Gratidi- 
anus,  a  favourite  of  the  people,  nearly  related  both  to 
Marius  and  Cicero ;  whose  head  he  carried  in  triumph 
through  the  streets  to  make  a  present  of  it  to  Sylla  J. 
But  Caesar's  zeal  provoked  L.  PauUus  to  bring  Cati- 
line also  under  the  lash  of  the  same  law,  and  to  ac- 
cuse him  in  form,  after  his  repulse  from  the  consul- 
ship, of  the  murder  of  many  citizens  in  Sylla's  pro- 

*  Plutarcli.  in  Cato,  Sueton.  J.  Cees.  ii. 

f  Quorum  auc'coritatem,  ut,  quibus  posset  modis,  .dimlnueret, 
ttophcea  C.  Maril — a  Sylla  olim  disjecta,  restituit.      Suet.  ib. 

X  Qui  hominem  carissimum  populo  Romano — omni  cruciatu  vir- 
vum  lacerarit  j  staati  colbim  gjadio  sua  dextera  secuerit  j  cum  si- 
nistra capillum  ejus  a  vertice  teneret,  &c.  Vid.  de  petitione  Con- 
surat.  3. 

Quod  caput  etiam  turn  plenum  animae  &  spiritus,  ad  Syllam^ 
usque  janiculo  ad  a;dcm  Apoilbiis,  manibus  ipse  suis  detulit.-  lu. 
Tog.  cand. 


Sect.  IL  CICERO.  i6t 

scription  :  of  which,  though  he  was  notoriously  guilty, 
yet,  contrary  to  all  expectation,  he  was  acquitted  *. 

Catiline  was  suspected  also  at  the  same  time  of  an- 
other heinous  and  capital  crime,  an  incestuous  com- 
merce with  Fabia,  one  of  the  vestal  virgins,  and  sister 
to  Cicero's  wife.  This  was  charged  upon  him  so 
loudly  by  common  fame,  and  gave  such  scandal  to 
the  city,  that  Fabia  w^as  brought  to  a  trial  for  it ;  but, 
either  through  her  innocence,  or  the  authority  of  her 
brother  Cicero,  she  was  readily  acquitted  :  which  gave 
occasion  to  Cicero  to  tell  him,  among  the  other  re- 
proaches on  his 'flagitious  life,  that  there  was  no  place 
so  sacred,  w^hither  his  very  visits  did  not  carry  pollu- 
tion, and  leave  the  imputation  of  guilt,  where  there 
was  no  crime  subsisting  f . 

As  the  election  of  consuls  approached,  Cicero's  in- 
terest appeared  to  be  superior  to  that  of  all  the  can- 
didates ;  for  the  nobles  themselves,  though  always  en- 
vious and  desirous  to  depress  him,  yet,  out  of  regard 
to  the  dangers  which  threatened  the  city  from  many 
quarters,  and  seemed  ready  to  burst  out  into  a  flame, 
began  to  think  him  the  only  man  qualified  to  preserve 
the  Republic,  and  break  the  cabals  of  the  desperate, 
by  the  vigour  and  prudence  of  his  administration  : 
for,  in  cases  of  danger,  as  Sallust  observes,  pride  and 
envy  naturally  subside,  and  yield  the  post  of  honour 

*  Bis  absolutum  Catillnam.  Ad.  Att.   i.  i6.   Sallust.  31.  Dio, 

1-  56.  p.  34- 

f  Cum  ita  vixisti,  ut  non  esset  locus  tarn  sanctus,  quo  non  acU 
ventus  tuus,  etiam  cum  culpa  nulla  subesset,  crimen  afterret.  O •■ 
rat.  in  Tog.  cand.  Vid.  Ascon.  ad.  locum. 

L2 


i&z  The   LIFE   OF  Sect.  15. 

to  virtue  ^.  The  method  of  chooshig  consuls  was  not 
by  an  open  vote,  but  by  a  kind  of  ballot,  or  little 
tickets  of  wood,  distributed  to  tl)e  citizens  with  the 
names  of  the  candidates  severally  inscribed  upon  each  : 
but  in  Cicero's  case  the  people  were  not  content  with 
this  secret  and  silent  way  of  testifying  their  inclinations; 
but,  before  they  came  to  any  scrutiny,  loudly  and  uni- 
versally proclaimed  Cicero  the  first  Consul  ;.  so  that, 
as  he  himself  declared  in  his  speech  to  them  after  his 
election,  he  wa-s  not  chosen  b^  the  votes  of  particular 
citizens,  but  the  common  suffrages  of  the  city ;  nor 
declared  by  the  voice  of  the  crier,  but  of  the  whole 
Roman'  people  f .  He  was  the  only  ?iew  man  who 
had  obtained  this  sovereign  dignity,  or,  as  he  expresses 
it,  had  forced  the  intrenchments  of  the  nobility,  for 
forty  years  past,  from  the  first  consulship  of  C.  Ma- 
r'ms ;  and  the  only  one  likev/ise  who  had  ever  obtained 
it  in  his  proper  year,  or  without  a  repulse  J.  Anto- 
nius  was  chosen  his  colleague  by  the  majority  of  a 
few  centuries  above  his  friend  and  partner  Catiline  ; 

*  Sed  ubi  perlculum  advenit,  mvidia  atque  superbia  post  fuere. 
Sail.  23. 

f  Sed  tamen  magiiificentius  esse  illo  nihil  potest,  quod  meis  co- 
mitiis  non  tabellam  vindicem  tacitse  libertatis,  sed  vocem  vivam. 
prve  vobis  indicem  vestrarum  erga  me  voluntatum  tuHstis.— Itaque 
me  noti  extrema  tribus  suffragiorum,  sed  primi  illi  vestri  concursus, 
neque  singular  voces  prttconum,  sed  una  voce  universus  populus 
Romanus  consulem  declaravit.  De  leg.  Agrar.  con.  RulL  2.  2. 
in  Pison.  i. 

X  Eum  locum,  quem  nobilitas  prcesidiis  firmatum,  atque  omni 
ratione  obvallatum  tenebat,  me  duce  rescidistis— Me  esse  unum^ 
ex  omnibus  novis  hominibus,  de  quibus  meminisse  possumus,  qui 
consulatum  petierim,  cum  primum  licitum  sit  j  consul  factus  sini,, 
cum  primum  petierim.     De  leg.  Agrar.  lib.  i.  i- 


tSect.  IL  CICERO.  165 

which  was  effected  probably  by  Cicero's  management, 
who  considered  him  as  the  less  dangerous  and  more 
Tractable  of  the  two. 

Cicero's  father  died  this  year  on  the  twenty-fourth 
of  November  *,  in  a  good  old  age,  with  the  comfort 
to  have  seen  his  son  advanced  to  the  supreme  honour 
of  the  city,  and  wanted  nothing  to  complete  the  hap- 
piness of  his  life,  but  the  addition  of  one  year  more,- 
to  have  made  him  a  witness  to  the  glory. of  his  consuls 
ship.  It  was  in  this  year  also  most  probably,  though 
some  critics  seem  to  dispute  it,  that  Cicero  gave  his^ 
daughter  Tuliia  in  marriage  at  the  age  of  thirteen  to 
C.  Piso  Frugi,  a  young  nobleman  of  great  hopes,  and 
one  of  the  best  families  in  Romef  :  it  is  certain  at 
least,  that  his  son  was  born  in  this  same  year,  as'  he 
expressly  tells  us,  in  the  consulship  of  L.  Julius  Cse-- 
sar  and  C.  Marcius  Figulus  J.  So  that  with  the  high- 
est honour  which  the  public  could  bestow,  he  receiv- 
ed the  highest  pleasure  which  private  life  ordinarily 
admits,  by  the  birth  of  a  son  and  heir  to  his  famih. 


*  Pater  nobis  decessit  ad  diem  viii.  Kal.  Dec^mb.  Ad  Att.  i.  6. 

j-  Tulliolam  C.  Pisoni,  L.  F.  Frugi  despondimus.  lb.  3.  Is. 
.Casaubon,  rather  than  give  up  an  hypothesis  which  he  had  formed' 
about  the  earlier  date  of  this  letter,  will  hardly  allow  that  Tuliia 
\^as  marriageable  at  this  time,  though  Cicero  himself  expressly 
Aleclares  it.     Vid.  not.  varior.  in  locum. 

:|:  L.  Julio  Ca;sare  et  C.  Marcio  Figulo  Cess,  fillolo  me  auctunj 
ii^c.ito,  salva  Terentia.  Ad  Attic,  i.  2. 


1^3 


164  Tke  I.IFE  OF    '  SKcr.lII. 


SECTION  III. 


SZ 


vUiCERO  was  now  arrived  through  the  usual  gradation 
of  honours,  at  the  highest  which  the  people  could  re- 
gularly give,  or  an  honest  citizen  desire.  The  offices 
which  he  had  already  borne,  had  but  a  partial  juris- 
diction, confined  to  particular  branches  of  the  govern- 
ment ;  but  the  Consuls  held  the  reins,  and  directed 
the  whole  machine  with  an  authority  as  extensive  as 
the  empire  itself*.  The  subordinate  magistracies, 
therefore,  being  the  steps  only  to  this  sovereign  dig- 
nity, were  not  valued  so  much  for  thek  own  sake,  as 
for  bringing  the  candidates  still  nearer  to  the  princi^ 
pal  object  of  their  hopes,  who  through  this  course  of 
their  ambition  w^ere  forced  to  practise  all  the  arts  of 
popidarity  ;  to  court  the  little  as  well  as  the  great,  to 
espouse  the  principles  and  politics  in  vogue,  and  to 
apply  their  talents  to  concihate  friends,  rather  than 
to  serve  the  pubhc  f .  But  the  consulship  put  an  end 
to  this  subjection,  and  with  the  command  of  the  state 
gave  them  the  command  of  themselves  ;  so  that  the 


*  Omnes  enlm  in  consalis  jure  et  impei  io  debent  esse  provincial. 
Philip.  4.  4.  Tu  summum  imperium — gubernacula  Reip — orbis 
terrarum  imperium  a  pop.  Romano  petebas.     Pro  Mur.  35. 

\  jam  urbanara  multitudinem,  et  eorum  studia,  qui  conciones 
tenent,  adeptus  es,  in  Pompeio  orando,  Manilii  causa  recipienda, 
Cornelio  defendendo,  &c.— Nee  tamen  in  petendo  Respub.  capes- 
t.cnda  est,  neque  in  senatu,  neque  in  concione  :  sed  hsec  tibi  reti- 
pcnda,  6ic.     pe  pctitione  Consulat,  13.^ 


Sect.  IIL  -CICERO-  165 

only  care  left  was,  how  to  execute  fiiis  mgh  office 
with  credit  and  dignity,  and  employ  the  power  en- 
trusted to  them  for  the  benefit  and  service  of  their 
country. 

We  are  now  therefore  to  look  upon  Cicero  in  a 
different  light,  in  order  to  form  a  just  idea  of  his  cha- 
racter :  to  consider  him,  not  as  an- ambitious  courtier, 
applying  all  his  thoughts  and  pains  to  his  own  ad- 
vancement ;  but  as  a  great  magistrate  and  statesman, 
administering  the  affairs  and  directing  the  councils  of 
a  mighty  empire  :  And,  according  to  the  accounts  of 
all  the  ancient  writers,  Rome  never  stood  in  greater 
need  of  the  skill  and  vigilance  of  an  able  consul  than 
in  this  very  year.  For,  besides  the  traiterous  cabals 
and  conspiracies  of  those  who  were  attempting  to  sub- 
vert the  whole  republic,  the  new  tribunes  were  also 
labouring  to  disturb  the  present  quiet  of  it ;  some  of 
them  were  publishing  laws  to  abolish  every  thing  that 
remained  of  Sylla's  establishment,  and  to  restore  the 
sons  of  the  proscribed  to  their  estates  and  honours ;  o- 
thers  to  reverse  the  punishment  of  P.  Sylla  and  Au- 
tronius,  "  condemned  for  bribery,,  and  replace  them 
"  in  the  senate  *  :"  some  were  for  expunging  all 
debts,  and  others  "  for  dividing  the  lands  of  the  pu- 
^*  blic  to  the  poorer  citizens  f  :"  so  that,  as  Cicero  de- 
clared both  to  the  senate  and  the  people,  "  the  repu- 
"  blic  was  delivered  into  his  hands  full  of  terrors  and 
"  alarms :  distracted  by  pestilent  laws  and  seditious 
"  harangues ;  endangered  not  by  foreign  wars,  but 
*'  intestine  evils,  and  the  traiterous  designs  of  prolii- 

*  Pro  Svlla,  22.  23.  f  I^io,  1^  37-  P-  ^4- 

L4 


i66  The  LIFE  of  Sect.  HL 

*^  gate  citizens  ;  and  that  there  was  no  mischief  inci- 
"  dent  to  a  state  which  the  honest  had  not  cause  to 
"  apprehend,  the  wicked  to  expect  *.-' 

What  gave  the  greater  spirit  to  the  authors  of  these 
rittempts,  was  Antonius's  advancement  to  the  consul- 
ship :  they  knew  him  to  be  of  the  same  principles,  and 
embarked  in  the  same  designs  with  themselves,  which 
by  his  authority  they  now  hoped   to  carry  into  effect. 
Cicero  was  aware  of  this  ;  and  foresaw  the  mischief  of 
a  colleague  equal  to  him  in  power,  yet  opposite  in 
views,  and  prepared  to  frustrate  all  his  endeavours  for 
the  public  service  :  so  that  his  first  care,  after  their  e- 
lection,  was  to  gain  the  confidence  of  Antonius,  and  to 
draw  him  from  his  old  engagements  to  the  interests  of 
the  republic ;  being  convinced  that  all  the  success  of 
his  administration  depended  upon  it.  He  began  there- 
fore to  tempt  him  by  a  kind  of  argument  which  sel- 
dom fails  of  its  effect  with  men  of  his  character,  the 
offer  of  power  to  his  ambition,   and  of  money  to  his 
pleasures :  with  these  baits  he  caught  him  ;  and  a  bar- 
gain was  presently  agreed  upon  between  them,  that 
Antonius  should  have  the  choice  of  the  best  province 
which  was  to  be  assigned  to  them  at  the  expiration  of 
their  year  f .     It  was  the  custom  for  the  senate  to  ap- 
point what  particular  provinces  were  to  be  distributed 
every  year  to  the  several  magistrates,  who  used  after- 
wards to  cast   lots  for  them   among  themselves ;  the 
praetors  for  the  praetorian,  the  consuls  for  the  consular 
provinces.    In  this  partition,  therefore,  when  Macedo- 

*  De  leg.  Agrar.  cont.  Rull.   i.  8.  9.:   2.  3. 
f  Collegam  suum   Antoniuin  pactione  provincite  pepulerat,   nc 
contra  Rempublicam  dissentiret.     S?.ll.  bell.  Cat.  26. 


Sect.  III.  CICERa  1 67 

ma,  one  of  the  most  desirable  governments  of  the  em.- 
pire,  both  for  command  and  wealth,  fell  to  Cicero's  lot, 
he  exchanged  it  immediately  with  his  colleague  for 
Cisalpine  Gaul,  which  he  resigned  also  soon  after  in  favour 
of  Q^  Metellus ;  being  resolved,  as  he  declared  in  his 
inauguration-speech,  to  administer  the  consulship  in 
such  a  manner,  "  as  to  put  it  out  of  any  man's  power 
*'  either  to  tempt  or  terrify  him  from  his  duty  :  since 
"  he  neither  sought,  nor  would  accept  any  province, 
"  honour,-  or  benefit  from  it  whatsoever ;  the  only 
"  way,"  says  he,  "  by  which  a  man  can  discharge  it 
"  with  gravity  and  freedom  ;  so  as  to  chastise  those 
"  tribunes  who  wish  ill  to  the  republic,  or  despise 
"  those  who  wish  ill  to  himself  *  :"  a  noble  declar- 
ation, and  worthy  to  be  transmitted  to  posterity  for  an 
example  to  all  magistrates  in  a  free  state.  By  this  ad- 
dress he  entirely  drew  Antonius  into  his  measures,  and 
had  him  ever  after  obsequious  to  his  will  f  ;  or,  as  he 
himself  expresses  it,  by  his  patience  and  complaisance 
he  softened  and  calmed  him,  eagerly  desirous  of  a  pro- 
vince, and  projecting  many  things  against  the  state  J. 
The  establishment  of  this  concord  between  them  was' 
thought  to  be  of  such  importance  to  the  pubHc  quiet, 
that,  in  his  first  speech  to  the  people,  he  declared  it  to 
them  from  the  rostra,  as  an  event  the  most  likely  to 
curb  the  insolence  of  the  factious,  and  raise  the  spirits 

*  Cum  mihi  deliberatum  &  constitutum  fit,  ita  gerere  consula- 
tum,  quo  uno  modo  geri  gravlter  &  libere  potest,  ut  neque  provin- 
ciam,  neque  honorem,  neque  ornamentum  aliquod,  aut  commodum — 
appetiturus  sim. — Sic  me  geram,  ut  possim  tribunum  pleb.  Reipub* 
iratum  coercere,  mihi  iratum  contemnere.     Contra  Rull.  i.  8. 

f  PlutarcVi  in  his  life. 

I   In  Pison.  2. 


168  The  LIFE  of  Sect.  III. 

of  the  honest,  and  prevent  the  dangers  with  which  the 
city  was  then  threatened  f . 

There  was  another  project  hkewise  which  he  had 
much  at  heart,  and  made  one  of  the  capital  points  of 
his  administration,  to  unite  the  Equestrian  order  with 
the  senate  into  one  common  party  and  interest.  This 
body  of  men,  next  to  the  senators,  consisted  of  the 
richest  and  most  splendid  families  of  Rome,  who  from 
the  ease  and  affluence  of  their  fortunes  were  naturally 
well  affected  to  the  prosperity  of  the  republic ;  and  be- 
ing also  the  constant  farmers  of  all  the  revenues  of  the 
empire,  had  a  great  part  of  the  inferior  people  depen- 
dent upon  them.  Cicero  imagined,  that  the  united 
weight  of  these  two  orders  would  always  be  an  over- 
balance to  any  other  power  in  the  state,  and  a  secure 
barrier  against  any  attempts  of  the  popular  and  ambi- 
tious upon  the  common  liberty  J.  He  was  the  only 
man  in  the  city  capable  of  effecting  such  a  coalition, 
being  now  at  the  head  of  the  senate,  yet  the  darUng 
of  the  knights  :  who  considered  him  as  the  pride  and 
ornament  of  their  order,  whilst  he,  to  mgratiate  him- 
self the  more  with  them,  affected  always  in  public  to 
boast  of  that  extraction,  and  to  call  himself  an  Eques- 
trian ;  and  made  it  his  special  care  to  protect  them  in 
all  their  affairs,  and  to  advance  their  credit  and  inter- 


f  Quod  ego  &  Concordia,  quam  mihi  constitui  cum  coUega,  In- 
vitissimis  iis  hominibus,  quos  in  consulatu  inimicos  esse  &.  animis 
&  corporis  actibus  providi,  omnibus  prospexi  sane,  &.c.  Con.  Rull. 

^  Ut  multitudinem  cum  principibus,  Equestrem  ordniem  cum 
senatu  conjunxerim.  In  Pison.  3.  Neque  ulla  vis  tanta  reperietur, 
qune  conjunctionem  vestram,  Equitumque  Romanorum,  tantaraque 
conspirationem  bonoriun  omnium  perfiingerepossit.  In  Catil.  4.  lOo. 


Sect.  III.  CICERO.  i6^ 

est :  so  that,  as  some  writers  tell  us,  it  was  the  authori- 
ty of  his  consulship  that  first  distinguished  and  esta- 
bhshed  them  into  a  third  order  of  the  state  "^.  The 
policy  was  certainly  very  good,  and  the  republic  reaped, 
great  benefit  from  it  in  this  very  year,  through  which 
he  had  the  whole  body  of  knights  at  his  devotion,  who, 
with  Atticus  at  their  head,  constantly  attended  his  or- 
ders, and  served  as  a  guard  to  his  person  f  :  and  if  the 
same  maxim  had  been  puirsued  by  all  succeeding  con- 
suls, it  might  probably  have  preserved,  or  would  cer- 
tainly at  least  have  prolonged,  the  liberty  of  the  re-, 
public. 

Having  laid  this  foundation  for  the  laudable  dis- 
charge of  his  consulship,  he  took  possession  of  it,  as 
usual,  on  the  first  of  January,  A.  U.  689.  A  little  before 
his  inauguration,  P.  Servilius  RuUus,  one  of  the  new 
tribunes,  who  entered  always  into  their  office  on  the 
tenth  of  December,  had  been  alarming  the  senate  with 
the  promulgation  of  an  Agrarian  law.  These  laws, 
used  to  be  greedily  received  by  the  populace,  and  were 
proposed  therefore  by  factious  niagistrates,  as  oft  as 
they  had  any  point  to  carry  w^ith  the  multitude  against 
the  public  good :  but  this  law  was  of  all  others  the 
most  extravagant,  and,  by  a  shew  of  granting  more  to 
the  people  than  had  ever  been  given  before,  seemed 


*  Cicero  demum  stabilivit  Equestre  nomen  in  consulatu  siio  j  ei 
senatum  concilians,  ex  eo  se  ordine  profectum  celebraris,  &.  ejus  vi^ 
res  peculiari  popularitate  quserens  :  ab  illo  tempore  plane  hoc  terti- 
um  corpus  in  Repub.  factum  est,  coepitque  adjici  senatui  populoque 
Romano  Equester  ordo.  Plin.  Hist.  N.  1.  ^^.  2. 

f  Vos,  Equites  Romani,  videte,  scitis  me  ortum  e  vobis,  omnia 
semper  sensisse  pro  vobis,  &c.  Pro  Rabir.  Post.  6.  Nunc  vero  cum 
equitatus  ille,  quern  ego  in  Clivo  Capitolino,  te  signifero  ac  princv 
,pe,  ccllocr.rarn,  senatum  deseruerit.     Ad  Att.  2.  I. 


57©  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  TIL 

;Ekely  to  be  accepted.  The  purpose  of  it  was.,  "  to 
"  create  a  decemvirate,  or  ten  conrinissipners,  with  ab- 
"  solute  power  for  five  years  over  all  the  revenues  of 
■^  the  repubhc  ;  to  distribute  them  at  pleasure  to  the 
"  citizens;  to  sell  and  buy  what  lands  they  thought 
**  fit ;  to  determine  the  rights  of  the  present  posses- 
**  sors ;  to  require  an  account  from  all  the  Generals  a- 
^  broad,  excepting  Pompey,  of  the  spoils  taken  in  their 
*'  wars ;  to  settle  colonies  wheresoever  they  judged 
"  proper,  and  particularly  at  Capua  ;  and  in  short,  to 
*^  command  all  the  money  and  forces  of  the  empire." 
The  publication  of  a  law,  conferring  powers  so  ex- 
cessive, gave  a  just  alarm  to  all  who  wished  well  to  the 
public  tranquillity  :  so  that  Cicero's  first  business  was 
to  quiet  the  apprehensions  of  the  city,  and  to  exert  all 
his  art  and  authority  to  baffle  the  intrigues  of  the  tri- 
bune. As  soon  therefore  as  he  was  invested  with  his 
new  dignity,  he  raised  the  spirits  of  the  senate,  by  as- 
suring them  of  his  resolution  to  oppose  the  law,  and 
all  its  abettors,  to  the  utmost  pf  his  power  ;  nor  suffer 
the  state  to  be  hurt,  or  its  liberties  to  be  impaired, 
while  the  administration  continued  in  his  hands.  From 
\the  senate  he  pursued  the  tribune  into  his  own  domi- 
nion, the  forumi;  where,  in  an  artful  and  elegant  speech 
from  the  rostra,  he  gave  such  a  turn  to  the  inclination 
of  the  people,  that  they  rejected  this  Agrarian  law  with 
as  much  eagerness,  as  they  had  ever  before  received 
'  one  *. 


*  Quis  unquam  tarn  secunda  condone  legem  Agrariam  suasit, 
i^uam  ego  dlssuasi  ?     Contra  RuUum,  2.  37. 


Sect.IIL  CICERO.  172 

He  began,  "  by  acknowledging  the  extraordinary 
"  obligations  which  he  had  received  from  them,  in  pre« 
"  ference  and  opposition  to  the  nobihty,  declaring  him- 
*'  self  the  creature  of  their  power,  and  of  all  men  the 
*'  most  engaged  to  promote  their  interests ;  that  they 
*'  were  to  look  upon  him  as  the  truly  popular  magi- 
"  strate  ;  nay,  that  he  had  declared  even  in  the  senate, 
"  that  he  would  be  the  people's  consul  f."  He  then 
fell  into  a  commendation  of  the  Gracchi,  whose  name 
was  extremely  dear  to  them,  professing,  "  that  he 
"  could  not  be  against  all  Agrarian  laws,  when  he  re- 
"  collected,  that  those  two  most  excellent  men,  who 
*'  had  the  greatest  love  for  the  Roman  people,  had  di- 
"  vided  the  pubhc  lands  to  the  citizens ;  that  he  was 
"  not  one  of  those  consuls  who  thought  it  a  crime  to 
"  praise  the  Gracchi,  on  whose  councils,  wisdom,  laws, 
"  many  parts  of  the  present  government  were  found- 
*'  ed  * :  that  his  quarrel  was  to  this  particular  law, 
"  which,  instead  of  being  popular,  or  adapted  to  the 
"  true  interests  of  the  city,  was  in  reality  the  etablish- 
"  ment  of  a  tyranny,  and  a  creation  of  ten  kings  to 
"  domineer  over  them."  This  he  displays  at  large, 
from  the  natural  effect  of  that  power  which  was  grant- 
ed by  it  f  ;  and  proceeds  to  insinuate,  that  it  was  co- 
vertly levelled  against  their  favourite  Pompey,  and 
particularly  contrived  to  retrench  and  insult  his  au- 
thority :  "  Forgive  me,  citizens,"  says  he,  "  for  my 
*'  calling  so  often  upon  so  great  a  name :  you  your- 
"  selves  imposed  the  task  upon  me,  when  I  was  pixe- 
*'  tor,  to  join  with  you  in  defending  his  dignity,  as  far 

f  Ibid.  3.  X  lb.  5.  *  lb.  6.  Ti,  13,  14. 


\'1iL  The   life   of  Sect.  Ill, 

"  as  I  was  able :  I  have  hitherto  done  all  that  I  could 
"  do ;  not  moved  to  it  by  my  private  friendship  for 
*'  the  man,  nor  by  any  hopes  of  honour,  and  of  this 
"  supreme  magistracy,  which  I  obtained  from  you, 
"  though  with  his  approbation,  yet  without  his  help. 
"  Since  then  I  perceive  this  law  to  be  designed  as  a 
"  kind  of  engine  to  overturn  his  power,  I  will  resist 
"  the  attempts  of  these  men ;  and  as  I  myself  clearly 
"  see  what  they  are  aiming  at,  so  I  will  take  care  that 
"  you  also  shall  see,  and  be  convinced  of  it  too  :f ." 
He  then  shews,  *'  how  the  law,  though  it  excepted 
*'  Pompey  from  being  accountable  to  the  Decemvi- 
*'  rate,  yet  excluded  him  from  being  one  of  the  num- 
"  ber,  by  limiting  the  choice  to  those  who  were  pre- 
**  s'eht  at  Rome ;  that  it  subjected  likewise  to  their 
"  jurisdiction  the  countries  just  conquered  by  him, 
"  which  had  always  been  left  to  the  management  of 
"  the  general  *  :  upon  which  he  draws  a  pleasant  pic- 
"  ture  of  the  tribune  Rullus,  with  all  his  train  of  offi- 
"  cers,  guards,  lictors,  and  apparators  f ,  swaggering  in 
"  Mithridates's  kingdom,  and  ordering  Pompey  to 
"  attend  him  by  a  mandatory  letter,  in  the  following 
"  strain : 

"  P.  Servilius  Rullus,  tribune  of  the  people,  De- 
"  cemvir,  to  Cnaeus  Pompey,  the  son  of  Cuceus,  greet- 
"  rng. 

"  He  will  not  add,"  says  he,  "  the.  title  of  Great, 
"  when  he  has  been  labouring  to  take  it  from  him  by 

"  law  xr 

X  Ibid.  18.        *  lb.  19.       f  lb.  13.        X  lb.  20. 


Uect.  m.  CICERO.  17 


"  I  require  you  not  to  fail  to  come  presently  to  Si- 
"  nope,  and  bring  me  a  sufficient  guard  with  you, 
"  while  I  sell  those  lands  by  my  law,  which  you  have 
"  gained  by  your  valour." 

He  observes,  "  that  the  reason  of  excepting  Pom- 
**  pey  was  not  from  any  respect  to  him,  but  for  fear 
"  that  he  would  hot  submit  to  the  indignity  of  being 
*^  accountable  to  their  will :  but  Pompey,  says  he,  is 
''-  a  man  of  that  temper,  that  he  thinks  it  his  duty  to 
"  bear  whatever  you  please  to  impose ;  but  if  there  be 
*'  any  thing  which  you  cannot  bear  yourselves,  he  will 
"  take  care  that  you  shall  not  bear  it  long  against 
*'  your  wills  *."  He  proceeds  to  enlarge  upon  "  the 
**  dangers  which  this  law  threatened  to  their  liber- 
**  ties  :  that,  instead  of  any  good  intended  by  it  to  the 
"  body  of  the  citizens,  its  purpose  was  to  erect  a  power 
*'  for  the  oppression  of  them ;  and,  on  pretence  of 
"  planting  colonies  in  Italy,  and  the  provinces,  to 
**  settle  their  own  creatures  and  dependents,  hke  so 
"  many  garrisons,  in  all  the  convenient  posts  of  the 
"  empire,  to  be  ready  on  all  occasions  to  support  their 
"  tyranny :  that  Capua  was  to  be  their  head  quarters^ 
*'  their  favourite  colony ;  of  all  cities  the  proudest,  as 
"  well  as  the  most  .hostile  and  dangerous,  in  which  the 
"  wisdom  of  their  ancestors  would  not  suffer  the  sha- 
"  dow  of  any  power  or  magistracy  to  remain ;  yet  now 
"  it  was  to  be  cherished  and  advanced  to  another 
"  Rome  f  :  that  by  this  law  the  lands  of  Campania 
"  were  to  be  sold  or  given  away,  the  most  fruitful  of 
"  all  Italy,  the  surest  revenue  of  the  republic,  and 

*  Ibid.  23.  I   lb.  28,  32, 


i74  Tke  LIFE  OF  Srcx,  IIL 

•'  their  constant  resource,  when  all  other  rents  failed 
''  them,  which  neither  the  Gracchi,  who  of  all  men 
"  studied  the  people's  benefit  the  most,  nor  Sylla,  who 
"  gave  every  thing  away  without  scruple,  durst  ven- 
"  ture  to  meddle  with  %,''  In  the  conclusion,  he 
takes  notice  of  "  the  great  favour  and  approbation 
"  with  which  they  had  heard  him,  as  a  sure  omen  of 
"  their  common  peace  and  prosperity;  and  acquaints 
"  them  with  the  concord  that  he  had  established  with 
"  his  colleague,  as  a  piece  of  news  of  all  others  the 
"  most  agreeable,  and  promises  all  security  to  the  re- 
"  public,  if  they  would  but  shew  the  same  good  dis- 
"  position  on  future  occasions,  which  they  had  signi- 
"  fied  on  that  day ;  and  that  he  would  make  those 
*'  very  men,  who  had  been  the  most  envious  and  a- 
"  verse  to  his  advancement,  .confess,  that  the  people 
*'  had  seen  farther,  and  judged  better  than  they,  in 
•*  chusing  him  for  their  consul.' 

In  the  course  of  this  contest  he  often  called  upon 
the  tribunes  to  come  into  the  rostra,  and  debate  the 
matter  with  him  before  the  people  * ;  but  they 
thought  it  more  prudent  to  decline  the  challenge, 
and  to  attack  him  rather  by  fictitious  stories  and  ca- 
lumnies, sedulously  inculcated  into  the  multitude  : 
**  That  his  opposition  to  the  law  flowed  from  no  good 
"  will  to  them,  but  an  affection  to  Sylla's  party,  and 
"  to  secure  to  them  the  lands  which  they  possessed 


t  Ibid.  29. 

*  Si  vestrum  commodum  spectat,  veniat  et  coram  mecum  de 
agri  Campani  divisione  disputet.  Con.  Rull.  2.  28.  Commodiu:? 
fecissent  tribuni  plebis,  Quirites,  si,  quae  apud  vos  de  me  deferunt^ 
e a  coram  potius  me  praesente  dixessent.     Con.  Rull.  3.  i. 


Sect.  lit,  CICERO.  frft 


t7 


J 


"  by  his  grant ;  that  he  was  making  his  court  by  it  to 
"  the  seven  tyrants,  as  they  called  seven  of  the  priri- 
"  cipal  senators,  who  were  known  to  be  the  greatest 
"  favourers  of  Sylla's  cause,  and  the  greatest  gainers 
*'  by  it,  the  two  Luculluses,  Crassus,  Catulus,  Horten- 
"  sius,  Metellus,  Phihppus."  These  insinuations  made 
so  great  an  impression  on  the  city,  that  he  found  it 
necessary  to  defend  himself  against  them  in  a  second 
speech  to  the  people  *,  in  which  he  declared,  "  That 
"  he  looked  upon  that  law  which  ratified  all  Sylla's 
"  acts,  to  be  of  all  laws  the  most  v/icked  and  the  most 
"  unUke  to  a  true  law,  as  it  estabhshed  a  tyranny  in 
**  the  city ;  yet  that  it  had  some  excuse  from  the 
"  times,  and,  in  their  present  circumstances,  seemed 
"  proper  to  be  supported,  especially  by  him,  who,  for 
"  this  year  of  his  consulship,  professed  himself  the  pa- 
"  tron  of  peace  f  ;  but  that  it  was  the  height  of  im- 
"  pudence  in  RuUus,  to  charge  him  with  obstructing 
"  their  interests,  for  the  sake  of  Sylla's  grants,  when 
"  the  very  law  which  that  tribune  was  then  urging, 
"  actually  established  and  perpetuated  those  grants ; 
"  and  shewed  itself  to  be  drawn  by  a  son-in-law  of 
"  Valgius,  who  possessed  more  lands  than  any  other 
"  man,  by  that  invidious  tenure,  v/hich  were  all  by 
"  this  law  to  be  partly  confirmed,  and  partly  purchas- 
"  ed.  of  him  J."  This  he  demonstrates  from  the  ex- 
press words  of  the  law,  "  which  he  had  studiously  o- 
*'  mitted,  he  says,  to  take  notice  of  before,  that  he 
"  might  not  revive  old  quarrels,  or  move  any  argu- 
**  ment  of  new  dissension,  in  a  season  so  improper  § : 
Vol.  I.  M 

*  Ibid.  f  lb.  3.  2.  t  lb.  3.  I,  4.  §  lb.  3.  2. 


176  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  IIL 

"  that  RuUus,  therefore,  who  accused  him  of  defend- 
"  ing  Sylla's  acts,  was  of  all  others  the  most  impudent 
"  defender  of  them :  for  none  had  ever  affirmed  them 
"  to  be  good  and  legal,  but  to  have  some  plea  only 
"  from  possession,  and  the  public  quiet ;  but  by  this 
"  law  the  estates  that  had  been  granted  by  them  were 
"  to  be  fixed  upon  a  better  foundation  and  title  than 
"  any  other  estates  whatsoever."  He  concludes,  "  by 
*'  renewing  his  cliallenge  to  the  tribunes  to  come  and 
"  dispute  with  him  to  his  face."  But,  after  several 
fruitless  attempts,  finding  themselves  wholly  unable 
to  contend  with  him,  they  were  forced  at  last  to  sub- 
mit, and  to  let  the  affair  drop,  to  the  great  joy  of  the- 
senate. 

This  alarm  being  over,  another  accident  broke  out, 
which  might  have  endangered  the  peace  of  the  city, 
if  the  effects  of  it  had  not  been  prevented  by  the  au- 
thority of  Cicero.  Otho's  law,  mentioned  above,  for 
the  assignment  of  separate  seats  to  the  equestrian  or- 
der, had  highly  offended  the  people,  who  could  not 
digest  the  indignity  of  being  thrust  so  far  back  from 
their  diversions ;  and  while  the  grudge  was  still  fresh, 
Otho  happening  to  come  into  the  theatre,  w^as  receiv- 
ed by  the  populace  with  an  universal  hiss,  but  by  the 
knights  with  loud  applause  and  clapping  :  both  sides 
redoubled  their  clamour  with  great  fierceness,  and 
from  reproaches  were  proceeding  to  blows,  till  Cicero, 
informed  of  the  tumult,  came  immediately  to  the 
theatre,  and  calling  the  people  out  into  the  temple  of 
Bellona,  so  tamed  and  stung  them  by  the  power  of 
his  words,  and  made  them  so  ashamed  of  their  folly 
and  perverseness,  that,  on  their  return  to  the  theatre, 
they  changed  their  his-^es  into  applauses,  and  vied. 


Sect.  IIL  CiCERO,  177 

with  the  knights  themselves  in  demonstrations  of  their 
respect  to  Otho  *.  The  speech  was  soon  after  pu- 
bhshed,  though,  from  the  nature  of  the  thing,  it  must 
have  been  made  upon  the  spot,  and  flowed  extempore 
from  the  occasion  ;  and  as  it  was  much  read  and  ad- 
mired for  several  ages  after,  as  a  memorable  instance 
of  Cicero's  command  over  men's  passions,  so  some  have 
imagined  it  to  be  alluded  to  in  that  beautiful  passage 
of  Virgil  f . 

Ac  veluti  magno  in  populo  cum  seepe  coorta  est 
Seditio,  scevitque  animis  ignohile  vulgus  ; 
yamque  faces  et  saxa  'uolant,  furor  anna  ministrat  : 
Turn  pietate  gravem  et  meritis  si  forte  virum  quern 
AspexerCy  sikfit,  arrectisque  aurihus  adstant ; 
llle  regit  dictis  animoSy  et  pectora  mulcet, 

Virg,  M.n,  i.  152* 

As  when  sedition  fires  th'  ignoble  crowd, 

And  the  wild  rabble  storms  and  thirsts  for  blood : 

Of  stones  and  brands  a  mingled  tempest  flies. 

With  all  the  sudden  arms  that  rage  supplies  : 

If  some  grave  sire  appears  amidst  the  strife. 

In  morals  strict  and  innocence  of  life, 

All  stand  attentive,  while  the  sage  controuls 

Their  wrath,  and  calms  the  tempest  of  their  souls. 

Mr  Pitt. 

One  topic,  which  Cicero  touched  in  this  speech,  and 
the  only  one  of  which  we  have  any  hint  from  antiqui- 


"'^  Plutarch's  life  of  Cicero. 

f  Sebast.  Corradi  Questura,  p.  133.  -^neid.  i.  152.  What  gives 
the  greater  colour  to  this  imagination  is,  that  Quintilian  applies 
these  lines  to  his  character  of  a  complete  orator,  which  he  profes- 
sedly forms  upon  the  model  of  Cicero..    Lib.  12.  i. 

M  2 


X78  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  HL 

ty,  was  to  reproach  the  rioters  for  their  want  of  ta3te 
and  good  sense,  in  making  such  a  disturbance  while 
Roscius  was  acting  *. 

There  happened  about   the  same  time  a  third  in- 
stance, not  less  remarkable,  of  Cicero's  great  power  of 
persuasion  :  SjUa  had,  by  an  express  law,  excluded 
the  children  of  the  proscribed  from  the  senate  and  all 
pubhc  honours ;  which  was  certainly  an  act  of  great 
violence,  and  the  decree  rather  of  a  tyrant  than  the 
law  of  a  free  state  f .     So  that  the  persons  injured  by 
it,  who  we?e  many,  and  of  great  families,  were  now 
making  all  their  efforts  to  get  it  reversed.     Their  pe- 
tition \tas  highly  equitable,  but,  from  the  condition  of 
the  times,  as  highly  unseasonable  ;  for,  in  the  present 
disorders  of  the  city,  the  restoration  of  an  oppressed 
party  must  needs  have  added  strength  to  the  old  fac- 
tions ;  since  the  first  use  that  they  would  naturally 
make  of  the  recovery  of  their  power,  would  be  to  re- 
venge themselves  on  their  oppressors.     It  was  Cicero's 
business  therefore  to  prevent  that  inconvenience,  and, 
as  far  as  it  was  possible,  with  the  consent  of  the  suf- 
ferers themselves  :  on  which  occasion,  this  great  com- 
mander of  the  human  affections,  as  Quintihan  calls 
him,  found  means  to  persuade  those  unfortunate  men, 
that  to  bear  their  injury  was  their  benefit ;  and  that 
the  government  itself  could  not  stand,  if  SyUa's  laws 
were  then  repealed,  on  which  the  quiet  and  order  of 
the  repubhc  were  established  ;  acting  herein  the  part 
of  a  wise  statesman,  who  will  oft  be  forced  to  tolerate, 
and  even  maintain,  what  he  cannot  approve,  for  the 

*  Macrob.  Saturn.  2.  lo. 

f  Exclusique  patemis  opibus  liberi,  etiam  petendorum  honorum 
jure  prohiberentiir*     Veil,  Pat.  2.  28. 


Sect.  III.  CICERO. 


179 


sake  of  the  common  good  ;  agreeably  to  what  he  lays 
down  in  his  book  of  Offices^  that  many  things  which 
are  naturally  right  and  just,  are  yet,  by  certain  cir- 
cumstances and  conjunctures  of  times,  made  dishonest 
and  unjust  *.  As  to  the  instance  before  us,  he  de- 
clared in  a  speech,  made  several  years  after,  that  he 
had  excluded  from  honours  a  number  0I*  brave  and 
honest  young  men,  w^hom  fortune  had  thrown  into 
so  unhappy  a  situation,  that  if  they  had  obtained  pow- 
er, they  would  probably  hav«  employed  it  to  the  ruin 
of  the  state  f .  The  three  cases  just  mentioned,  make 
Pliny  break  out  into  a  kind  of  raptirrous  admiration  of. 
tiie  man,  "  who  could  persuade  the  people  to  give  up 
**  their  bread,  their  pleasure,  and  their  injuries,  to  the 
*'  charms  of  his  eloquence  J." 

The  next  transaction  of  moment  in  which  he  was 
engaged,  was  the  defence  of  C.  Rabirius,  an  aged  se- 
nator, accused  by  T.  Labienus,  one  of  the  tribunes,  of 
treason  or  rebellion,  for  having  killed  L.  Saturninus, 
a  tribune,  about  forty  years  before,  who  had  raised  a 
dangerous  sedition  in  the  city.  The  fact,  if  it  had 
been  true,  w^as  not  only  legal,  but  laudable,  being 
done  in  obedience  to  a  decree  of  the  senate,  by  which 
ail  the  citizens  were  required  to  take  arms  in  aid  of 
the  consuls  C.  Marius  and  L.  Flaccus. 

But  the  punishment  of  Rabirius  was  not  the  thing 
aimed  at,  npr  the  life  of  an  old  man  worth  the  pains 
of  disturbing  the  peace  of  the  city  :  the  design  was  to 

*  Sic  multa,  quai  lionesta  natura  videntur  esse,  temporlbus  fiunt 
laon  honesta.     De  Ofnc.  3.  25. 

f  Ego  adolescentes  fortes  et  bonos,  sed  uses  ea  conditione  for- 
tiinte,  ut,  si  essent  magistratus  adepti,  Relpub.  statu-m  couvulsuri 
viderentur — comitiorum  ratione  privavi.      In  Pison.  2. 

1  Quo  te,  M.  TuUx,  piaculo  taceam  ?  &c.  Plin.  Hist.  1.  7.  50, 
M3 


i8o  The  LIFE   of  Sect.  IIL 

attack  that  prerogative  of  the  senate,  by  which,  in  the 
case  of  a  sudden  tumult,  they  could  arm  the  city  at 
once,  by  requiring  the  consuls  to  take  care  that  the 
republic  received  no  detriment :  which  vote  was  sup- 
posed to  give  a  sanction  to  every  thing  that  was  done 
in  consequence  of  it ;  so  that  several  traiterous  magis- 
trates had  been  cut  off  by  it,  without  the  formalities 
of  a  trial,  in  the  act  of  stirring  up  sedition.  This  prac- 
tice, though  in  use  from  the  earliest  times,  had  always 
been  complained  of  by  the  tribunes,  as  an  infringe- 
ment of  the  constitution,  by  giving  to  the  senate  an 
arbitrary  power  over  the  lives  of  citizens,  which  could 
not  legally  be  taken  av/ay  without  a  hearing  and  judg- 
m.ent  of  the  v/hole  people.  But  the  chief  grudge  to  it 
was,  from  its  being  a  perpetual  check  to  the  designs  of 
the  ambitious  and  popular,  who  aspired  to  any  power 
not  allowed  by  the  laws  :  it  was  not  difficult  for  them  to 
delude  the  multitude  ;  but  the  senate  was  not  so  easi- 
ly managed,  who,  by  that  single  vote  of  committing 
the  republic  to  the  consuls,  could  frustrate  at  once  all 
the  effects  of  their  popularity,  when  cai'ried  to  a  point 
which  was  dangerous  to  the  state  :  for  since,  in  virtue 
of  it,  the  tribunes  themselves,  whose  persons  were  held 
sacred,  might  be  taken  off  without  sentence  or  trial, 
when  engaged  in  any  traiterous  practices,  all  attempts 
of  that  kind  must  necessarily  be  hazardous  and  des- 
perate. 

This  point  therefore  was  to  be  tried  on  the  person 
of  Rabirius,  in  whose  ruin  the  factious  of  all  ranks 
were  interested.  J.  Ccesar  suborned  Labienus  to  pro- 
secute him  ;  and  procured  himself  to  be  appointed 
one  of  the  Duumviri,  or  the  two  judges  allotted  by 


Sect.  HI.  CICERO.  iSi 


the  praetor  to  sit  upon  trials  of  treason  *.  Hortensius 
pleaded  his  cause,  and  proved,  by  many  ^\dtnesses,  that 
the  whole  accusation  was  false,  and  that  Saturninus 
was  actually  killed  by  the  hand  of  a  slave,  who,  for 
that  service,  obtained  his  freedom  from  the  pubhc  f . 
Caesar  however  eagerly  condemned  the  old  man,  who 
appealed  from  his  sentence  to  the  people ;  "  where 
"  nothing,"  says  Suetonius,  "  did  him  so  much  service, 
"  as  the  partial  and  forward  severity  of  his  judge  J. 

The  tribunes,  in  the  mean  while,  employed  all  their 
power  to  destroy  him  ;  and  Labienus  would  not  suffer 
Cicero  to  exceed  half  an  hour  in  his  defence  § ;  and, 
to  raise  the  greater  indignation  against  the  criminal, 
exposed  the  picture  of  Saturninus  in  the  Rostra,  as  of 
one  who  fell  a  martyr  to  the  liberties  of  the  people. 
Cicero  opened  the  defence  with  great  gravity,  declar- 
ing, *'  that  in  the  memory  of  man  there  had  not  been 
"  a  cause  of  such  importance,  either  undertaken  by  a 
**  tribune,  or  defended  by  a  consul :  that  nothing  less 
"  Vv^as  meant  by  it,  than  that,  fo^  the  future,  there 
*'  should  be  no  senate  or  public  council  in  the  city ; 
*'  no  consent  and  concurrence  of  the  honest  against 
*'  the  rage  and  rashness  of  the  wicked  ;  no  resource  or 
**  refuge  in  the  extreme  dangers  of  the  republic  ||. — 
*•  He  implores  the  favour  of  all  the  Gods,  by  whose 
*'  providence  their  city  was  more  signally  governed, 
*'  than  by  any  wisdom  of  man,  to  make  that  day  pro- 
**  pitious  to  the  security  of  the  state,  and  to  the  life 
*'  and  fortunes  of  an  innocent  man." — And,  having 
possessed  the  minds  of  his  audience  with  the  sanctity 


*  Sueton.  vit.  J.  Cajs.  12.  DIo,  p.  42.  f  Pro  Rab-:r.  6.  11. 

X  Ut  sd  pop-vilum  provocanti  nihil  a;que  ar  ju-iicis  acerbitas  pro- 
fuit.     Siidon.  ib.  12.  §    Pro  Kabir.  1,  [j  ibiii. 

M3 


i82  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  IIL 

of  the  cause,  he  proceeds  boldly  to  wish,  "  that  he  had 
*'  been  at  liberty  to  confess,  what  Hortensius  indeed 
"  had  proved  to  be  false,  that  Saturninus,  th:i  enemy 
"  of  the  Roman  people,  was  killed  by  the  hand  of  Ra- 
**  birius  ^—that  he  should  have  proclaimed  and  brag- 
*'  ged  of  it,  as  an  act  that  merited  rewards,  instead  of 
*'  punishment." — Pie  re  he  was  interrupted  by  the  cla- 
mour of  the  opposite  faction  ;  but  he  observes  it  to  be 
"  the  faint  efforts  of  a  small  part  of  the  assembly ;  and 
**  that  the  body  of  the  people,  who  were  silent,  would 
"  never  have  made  him  consul,  if  they  had  thought 
*'  him  capable  of  being  disturbed  by  so  feeble  an  in- 
*'  suit ;  which  he  advised  them  to  drop,  since  it  be- 
"  trayed  only  their  folly  and  inferiority  of  their  num- 
"  bers." — The  assembly  being  quieted,  he  goes  on  to 
declare,  "  that  though  Rabirius  did  not  kill  Saturni- 
"  nus,  yet  he  took  arms  with  intent  to  kill  him,  toge- 
"  gether  with  the  consuls  and  all  the  best  of  the  city, 
"  to  which  his  honour,  virtue,  and  duty,  called  him." — 
He  puts  Labienus  in  mind,  '*  that  he  was  too  young 
"  to  be  acquainted  with  the  merits  of  that  cause  ;  that 
"  he  was  not  born  when  Saturninus  was  killed,  and 
"  could  not  be  apprised  how  odious  and  detestable  his 
"  name  was  to  all  people  :  that  some  had  been  banished 
*'  for  complaining  only  of  his  death  ;  others,  for  hav- 
"  ing  a  picture  of  him  in  their  houses  f  :  that  he  won- 
"  dered  therefore  where  Labienus  had  procured  that 
"  picture,  which  none  durst  venture  to  keep  even  at 
*'  home ;  and  much  more,  that  he  had  the  hardiness 
"  to  produce,  before  an  assembly  of  the  people,  what 
♦*  had  been  the  ruin  of  other  men's  fortunes : — that  tq 

^  Ibid,  6.  f  Ibid.  9. 


Sect.  III.  CICERO.  183 

"  charge  Rabirius  with  this  crime,  was  to  condemn  the 
'*  greatest  and  worthiest  citizens  whom  Rome  had  e- 
"  ver  bred  ;  and,  though  they  were  all  dead,  yet  the 
"  injury  was  the  same,  to  rob  them  of  the  honour  due 
"  to  their  names  and  memories. — Would  C.  Marius," 
says  he,  "  have  lived  in  perpetual  toils  and  dangers, 
"  if  he  had  conceived  no  hopes  concerning  himself  and 
"  his  glory  beyond  the  limits  of  this  life  ?  When  he 
"  defeated  those  innumerable  enemies  in  Italy,  and 
*'  saved  the  repubhc,  did  he  imagine  that  every  thing 
•'  which  related  to  him  w^ould  die  with  him  ?  No  ;  it 
"  is  not  so,  citizens  ;  there  is  not  one  of  us  who  exerts 
"  himself  with  praise  and  virtue  in  the  dangers  of  the 
"  repubhc,  but  is  induced  to  it  by  the  expectation  of 
"  a  futurity.  As  the  minds  of  men  therefore  seem  to 
"  be  divine  and  immortal  for  many  other  reasons,  so 
"  especially  for  this,  that,  in  all  the  best  and  wisest, 
"  there  is  so  strong  a  sense  of  something  hereafter,  that 
"  they  seem  to  relish  nothing  but  w^hat  is  eternal.  I 
"  appeal  then  to  the  souls  of  C.  Marius,  and  of  all 
"  those  wise  and  worthy  citizens,  who,  from  this  life 
"  of  men,  are  translated  to  the  honours  and  sanctity 
*'  of  the  Gods  ;  I  call  them,  I  say,  to  witness,  that  I 
"  think  myself  bound  to  fight  for  their  fame,  glory, 
"  and  memory,  with  as  much  zeal,  as  for  the  altars 
"  and  temples  of  my  country  ;  and,  if  it  v/ere  neces- 
"  sary  to  take  arms  in  defence  of  their  praise,  I  should 
"  take  them  as  strenuously,  as  they  themselves  did  for 
"  the  defence  of  our  common  safety  *,"   &c. 

After  this  speech,  the  people  were  to  pass  judgment 
on  Rabirius  by  the  suffrages  of  all  the  centuries :  but 

*  Ibid,  10. 


i84  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  III. 

there  being  reason  to  apprehend  some  violence  and 
foul  play  from  the  intrigues  of  the  tribunes,  Metellus, 
the  augur  and  praetor  of  that  year,  contrived  to  dis- 
solve the  assembly  by  a  stratagem,  before  they  came 
to  a  vote  ■*  :  and  the  greater  affairs  that  presently  en- 
sued, and  engaged  the  attention  of  the  city,  prevent- 
ed the  farther  prosecution  and  revival  of  the  cause. 

But  Cccsar  was  more  successful  in  another  case,  in 
ivhich  he  was  more  interested,  his  suit  for  the  high 
Priesthood,  a  post  of  the  first  dignity  in  the  republic, 
vacant  by  the  death  of  Metellus  Pius.  Labienus  o- 
pened  his  way  to  it  by  the  publication  of  a  nev/  law, 
for  transferring  the  right  of  electing  from  the  college 
of  priests  to  the  people,  agreeably  to  the  tenor  of  a 
former  law,  which  had  been  repealed  by  Sylla.  C^- 
r^ar's  strength  lay  in  the  favour  of  the  populace,  which, 
hy  immen-se  bribes,  and  the  profusion  of  his  whole 
substance,  he  had  gained  on  this  occasion  so  effectual- 
ly, that  he  carried  this  high  office,  before  he  had  yet 
been  praetor,  against  two  consular  competitors  of  the 
first  authority  in  Rome,  (^  Catulus  and  P.  Servihus 
Isauricus ;  the  one  of  whom  had  been  censor,  and 
then  bore  the  title  of  Prince  of  the  Senate  ;  and  the 
other  been  honoured  with  a  triumph  ;  yet  he  procur- 
ed more  votes  against  them,  even  in  their  own  tribes, 
tiian  they  both  had  out  of  the  whole  number  of  the 
citizens  f . 

Catiline  was  now  renewing  his  efforts  for  the  con- 
sulship with  greater  vigour  tlian  ever,  and  by  such  o- 

*  Dio,  1.  37,  42. 

\  ita  ])otentissimos  duos  competitores,  raultumque  ct  a:tate  et 
cijgnitate  antecedentes,  superavit  \  ut  pluva  ipse  in  e.orum  tribubus 
sQlfragia,  quam  uterq'ue  in  cmnibus  luieriL.  Suet.  j.  Cits.  i^. 
Vide  PU-h.  /ynr.aL 


Sect.  m.  CICERO.  185 

pen  methods  of  bribery,  that  Cicero  published  a  new 
law  against  it,  with  the  additional  penalty  of  a  ten 
years  exile,  prohibiting  likewise  all  shews  of  gladiators 
within  t\YO  years  from  the  time  of  suing  for  any  ma- 
gistracy, unless  they  were  ordered  by  the  will  of  a 
person  deceased,  and  on  a  certain  day  therein  speci- 
fied *.  Catiline,  who  knew  the  law  to  be  levelled  at 
himself,  formed  a  design  to  kill  Cicero,  with  some  o-- 
ther  chiefs  of  the  senate  f ,  on  the  day  of  election, 
which  was  appointed  for  the  twentieth  of  October ; 
but  Cicero  gave  information  of  it  to  the  senate  the 
day  before,  upon  which  the  election  was  deferred,  that 
they  might  have  time  to  deliberate  on  an  affair  of  so 
great  importance  ;  and  the  day  following,  in  a  full 
house,  he  called  upon  Catiline  to  clear  himself  of  this 
charge  ;  where,  without  denying  or  excusing  it,  he 
bluntly  told  them,  "  that  there  were  two  bodies  in 
*'  the  republic,"  —meaning  the  senate  and  the  people, 
— *'  the  one  of  them  infirm  with  a  weak  head,  the  o- 
"  ther  firm  without  a  head ;  vv^hich  last  had  so  well 
*'  deserved  of  him,  that  it  should  never  want  a  head 
"  while  he  lived."  He  had  made  a  declaration  of  the 
same  kind,  and  in  the  same  place,  a  few  days  before, 
when,  upon  Cato's  threatening  him  with  an  impeach- 
ment, he  fiercely  replied,  "  that  if  any  flame  should 
"  be  excited  in  his  fortunes,  he  would  extinguish  it, 
"  not  witli  water,  but  a  general  ruin  J." 

*  Pro  Muren.  23.  in  Vatln.  15.  f  Die,  1.  37.  43. 

t  Turn  enlm  dixit,  duo  corpora  esse  Reipub.  unum  debile,  in- 
firmo  capite  ;  alterum  firmum  sine  capite  ',  huic,  cum  ita  de  se  me- 
ritum  esset,  caput,  se  vivo,  non  defuturum. — Cum  idem  ille  paucis 
diebus  ante  Catoni,  judicium  minitanti,  respondisset.  Si  quod  esset  in 
suas  fortunas  incendium  excitatum,  id  se  non  aqua,  sed  ruina  re2- 
t^ncturuni.     Pro  Muren.  25, 


t36  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  III. 

These  declarations  startled  the  senate,  and  convinced 
them  that  nothing  but  a  desperate  conspiracy,  ripe  for 
execution,  cpuld  inspire  so  daring  an  assurance  :  so 
that  they  proceeded  immediately  to  that  decree,  which 
v/as  the  usual  refuge  in  all  cases  of  imminent  danger, 
of  ordering  the  consuls  to  take  caie  that  the  republic 
received  no  harm  "*.  Upon  this  Cicero  doubled  his 
guard,  and  called  some  troops  into  the  city ;  and  when 
the  election  of  consuls  came  on,  that  he  might  imprint 
a  sense  of  his  own  and  of  the  pubhc  danger  the  more 
strongly,  he  took  care  to  throw  back  his  gown  in  the 
view  of  the  people,  and  discovered  a  shining  breast- 
plate, which  he  v»^ore  under  it  f  :  by  which  pecaution, 
as  he  told  Catiline  afterwards  to  his  fac€,  he  prevented 
his  design  of  killing  both  him  and  the  competitors  for 
the  consulship,  of  whom  D.  Junius  Silanus  and  L.  Li-^ 
cinius  Murena  were  declared  consuls  elect  J. 

Cataline,  thus  a  second  time  repulsed,  and  breath- 
ing nothing  but  revenge,  was  now  eager  and  impa- 
tient to  execute  his  grand  plot :  he  had  no  other  game 
left ;  his  schemes  were  not  only  suspected,  but  actu- 
ally discovered  by  the  sagacity  of  the  consul,  and 
himself  shunned  and  detested  by  all  honest  men  ;  so 
that  he  resolved  without  farther  delay  to  put  all  to 
the  hazard,  of  ruining  either  his  country  or  himself. 
He  was  singularly  formed  both  by  art  and  nature  for 


*  Sail.  bell.  Batil.  29.  Putar.  Cic. 

f  Descend!  m  campum — cum  ilia  lata  insignique  loiica — ut  04n- 
Ties  boni  anlmadverterent,  et  cum  in  metu  et  periculo  consulem'  vi- 
<lerent,  id  quod  factum  est,  ad  opem  praesidiumque  meum  concur- 
Terent.     Pro  Muren.  26. 

X  Cum  proximis  comitiis  consularibus,  me  consulem  in  campo  et 
competitores  tuos  interficere  voluisti,  compressi  conatus  tuos  ne* 
farios  amicorum  praesidio.     In  Cat.  i.  5. 


Sect.  m.  ClGERO.      ,  187 

the  head  of  a  desperate  conspiracy ;  of  an  illustrious 
family,  ruined  fortunes,  profligate  mind,  undaunted 
courage,  unwearied  industry  ;  of  a  capacity  equal  to 
the  hardiest  attempt,  with  a  tongue  that  could  explain, 
and  a  hand  that  could  execute  it  *.  Cicero  gives  us 
his  just  character  in  many  parts  of  his  works,  but  ia 
none  a  more  lively  picture  of  him  than  in  the  foUov/- 
ing  passage  f . 

"  He  had  in  him,"  says  he,  "  many,  though  not  ex- 
"  press  images,  yet  sketches  of  the  greatest  virtues ; 
"  was  acquainted  with  a  great  number  of  wicked  men, 
"  yet  a  pretended  admirer  of  the  virtuous.  His  house 
**  was  furnished  with  a  variety  of  temptations  to  lust 
"  and  lewdness,  yet  with  several  incitements  also  to 
*'  industry  and  labour  :  it  was  a  scene  of  vicious  plea- 
"  sures,  yet  a  school  of  martial  exercises.  There  ne- 
"  ver  was  such  a  monster  on  earth  compounded  of  pas- 
"  sions  so  contrary  and  opposite.  Who  was  ever  more 
"  agreeable  at  one.  time  to  the  best  citizens  ?  wha 
"  more  intimate  at  another  with  the  worst  ?  who  a  man 
"  of  better  principles  ?  who  a  fouler  enemy  to  this 
"  city  ?  who  more  intemperate  in  pleasure  ?  who  more 
"  patient  in  labour  ?  who  more  rapacious  in  plun- 
"  dering  ?  who  more  profuse  in  squandering  ?  he  had 
"  a  wonderful  faculty  of  engaging  men  to  his  friend- 
"  ship,  and  obliging  them  by  his  observance  ;  sharing 
"  with  them  in  common  whatever  he  was  master  of; 
"  serving  them  with  his  money,  his  interest,  his  pains, 
"  and,  when  there  was  occasion,  by  the  most  daring 


Erat  ei  consilium  ad  facinus  aptum  :    consflio  autem  neque 
lingua,  neque  manus  deerat.     In  Cat.  3.  7. 
f  Pro  Gael.  5.  6. 


l8S  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  Jlh 

"  acts  of  villainy ;  moulding  his  nature  to  his  purposes, 
"  and  bending  it  every  way  to  his  will.  With  the 
"  morose,  he  could  live  severely  ;  with  the  free,  gay- 
"  ly  ;  with  the  old,  gravely  ;  with  the  young,  chear- 
"fully;  with  the  enterprizing,  audaciously;  with  the 
"  vicious,  luxuriously.  By  a  temper  so  various  and 
"  pliable,  he  gathered  about  him  the  profligate  and  the 
"  rash  from  all  countries,  yet  held  attached  to  him  at 
"  the  same  time  many  brave  and  worthy  men,  by  the 
"  specious  shew  of  a  pretended  virtue." 

With  these  talents,  if  he  had  obtained  the  consul- 
ship, and  with  it  the  command  of  the  armies  and  pro- 
vinces of  the  empire,  he  would  probably,  like  another 
Cinna,  have  made  himself  the  tyrant  of  his  country  : 
but  despair  and  impatience,  under  his  repeated  disap- 
pointments, hurried  him  on  to  the  mad  resolution  of 
extorting  by  force  what  he  could  not  procure  by  ad- 
dress. His  scheme  however  was  not  without  a  founda- 
tion of  probability,  and  there  were  several  reasons  for 
thinking  the  present  time  the  most  seasonable  for  the 
execution  of  it.  Italy  was  drained  in  a  manner  of  re- 
gular troops ;  Pompey  at  a  great  distance  with  the 
best  army  of  the  empire  ;  and  his  old  friend  Antonius, 
on  whose  assistance  he  still  depended  "*",  was  to  have 
the  command  of  all  the  forces  that  remained.  But 
his  greatest  hopes  lay  in  Sylla's  veteran  soldiers,  whose 
cause  he  had  always  espoused,  and  among  whom  he 
had  been  bred ;  v/ho,  to  the  number  of  about  an  hun- 
dred thousand,  were  settled  in  the  several  districts  and 
colonies  of  Italy,  in  the  possession  of  lands  assigned  to 

*  Inflatum  turn  spe  militum,  turn  collegee  mei,  ut  ipse  dicebat, 
promissis.     Pro  Muren.  23. 


Sect.  H.  CICERO.  189 

them  by  Sylla,  which  the  generality  had  wasted  by 
their  vices  and  luxury,  and  wanted  another  civil  war 
to  repair  their  shattered  fortunes-.  Among  these  he 
employed  his  agents  and  officers  in  all  parts,  to  debauch 
them  to  his  service  ;  and  in  Etruria,  had  actually  en- 
rolled a  considerable  body,  and  formed  them  into  a 
little  army  under  the  command  of  Manilius,  a  bold 
and  experienced  centurion,  who  waited  only  for  hi& 
orders  to  take  the  field  *.  We  must  add  to  this,  what 
all  writers  mention,  the  universal  disaffection  and  dis- 
content which  possessed  all  ranks  of  the  city,  but  e- 
specially  the  meaner  sort,  who,  from  the  uneasiness  of 
their  circumstances,  and  the  pressure  of  their  debts, 
wished  for  a  change  of  government ;  so  that  if  Cati-^ 
line  had  gained  any  little  advantage  at  setting  out,  or 
come  off  but  equal  in  the  first  battle,  there  v/as  reason 
to  expect  a  general  declaration  in  his  favour  f . 

He  called  a  council  therefore  of  all  the  conspirators, 
to  settle  the  plan  of  their  work,  and  divide  the  parts 
of  it  among  themselves,  and  fix  a  proper  day  for  the 
execution.  There  were  about  thirty-five,  whose  names 
are  transmitted  to  us  as  principals  in  the  plot,  partly 
of  the  Senatorian,  partly  of  the  Equestrian  order,  with 
many  others  from  the  colonies  and  municipal  towns 
of  Italy,  men  of  famiUes  and  interest  in  their  several 
countries.  The  senators  were  P.  Cornelius  Lentulus, 
C.  Cethegus,  P.  Autronius,  L.  Cassius  Longinus,  P. 

*  Castra  sunt  in  Italia  contra  Rempub.  in  EtruricC  faucibus  col- 
locata.     In  Cat.  i.  2.  it.  2.  6. 

f  Sed  omnino  cuncta  plebes,  novarum  rerum  studio,  Catilinse  in- 
cepta  probabat — quod  si  primo  prcelio  Catllina  superior,  aut  requu 
Biaua  diicessisset,  profecto  magna  clades,  &c.  Sallv.st.  27.  29.. 


ipo 


The   life   of  Sect.  IIL 


Sylla,  Serv.  Sylla,  L.  Vargunteius,  (^  Curius,  Q^  An- 
nius,  M.  Fortius  Lecca,  L.  Bestia  *. 

Lentiilus  was  descended  from  a  Patrician  branch 
of  the  Cornelian  family,  one  of  the  most  numerous, 
as  well  as  the  most  splendid,  in  Rome.  His  grand- 
father had  borne  the  title  of  rrince  of  the  Senate^  and 
was  the  most  active  in  the  pursuit  and  destruction  of 
C.  Gracchus,  in  which  he  received  a  dangerous 
wound  f .  The  grandson,  by  the  favour  of  his  noble 
birth,  had  been  advanced  to  the  consulship  about 
eight  years  before,  but  was  turned  out  of  the  senate 
soon  after  by  the  censors,  for  the  notorious  infamy  of 
his  life,  till,  by  obtaining  the  praetorship  a  second 
time,  which  he  now  actually  enjoyed,  he  recovered 
his  former  place  and  rank  in  that  supreme  council  J. 
His  parts  were  but  moderate,  or  rather  slow ;  yet  the 
comeliness  of  his  person,  the  gracefulness  and  pro- 
priety of  his  action,  the  strength  and  sweetness  of  his 
voice,  procured  him  some  reputation  as  a  speaker  §. 
He  was  lazy,  luxurious,  and  profligately  wicked  ;  yet 
so  vain  and  ambitious,  as  to  expect,  from  the  over- 
throw of  the  government,  to  be  the  first  man  in  the 
republic  ;  in  which  fancy  he  was  strongly  flattered  by 
some  crafty  soothsayers,  who  assured  him,  from  the 
Sibyline  books,  "  that  there  were  three  Cornelius's 

*  Sallust.  17. 

f  Num  P.  Lentulum,  piincipem  senatus  ?  Complures  alios 
summos  viros,  qui  cum  L.  Opimio  consule  armati  Gracchum  in 
Aventinum  persecuti  sunt  ?  quo  in  prcelio  Lentulus  grave  vulnus 
accepit.     Phil.  8.  4.  in  Cat.  4.  6. 

\  Lentulus  quoque  tunc  maxime  praetor,  &c.  Flor.  4.  i.  Dio, 
p.  43.  Plut.  in  Cic, 

§  P.  Lentulus,  cujus  et  excogitandi  et  loquendi  tarditatem  tegs- 
bat  formae  dignitas,  corporis  motus  plenus  et  art  is  et  venustatis^ 
vocis  et  suavitas  et  magnitudo.     Brut.  350. 


Sect.  III.  CICERO; 


191 


*'  destiiied  to  the  dominion  of  Rome  ;"  that  Cinns 
arid  Sylla  had  already  possessed  it,  and  the  prophecy 
wanted  to  be  completed  in  him  *.  With  these  views 
he  entered  freely  into  the  conspiracy,  trusting  to  Ca- 
tihne's  vigour  for  the  execution,  and  hoping  to  reap 
the  chief  fruit  from  its  success. 

Cethegus  was  of  an  extraction  equally  noble,  but 
of  a  temper  fierce,  impetuous,  and  daring  to  a  degree 
even  of  fury.     He  had  been  warmly  engaged  in  the 
cause  of  Marius,  with  whom  he  was  driven  out  of 
Rome ;  but  when  Sylla's  affairs   became  prosperous, 
he  presently  changed  sides^  and,  throwing  himself  at 
Sylla's  feet,  and  promising  great  services,  was   restor- 
ed to  the  city  f .     After  Sylla's  death,  by  intrigues 
and  faction,  he  acquired  so  great  an  influence,  that 
while  Pompey  was  abroad,  he  governed  all  things  at 
home  ;  procured  for  Antonius  the  command  over  the 
coasts  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  for  Lucullus,  the 
management  of  the  Mithridatic  war  f .    In  the  heighth 
of  this  power,  he  made  an  excursion  into  Spain,  to 
raise  contributions  in  that  province,  where,  meeting 
with  some  opposition  to  his  violences,  he  had  the  har- 
diness to  insult,  and  even  wound,  the  proconsul  Q^ 


*  Lentulum  autem  sibi  cbnfirmasse  ex  fatis  Sibylllnis.  Harus- 
picumque  responsis,  se  esse  tertium  ilium  Cornelium,  ad  quem  reg- 
num  hiijus  urbis  atque  imperium  pervenire  asset  necesse,  <Scc.  In. 
Cat.  3.  4.  tit.  4.  6. 

f  Quid  Catilina  tuls  natalibus,  atque  Cethegi 
Inveniet  quisquam  sublimius  ? 

Juv.  Sat.  8.  231.   App.  399. 

:|:  Hie  est  M.  Antonius,  qui  gratia  Cottse  consulis  et  Cethegi 
factione  in  senatu,  curationem  intinitam  nactus,  &.c.  Ascon.  in 
Verr.  2.  3.  Plut.  in  LucuU. 

Vol.  I.  N 


XC}2  The   LIFE   OF  Sect.  HL 

Metellus  Pius  *.  But  the  insolence  of  his  conduct, 
and  the  infamy  of  his  hfe,  gradually  diminished,  and 
at  last  destroyed,  his  credit ;  when,  finding  himself 
controuled  by  the  magistrates,  and  the  particular  vi- 
gilance of  Cicero,  he  entered  eagerly  into  Catiline's 
plot,  and  was  entrusted  with  the  most  bloody  and  des- 
perate part  of  it,  the  task  of  massacring  their  enemies 
within  the  city.  The  rest  of  the  conspirators  were 
not  less  illustrious  for  their  birth  f .  The  two  Sylla's 
WTre  nephews  to  the  dictator  of  that  name  ;  Autro- 
nius  had  obtained  the  consulship,  but  w^as  deprived 
for  bribery  ;  and  Cassius  was  a  competitor  for  it  with 
Cicero  himself.  In  short,  they  were  all  of  the  same 
stamp  and  character ;  men  v/hom  disappointments, 
ruined  fortunes,  and  flagitious  lives,  had  prepared  for 
any  design  against  the  state  ;  and  all  whose  hopes  of 
ease  and  advancement  depended  on  a  change  of  af- 
fairs, and  the  subversion  of  the  republic. 

As  this  meeting  it  v/as  resolved,  that  a  general  in- 
surrection should  be  raised  through  Italy,  the  different 
parts  of  which  were  assigned  to  different  leaders  ;  that 
Catiline  should  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  troops, 
in  Etruria  ;  that  Rome  should  be  fired  in  many  places 
at  once,  and  a  massacre  begun  at  tlie  same  time  of 
the' whole  senate,  and  all  their  enemies;  of  whom 
none  were  to  be  spared  but  the  sons  of  Pompey,  who 
were  to  be  kept  as  hostages  of  their  peace  and  recon-^ 
ciliation  with  the  father ;  that,  in  the  consternation 


*  Quis  cle  C.  Cethego,  atque  ejus  in  Hispahiam  profectione,  ac 
de  vulncre  Q^Metelli  Pii  cogltat,  cul  noii  ad  illius  pcenam  career 
ajdirjcatus  esse  videatur  ?      Pro  Syll.  25. 

f  Curii,  Porcii,  Sylla;,  Cethegi,  Antonii,  Vargunteii  atque 
Longiiii :  qiue  famili'*  ?^  quae  senatus  insignia  ?  &c.     Flor.  L  4.  i... 


Sect.  HI.  CICERO.  ig^ 

of  the  fire  and  massacre,  Catiline  should  be  ready 
with  his  Tuscan  army,  to  take  the  benefit  of  the  pu- 
blic confusion,  and  make  himself  master  of  the  city  ; 
where  Lentulus,  in  the  mean  while,  as  first  in  dignity, 
was  to  preside  in  their  general  councils ;  Cassius  to 
manage  the  affair  of  firing  it ;  Cethegus  to  direct  the 
massacre  "*.  But  the  vigilance  of  Cicero  being  the 
chief  obstacle  to  all  their  hopes,  Catiline  was  very  de- 
sirous to  see  him  taken  off  before  he  left  Rome  ;  upon 
which  two  knights  of  the  company  undertook  to  kill 
him  the  next  morning  in  his  bed,  in  an  early  visit  on 
pretence  of  business  f .  They  were  both  of  his  ac- 
quaintance, and  used  to  frequent  his  house  ;  and  know- 
ing his  custom  of  giving  free  access  to  all,  made  no 
doubt  of  being  readily  admitted,  as  Cornelius,  one  of 
the  two,  afterwards  confessed  J. 

The  meeting  was  no  sooner  over,  than  Cicero  had  in- 
formation of  all  that  passed  in  it ;  for,  by  the  intrigues 
of  a  woman  named  Fulvia,  he  had  gained  over  Cu- 
rius  her  gallant,  one  of  the  conspirators,  of  Senatorian 
rank,  to  send  him  a  punctual  account  of  all  their  de- 
liberations. He  presently  imparted  this  intelligence 
to  some  of  the  chiefs  of  the  city,  who  were  assembled 
that  evening,  as  usual,  at  his  house  ;  informing  them, 
not  only  of  the  design,  but  naming  the  men  who  were 


*  Cum  Catilina  egrederetur  ad  exercltum,  Lentulus  in  urbe  re- 
^^inqueretur,  Cassius  incendiis,  Cethegus  caedi  praeponeretur.  Pro 
'Syll.  19.  Vid.  Plut.  in  Cicer. 

f  Dixisti  paullulum  tibi  esse  morae,  quod  ego  viverem  :  reperti 
svmt  duo  Equites  Romani,  qui  te  ista  cura  liberarent,  et  sese  ilia 
ipsa  nocte  ante  lucem  me  meo  in  lectulo  interfecturos  pollicerentur. 
In  Catil.  I.  4.  it.  Sallust.  28. 

X  Tunc  tuus  pater,   Corneli,  id  quod  tandem   aliquando  confitc 
tur,  illam  sibi  officiosam  provinciam  depoposcit.     Pro  Syll.  18. 

N  2 


194 


The   life   of  Sect.  HL 


to  execute  it,  and  the  very  hour  when  they  would  be 
at  his  gate  :  all  which  fell  out  exactly  as  he  foretold  ; 
for  the  two  knights  came  before  break  of  day,  but  had 
the  mortification  to  find  the  house  well  guarded,  and 
all  admittance  refused  to  them  *.  ' 

Catiline  was  disappointed  likewise  in  another  affair 
of  no  less  moment  before  he  quitted  the  city  ;  a  design 
to  surprise  the  town  of  Pra:neste,  one  of  the  strongest 
fortresses  of  Italy,  within  twenty-five  miles  of  Rome  ; 
"vvhich  would  have  been  of  singular  use  to  him  in  the 
war,  and  a  sure  retreat  in  all  events :  but  Cicero  was 
still  before-hand  with  him,  and,  from  the  apprehension 
of  such  an  attempt,  had  previously  sent  orders  to  the 
place  to  keep  a  special  guard ;  so  that  when  Catiline 
came  in  the  night  to  make  an  assault,  he  found  them 
so  well  provided,  that  he  durst  not  venture  upon  the 
experiment  f . 

This  was  the  state  of  the  conspirary,  when  Cicero 
delivered  the  first  of  those  four  speeches,  which  were 
spoken  upon  the  occasion  of  it,  and  are  still  extant. 
The  meeting  of  the  conspirators  was  on  the  sixth  of 
November,  in  the  evening ;  and  on  the  eighth  he 
summoned  the  senate  to  the  temple  of  Jupiter,  in  the 
Capitol,  where  it  was  not  usually  held  but  in  times  of 
public  alarm  J.     There  had  been  several  debates  on 

*  Domum  meam  inajoribiis  pr^bsidils  inuni\'i  :  exclusi  eos,  quos 
Xu.  mane  ad  me  salutatum  miseras  •,  cum  illi  ipsi  venissent,  quos  ego 
jam  multis  ac  summis  virls  ad  me  id  tempoiis  venturos  esse  pratj- 
dixeram.     In  Catil.  i.  4. 

f  Quid  ?  cum  tu  Praeneste  Kalendis^  ipsis  Novembrllms  occupa- 
turum  nocturno  impetu  confideres  ?  Sensistine  illam  coloniam  mea 
jussu,  meis  presidiis— esse  munitam  ?  Ibid.  1.3.  Prteneste — natura 
munitum.  -  Veil.  Pat.  2.  26. 

%  Nihil  hie  munilissimus  habcndi  senatus  locus.     lb>  1.  1.  -    ' 


Sect.  III.  CICERO.  195 

the  same  subject  of  Catiline's  treasons,  and  his  design 
of  killing  the  consul ;  and  a  decree  had  passed,  at  the 
motion  of  Cicero,  to  offer  a  pubhc  reward  to  the  first 
discoverer  of  the  plot ;  "  if  a  slave,  his  liberty,  and 
"  eight  hundred  pounds ;  if  a  citizen,  his  pardon,  and 
"  sixteen  hundred  *."  Yet  Catiline,  by  a  profound 
dissimulation,  and  the  constant  professions  of  his  in« 
nocence,  still  deceived  many  of  all  ranks ;  represent- 
ing the  whole  as  the  fiction  of  his  enemy  Cicero,  and 
offering  to  give  security  for  his-  behaviour,  and  to  de- 
liver himself  to  the  custody  of  any  whom  the  senate 
would  name  ;  of  M.  Lepidus,  of  the  praetor  Metellus, 
or  of  Caesar  himself :  but  none  of  them  would  receive 
him,  and  Cicero  plainly  told  him,  "  that  he  should 
**  never  think  himself  safe  in  the  same  house,  when 
"  he  w^as  in  danger  by  living  in  the  same  city  with 
*'  him  f ;"  yet  he  still  kept  on  the  mask,  and  had  the 
confidence  to  come  to  this  very  meeting  in  the  Capi- 
tol ;  w^hich  so  shocked  the  whole  assembly,  that  none 
even  of  his  acquaintance  durst  venture  to  salute  him ; 
and  the  consular  senators  quitted  that  part  of  the  house 
in  which  he  sat,  and  left  the  w^hole  bench  clear  to 
him  J.  Cicero  was  so  provoked  by  his  impudence, 
that,  instead  of  entering  upon  any  business,  as  he  de- 
signed,   addressing  himself  directly  to  Catiline,    he 


*  Si  quis  indicasset  de  conjuratione,  quae  contra  Remp.  facta  e- 
rat,  priiemium  servo,  libertatem  et  sestertia  centum  j  liberto,  im- 
punitatem  et  sestertia  oc.     Sallust  30. 

f  Cum  a  me  id  responsum  tuli^ses,  me  nullo  modo  posse  iisdem 
parietibus  tuto  esse  tecum,  qui  maguo  in  periculo  essem,  quod  iis- 
ilem  moenibus  contineremur.      lb.  i.  8. 

Quis  te  ex  hac  tanta  frequentia,  tot  ex  tuis  amicis  ac  necessa- 
riis  salutavit  ?  Quid,  quod  adventu  tuo  ista  subsellia  vacuefacla 
;unt?  &:c.     lb.  i.  7, 

N  3 


196  The  life  of  Sect.  HL 

broke  out  into  a  most  severe  invective  against  him  ; 
and,  with  all  the  fire  and  force  of  an  incensed  elo- 
quence, laid  open  the  whole  course  of  his  villainies, 
and  the  notoriety  of  his  treasons. 

He  put  him  in  mind,  "  that  there  was  a  decree  al- 
"  ready  made  against  him,  by  which  he  could  take  his 
*'  life  ^  ;  and  that  he  ought  to  have  done  it  long  ago, 
"  since  many,  far  more  eminent  and  less  criminal,  had 
"  been  taken  off  by  the  same  authority,  for  the  suspi- 
"  cion  only  of  treasonable  designs ;  that  if  he  should 
"  order  him  therefore  to  be  killed  upon  the  spot,  there 
"  was  cause  to  apprehend,  that  it  would  be  thought 
"  rather  too  late,  than  too  cruel. — But  there  was  a 

"  certain  reason  which  yet  withheld  him Thou 

"  shalt  then  be  put  to  death,"  says  he,  "  when  there 
"  is  not  a  man  to  be  found  so  wicked,  so  desperate,  so 
"  like  to  thyself,  who  will  deny  it  to  be  done  justly. — 
"  As  long  as  there  is  one  wiio  dares  to  defend  thee, 
"'  thou  shalt  live ;  and  live  so,  as  thou  now  dost,  sur- 
**  rounded  by  the  guards,  which  I  have  placed  about 
"  thee,  so  a3  as  not  to  suffer  thee  to  stir  a  foot  against 
"  the  repubhc  ^  whilst  the  eyes  and  ears  of  many  shall 
"  watch  thee,  as  they  have  hitherto  done,  when  thou 
"  httle  thoughtest  of  it  f ."  He  then  goes  on  to  give 
a  detail  of  all  that  had  been  concerted  by  the  conspir- 
ators at  their  several  meetings,  to  let  him  see,  "  that 
"  he  was  perfectly  informed  of  every  step  which  he 
*'  had  taken,  or  designed  to  take  ;  and  observes,  "  that 
**  he  saw  several  at  that  very  time  in  the  senate,  who 


*  Plabemus  senatusconsultum  in  te,    Catilina  vehemens  et  grave. 
In  CatiL  i.  i, 

f  Void.  2. 


Sect.  III.  CICEUO.  197 

"  had  assisted  at  those  meetings. He  presses  him 

"  therefore  to  quit  the  city,  and,  since  all  his  counsels 
"  were  detected,  to  drop  the  thought  of  fires  and  mas- 

"  sacres; that  the  gates  were  open,  and  no  body 

"  should  stop  him^."  Then,  running  over  the  flagiti- 
ous enormities  of  his  life,  and  the  series  of  his  traitor- 
ous practices,  "  he  exhorts,  urges,  commands  him  to 
''  depart,  and  if  he  would  be  advised  by  him,  to  go  in- 
"  to  a  voluntary  exile,  and  free  them  from  their  fears ; 
"  that,  if  they  were  just  ones,  they  might  be  safer  ;  if 
"  groundless,  the  quieter  f  :  that  though  he  would  not 
"  put  the  question  to  the  house,  v/hether  they  Vn^ouM 
"  order  him  into  banishment,  or  not,  yet  he  would  let 
"  him  see  their  sense  upon  it  by  the  manner  of  behav- 
"  ing  while  he  v/as  urging  him  to  it ;  for  should  he  bid 
"  any  other  senator  of  credit,  P.  Sextius,  or  M.  Mar- 
"  cellus,  to  go  into  exile,  they  would  all  rise  up  against 
"  him  at  once,  and  lay  violent  hands  on  their  consul : 
''  yet  when  he  said  it  to  him,  by  their  silence  they 
"  approved  it ;  by  their  suffering  it,  decreed  it ; 
"  by  saying  nothing,  proclaimed  their  consent  J. 
^*  That  he  would  answer  likewise  for  the  knights, 
"  who  vv^ere  then  guarding  the  avenues  of  the  senate, 
"  and  were  hardly  restrained  from  doing  him  vio- 
*'  lence  ;  that  if  he  vv^ould  consent  to  go,  they  would 
*'  all  quietly  attend  him  to  the  gates. — —Yet,  after  all, 
"  if  in  virtue  of  his  command  he  should  really  go  into 
"  banishment,  he  foresaw  what  a  storm  of  envy  he 
"  should  draw  by  it  upon  himself;  but  he  did  not  va- 
"  lue  that,  if  by  his  own  calamity  he  could  avert  the 
"  dangers  of  the  republic  :  but  there  v>^as  no  hope  that 
"  Catiline  could  ever  be  induced  to  yield  to  the  oc- 
•    *  Ibid.  5.  f~Ibid.  7.  X  Ibid,  8. 

N  4 


193  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  IH. 

"  casions  of  the  state,  or  moved  with  a  sense  of  his 
"■  crimes,  or  reclaimed  bv  shame,  or  fear,  or  reason, 
*'  from  his  madness  J.  He  exhorts  him,  therefore,  if 
"  he  would  not  go  into  exile,  to  go  at  least,  where  he 
**  was  expected,  into  Manlius's  camp,  and  begin  the 
"  war ;  provided  only  that  he  would  carry  out  with 
"  him  all  the  rest  of  his  crew  : — That  there  he  might 
"  riot  and  exult  at  his  full  ease,  without  the  mortifica- 
"  tion  of  seeing  one  honest  man  about  him  *. — There 
"  he  might  practise  all  that  discipline  to  which  he  had 
"  been  trained,  of  lying  upon  the  ground,  not  only  in 
"  pursuit  of  his  lewd  amours,  but  of  bold  and  hardy 
"  enterprizes :  there  he  might  exert  all  that  boa^^ted 
*'  patience  of  hunger,  cold,  and  want,  by  which  howe- 
"  ver  he  would  shortly  fmd  himself  undone."  He 
^  then  introduces  an  expostulation  of  the  republic  with 
"  himself,  "  for  his  too  great  lenity,  in  suffering  such 
"  a  traitor  to  escape,  instead  of  hurrying  him  to  im- 
*'  mediate  death  ;  that  it  was  an  instance  of  cowardice 
"  and  ingratitude  to  the  Roman  people,  tbat  he,  a  new 
"  man,  who,  without  any  recommendation  from  his 
"  ancestors,  had  been  raised  by  them  through  all  the 
"  degrees  of  honour  to  sovereign  dignity,  should,  for 
"  the  sake  of  any  danger  to  himself,  neglect  the  care 
"  of  the  public  safety  f ,  To  this  most  sacred  voice  of 
"  my  country,"  says  he,  "  and  to  all  those  who  blame 
"  me  after  the  same  manner,  I  shall  make  this  short 
"  answer ;  that  if  I  had  thought  it  the  most  advisable 
*'  to  put  Catiline  to  death,  I  would  not  have  allowed 
"  that  gladiator  the  use  of  one  moment's  life  :  for  if, 
"  in  former  days,  our  most  illustrious  citizens,  instead 

*  Ibid      ,  f  Ibid.  10.  .t  Ibid.  li. 


Sect.  III.  CICERO,  I99 

^*  of  sullying,  have  done  honour  to  their  memories,  by 
"  the  destruction  of  Saturninus,  the  Gracchi,  Flaccus, 
^*  and  many  others  ;  there  is  no  ground  to  fear,  that 
*'  by  killing  this  parricide,  any  envy  v/ould  he  upon  me 
*'  with  posterity  ;  yet  if  the  greatest  was  sure  to  befal 
♦*  me,  it  was  always  my  persuasion,  that  envy  acquired 
"  by  virtue  was  really  glory,  not  envy  :  but  there  are 
"  some  of  this  very  order,  who  do  not  either  see  the 
**  dangers  which  hang  over  us,  or  else  dissemble  what 
*'  they  see  ;  who  by  the  softness  of  their  votes  cherish 
"  Catiline's  hopes,  and  add  strength  to  the  conspiracy 
"  by  not  believing  it ;  whose  authority  influence?  ma- 
*'  ny,  not  only  of  the  wicked  but  the  weak  ;  who,  if 
**  I  had  punished  this  man  as  he  deserved,  would  not 
"  have  failed  to  cry  out  upon  me  for  acting  the  ty- 
"  rant  *.  Nov/  I  am  persuaded,  that  w'hen  he  is  once 
"  gone  into  Manilius's  camp,  whither  he  actually  de- 
*^  signs  to  go,  none  can  be  so  silly,  as  not  to  see  that 
"  there  is  a  plot,  none  so  wicked,  as  not  to  acknow- 
"  ledge  it :  whereas,  by  taking  off  him  alone,  though 
"  this  pestilence  would  be  somewhat  checked,  it  could 
''  not  be  suppressed  :  but  when  he  has  thrown  himself 
*'  into  rebellion,  and  carried  out  his  friends  along  v/ith 
'*  him,  and  drav/n  together  the  profligate  and  desper- 
"  ate  from  all  parts  of  the  empire,  not  only  this  ripen- 
*'  ed  plague  of  the  republic,  but  the  very  root  and 
"  seed  of  all  our  evils,  will  be  extirpated  with  him  at 
*'  once."  Then  applying  himself  again  to  Catiline,  he 
concludes  with  a  short  prayer  to  Jupiter :  *'  With 
^'  these  omens,  Catiline,  of  all  prosperity  to  the  repub- 
*^  lie,  but  of  destruction  to  thyself,  and  all  those  who 

*.  Ibid.  12. 


IQO  The  life   of  Sect.  IIL 

**  have  joined  themselves  with  thee  in  all  kinds  of  par- 
"  ricide,  go  thy  way  then  to  this  impious  and  abomin- 
"  able  war  ;  whilst  thou,  Jupiter,  whose  religion  was 
"  estabhshed  with  the  foundation  of  this  city,  whom 
*'  we  truly  call  Stator,  the  stay  and  prop  of  this  em- 
*'  pire,  wilt  drive  this  man  and  his  accomplices  from 
"  thy  altars  and  temples,  from  the  houses  and  walls  of 
"  the  city,  from  the  lives  and  fortunes  of  us  all ;  and 
**  wilt  destroy  with  eternal  punishments,  both  living 
"  and  dead,  all  the  haters  of  good  men,  the  enemies  of 
"  their  country,  the  plunderers  of  Italy,  now  confeder- 
*'  ated  in  this  detestable  league  and  partnership  of  vil- 
^*  lainy." 

Catihne,  astonished  by  the  thunder  of  this  speech, 
had  little  to  say  for  himself  in  answer  to  it ;  yet,  "  with 
*'  downcast  looks  and  suppliant  voice,  he  begged  of 
"  the  fathers,  not  to  believe  too  hastily  what  was  said 
"  against  him  by  an  enemy ;  that  his  birth  and  past 
'''life  offered  every  thing  to  him  that  was  hopeful; 
**  and  it  was  not  to  be  imagined,  that  a  man  of  Patri- 
"  cian  family,  whose  ancestors,  as  well  as  himself,  had 
"  given  many  proofs  of  their  affection  to  the  E^oman 
"'  people,  should  want  to  overturn  the  government, 
*'  while  Cicero,  a  stranger,  and  late  inhabitant  of 
"  Rome,  was  so  zealous  to  preserve  it."  But,  as  he 
was  going  on  to  give  foul  language,  the  senate  inter- 
rupted him  by  a  general  outcry,  calhng  him  traitor 
and  parricide :  upon  which  being  furious  and  despe- 
rate, he  declared  again  aloud  v/hat  he  had  said  before 
to  Cato,  "  That  since  he  was  circumvented  and  dri- 
"  ven  headlong  by  his  enemies,  be  would  quench  the 
"  flame  which  was  raised  about  him,  by  the  common 


Sect.  III.  CICERO.  ^oi 

"  ruin ;"  and  so  rushed  out  of  the  assembly  ^\     As 
soon  as  he  was  come  to  his  house,  and  began  to  re^ 
fleet  on  what  had  passed,  perceiving  it  in  vain  to  dis- 
semble  any  longer,  he  resolved  to  enter  into  action 
immediately,   before  the  troops  of  the  republic  were 
increased,  or  any  new  levies  made ;  so  that,  after  a 
short  conference  with  Lentulus,  Cethegus,  and  the 
rest,  about  what  had  been  concerted  in  the  last  meet- 
ing,' having  given  fresh  orders  and  assurances  of  his 
speedy  return,  at  the  head  of  a  strong  army,  he  left 
Rome  that  very  night,  with  a  small  retinue,  to  make 
the  best  of  his  way  towards  Etruria  f. 

He  no  sooner  disappeared,  than  his  friends  gave  out 
that  he  was  gone  into    a   voluntary  exile  at  Mar- 
seilles J,  which  was  industriously  spread  through  the  city 
the  next  morning,  to  raise  an  odium  upon  Cicero,  for 
driving  an  innocent  man  into  banishment,  without  any 
previous  trial  or  proof  of  his  guih  :  but  Cicero  was  too 
w^ell  informed  of  his  motions,  to  entertain  any  doubt 
about  his  going  to  Manlius's  camp,  and  into  actual  re- 
bellion ;  he  knew  that  he  had  sent  thither  already  a 
quantity  of  arms,  and  all  the  ensigns  of  mihtary  com- 
mand, with  that  silver  eagle  which  he  used  to  keep 
with  great  superstition  in  his  house,  for  its  having  be- 
longed to  C.  Marius,  in  his  expedition  against  the 

*  Turn  ille  furibundus  •,  Quoniam  quidem  circumventus,  inquit, 
ab  inimicis  prseceps  agor,  incendium  meum  ruma  extmguam.      bai- 


lust.  31. 


t  At  'en\m  sunt,  Qulrites,  qui  dicunt  a  me  in  exilium  ejectum 
esse  Catilinam— Ego  veliemens  ille  consul,  qui  verbo  cives  m  exi- 
lium ejicio,  &c.     In  Catil.  2.  6. 


202  The   life   of  Sect,  lit 

Cimbri  *.     But  lest  the  story  should  make  an  ill  im- 
pression on  the  city,  he  called  the  people  together  into 
the  forum,  to  give  them  an  account  of  what  passed  in 
the  senate  the  day  before,  and  of  Catiline's  leaving 
Rome  upon  it. 
]      He  began  by  "  congratulating  with  them  on  Cati- 
*'  line's  flight,  as  on  a  certain  victory,  since  the  driv- 
"  ing  him  from  his  secret  plots  and  insidious  attempts 
**  on  their  lives  and  fortunes  into  open  rebelHon,  was 
*'  in  effect  to  conquer  him :  that  CatiHne  himself  was 
*^  sensible   of  it,  whose  chief  regret  in  his  retreat  Vv'as 
"  not  for  leaving  the   city,  but  for  leaving  it  stand- 
'*  ing  f . — But  if  there  be  any  here,"  says  he,  "  who 
^  blame  me  for  what  I  am  boasting  of,  as  you  all  in- 
"  deed  justly  may,  that  I  did  not  rather  seize,  than 
*'  send  away  so  capital  an  enemy,  that  is  not  my  fault, 
**  citizens,  but  the  fault  of  the  times.     Catiline  ought 
"  long  ago  to  have  suffered  the  last  punishment ;  the 
*'  custom  of  our  ancestors,  the  discipline  of  the  em- 
**  pire,  and  the  republic  itself,  required  it :  but  how 
**  many  would  there  have  been  who  would  not  have 
"  believed  what  I  charged  him  with  ?  how  many  who, 
"  through  weakness,  would  never  have  imagined  it, 
"  or  through  wickedness,  would  have  defended  it  ?" — 
He  observes,  "  That  if  he  had  put  Catiline  to  death, 
"  he  should  have  drawn  upon  himself  such  an  odium, 
**  as  would  have  rendered  hin^  unable  to  prosecute  his 
*'  accomplices,  and  extirpate  the  remains  of  the  con- 
*"•  spiracy ;  but,  so  far  from  being  afraid  of  him  now. 


*  Cum  fasces,  cum  tubas,  cum  signa  militaria,  cum  aquilam  il- 
1am  argenteam,  cui  ille  etiam  sacrarium  scelerum  domi  sui^  fece- 
rat,  scirem  esse  pra^missam.     lb.  S-allust.  59. 

f  In  Catil.  2.  I. 


Sect.  III.  CICERO.  ^03 

«  he  was  sorry  only  that  he  went  off  with  so  few  to 
*'  attend  him  t :  that  his  forces  were  contemptible,  if 
*'  compared  with  those  of  the  republic,  made  up  of  a 
**  miserable,  needy  crew,  who  had  wasted  their  sub- 
«  stance,  forfeited  their  bails,  and  would  run  away, 
"  not  only  at  the  sight  of  an  army,  but  of  the  prstor's 
i.  edict :— That  those  who  had  deserted  his  army,  and 
*'  staid  behind,  were  more  to  be  dreaded  than  the  ar- 
**  my  itself;  and  the  more  so,  because  they  knew  him 
"  to  be  informed  of  all  their  designs,  yet  were  not  at 
**  all  moved  by  it :  that  he  had  laid  open  all  their 
**  councils  in  the  senate  the  day  before,  upon  which 
"  Catiline  was   so  disheartened,  that  he  immediately 
^  fled :  that  he  could  not  guess  what  these   others 
*'  meant ;  if  they  imagined  that  he  should  always  use 
"  the  same  lenity,  they  were  much  mistaken  * :  for 
"  he  had  now  gained  what  he  had  hitherto  been  wait- 
*'  ing  for,  to  make  all  the  people  see  that  there  was  a 
"  conspiracy ;  that  now,  therefore,  there  was  no  more 
''  room  for  clemency,  the  case  itself  required  seventy  : 
"  yet  he  would  still  grant  them  one  thing,  to  quit  the 
»'  city,  and  follow  Catihne  :  nay,  would  tell  them  the 
"  way  ;  it  was  the  Aurelian  road,  and,  if  they  v/ould 
**  make  haste,  they  might  overtake  him  before  night." 
Then,  after  describing  the  profligate  life  and  conver- 
sation of  Catihne  and  his  accomplices  f ,  he  declares  it 
"  insuflferably  impudent  for  such  men  to  pretend  to  plot ; 
"  the  lazy  against  the  active,  the  fooHsh  against  the 
"  prudent,  the  drunken  against  the  sober,  the  drowsy 
"  against  the  vigilant,  who,  lolling  at  feasts,  embracing 
"  mistresses,  staggering  with  wine,  stuffed  with  vie- 

X  Ibid  2.  *  Ibid.  3.  t  Ibid.  4. 


204  The  LIFE  of  Sect.  IIL 

*'  tuals,  crowned  with  garlands,  daubed  with  perfumes, 
"  belch  out  in  their  conversations  a  design  of  massacring 
"  the  honest,  and  firing  the  city.  If  my  consulship," 
says  he,  "  since  it  cannot  cure,  should  cut  off  all  these, 
"  it  would  add  no  small  period  to  the  duration  of  the 
"  republic :  for  there  is  no  nation  which  we  have  rea- 
"  son  to  fear,  no  king  who  can  make  war  upon  the 
"  Roman  people ;  all  disturbances  abroad,  both  by 
"  land  and  sea,  are  quelled  by  the  virtue  of  one  man ; 
"  but  a  domestic  war  still  remains ;  the  treason,  the 
"  danger,  the  enemy  is  within ;  we  are  to  combat 
"  with  luxury,  with  madness,  with  villainy :  in  this 
"  war  I  profess  myself  your  leader,  and  take  upon  my- 
"  self  all  the  animosity  of  the  desperate  :  whatever  can 
*'  possibly  be  healed,  I  will  heal ;  but  what  ought  to 
"  be  cut  off,  I  will  never  suffer  to  spread  to  the  ruin 
"  of  the  city  :f ."  He  then  takes  notice  of  the  report 
of  Catiline's  being  driven  into  exile,  but  ridicules  the 
weakness  of  it,  and  says,  "  That  he  had  put  that  mat- 
"  ter  out  of  doubt,  by  exposing  all  his  treasons  the  day 
"  before  in  the  senate  "*."  He  laments  the  *'  wretch- 
"  ed  condition,  not  only  of  governing,  but  even  of  pre- 
"  serving  states :  for  if  Catiline,"  says  he,  "  bafHed  by 
"  my  pains  and  councils,  should  really  change  his 
*'  mind,  drop  all  thoughts  of  war,  and  betake  himself 
"  to  exile,  he  would  not  be  said  to  be  disarmed  and 
"  terrified,  or  driven  from  his  purpose  by  my  vigi- 
*'  lance  :  but,  uncondemned  and  innocent,  to  be  forced 
"  into  banishment  by  the  threats  of  the  consul ;  and 
"  there  would  be  numbers  who  would  think  him  not 
"  wicked,  but  unhappy ;  and  me  not  a  diUgent  con- 

±  Ibid.  5,  *  Ibid.  6. 


Sect.  HI.  CICERO.  205 

"  sul,  but  a  cruel  tyrant."  He  declares,  "  that  though, 
"  for  the  sake  of  his  own  ease  or  character,  he  should 
"  never  wish  to  hear  of  Catiline's  being  at  the  head  of 
*'  an  army,  yet  they  would  certainly  hear  it  in  three 
"  days  time  : — that  if  men  were  so  perverse  as  to  com- 
"  plain  of  his  being  driven  away,  what  would  they 
"  have  said  if  he  had  been  put  to  death  ?  Yet  there 
"  was  not  one  of  those  who  talked  of  his  going  to  Mar- 
"  seilles,  but  would  be  sorry  for  it,  if  it  was  true,  and 
"  wished  much  rather  to  see  him  in  Manlius's  camp  f ." 
He  proceeds  to  describe  at  large  the  strength  and 
forces  of  Catihne,  and  the  different  sorts  of  men  of 
which  they  were  composed  ;  and  then  displaying  and 
opposing  to  them  the  superior  forces  of  the  republic, 
he  shews  it  to  be  "  a  contention  of  all  sorts  of  virtue 
"  against  all  sorts  of  vice,  in  which,  if  all  human  help 
"  should  fail  them,  the  gods  themselves  would  never 
"  suffer  the  best  cause  in  the  world  to  be  vanquished 
"  by  the  worst  f  He  requires  them,  therefore,  "  to 
"  keep  a  watch  only  in  their  private  houses,  for  he 
*'  had  taken  care  to  secure  the  public,  without  any 
"  tumult :  that  he  had  given  notice  to  all  the  colonies 
"  and  great  towns  of  Catiline's  retreat,  so  as  to  be  up- 
"  on  their  guard  against  him :  that  as  to  the  body  of 
"  gladiators,  whom  Catiline  always  depended  upon  as 
*'  his  best  and  surest  band,  they  were  taken  care  of  in 
"  such  a  manner,  as  to  be  in  the  power  of  the  repu-^ 
**  blic  •* ;  though,  to  say  the  truth,  even  these  were 
"  better  affected   than  some  part  of  the  Patricians : 


■[.  lb.  7,  8,  9,  10.  .t  Ibid.  II. 

*   Ibid.  I.     Decrevere  uti  familiar  gladiatorbi  Capuam  et  in  c»- 
t«ra  municJpia  dlstribuerentur  pro  cujusqiie  opibus.      Sallust.  30, 


2o6  The   life   of  Sect.  Ill 

**  that  he  had  sent  (^  Metellus,  the  praetor,  into  Gaiil, 
"  and  the  district  of  Picenum,   to  oppose  all  Catiline'^ 
"  motions  on  that  side  ;  and,  for  settling  all  matters  at 
"  home,  had  summoned  the  senate  to  meet  again  that 
*'  morning,  which,  as  they  saw,  was  then  assembhng. 
"  As  for  those,  therefore,  who  were  left  behind  iri  the 
"  citj,  though  they  were  now  enemies,  yet  since  they 
"  were  born  citizens,  he  admonished  them  again  and 
"  again,  that  his  lenity  had  been  waiting  only  for  an 
*'  opportunity  of  demonstrating  the  certainty  of  the 
"  plot :  that  for  the  rest,  he  should  never  forget  that 
"  this  was  his  country,  he  their  consul,  who  thought  it 
"  his  duty  either  to  live  with  them,  or  die  for  them. 
**  There  is  no  guard,"  says  he,  "  upon  the  gates,  none 
"  to  watch  the  roads ;  if  any  one  has  a  mind  to  with- 
"  draw  himself,  he  may  go  whanever  he  pleases ;  but 
"  if  he  makes  the  least  stir  within  the  city,  so  as  to  be 
"  caught  in  any  overt-act  against  the  republic,  he 
"  shall  know  that  there  are  in  it  vigilant  consuls,  ex- 
"  cellent  magistrates,  and  a  stout  senate ;  that  there 
"  are  arms,  and  a  prison,  which  our  ancestors  provided 
"  as  the  avenger  of  manifest  crimes ;  and  all  this  shall 
"  be  transacted  in  such  a  manner,  citizens,   that  the 
**  greatest  disorders  shall  te  quelled  without  the  least 
"  hurry,  the  greatest  dangers,  without  any  tumult,  a 
"  domestic  war,  the  most  desperate  of  any  in  our  me- 
"  mory,  by  me  your  only  leader  and  general,  in  my 
"  gown ;  which  I  will  manage  so,  that,  as  far  as  it  is 
"  possible,  not  one  even  of  the  guilty  shall  suffer  pu- 
**  nishment  in  the  city  :  but  if  their  audaciousness,  and 
"  my  country's  danger,  should  necessarily  drive  me 
"  from  this  mild  resolution,  yet  I  will  effect,  what  in 
"  so  cruel  and  treacherous  a  war  could  hardly  be 


Sect.  III.  CICERO. 


207 


"  hoped  for,  that  not  one  honest  man  shall  fall,  but  all 
"  of  you  be  safe,  by  the  punishment  of  a  few.  This 
"  I  promise,  citizens,  not  from  any  confidence  in  my 
"  own  prudence,  or  from  any  human  councils,  but 
"  from  the  many  evident  declarations  of  the  gods,  by 
"  whose  impluse  I  am  led  into  this  persuasion,  who  as- 
"  sist  us,  not  as  they  used  to  do,  at  a  distance,  against 
"  foreign  and  remote  enemies,  but  by  their  present 
"  help  and  .protection  defend  their  temples  and  our 
"  houses :  it  is  your  part,  therefore,  to  worship,  im- 
"  plore,  and  pray  to  them,  that  since  all  our  enemies 
"  are  now  subdued  both  by  land  and  sea,  they  would 
"  continue  to  preserve  this  city,  which  was  designed 
"  by  them  for  the  most  beautiful,  the  most  flourishing, 
"  and  most  powerful  on  earth,  from  the  most  detest- 
"  able  treasons  of  its  own  desperate  citizens." 

We  have  no  account  of  this  day's  debate  in  the  se- 
nate, which  met  while  Cicero  was  speaking  to  the  peo- 
ple, and  were  waiting  his  coming  to  them  from  die 
rostra  :  but  as  to  Catiline,  after  staying  a  few  days  on 
the  road  to  raise  and  arm  the  country  through  which 
he  passed,  and  which  his  agents  had  already  been  dis- 
posing to  his  interests,  he  marched  directly  to  Man- 
lius's  camp,  with  the  fasces  and  all  the  ensigns  of  mi- 
litary  command  displayed  before  him.  Upon  this 
news,  the  senate  declared  both  him  and  Manhus  pu- 
blic enemies,  with  offers  of  pardon  to  all  his  followers, 
who  were  not  condemned  of  capital  crimes,  if  they 
returned  to  their  duty  by  a  certain  day  ;  and  ordered 
the  consuls  to  make  new  levies  ;  that  Antonius  should 
follow  Catiline  with  the  army ;  and  Cicero  stay  at 
home  to  guard  the  city  *. 

*  Sallust.  ^6, 

Vol.  I.  O 


2o8  The   LIFE  of  Sect.  Ill 

It  will  seem  strange  to  some,  that  Cicero,  when  he 
had  certain  information  of  Catiline's  treason,  instead 
of  seizing  him  in  the  city,  not  only  suffered,  but  urged 
his  escape,  and  forced  him  as  it  were  to  begin  the  war. 
But  there  w^as  good  reason  for  what  he  did,  as  he  fre- 
quently intimates  in  his  speeches ;  he  had  many  ene- 
mies among  the  nobility,  and  Catiline  many  secret 
friends ;  and  though  he  was  perfectly  informed  of  the 
whole  progress  and  extent  of  the  plot,  yet  the  proofs 
being  not  ready  to  be  laid  before  the  public,  Catiline';^ 
dissimtilation  still  prevailed,  and  persuaded  great  num- 
bers of  his  inrtocence  ;  so  that  if  he  had  imprisoned 
and  punished  him  at  this  time,  as  he  deserved,  the 
whole  faction  Were  prepared  to  raise  a  general  clamour 
against  him,  by  representing  his  administration  as  a 
tyranny,  and  the  plot  as  a  forgery  contrived  to  sup- 
port it :  w^iereas,  by  driving  Catiline  into  rebellion, 
he  made  all  men  see  the  reahty  of  their  danger ; 
wL-ile,  from  an  exact  account  of  his  troops,  he  knew 
them  to  be  so  -unequal  to  those  of  the  repubUc,  that 
there  was  no  doubt  of  his  being  destroyed,  if  he  could 
be  pushed  to  the  necessity  of  declaring  himself,  before 
his  other  projects  w^ere  ripe  for  execution.  He  knew 
also,  that  if  Catiline  was  once  driven  out  of  the  city, 
and  separated  from  his  accomplices,  who  were  a  lazy, 
drunken,  thoughtless  crew,  they  would  ruin  them- 
selves by  their  own  rashness,  and  be  easily  drawn  into 
any  trap  which  he  should  lay  for  them  :  the  event 
shewed  that  he  judged  right ;  and  by  what  happened 
afterwards,  both  to  Catihne  and  to  himself,  it  appear- 
ed, that,  as  far  as  human  caution  could  reach,  he  act- 
ed with  the  utmost  prudence,  in  regard,  as  well  to  liis 
own,  as  to  the  pubhc  safety. 


Sect.  III.  CICERO.  ^209 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  hurry,  and  soon  after  Cati< 
line's  flight,  Cicero  found  leisure,  according  to  his 
custom,  to  defend  L.  Murena,  one  of  the  consuls  elect,^ 
who  was  now  brought  to  a  trial  for  bribery  and  cor- 
ruption. Cato  had  declared  in  the  senate,  that  he 
would  try  the  force  of  Cicero's  late  law  upon  one  of 
the  consular  candidates  *  :  and  since  Catiline,  whom 
he  chiefly  aimed  at,  was  out  of  his  reach,  he  resolved 
to  fall  upon  Murena  ;  yet  connived  at  the  same  time 
at  the  other  consul,  Silanus,  who  had  married  his  sis- 
ter, though  equally  guilty  with  his  colleague  f  :  he 
was  joined  in  the  accusation  by  one  of  the  disappoint- 
ed candidates,  S.  Sulpicius,  a  person  of  distinguished 
worth  and  character,  and  the  most  celebrated  lawyer 
of  the  age,  for  whose  service,  and  at  whose  instance, 
Cicero's  law  against  bribery  was  chiefly  provided  J. 

Murena  was  bred  a  soldier,  and  had  acquired  great 
fame  in  the  Mithridatic  war,  as  lieutenant  to  Lucul- 
lus  §  ;  and  was  now  defended  by  three,  the  greatest 
men,  as  well  as  the  greatest  orators,  of  Rome, — Crassus, 
Hortensius,  and  Cicero ;  so  that  there  had  seldom 
been  a  trial  of  more  expectation,  on  account  of  the 
dignity  of  all  the  parties  concerned.  The  character 
of  the  accusers  makes  it  reasonable  to  believe,  that 
there  was  clear  proof  of  some  illegal  practices ;  yet, 

*  Dixi  in  senatu,  me  nomen  consularis  candidati  delaturum. 
Pro  Muren.  30.  Qaod  atrociter  in  senatu  dixisti,  aut  non  dixisses, 
aut  seposuisses.     lb.  31.      Plutar.  Cato. 

f  Plutarch,  in  Cato. 

X  Legem  ambitus  tiagitasti — gestus  est  mos  et  voluntati  et  dig- 
nitati  tuae.     Pro  Muren.  23. 

§  Legatus  L.  Lucullo  fuit  :  qua  in  legatione  duxit  exercitum — 
magnas  copias  hostium  fudit,  urbes  partim  vi  partim  obsidione  ce- 
pit.     Pro  Muren.  9. 

O2 


10 


The   life  of  Sect.  UI. 


from  Cicero's  speech,  which,  though  imperfect,  is  the 
only  remaining  monument  of  the  transaction,  it  seems 
probable,  that  they  were  such  only,  as,  though  strictly 
speaking,  irregular,  were  yet  warranted  by  custom 
and  the  example  of  all  candidates  ;  and,  though  hein- 
ous in  the  eyes  of  a  Cato,  or  an  angry  competitor, 
were  usually  overlooked  by  the  magistrates,  and  ex- 
pected* by  the  people. 

The  accusation  consisted  of  three  heads ;  the  scan- 
dal of  Murena's  life  :  the  want  of  dignity  in  his  cha- 
racter and  family ;  and  bribery  in  the  late  election. 
As  to  the  first,  the  greatest  crime  which  Cato  charged 
him  with  WRS  da?icing  J  to  which  Cicero's  defence  is 
somewhat  remarkable  :  "  He  admonishes  Cato  not  to 
"  throw  out  such  a  calumny  so  inconsiderately,  or  to 
*'  call  the  consul  of  Rome  a  dancer ;  but  to  consider 
"  how  many  other  crimes  a  man  must  needs  be  guilty 
"  of  before  that  of  dancing  could  be  truly  objected  to 
"  him ;  since  nobody  ever  danced,  even  in  solitude, 
"  or  a  private  meeting  of  friends,  who  was  not  either 
"  drunk  or  mad  ;  for  dancing  was  always  the  last  act 
*'  of  riotous  banquets,  gay  places,  and  much  jollity  : 
"  that  Cato  charged  him  therefore  with  what  was  the 
*'  effect  of  many  vices,  yet  with  none  of  those,  with- 
"  out  which  that  vice  could  not  possibly  subsist ;  with 
*'  no  scandalous  feasts,  no  amours,  no  nightly  revels, 
"  lewdness,  no  extravagant  expence,"  *  &c. 

As  to  the  second  article,  t/je  want  of  dig?2ity,  it  was 
urged  chiefly  by  Sulpicius,  who  being  noble,  and  a 
patrician,  was  the  more  mortified  to  be  defeated  by  a 
plebeian,  v;hose  extraction  he  contemned  :  but  "  Ci- 

*  Pro  iMurcn.  6. 


Sect.  III.  CICERO.  211 

"  cero  ridicules  the  vanity  of  thinking  no  family  good, 
"  but  a  patrician ;  shews  that  Murena's  grandfather 
"  and  great  grandfather  had  been  praetors;  and  that 
"  his  father  also,  from  the  same  dignity,  had  obtained 
"  the  honour  of  a  triumph ;  that  Sulpicius's  nobility 
"  was  better  known  to  the  antiquaries  than  to  the 
"  people ;  since  his  grandfather  had  never  borne  any 
"  of  the  principal  offices,  nor  his  father  ever  mounted 
*'  higher  than  the  equestrian  rank  ;  that  being  there- 
"  fore  the  son  of  a  Roman  knight,  he  had  always 
"  reckoned  him  in  the  same  class  v/ith  himself,  of  those 
"  who  by  their  own  industry  had  opened  their  way  to 
"  the  highest  honours  ;  that  the  Curius's,  the  Cato's, 
"  the  Pompeius's,  the  Marius's,  the  Didius's,  the  Cse- 
"  hus's,  were  all  of  the  same  sort ;  that  when  he  had 
"  broken  through  that  barricade  of  nobility,  and  laid 
"  the  consulship  open  to  the  virtuous,  as  Vv^eli  as  to  the 
"  noble ;  and  when  a  consul,  of  an  ancient  and  ilius- 
"  trious  descent,  was  defended  by  a  consul,  the  son 
"  of  a  knight ;  he  never  imagined,  that  the  accusers 
"  would  venture  to  say  a  word  about  the  novelty  of  a 
"  family  ;  that  he  himself  had  two  patrician  competi- 
"  tors,  the  one  a  profligate  and  audacious,  the  other 
"  an  excellent  and  modest  man  ;  yet  that  he  outdid 
*'  Catiline  in  dignity,  Galba  in  interest ;  and  if  that 
"  had  been  a  crime  in  a  new  man,  he  should  not  have 
"  wanted  enemies  to  object  it  to  him  "^."  He  then 
shews,  "  that  the  science  of  arms,  in  which  Murena 
"  excelled,  had  much  more  dignity  and  splendour  in 
"  it  than  the  science  of  the  law,  being  that  which  first 

^   Pro  Muren.  7.  8. 
O3 


212  The  life  of  Sect.  III. 

*'  gave  a  name  to  the  Roman  people,  brought  glory 
"  to  their  city,  and  subdued  the  world  to  their  empire  : 
"  that  inartial  virtue  had  ever  been  the  means  of  con- 
"  cihating  the  favour  of  the  people,  and  recommend- 
"  ing  to  the  honours  of  the  state  ;  and  it  was  but  rea- 
'*  sonable  that  it  should  hold  the  first  place  in  that  ci- 
"  ty,  which  was  raised  by  it  to  be  the  head  of  all  o- 
"  ther  cities  in  the  world  *." 

As  to  the  last  and  heaviest  part  of  the  charge,  the 
crime  of  bribery,  there  was  little  or  nothing  made  out 
against  him,  but  w^hat  was  too  common  to  be  thought 
criminal ;  the  bribery  of  shews,  plays,  and  dinners, 
given  to  the  populace ;  yet  not  so  much  by  himself, 
as  by  his  friends  and  relations,  who  were  zealous  to 
serve  him ;  so  that  Cicero  makes  very  slight  of  it,  ancj 
declares  himself  "  more  afraid  of  the  authority,  than 
"  the  accusation  of  Cato  ;"  and,  to  obviate  the  influ- 
ence which  the  reputation  of  Cato's  integrity  might 
have  in  the  cause,  he  observes,  "  that  the  people  in 
*'  general,  and  all  wise  judges,  have  ever  been  jealous 
"  of  the  power  and  interest  of  an  accuser ;  lest  the 
*'  criminal  should  be  borne  down,  not  by  the  weight 
"  of  his  crimes,  but  the  superior  force  of  his  ad  versa* 
"  ry.  Let  the  authority  of  the  great  prevail,"  says 
he,  "  for  the  safety  of  the  innocent,  the  protection  of 
"  the  helpless,  and  the  relief  of  the  miserable  ;  but  let 
"  its  influence  be  repelled  from  the  dangers  and  de- 
"  struction  of  citizens :  for  if  any  one  should  say,  that 
"  Cato  would  not  have  taken  the  pains  to  accuse,  if 
'*  he  had  not  been  assured  of  the. crime,  he  establishes 

*  Pro  Muren.  o,  lo,  ii. 


Sect.  lU,  CICERO.  213 

"  a  very  unjust  law  to  men  in  distress,  by  making  the 
"  judgment  of  an  accuser  to  be  considered  as  tbe  pre- 
"  judice  or  previous  condemnation  of  the  criminal  *. 
"  He  exhorts  Cato  not  to  be  so  severe,  on  what  an- 
"  cient  custom  and  the  republic  itself  had  found  use- 
"  ful ;  nor  to  deprive  the  people  of  their  plays,  gladi- 
"  ators,  and  feasts,  which  their  ancestors  had  approv- 
"  ed ;  nor  to  take  from  candidates  an  opportunity  of 
*'  obliging,  by  a  method  of  expence  which  indicated 
"  their  generosity,  rather  than  an  intention  to  cor- 
''  rupt  f ." 

But  whatever  Murena's  crime  might  be,  the  circum- 
stance which  chiefly  favoured  him  was  the  difficulty 
of  the  times,  and  a  rebellion  actually  on  foot ;  which 
made  it  neither  safe  nor  prudent  to  deprive  the  city 
iof  a  consul,  who,  by  a  military  education,  was  the  best 
quahfied  to  defend  it  in  so  dangerous  a  crisis.  This 
point  Cicero  dwells  much  upon,  declaring,  "  that  he 
*'  undertook  this  cause,  not  so  much  for  the  sake  of 
**  Murena,  as  of  the  peace,  the  liberty,  the  lives,  and 
'"  safety  of  them  all.  Hear,  hear,"  says  he,  '*  your 
"  consul,  who,  not  to  speak  arrogantly,  thinks  of  no- 
^'  thing  day  and  night  but  of  the  republic  :  Catiline 
"  does  not  despise  us  so  far,  as  to  hope  to  subdue  this 
"  city  with  the  force  whicli  he  has  carried  out  with 
"  him  :  the  contagion  is  spread  wider  than  you  ima- 
"  gine  :  the  Trojan  horse  is  within  our  walls ;  v/hich, 
"  while  I  am  consul,  shall  never  oppress  you  in  your 
"  sleep.  If  it  be  asked  then,  what  reason  I  have  to 
"  fear  Catiline  ?  none  at  all ;  and  I  have  taken  care 
*'  that  no  body  else  need  fear  him  :  yet,  I  say,  that 

*  Pro  Murcn.  28.  f  Ibid.  36. 

04 


214  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  III. 

*'  we  have  cause  to  fear  those  troops  of  his,  which  I 
"  see  in  this  very  place.  Nor  is  his  army  so  much  to 
"  be  dreaded,  as  those  who  are  said  to  have  deserted 
"  it ;  for  in  truth  they  are  not  deserted,  but  are  left 
"  by  him  only  as  spies  upon  us,  and  placed  as  it  were 
"  in  ambush,  to  destroy  us  the  more  securely  :  all 
"  these  want  to  see  a  worthy  consul,  an  experienced 
"  general,  a  man  both  by  nature  and  fortunes  attach- 
"  ed  to  the  interests  of  the  republic,  driven  by  your 
"  sentence  from  the  guard  and  custody  of  the  city  *." 
After  urging  this  topic  with  great  warmth  and  force, 
he  adds,  *'  We  are  now  come  to  the  crisis  and  extre- 
"  mity  of  our  danger ;  there  is  no  resource  or  recove- 
"  ry  for  us,  if  we  now  miscarry  ;  it  is  no  time  to  throw 
"  away  any  of  the  helps  which  we  have,-  but  by  all 
"  means  possible  to  acquire  more.  The  enemy  is  not 
"  on  the  banks  of  the  Anio,  which  was  thought  so  ter- 
"  rible  in  the  Punic  war,  but  in  the  city  and  the  forum. 
"  Good  Gods  I  (I  cannot  speak  it  without  a  sigh)  there 
"  are  some  enemies  in  the  very  sanctuary ;  some,  I 
"  say,  even  in  the  senate  I  The  Gods  grant,  that  my 
"  colleague  may  quell  this  rebellion  by  our  arms ; 
"  whilst  I,  in  the  gown,  by  the  assistance  of  all  the 
"  honest,  will  dispel  the  other  dangers  with  which  the 
"  city  is  now  big.  But  what  will  become  of  us,  if 
*'  they  should  slip  through  our  hands  into  the  new 
"  year ;  and  find  but  one  consul  in  the  republic,  and 
*'  him  employed,  not  in  prosecuting  the  war,  but  in 
*'"  providing  a  colleague  ?  Then  this  plague  of  Cati- 
*'  line  will  break  out  in  all  its  fury,  spreading  terror, 
*'  confusion,  fire  and  sword  through  the  cityf,"    &c. 

*  Pro  IMuicn.  37.  '  f  Hid.  •s9. 


Sect.  III.  CICERO.  215 

This  consideration,  so  forcibly  urged,  of  the  necessity 
of  having  two  consuls  for  the  guard  of  the  city,  at  the 
opening  of  the  new  year,  had  such  weight  with  the 
judges,  that,  without  any  deliberation,  they  unani- 
mously acquitted  Murena,  and  would  not,  as  Cicero 
says,  so  much  as  hear  the  accusation  of  men,  the  most 
eminent  and  illustrious  *. 

Cicero  had  a  strict  intimacy  all  this  while  with  Sul- 
picius,  whom  he  had  served  with  all  his  interest  in 
this  very  contest  for  the  consulship  f .  He  had  a  great 
friendship  also  with  Cato,  and  the  highest  esteem  of  liis 
integrity  ;  yet  he  not  only  defended  this  cause  against 
them  both,  but,  to  take  off  the  prejudice  of  their  au- 
thority, laboured  even  to  make  them  ridiculous ;  ral- 
lying the  profession  of  Sulpicius  as  trifling  and  con- 
temptible, the  principles  of  Cato  as  absurd  and  im- 
practicable, with  so  much  humour  and  wit,  that  he 
made  the  whole  audience  very  merry,  and  forced  Ca- 
to cry  out,  "  What  a  facetious  consul  have  we  J  !'* 
but  what  is  more  observable,  the  opposition  of  these 
great  men  in  an  affair  so  interesting,  gave  no  sort  of 
interruption  to  their  friendship,  which  continued  as 
firm  as  ever  to  the  end  of  their  lives  :  and  Cicero,  who 
lived  the  longest  of  them,  shewed  the  real  value  that 
he  had  for  them  both  after  their  deaths,  by  procuring 
public  honours  for  the  one,  and  writing  the  life  and 
praises  of  the  other.  Murena,  too,  though  exposed  to 
so  much  danger  by  the  prosecution,  yet  seems  to  have 


*  Defend!  consul  L.  Murenam — nemo  illorum  judicum,  clarls- 
siinls  viiis  accusantibus,  audlendum  sibi  de  ambitu  curavit,  cum  hel- 
ium jam  gerente  Catilina,  omnes,  me  auctore,  duos  consules  Kalen- 
dis  Jan.  scirent  esse  oportere.     Ibid. 

f  Pro  Muren.  3.  %  Plut.  in  Cato, 


«i5  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  Ill, 

retained  no  resentment  of  it ;  but,  during  his  consul- 
ship, paid  a  great  deference  to  the  counsels  of  Cato^ 
and  employed  all  his  power  to  support  him  against  the 
violence  of  Metellus,  his  colleague  in  the  tribunate. 
This  was  a  greatness  of  mind  truly  noble,  and  suitable 
to  the  dignity  of  the  persons ;  not  to  be  shocked  by 
the  particular  contradiction  of  their  friends,  when  their 
general  views  on  both  sides  were  laudable  and  virtu- 
pus  :  yet  this  must  not  be  wholly  charged  to  the  vir- 
tue of  the  men,  but  to  the  diseiphne  of  the  repubhc 
itself,  whicli,  by  a  wise  pohcy,  imposed  it  as  a  duty  on 
its  subjects  to  defend  their  fellow  citizens  in  their  dan- 
gers, without  regard  to  any  friendships  or  engagement$ 
whatsoever*.  The  examples  of  this  kind  will  be 
more  or  less  frequent  in  states,  in  proportion  as  the  pu- 
bHc  good  happens  to  be  the  ruhng  principle  ;  for  that 
is  a  bond  of  union  too  firm  to  be  broken  by  any  little 
differences  about  the  measures  of  pursuing  it :  but 
where  private  ambition  and  party  zeal  have  the  ascen- 
dant, there  every  opposition  must  necessarily  create 
animosity,  as  it  obstructs  the  acquisition  of  that  good, 
which  is  considered  as  the  chief  end  of  Hfe,  private 
benefit  and  advantage. 

Before  the  trial  of  Murena,  Cicero  had  pleaded  ano- 
ther cause  of  the  same  kind  in  the  defence  of  C.  Piso, 
who  had  been  consul  four  years  before,  and  acquired 
the  character  of  a  brave  and  vigorous  magistrate  :  but 
we  have  no  remains  of  the  speech,  nor  any  thing  more 
said  of  it  by  Cicero,  than  that  Piso  was  acquitted  on 
the  account  of  his  laudable  behaviour  in  his  consul- 


*  Hanc  nobis  a  majoribus  esse  tradltam  disciplinam,   ut  nulllus 
amicitia  ad  piopiilsanda  pericula  impediremur.     Pro  Sylla,  17. 


Sect.  IH.  CICERO.  217 

ship  *.  We  learn  however  from  Sallust,  that  he  was 
accused:  of  oppression  and  extortion  in  his  govern- 
ment ;  and  that  the  prosecution  was  promoted  chiefly 
]yy  J.  Csesar,  out  of  revenge  for  Piso's  having  arbitra- 
rily punished  one  of  his  friends  or  clients  in  Cisalpine 
Gaulf. 

But  to  return  to  the  affair  of  the  conspiracy.  Len- 
tulus,  and  the  rest,  who  were  left  in  the  city,  were 
preparing  all  things  for  the  execution  of  their  grand 
design,  and  soliciting  men  of  all  ranks,  who  seemed 
likely  to  favour  their  cause,  or  to  be  of  any  use  to  it : 
among  the  rest,  they  agreed  to  make  an  attempt  on 
the  ambassadors  of  the  AUobroges ;  a  warlike,  muti- 
nous, faithless  people,  inhabiting  the  countries  now 
called  Savoy  and  Dauphiny,  greatly  disaffected  to  the 
Roman  power,  and  already  ripe  for  rebellion.  These 
ambassadors,  who  were  preparing  to  return  home, 
much  out  of  humour  with  the  senate,  and  without  a- 
ny  redress  of  the  grievances  which  they  were  sent  to 
complain  of,  received  the  proposal  at  first  very  greedi- 
ly, and  promised  to  engage  their  nation  to  assist  the 
conspirators  with  what  they  principally  wanted  :f ,  a 
good  body  of  horse,  whenever  they  should  begin  the 
war ;  but  reflecting  afterwards,  in  their  cooler  thoughts, 
on  the  difficulty  of  the  enterprise,  and  the  danger  of 
involving'  themselves  and  their  country  in  so  desperate 
a  cause,  they  resolved  to  discover  Avhat  they  knew  to 
Q^  Fabius  Sanga,  the  patron  of  their  city,  who  imme- 
diately gave  intelhgence  of  it  to  the  consul  §. 

*   Pro  Flacco,  ^g.  f   Sallust.  49. 

X  Ut  equitatum  in  Itallam  quamprimum  mitterent.     In  Catil.  5.  4. 

j  AUobroges  diu  incertum  habuere,  quidnam  consllii  caperent — 
Itaque  Q^  Fabio  Sangce  rem  oranein,  ut  cognoverunt,  aperiunt. 
iSall.  41. 


2i8  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  III. 

Cicero's  instructions  upon  it  were,  that  the  ambas- 
sadors should  continue  to  feign  the  same  zeal  which 
they  had  hitherto  shewn,  and  promise  every  thing  that 
was  required  of  them,  till  they  had  got  a  full  insight 
into  the  extent  of  the  plot,  with  distinct  proofs  against 
the  particular  actors  in  it  *  :  upon  which,  at  their  next 
conference  with  the  conspirators,  they  insisted  on  hav- 
ing some  credentials  from  them  to  shew  to  their  peo- 
ple at  home,  without  which  they  would  never  be  in- 
duced to  enter  into  an  engagement  so  hazardous.  This 
was  thought  reasonable,  and  presently  complied  with; 
and  Vulturcius  was  appointed  to  go  along  with  the 
ambassadors,  and  introduce  them  to  CatiUne  on  their 
road,  in  order  to  confirm  the  agreement,  and  exchange 
assurances  also  with  him  ;  to  whom  Lentulus  sent  at 
the  same  time  a  particular  letter  under  his  own  hand 
and  seal,  though  without  his  name.  Cicero  being 
punctually  informed  of  all  these  facts,  concerted  pri- 
vately with  the  ambassadors  the  time  and  manner  of 
their  leaving  Rome  in  the  night,  and  that  on  the  Mil- 
vian  bridge,  about  a  mile  from  the  city,  they  should 
be  arrested  with  their  papers  and  letters  about  them, 
by  two  of  the  praetors,  L.  Flaccus  and  C.  Pontinius, 
whom  he  had  instructed  for  that  purpose,  and  ordered 
to  lie  in  ambush  near  the  place,  with  a  strong  guard  of 
friends  and  soldiers :  all  which  was  successfully  exe- 
cuted, and  the  whole  company  brought  prisoners  to 
Cicero's  house  by  break  of  day  f . 

*  Cicero — legatis  pratcipit,  ut  studium  conjurationis  veliementer 
simulent,  cseteros,  adeant,  bene  poUiceantur,  dentque  operam,  ut 
ecs  quam  maxime  manlfestus  habeant.     Ibid, 

f  L.  riaccum  et  C.  Pontinium  prcetores — ad  me  vocavi,  rem  ex- 
posLUj  quid  fieri  placeret  ostendi — occulte  ad  pontem  Milviumper- 
vcnerunt— ipsi  ccrnprehcnsi  ad  me,  cum  jam  dilucesccret,  dcducuii- 
tur.     In  Cantil.  3.  2. 


Sect.  in.  CICERO.  219 

The  rumour  of  this  accident  presently  drew  a  resort 
of  Cicero's  principal  friends  about  him,  who  advised 
him  to  open  the  letters  before  he  produced  them  in  the 
senate,  lest,  if  nothing  of  moment  were  found  in  them, 
it  might  be  thought  rash  and  imprudent  to  raise  an 
unnecessary  terror  and  alarm  through  the  city.  But 
he  was  too  well  informed  of  the  contents,  to  fear  any 
censure  of  that  kind  ;  and  declared,  that  in  a  case  of 
public  danger  he  thought  it  his  duty  to  lay  the  mat- 
ter entire  before  the  public  council  *.  He  summoned 
the  senate  therefore  to  meet  immediately,  and  sent  at 
the  same  time  for  Gabinius,  Statilius,  Cethegus,  and 
Lentulus,  who  all  came  presently  to  his  house,  suspect- 
ing nothing  of  the  discovery ;  and  being  informed  also 
of  a  quantity  of  arms  provided  by  Cethegus  for  the 
use  of  the  conspiracy,  he  ordered  C.  Sulpicius,  another 
of  the  praetors,  to  go  and  search  his  house,  where  he 
found  a  great  number  of  swords  and  daggers,  with  o- 
ther  arms,  all  newly  cleaned,  and  ready  for  present 
service  f . 

With  this  preparation  he  set  out  to  meet  the  senate 
in  the  temple  of  Concord,  with  a  numerous  guard  of 
citizens,  carrying  the  ambassadors  and  the  conspirators 
with  him  in  custody  :  and  after  he  had  given  the  as- 
sembly an  account  of  the  whole  affair,  Vulturcius  was 


*  Cum  summis  et  clarissimis  hujus  civitatis  viris,  qui,  audita  re, 
frequentes  ad  me  convenerant,  literas  a  me  prius  aperiri,  quam  ad 
senatum  referrem,  placeret,  ne  si  nihil  esset  inventum,  temere  a  me 
tantus  tumultus  injectus  civitati  videretur,  menegaviesse  facturum, 
ut  de  periculo  publico  non  ad  publicum  concilium  rem  integram  de- 
ferrem.     lb.  3,  3. 

f  Admonitu  Allobrogum — C.  Sulpicium — misi,  qui  ex  sedibus 
Cethegi,  si  quid  telorum  esset,  efFerrct ;  ex  quibus  ille  maximum 
sicaium  numerum  et  gladiorum  extulit.     Ibid.  it.  Plutarch,  in  Cic* 


sao  The   LIFE   OF  Sect.  UL 

called  in  to  be  examined  separately  ;'  to  whom  Cicero, 
by  order  of  the  house,  offered  a  pardon  and  reward,  if 
he  would  faithfully  discover  all  that  he  knew  :  upon 
which,  after  some  hesitation,  he  confessed,  "  that  he 
**  had  letters  and  instructions  from  Lentulus  to  Cati- 
**  line,  to  press  him  to  accept  the  assistance  of  the 
"  slaves,  and  to  lead  his  army  with  all  expedition  to- 
"  wards  Rome,  to  the  intent  that,  when  it  should  be 
"  set  on  fire  in  different  places,  and  the  general  mas- 
"  sacre  begun,  he  might  be  at  hand  to  intercept  those 
"  who  escaped,  and  join  with  his  friends  in  the  city  *". 
The  ambassadors  were  examined  next,  who  declar- 
ed, "  that  they  had  received  letters  to  their  nation 
"  from  Lentulus,  Cethegus,  and  Statilius ;  that  these 
"  three,  and  L.  Cassius  also,  required  them  to  send  a 
"  body  of  horse  as  soon  as  possible  into  Italy,  declar- 
"  ing  that  they  had  no  occasion  for  any  foot :  that 
"  Lentulus  had  assured  them,  from  the  Sibylhne  books, 
•'  and  the  answers  of  southsayers,  that  he  was  the 
"  third  Cornelius,  who  was  destined  to  be  master  of 
"  Rome,  as  Cinna  and  Sylla  had  been  before  him ;  and 
"  that  this  was  the  fatal  year  marked  for  the  destruc- 
"  tion  of  the  city  and  empire  :  that  there  w^as  some 
"  dispute  betwe.en  Cethegus  and  the  rest  about  the 
"  time  of  firing  the  city ;  for  while  the  rest  were  for 
"  fixing  it  on  the  feast  of  Saturn,  or  the  middle  of  De- 
"  cember,  Cethegus  thought  that  day  too  remote  and 

"  dilatory.'' The  letters  were  then  produced  and 

opened ;  first  that  from  Cethegus ;  and,  upon  shew- 
ing him  the  seal,  he  allowed  it  to  be  his ;  it  was  writ- 
ten with  his  own  hand,  and  addressed  to  the  senate 

*  In  Cat.  3.  4.. 


Sect.  III.  CICERO.  ^li 

and  people  of  the  Allobroges,  signifying,  that  he  would 
make  good  what  he  had  promised  to  their  ambassadors^ 
and  entreating  them  also  to  perform  what  the  ambas- 
sadors had  undertaken  for  them.  He  had  been  inter- 
rogated just  before,  about  the  arms  that  were  found  at 
his  house  ;  to  which  he  answered,  that  they  were  pro- 
vided only  for  his  curiosity,  for  he  had  always  been 
particularly  fond  of  neat  arms :  but  after  this  letter 
was  read,  he  was  so  dejected  and  confounded,  that  he 

had  nothing  at  all  to  say  for  himself. Statilius  wa§ 

then  brought  in,  and  acknowledged  his  hand  and  seal ; 
and  when  his  letter  was  read,  to  the  same  purpose  with 
Cethegus's,  he  confessed  it  to  be  his  own. — Then 
Lentulus's  letter  was  produced,  and  his  seal  likewise 
owned  by  him ;  which  Cicero  perceiving  to  be  the 
head  of  his  grandfather,  could  not  help  expostulating 
with  him,  that  the  very  image  of  such  an  ancestor,  so 
remarkable  for  a  singular  love  of  his  country,  had  not 
reclaimed  him  from  his  traitorous  designs.  His  letter 
was  of  the  same  import  with  the  other  two ;  but  hav- 
ing leave  to  speak  for  himself,  he  at  first  denied  the 
whole  charge,  and  began  to  question  the  ambassadors 
and  Vulturcius,  what  business  they  ever  had  with  him, 
and  on  what  occasion  tliey  ever  came  to  his  house  ;  to 
which  they  gave  clear  and  distinct  answers ;  signify- 
ing by  whom,  and  how  often  they  had  been  introdu- 
ced to  him  ;  and  then  asked  him  in  their  turn,  whe- 
ther he  had  never  mentioned  any  thing  to  them  about 
the  Sibylline  oracles  ;  upon  which  being  confounded, 
or  infatuated  rather  by  the  sense  of  his  guilt,  he  gave 
a  remarkable  proof,  as  Cicero  says,  of  the  great  force 
of  conscience  ;  for  not  only  his  usual  parts  and  elo- 
quence, but  his  impudence  too,  in  which  he  outdid  all 


222 


The   life  of  Sect.  III. 


men,  quite  failed  him ;  so  that  he  confessed  his  crime, , 
to  the  surprize  of  the  whole  assembly.  Then  Vultur- 
cius  desired,  that  the  letter  to  Catihne,  which  Lentulus 
had  sent  by  him,  might  be  opened  ;  where  Lentulus 
again,  though  greatly  disordered,  acknowledged  his 
hand  and  seal :  it  was  written  without  any  name,  but 
to  this  effect :  "  You  will  know  who  I  am,  from  him 
"  whom  I  have  sent  to  you.  Take  care  to  shew  your- 
"  self  a  man ;  and  recollect  in  what  a  situation  you 
"  are  ;  and  consider  what  is  now  necessary  for  you. 
"  Be  sure  to  make  use  of  the  assistance  of  all,  even  of 

"  the  lowest." Gabinius  was  then    introduced, 

and  behaved  impudently  for  a  while  ;  but  at  last  de- 
nied nothing  of  what  the  ambassadors  charged  him 
with. 

After  the  criminals  and  witnesses  were  withdrawn, 
the  senate  went  into  a  debate  upon  the  state  of  the 
repubhc,  and  came  unanimously  to  the  following  re- 
solution :  "  That  public  thanks  should  be  decreed  to 
"  Cicero  in  the  amplest  manner,  by  whose  virtue,  coun- 
"  cil,  and  providence,  the  republic  was  dehvered  from 
"  the  greatest  dangers :  that  Flaccus  and  Pontinius,  the 
"  pr^tors,  should  be  thanked  likewise  for  their  vigour- 
"  ous  and  punctual  execution  of  Cicero's  orders :  that 
"  Antonius,  the  other  consul,  should  be  praised,  for 
"  having  removed  from  his  councils  all  those  who  were 
*'  concerned  in  the  conspiracy :  that  Lentulus,  after 
*'  having  abdicated  the  praetorship,  and  divested  him- 
"  self  of  liis  robes,  and  Cethegus,  Statilius,  and  Gabi- 
*'  nius,  with  their  other  accomplices  also,  when  taken, 
"  Cassius,  Ca^parius,  Furius,  Chilo,  Umbrenus,  should 
*'  be  committed  to  safe  custody ;  and  that  a  public 
*'  thanksgiving  should  be  appointed  in  Cicero's  name, 


Sect.  III.  CICERO.  ^23 

*'  for  his  having  preserved  the  city  from  a  conflagra-^ 
"  tion,  the  citizens  from  a  massacre,  and  Italy  from  a 
"  war  *." 

The  senate  being  dismissed,  Cicero  v^ent  directly 

into  the  rostra,  and  gave  the  people  an  account  of  the 

whole  proceeding,  in  the  manner  as  it  is  just  related  : 

where  he  observed  to  them,  "  That  the  thanksgiving 

"  decreed  in  his  name  was  the  first  which  had  ever 

"  been  decreed  to  any  man  in  the  gown  :  that  all  o- 

"  ther  thanksgivings  had  been  appointed  for  some  par- 

"  ticular  services  to  the  republic,  this  alone  for  saving 

"  it  f  :  that  by  the  seizure  of  these  accomplices,  all 

- "  Catihne's  hopes  were  blasted  at  once ;  for  when  he 

"  was  driving  GatiUne  out  of  the  city,  he  foresaw  that 

"  if  he  was  once  removed,  there  would  be  nothing  to 

**  apprehend  from  the  drowsiness  of  Lentulus,  the  fat 

"  of  Cassius,  or  the  rashness  of  Cethegus : — that  Cati- 

"  line  was  the  life  and  soul  of  the  conspiracy,  who  ne- 

"  ver  took  a  thing  to  be  done  because  he  had  ordered  it ; 

*'  but  always  followed,  sohcited,  and  saw  it  done  him- 

"  self:  that  if  he  had  not  driven  him  from  his  secret 

"  plots  into  open  rebellion,  he  could  never  have  deli- 

"  vered  the  republic  from  its  dangers,  or  never  at  least 

"  with  so  much  ease  and  quiet :  that  Catiline  would 

"  not  have  named  the  fatal  day  for  their  destruction 

"  so  long  before  hand,  nor  ever  suffered  his  hand  and 

"  seal  to  be  brought  against  him,  as  the  manifest  proof 

*  In  Cat.  3.  5,  6. 

f  Quod  mihi  primum  post  banc  urbem  conditam  togato  conti  • 

git quae  supplicatio,  si  cum  caeteris  conferatur,  Quirites,  hoc 

interest,  quod  ca^tera  bene  gesta,  haec  una  conservata  republica 
constituta  est.     Ibid.  6. 

Vol.  I.  P 


124  The  life   of  Mct.  IIL 

*'  of  his  guilt ;  all  which  was  so  managed  in  his  ab- 
"  sence,  that  no  theft  in  any  private  house  was  ever 
"  more  clearly  detected  than  this  whole  conspiracy : 
*'•  that  all  this  was  the  pure  effect  of  a  divine  influence, 
"  not  only  for  its  being  above  the  reach  of  human- 
"  council,  but  because  the  gods  had  so  remarkably  in- 
"  interposed  in  it,  as  to  shew  themselves  almost  visi^ 
"  bly  :  for,  not  to  mention  the  nightly  streams  of  light 
*'  from  the  western  sky,  the  blazing  of  the  heavens, 
**  flashes  of  lightnhig,  earthquakes,  &-c.  he  could  not 
**  omit  what  happened  two  years  before,  vJien  the- 
"  turrets  of  the  Capitol  were  struck  down  with  light- 
"  ning ;  how  the  southsayers,  called  together  from  all 
"  Etruria,  declared  that  fire;  slaughter,  the  overthrow 
"  of  the  laws,  civil  war,  and  the  ruin  of  the  city,  were 
"  portended,  unless  some  means  were  found  out  of  ap- 
*'  peasing  the  gods  :  for  which  purpose  they  ordered  a 
"  new  and  larger  statue  of  Jupiter  to  be  made,  and  to 
"  be  placed  in  a  position  contrary  to  that  of  the  for- 
"  mer  image,  with  its  face  turning  towards  the  east, 
"  intimating,  that  if  it  looked  towards  the  rising  surr, 
"  the  forum,  and  the  senate-house,  then  all  plots  a- 
*'  gainst  the  state  would  be  detected  so  evidently,  that 

"  all  the  world  should  see  them  :■ that  upon  this 

"  answer,  the  consuls  of  that  year  gave  immediate  or- 
"  ders  for  making  and  placing  the  statue^;  but  fi'om 
"  the  slow  progress  of  the  work,  neither  they  nor  their 
**  successors,  nor  he  himself,  could  get  it  finished  till 
"  that  very  day ;  on  which,  by  the  special  influence 
"  of  Jupiter,  while  the  conspirators  and  witnesses  were 
"  carried  through  the  forum  to  the  temple  of  Con- 
"  cord,  in  that  very  moment  the  statue  was  fixed  in 
"  its  place ;  and  being  turned  to  look  upon  them  and 


Sect.  IIL  CICERO.  225 

"  the  senate,  both  they  and  the  senate  saw  the  whole 
"  conspiracy  detected.  And  can  any  man,"  says  he^ 
"  be  such  an  enemy  to  truth,  so  rash,  so  mad,  as  to 
"  deny,  that  all  things  which  we  see,  and  above  all, 
"  that  this  city  is  governed  by  the  power  and  provi- 
"  dence  of  the  gods  *."  He  proceeds  to  observCj 
"  that  the  conspirators  must  needs  be  under  a  divine 
"  and  judicial  infatuation,  and  could  never  have  trust- 
*'  ed  affairs  and  letters  of  such  monlent  to  men  bar- 
"  barous  and  unknown  to  them,  if  the  gods  had  not 
*'  confounded  their  senses :  and  that  the  ambassadors 
*'  of  a  nation  so  disaffected,  and  so  able  and  willing  to 
"  make  war  upon  them,  should  shght  the  hopes 
**  of  dominion,  and  the  advantageous  offers  of  men 
"  of  Patrician  rank,  must  needs  be  the  effect  of  a  di-' 
"  vine  interposition,  especially  when  they  might 
"  have  gained  their  ends,  not  by  fighting,  but  by 
"  holding  their  tongues."  He  exhorts  them,  there- 
fore, "  to  celebrate  that  thanksgiving-day  religiously^ 
"  with  their  wives  and  children  f .  That  for  all  his 
"  pains  and  services,  he  desired  no  other  reward  or  ho- 
*'  nour,.  but  the  perpetual  remembrance  of  that  day : 
"  in  this  he  placed  all  his  triumphs  and  his  glory,  to 
"  have  the  memory  of  that  day  eternally  propagated 
"  to  the  safety  of  the  city,  and  the  honour  of  his  con- 
*'  sulship;  to  have  it  remembered,  that  there  were 
*'  two  citizens  living  at  the  same  time  in  the  republic, 
"  the  one  of  whom  was  terminating  the  extent  of  the 
"  empire,  by  the  bounds  of  the  horizon  itself,  the  o- 
*'  ther  preserving  the  seat  and  centre  of  that  empire  J. 
■ '  •        -  -      ■  ■  ■  •  •  ■      •     ■ ' '     ■' '— 

*  In  Cat.  8,  9.  f  Ibid.  10.  t  Ibid.  ii. 

P   2 


^26  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  IIL 

"  That  his  case,  however,  was  different  from  that  of 
*'  their  generals  abroad,  who,  as  soon  as  they  had  con- 
"  quered  their  enemies,  left  them ;  whereas  it  was  his 
"  lot  to  live  still  among  those  whom  he  had  subdued : 
"  that  it  ought  to  be  their  care,  therefore,  to  see  that 
"  the  malice  of  those  enemies  should  not  hurt  him, 
"  and  that  what  he  had  been  doing  for  their  good, 
"  should  not  redound  to  his  detriment ;  though,  as  to 
"  himself,  he  had  no  cause  to  fear  any  thing,  since 
*'  he  should  be  protected  by  the  guard  of  all  honest 
"  men,  by  the  dignity  of  the  republic  itself,  by  the 
*'  power  of  conscience,  which  all  those  must  needs 
*•  violate,  who  should  attempt  to  injure  him:  that  he 
**  would  never  yield  therefore  to  the  audauciousness 
**  of  any,  but  even  provoke  and  attack  all  the  wicked 
*'  and  the  profligate  :  yet  if  all  their  rage  at  last,  when 
*'  repelled  from  the  people,  should  run  singly  upon 
*'  him,  they  should  consider  what  a  discouragement  it 
*'  would  be  hereafter  to  those  who  should  expose  them- 

*'  selves  to  danger  for  their  safety. -That,  for  his 

"  part,  he  would  ever  support  and  defend  in  his  pri^ 
*'  vate  condition,  what  he  had  acted  in  his  consulship, 
"  and  shew,  that  what  he  had  done  was  not  the  elfect 
*'  of  chance,  but  of  virtue  :  that  if  any  envy  should  be 
"  stirred  up  against  him,  it  might  hurt  the  envious, 

*'  but  advance  his  glory. Lastly,  since  it  was  now^ 

*'  night, 'he  bade  them  all  go  home,  and  pray  to  Jupi- 
*'  ter,  the  guardian  of  them  and  the  city ;  and  though 
"  the  danger  was  now  over,  to  keep  the  same  watch 
**  in  their  houses  as  before,  for  fear  of  any  surprise, 
•*  and  he  would  take  care  that  they  should  have  no 
**  occasion  to  do  it  any  longer." 


Sect.  III.  CICERO.  227 

While  the  prisoners  were  before  the  senate,  Cicero 
desired  some  of  the  senators,  who  could  write  short- 
hand, to  take  notes  of  every  thing  that  was  said ;  and 
when  the  whole  examination  was  finished,  and  redu- 
ced into  an  act,  he  set  all  the  clerks  at  work  to  trans- 
cribe copies  of  it,  which  he  dispersed  presently  through 
Italy,  and  all  the  provinces,  to  prevent  any  invidious 
misrepresentation  of  what  was  so  clearly  tittested  and 
confessed  by  the  criminals  themselves  "*,  who,  for  the 
present,  were  committed  to  the  free  custody  of  the 
magistrates  and  senators  of  their  acquaintance  f ,  till 
the  senate  should  come  to  a  final  resolution  about 
them.     All  this  passed  on  the  third  of  December,  a 
day  of  no  small  fatigue  to  Cicero,  who,  from  break  of 
day  till  the  evening,  seems  to  have  been  engaged,  v.  ith- 
out  any  refreshment,  in  examining  the  witnesses  and 
the  criminals,  and  procuring  the  decree  which  was 
consequent  upon  it ;  and  when  that  was  over,  in  giv- 
ing a  narrative  of  the  vv^hole  transaction  to  the  people, 
who  were  waiting  for  that  purpose  in  the  forum.     The 
same  night  his  wife  Terentia,  with  the  vestal  virgins, 
and  the   principal  matrons  of  Rome,  was  performing 
at  home,  according  to  annual  custom,  the  mystic  rites 
of  the  goddess  Bona,  or  the  Good,  to  wliich  no  male 
creature  was  ever  admitted ;  and  till  that  function  was 
over,  he  was   excluded  also  from  his  own  house,  and 


*  Constitui  senatcres,  qui  omnium  indicum  dicta,  intcrrogata, 
responsa   perscriberent  :   dcscribi  ab  omnibus  statim  librariis,  dividi 

passim   et   pervulgari  atque  edi  populo  Romano  imperavi divisi 

toti  Italia^,  emisi  in  omnes  provincias.     Pro  Syil.  14,  15. 

f  Ut  abdicate  magistratu,  Lentulus,  i'temque  Cititeri  in  liberie 
aistodi'is  habeantur.  Itaque  Lentulus,  P.  Lentulo  Spintlieri,  qui 
turn  cediiis  erat  j  Cetlicgus  Coriiificio,  ^^cc.      ballust.  47. 

P  3 


^^28  The  LIFE  of  Sect.  Ill, 

forced  to  retire  to  a  neighbour's,  where,  with  a  select 
council  of  friends,  he  began  to  deliberate  about  the 
method  of  punishing  the  traitors,  when  his  wife  came 
in  ail  haste  to  inform  him  of  a  prodigy  which  had 
happened  among  them ;  for  the  sacrifice  being  over, 
^nd  the  fire  of  the  altar  seemingly  extinct,  a  bright 
flame  issued  suddenly  from  the  ashes,  to  the  astonish- 
ment of  the  company,  upon  which  the  vestal  virgins 
sent  her  away,  to  require  him  to  pursue  what  he  had 
then  in  his  thoughts,  for  the  good  of  his  country,  since 
the  goddess,  by  this  sign,  had  given  great  light  to  his 
safety  and  glory  *. 

It  is  not  improbable,  that  this  pretended  prodigy 
was  projected  between  Cicero  and  Terentia,  whose 
sister  likewise  being  one  of  the  vestal  virgins,  and 
having  the  direction  of  the  whole  ceremony,  might 
help  to  effect,  without  suspicion,  what  had  been  pri- 
vately concerted  amongst  them.  For  it  was  of  great 
use  to  Cicero,  to  possess  the  minds  of  the  people,  as 
strongly  as  he  could,  with  an  apprehension  of  their 
danger,  for  the  sake  of  disposing  them  the  more  easi- 
ly to  approve  the  resolution  that  he  had  already  ta- 
ken in  his  mind,  of  putting  the  conspkators  to  death. 

The  day  following,  the  senate  ordered  pubhc  re- 
wards to  the  ambassadors  and  Vulturcius,  for  their 
faithful  discoveries  f  ;  and,  by  the  vigour  of  their  pro- 
ceedings, seem.ed  to  shew  an  intention  of  treating  their 
prisoners  with  the  last  severity.  The  city  in  the 
mean  while  was  alanned  with  the  rumour  of  fresh 

*  Plutarch,  in  C?c. 

-f-  Prsemia  legatis  Allobrogum,  Titoque  Vulturcio  dedistis  am- 
ylksima.     In  Catil.  4.  3. 


Sect.  III.  CICERO. 


:29 


plots,  formed  by  the  slaves  and  dependents  of  Lentu- 
lus  and  Cethegus  for  the  rescue  of  their  masters  *  ; 
which  obliged  Cicero  to  reinforce  his  guards ;  and,  for 
the  prevention  of  all  such  attempts,  to  put  an  end  to 
the  whole  affair,  by  bringing  the  question  of  their  pu- 
nishment, without  farther  delay,  before  the  senate  ; 
which  he  summoned  for  that  purpose  the  next  morn- 
ing. 

The  debate  was  of  great  delicacy  and  importance  ; 
to  decide  upon  the  lives  of  citizens  of  the  first  rank. 
Capital  punishments  were  rare  and  ever  odious  in 
■Rome,  whose  laws  were  of  all  others  the  least  sangui- 
nary ;  banishment,  with  confiscation  of  goods,  being 
the  ordinary  punishment  for  the  greatest  crimes.  The 
senate,  indeed,  as  it  has  been  i^aid  above, ,  in  cases  of 
:sudden  and  dangerous  tumults,  claimed  the  preroga- 
tive of  punishing  the  leaders  with  death  by  the  autho- 
rity of  their  own  decrees  :  but  this  was  looked  upon 
as  a  stretch  of  power,  and  an  infringement  of  the 
rights  of  the  people,  which  nothing  could  excuse,  but 
the  necessity  of  times,  and  the  extremity  of  danger. 
For  there  was  an  old  law  of  Porcius  Lseca,  a  tribune, 
which  granted  to  all  criminals  capitally  condemned, 
an  appeal  to  the  people  ;  and  a  later  one  of  C. 
Gracchus,  to  prohibit  the  taking  away  the  life  of  any 
citizen  without  a  formal  hearing  before  the  people  f  : 

*  Liberti  et  paucl  ex  clientibus  Lentuli  opifices  atqye  servitia  ia 
vicis  ad  eum  erlpiendiira  soUicitabant.— Cethegus  autem  per  nuncios 
familiam,  atque  libertos  suos,  lectos  et  exercltatos  in  audaciam  ora- 
bat,  ut,  grege  facto,  cum  telis  ad  sese  irrumperent.      Sallust.  50. 

f  Porcia  lex  virgis  ab  omnium  civium  Romanorum  corpore  amo- 

yit libertatem  civium  lictori  eripuit — C.  Gracchus  legem  tulit, 

ne  de  capite  civium  Romanorum  injussu  vestro  judicaretur.  Pro 
Eabirio.  4. 

P4 


230  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  III. 

so  that  some  senators,  who  had  concurred  in  all  the 
previous  debates,  withdrew  themselves  from  this,  to 
shew  their  dislike  of  what  they  expected  to  be  the  is- 
sue of  it,  and  to  have  no  hand  in  putting  Roman  ci- 
tizens to  death  by  a  vote  of  the  senate  f .  Here,  then, 
was  ground  enough  for  Cicero's  enemies  to  act  upon, 
if  extreme  methods  were  pursued  :  he  himself  was  a- 
ware  of  it,  and  saw,  that  the  public  interest  called  for 
the  severest  punishment,  his  private  interest  the  gent- 
lest ;  yet  he  came  resolved  to  sacrifice  all  regards  for 
his  own  quiet  to  the  consideration  of  public  safety. 

As  soon,  therefore,  as  he  had  moved  the  question, 
what  was  to  be  done  with  the  conspirators  ?  Silanus, 
the  consul-elect,  being  called  upon  to  speak  the  first, 
advised,  "  that  those  who  were  then  in  custody,  with 
"  the  rest  who  should  afterwards  be  taken,  should  all 
"  be  put  to  death  f ."  To  this  all  who  spoke  after 
him  readily  assented,  till  it  came  to  J.  Caesar,  then 
prastor-elect,  who,  in  an  elegant  and  elaborate  speech, 
"  treated  that  opinion,  not  as  cruel ;  since  death,"  he 
said,  "  was  not  a  punishment,  but  relief  to  the  miser- 
*•  able,  and  left  no  sense  either  of  good  or  ill  beyond 
"  it ;  but  as  new  and  illegal,  and  contrary  to  the  con- 
"  stitution  of  the  republic  :  and  though  the  heinous- 
"  ness  of  the  crime  would  justify  any  severity,  yet  the 
"  example  was  dangerous  in  a  free  state  ;  and  the  sa- 
"  lutary  use  of  arbitrary  power  in  good  hands,  had 
"  been  the  cause  of  fatal  mischiefs  when  it  fell  into 
"  bad  ;  of  which  he  produced  several  instances,  both 


*  Videro  dc  istis,  qui  se  popiilares  haberi  volunt,  abesse  non 
nemlnem,  ne  de  capite  videlicet  Romani  civis  sentcntiam  feiat.  In 
Ca'.il.  4.  5. 

f   Sallust.  50. 


Sect.  m.  CICERO. 


231 


"  in  other  cities  and  their  own  :  and  though  no  danger 
"  could  be  apprehended  from  these  times,  or  from 
"  such  a  consul  as  Cicero;  yet  in  other  times,  and  under 
"  another  consul,  when  the  sword  was  once  drawn  by 
"  a  decree  of  the  senate,  no  man  could  promise  what 
"  mischief  it  might  do  before  it  was  sheathed  again  : 
"  his  opinion  therefore  was,  that  the  estates  of  the  con- 
"  spirators  should  be  confiscated,  and  their  persons 
"  closely  confined  in  the  towns  of  Italy ;  and  that  it 
"  should  be  criminal  for  any  man  to  move  the  senate 
"  or  the  people  for  any  favour  towards  them  *." 

These  two  contrary  opinions  being  proposed,  the 
next  question  was,  which  of  them  should  take  place  ? 
Caesar's  had  made  a  great  impression  on  the  assembly, 
and  staggered  even  Silanus,  who  began  to  excuse  and 
mitigate  the  severity  of  his  vote  f ;  and  Cicero's  friends 
were  going  forwardly  into  it,  as  likely  to  create  the 
least  trouble  to  Cicero  himself,  for  whose  future  peace 
and  safety  they  began  to  be  solicitous  J  :  when  Cice- 
ro, observing  the  inclination  of  the  house,  and  rising 
up  to  put  the  question,  made  his  fourth  speech,  which 
now  remains,  on  the  subject  of  this  transaction ;  in 
which  he  delivered  his  sentiments  with  all  the  skill 
both  of  the  orator  and  the  statesman  ;  and,  while  he 
seemed  to  shew  a  perfect  neutrality,  and, to  give  equal 
commendation  to  both  the  opinions,  was  artfully  la- 
bouring all  the  while  to  turn  the  scale  in  favour  of 
vSilanus's,  which  he  considered  as  a  necessary  example 


*   Salliist.  51. 

f  Ut  Silanum,  consulem  deslgnatum  non  piguerit  s&ntentiam 
suam,  quia  mature  turpe  erat,  interpretatlone  ienire.  Suet.  J. 
Cses.  24. 

X  Plutai-ch.  in  Cic, 


23^  The   life   or  Sect.  III. 

of  severity  }n  the  present  circumstances  of  the  repu- 
bHc. 

He  declared,  "  That  though  it  was  a  pleasure  to 
*'  him  to  observe  the  concern  and  solicitude  which  the 
"  senate  had  expressed  on  his  account,  yet  he  begged 
"  of  them  to  lay  it  all  aside,  and,  without  any  regard 
"  to  him,  to  think  only  of  themselves  and  their  fami- 
"  lies  :  that  he  was  wiUing  to  suffer  any  persecution, 
"  if  by  his  labours  he  could  secure  their  dignity  and 
"  safety  :  that  his  hfe  had  been  often  attempted  in  the 
"  forum,  the  field  of  Mars,  the  senate,  his  own  house^ 
"  and  in  his  very  bed  :  that  for  their  quiet  he  had  di- 
"  gested  many  things  against  his  will,  without  speak- 
"  ing  of  them  ;  but,  if  the  gods  would  grant  issue  to 
"  his  consulship,  of  saving  them  from  a  massacre,  the 
"  city  from  flames,  all  Italy  from  war,  let  what  fate 
^'  soever  attend  himself,  he  would  be  content  with 
*'  it  *."  He  presses  them,  therefore,  to  "  turn  their 
"  whole  care  upon  the  state  :  that  it  was  not  a 
"  Gracchus,  nor  a  Saturninus,  who  was  now  in  judg- 
"  ment  before  them  ;  but  traitors,  whose  design  it  was 
*'  .to  destroy  the  city  by  fire,  the  senate  and  people  by 
*'  a  massacre ;  who  had  solicited  the  Gauls,  and  the 
"  very  slaves,  to  join  with  them  in  their  treason,  of 
"  which  they  had  all  been  convicted  by  letters,  hands, 
"  seals,  and  their  own  confessions  *.  That  the  se- 
"  nate,  by  several  previous  acts,  had  already  condemn- 
"  ed  them  ;  by  their  public  thanks  to  him  ;  by  depos- 
*'  ing  Lentulus  from  his  praetorship ;  by  committing 
"  them  to  custody  ;  by  decreeing  a  thanksgiving  ; 
"  by  rewarding  the  witnesses ;  but  as  if  nothing  had 

*  In  Catil.  4.  I. 


Sect.  HI.  CICERO.  ^33 

"  yet  been  done,  he  resolved  to  propose  to  them  ane"W" 
*'  the  question,  both  of  the  fact,  and  the  punishment : 
"  that  whatever  they  intended  to  do,  it  must  be  deter- 
*'  mined  before  night :  for  the  mischief  was  spread 
"  wider  than  they  imagined ;  had  not  only  infected 
*'  Italy,  but  crossed  the  Alps,  and  seized  the  provinces : 
^*  that  it  was  not  to  be  suppressed  by  delay  and  irre- 
"  solution,  but  by  quick  and  vigorous  measures  f  : 
*'  that  there  werq  two  opinions  now  before  them ;  the 
"  first,  of  Silanus,  for  putting  the  criminals  to  death  : 
^'  the  second,  of  Caesar,  who,  excepting  death,  was  for 
"  every  other  way  of  punishing ;  each,  agreeably  to 
*'  his  dignity,  and  the  importance  of  the  cause,  was 
*'  for  treating  them  with  the  last  severity  :  the  one 
**  thought,  that  those,  who  ha4  attempted  to  deprive 
"  them  all  of  life,  and  to  extinguish  the  very  name  of 
*'  Rome,  ought  not  to  enjoy  the  benefit  of  Hving  a  mo- 
"  ment ;  and  he  had  shewed  withal,  that  this  punish- 
*'  ment  had  often  been  inflicted  on  seditious  citizens  : 
**  the  other  imagined,  that  death  was  not  designed  by 
**  the  gods  as  a  punishment,  but  the  cure  of  our  mise- 
**  ries  ;  so  that  the  wise  never  suRered  it  unwillingly, 
"  the  brave  often  sought  it  voluntarily ;  but  that  bonds 
*'  and  imprisonment,  especially  if  perpetual,  were  con- 
"  trived  for  the  punishment  of  detestable  crimes :  these 
*'  therefore  he  ordered  to  be  provided  for  them  in  the 
"  great  towns  of  Italy  :  yet  in  this  proposal  there  seem- 
*'  ed  to  be  some  injustice,  if  the  senate  was  to  impose 
"  that  burden  upon  the  towns,  or  some  difficulty,  if 
"  they  were  only  to  desire  it :  yet  if  they  thought  fit 
^*  to  decree  it,  he  would  undertake  to  find  those  who 

*  In  Catil.  2,  f  Ibid.  3. 


^34  The   LIFE   of  Sect,  IIL 

"  would  not  refuse  to  comply  with  it  for  the  public 
"  good  :  that  Caesar,  by  adding  a  penalty  on  the  towns, 
"  if  any  of  the  criminals  should  escape,  and  enjoining 
*'  so  horrible  a  confinement,  without  a  possibility  of 
"  being  released  from  it,  had  deprived  them  of  all 
^'  hope,  the  only  comfort  of  unhappy  mortals ;  he  had 
"  ordered  their  estates  also  to  be  confiscated,  and  left 
**  them  nothing  but  life  ;  which  if  he  had  taken  away, 
"  he  would  have  eased  them  at  once  of  all  farther 
*'  pain,  either  of  mind  or  body :  for  it  was  on  this  ac- 
"  count  that  the  ancients  invented  those  infernal  pu- 
"  nishments  of  the  dead  ;  to  keep  the  wicked  under 
"  some  awe  in  this  life,  who  without  them  would  have 
"  no  dread  of  death  itself"^.  That,  for  his  own  part, 
"  he  saw  how  much  it  was  his  interest  that  they  should 
"  follow  Caesar's  opinion,  who  had  always  pursued  po- 
"  pular  measures ;  and,  by  being  the  author  of  that 
*'  vote,  v/ould  secure  him  from  any  attack  of  popular 
"  envy ;  but  if  they  followed  Silanus's,  he  did  not 
**  know  what  trouble  it  might  create  to  himself;  yet 
"  that  the  service  of  the  repubhc  ought  to  supersede 
"  all  considerations  of  his  danger  :  that  Caesar,  by  this 
"  proposal,  had  given  them  a  perpetual  pledge  of  his* 
"  affection  to  the  state ;  and  shewed  the  difference  be- 
"  tween  the  affected  lenity  of  their  daily  declaimers, 
"  and  a  mind  truly  popular,  which  sought  nothing  b\^t 
*'  the  real  good  of  the  people  :  that  he  could  not  but 
"  observe,  that  one  of  those,  who  valued  themselves 
"  on  being  popular,  had  absented  himself  from  this 


*  Itaque  ut  aliqua  in  vita  formido  improbis  esset  posita,  apud 
inferos  ejusmodi  qucedam  illi  antiqui  supplicia  impiis  constituta  esse 
voluerunt,  quod  videlicet  intelligcbant,  his  rcmoti<;,  non  esse  mor- 
leni  ipsam  pertiinescendsm.      In  Calii.  4. 


Sect.  UI.  CICERO.  235 

"  day's  debate,  that  he  might  not  give  a  vote  upon 
"  the  life  of  a  citizen ;  yet,  by  concurring  with  them 
"  in  all  their  previous  votes,  he  had  already  passed  a 
"  judgment  on  the  merits  of  the  cause ;  that  as  to « 
"  the  objection  urged  by,  Caesar,  of  Gracchus's  law, 
"  forbidding  to  put  citizens  to  death,  it  should  be  re- 
"  membered,  that  those,  who  were  adjudged  to  be  e- 
**  nemies,  could  no  longer  be  considered  as  citizens ; 
"  and  that  the  author  of  that  law  had  himself  suffered 
"  death  by  the  order  of  the  people  :  that  since  Cassar, 
"  a  man  of  so  mild  and  merciful  a  temper,  had  propos- 
"  ed  so  severe  a  punishment,  if  they  should  pass  it 
"  into  an  act,  they  would  give  him  a  partner  and  com- 
"  panion,  who  would  justify  him  to  the  people  ;  but  if 
"  they  preferred  Silanus's  opinion,  it  would  be  easy 
"  still  to  defend  both  them  and  himself,  from  any 
"  imputation  of  cruelty  :  for  he  would  maintain  it, 
"  after  all,  to  be  the  gentler  of  the  two  ;  and  if 
*'  he  seemed  to  be  more  eager  than  usual  in  this 
"  cause,  it  was  not  from  any  severity  of  temper,  ^ 
*'  for  no  man  had  less  of  it,  but  out  of  pure  hu- 

"  manity  and  clemency." Then,  after  forming  a 

most  dreadful  image  of  "  the  city  reduced  to  ashes,  of 
*'  heaps  of  slaughtered  citizens,  of  the  cries  of  mothers 
*'  and  their  infants,  the  violation  of  the  vestal  virgins, 
*'  and  the  conspirators  insulting  over  the  ruins  of  their 
"  country ;"  he  affirms  it  to  be  "  the  greatest  cruelty 
"  to  the  republic,  to  shev/  any  lenity  to  the  authors  of 
"  such  horrid  v/ickedness ;  unless  they  vrould  call  L. 
"  Caesar  cruel,  for  declaring  the  other  day  in  the  se- 
"  nate,  that  Lentulus,  who  was  his  sister's  husband, 
"  had  deserved  to  die ;  that  they  ought  to  be  afraid 
*'  rather  of  being  thought  cruel  for  a  remissness  of 


236  The   life   of  Sect.  llL 

"  punishing,  than  for  any  severity  which  could  be  used 
"  against  such  outrageous  enemies :  that  he  would  not 
"  conceal  from  them  what  he  had  heard  to  be  propa- 
"  gated  through  the  city,  that  they  had  not  sufficient 
"  force  to  support  and  execute  their  sentence  *  :  but 
"  he  assured  them  that  all  things  of  that  kind  were 
"  fully  provided  ;  that  the  whole  body  of  the  people 
"  was  assembled  for  their  defence  ;  that  the  forum,  the 
"  temples,  and  all  the  avenues  of  the  senate  were  pos- 
"  sessed  by  their  friends ;  that  the  Equestrian  order 
"  vied  with  the  senate  itself  in  their  zeal  for  the  re- 
"  public  ;  whom,  after  a  dissension  of  m.any  years, 
"  that  day*s  cause  had  entirely  reconciled  and  united 
"  with  them  ;  and  if  that  union,  which  his  consulship 
*'  had  confirmed,  was  preserved  and  perpetuated,  he 
"  was  confident,  that  no  civil  or  domestic  evil  could  e- 
"  ver  again  disturb  them  f .  That  if  any  of  them  were 
"  shocked  by  the  report  of  Lentulus's  agents  running 
"  up  and  down  the  streets,  and  soliciting  the  needy 
"  and  silly  to  make  some  effort  for  his  rescue ;  the 
"  fact  indeed  was  true,  and  the  thing  had  been  at- 
"  tempted  ;  but  not  a  man  so  desperate,  who  did  not 
"  prefer  the  possession  of  his  shed,  in  which  he  work- 
"  ed,  his  little  hut  and  bed  in  which  he  slept,  to  any 
*'  hopes  of  change  from  the  public  confusion  :  for  all 
"  their  subsistence  depended  on  the  peace  and  fulness 
"  of  the  city ;  and  if  their  gain  would  be  interrupted 
"  by  shutting  up  their  shops,  how  much  more  would 
"  it  be  so  by  burning  them  ? — Since  the  people  then 
"  were  not  wanting  in  their  zeal  and  duty  towards 
"  them,  it  was  their  part  not  to  be  wanting  to  the  peo- 

*  Ibid.  6.  t  Ibid.  7. 


Sect.  IIL  CtCERO.  ^37 

"  pie  *.  That  they  had  a  consul  snatched  from  vari-- 
"  ous  dangers  and  the  jaws  of  death,  not  for  the  pro- 
"  pagation  of  his  own  Hfe,  but  of  their  security  ;  such 
"  a  consul,  as  they  would  not  always  have,  watchful 
"  for  them,  regardless  of  himself :  they  had  also,  what 
"  was  never  known  before,  the  whole  Roman  people 
"  of  one  and  the  same  mind :  that  they  should  reflect 
"  how  one  night  had  almost  demolished  the  mighty 
"  fabric  of  their  empire,  raised  by  such  pains  and  vir- 
"  tue  of  men,  by  such  favour  and  kindness  of  the  gods : 
"  that  by  their  behaviour  on  that  day,  they  were  to 
"  provide,  that  the  same  thing  should  not  only  never 
"  be  attempted,  but  not  so  much  as  thought  of  again 
"  by  any  citizen  -j-.  That  as  to  himself,  though  he 
*'  had  now  drawn  upon  him  the  enmity  of  the  whole 
"  band  of  conspirators,  he  looked  upon  them  as  a  base, 
"  abject,  contemptible  faction  ;  but  if,  through  the 
"  madness  of  any,  it  should  ever  rise  again,  so  as  to 
"  prevail  against  the  senate  and  the  republic,  yet  he 
*^  should  never  be  induced  to  repent  of  his  present 
**  conduct ;  for  death,  with  which  perhaps  they  would 
"  threaten  him,  was  prepared  for  all  men ;  but  none 
"  ever  acquired  that  glory  of  life,  which  they  had 
"  conferred  upon  him  by  their  decrees  :  for  to  all  o- 
*'  thers  they  decreed  thanks  for  having  served  the  re- 
"  public  successfully ;  to  him  alone  for  having  saved 
*  it.  He  hoped,  therefore,  that  there  might  be  some 
"  place  for  his  name  among  the  Scipio's,  Pauluss's, 
"  Marius's,  Pompey's  ;  unless  it  were  thought  a  great- 
"  er  thing  to  open  their  way  to  new  provinces,  than 

*  In  Catil.  8.  In  Catll.  9. 


238  The  life    of  Sect.  IIL 

"  to  provide  that  their  conquerors  should  have  a  home 
"  at  last  to  return  to  :  that  the  condition,  however,  of 
"  a  foreign  victory  was  much  better  than  of  a  domes- 
"  tic  one ;  since  a  foreign  enemy,  when  conquered, 
"  was  either  made  a  slave  or  a  friend  :  but  when  ci- 
"  tizens  once  turn  rebels,  and  are  baffled  in  their  plots, 
"  one  can  neither  keep  them  quiet  by  force,  nor  0- 
"  bhge  them  by  favours  :  that  he  had  undertaken, 
"  therefore,  an  eternal  war  with  all  traitorous  citizens; 
"  but  was  confident  that  it  would  never  hurt  either 
"  him  or  his,  while  the  memory  of  their  past  dangers 
"  subsisted,  or  that  there  could  be  any  force  strong 
"  enough  to  overpower  the  present  union  of  the  senate 
"  and  the  knights  * :  That  in  lieu,  therefore,  of  the 
"  command  of  armies  and  provinces,  which  he  had 
"  declined  ;  of  a  triumph,  and  all  other  honours, 
*'  which  he  had  refused ;  he  required  nothing  more 
"  from  them,  than  the  perpetual  remembrance  of  his 
"  consulship  ;  while  that  continued  fixed  in  their 
''  minds,  he  should  think  himself  impregnable  :  but 
"  if  the  violence  of  the  factious  should  ever  defeat  his 
"  hopes,  he  recommended  to  him  his  infant  son,  and 
"  trusted,  that  it  would  be  a  sufficient  guard,  not  on- 
"  ly  of  his  safety,  but  of  his  dignity,  to  have  it  re- 
"  membered,  that  he  was  the  son  of  one,  who,  at  the 
"  hazard  of  his  own  life,  had  preserved  the  lives  of 
*'  them  all."  He  concludes,  by  exhorting  them  to 
"  act  with  the  same  courage  which  they  had  hitherto 
"  shewn  through  all  this  affair,  and  to  proceed  to  some 
"  resolute  and  vigorous  decree  ;  since  their  lives  and 

*  In  Catll.  10. 


Sect.  lit.  CICERO. 


^39 


"  liberties,  the  safety  of  the  city,  of  Italy,  and  the 
"  whole  empire,  depended  upon  it." 

This  speech  had  the  desired  effect ;  and  Cicero,  by 
discovering  his  own  incHnation,  gave  a  turn  to  the  in- 
clination of  the  senate  ;  when  Cato,   one  of  the  nevv 
tribunes,  rose  up,  and,  after  extolhng  Cicero  to  the 
skies  *,  and  recommending  to   the  assembly  the   au^ 
thority  of  his  example  and  judgment,  proceeded  to 
declare,  agreeably  to  his  temper  and  principles,  "  That 
"  he  was  surprised  to   see  any  debate  about  the  pu- 
"  nishment  of  men,  vAio  had  begun  an  actual  war  a- 
"  gainst  their  country  :  that  their  deliberation  should 
"  be,  how  to  secure  themselves  against  them,  rather 
"  than  how  to  punish  them  :  that  other  crimes  might 
"  be  punished  after  commission,  but,   unless  this  v/as 
"  prevented  before  its  effect,  it  would  be  vain  to  seek 
"  a  remedy  after :  that  the  debate  was  not  about  the 
*'  public  revenues,  or  the  oppressions  of  the  alhes,  but 
"  about  their  own  lives  and  liberties  ;  not  about  the 
"  discipline  or  manners  of  the  city,  on  wliich  he  had 
"  often  delivered  his  mind  in  that  place  ;  nor  about 
"  the  greatness  or  prosperity  of  theu'  empire,  but  whe~ 
"  ther  they  or  their  enemies   should  possess  that  em~ 
"  pire ;  and  in  such  a  case  there  could  be  no  room 
"  for  mercy  :  that  they  had  long  since  lost  and  con- 
*'  founded  the  true  names  of  things :  to  give  away  o- 
"  ther  people's  money  was   called  generosity  :  and  to 
"  attempt  what  was  criminal,  fortitude.     But,  if  they 
"  must  needs  be  generous,  let  it  be  from  the  spoils  of 
"  the  alhes  ;   if  merciful,  to  the  plunderers  of  the 

*  Quae  omnia  quia  Cato  laudibus  extulerat  In  ccelum.  [Ep.  ad 
Att.  12.  21.]  ita  Consulis  virtutem  amplificavit,  ut  universus  sc- 
natus  in  ejus  sententiam  transiret.     Veil.  Pat.  2.' 2;. 

Vol.  T.  Q^ 


14^  The  LIFE   of  Sect.  IIL 

^  treasury ;  but  let  them  not  be  prodigal  of  the  blood  , 
"  of  citizens,  and,  by  sparing  a  few  bad,  destroy  all  the 
"  good  :  That  Caesar,  indeed,  had  spoken  well  and 
"  gravely  concerning  life  and  death ;  taking  all  in- 
*'  fernal  punishments  for  a  fiction  ;  and  ordering  the 
"  criminals,  therefore,  to  be  confined  in  the  corporate 
"  towns  ;  as  if  there  was  not  more  danger  from  them 
"  in  those  towns,  than  in  Rome  itself;  and  more  en- 
"  couragem'ent  to  the  attempts  of  the  desperate,  where 
"  there  was  less  strength  to  resist  them  :  so  that  his 
*'  proposal  could  be  of  no  use,  if  he  was  really  afraid 
"  of  them  :  but  if,  in  the  general  fear,  he  alone  had 
"  none,  there  was  the  more  reason  for  all  the  rest  ta 
"  be  afraid  for  themselves :  that  they  were  not  deli- 
"  berating  on  the  fate  only  of  the  conspirators,  but  of 
"  Catiline's  whole  army,  which  would  be  animated  or 
"  dejected  in  proportion  to  the  vigour  or  remissness  of 
*'  their  decrees :  That  it  was  not  the  arms  of  their  an- 
"  cestors,  which  made  Rome  so  great,  but  their  dis- 
"  cipline  and  manners,  which  were  now  depraved  and 
"  corrupted  :  that,  in  the  extremity  of  danger,  it  was 
"  a  shame  to  see  them  so  indolent  and  irresolute,  wait- 
"  ing  for  each  other  to  speak  first,  and  trusting,  like 
"  women,  to  the  gods,  without  doing  any  thing  for 
"  themselves :  that  the  help  of  the  gods  was  not  to 
"  be  obtained  by  idle  vows  and  suppHcations  :  that 
"  success  attended  the  vigilant,  the  active,  the  provi- 
"  dent ;  and  when  people  gave  themselves  up  to  sloth 
*'  and  laziness,  it  was  in  vain  for  them  to  pray ;  they 
"  would  find  the  gods  angry  with  them  :  that  the  fla- 
"  gitious  lives  of  the  criminals  confuted  every  argu- 
"  ment  of  mercy :  that  Catihne  was  hovering  over 
"  them  with  an  army  ;  while  his  accomphces  were 


Sect.IIL  CICERO.  241 

*'  within  the  walls,  and  in  the  very  heart  of  the  city  ; 
"  so  that,  whatever  they  determined,  it  could  not  be 
"  kept  secret,  which  made  it  the  more  necessary  to 
*'  determine  quickly.  Wherefore,  his  opinion  was, 
"  that  since  the  criminals  had  been  convicted,  both 
"  by  testimony  and  their  own  confession,  of  a  detest- 
"  able  treason  against  the  republic,  they  should  suffer 
"  the  punishment  of  death,  according  to  the  custom 
"  of  their  ancestors  *." 

Cato's  authority,  added  to  the  impression  which  Ci- 
cero had  already  made,  put  an  end  to  the  debate ; 
and  the  senate,  applauding  his  vigour  and  resolution, 
resolved  upon  a  decree  in  consequence  of  it  f .  And 
though  Silanus  had  first  proposed  that  opinion,  and  was 
followed  in  it  by  all  the  consular  senators,  yet  they  or- 
dered the  decree  to  be  drawn  in  Cato's  words,  because 
he  had  delivered  himself  more  fully  and  explicitly 
upon  it  than  any  of  them  J.  The  vote  was  no  sooner 
passed,  than  Cicero  resolved  to  put  it  in  execution,  lest 
the  night,  which  was  coming  on,  should  produce  any 
new  disturbance  :  he  went  directly,  therefore,  from 
the  senate,  attended  by  a  numerous  guard  of  friends 
and  citizens,  and  took  Lentulus  from  the  custody  of 
his  kinsman,  Lentulus  Spinther,  and  conveyed  him 
through  the  forum  to  the  common  prison,  where  he 
delivered  him  to  the  executioners,  who  presently 
strangled  him.  The  other  conspirators,  Cethegus, 
Statilius,  and  Gabinias,  w^ere  conducted  to  their  exe- 
cution by  the  praetors,  and  put  to  death  in  the  same 
manner,  together  with  Ceparius,  the  only  one  of  their 

*   Sallust.  52.  f   Ibid.  ^^. 

X  Idclrco  In  ejus  sententiani  est  facta  discessio.    Ad  Att.  I2.  2i. 

0.2 


242  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  III. 

accomplices  who  was  taken  after  the  examination  ^, 
When  the  affair  was  over,  Cicero  was  conducted  home 
in  a  kind  of  triumph  by  the  whole  body  of  the  senate 
and  of  the  knights ;  the  streets  being  all  illuminated, 
and' the  women  and  children  at  the  windows,  and  on 
the  tops  of  houses,  to  see  him  pass  along  through  infi- 
nite acclamations  of  the  multitude  proclaiming  him 
their  saviour  and  deliverer  f . 

This  vras  the  fifth  of  December,  that  celebrated 
day,  of  which  Cicero  used  to  boast  of  so  much  ever 
after,  as  the  most  glorious  of  his  life  :  and,  it  is  cer- 
tain, that  Rome  v.^as  indebted  to  him  on  this  day 
for  one  of  t*he  greatest  deliverances  which  it  had  ever 
received  since  its  foundation  ;  and  which  nothing,  per- 
haps, but  his  vigilance  and  sagacity  could  have  so  hap- 
pily effected  :  for,  from  the  first  alarm  of  the  plot,  he 
never  rested  night  or  day  till  he  had  got  full  informa- 
tion of  the  cabals  and  councils  of  the  conspirators  J  : 
by  which  he  easily  baffled  all  their  projects,  and  play- 
ed with  them  as  he  pleased ;  and,  without  any  risk  to 
the  public,  could  draw  them  on  just  far  enough  to 
make  their  guilt  manifest,  and  their  ruin  inevitable. 
But  his  master-piece  was  the  driving  Catiline  out  of 
Rome,  and  teazing  him,  as  it  v^^ere,  into  a  rebellion, 
before  it  was  ripe,  in  hvopes  that,  by  carrying  out  with 
him  his  accomplices,  he  would  clear  the  city  at  once 
of  the  wliole  faction  ;  or,  by  leaving  them  behind, 
without  his  head  to  manage  them,  would  expose  them 
to  sure  destruction  by  their  own  folly  :  for  Catihne's 
Ciiief  trust  was  not  on  the   or)en  force  which  he  had 


*  Sallust.  ^^.  f  Plutarch,  in  Cic. 

J  In  eo  omnes  dies,  noctesque  consumi,  ut   quid   ngereat,  quid 
moHrentur,  sentirem  ac  viderem.     In  Catil.  ^.2. 


Sect.  HL.  CICERO.  243 

provided  in  the  field,  but  on  the  success  of  his  secret 
practices  in  Rome,  and  on  making  himself  master  of 
^the  city ;  the  credit  of  which  would  have  engaged  to 
him,  of  course,  all  the  meaner  sort,  and  induced  all 
others  through  Italy,  who  wished  well  to  his  cause, 
to  declare  for  him  immediately  :  so  that,  when  this 
apprehension  was  over,  by  the  seizure  and  punishment 
of  his  associates,  the  senate  thought  the  danger  at  an 
end,  and  that  they  had  nothing  more  to  do,  but  to 
vote  thanksgivings  and  festivals ;  looking  upon  Cati- 
line's army  as  a  crew  only  of  fugitives,  or  banditti, 
whom  their  forces  w^ere  sure  to  destroy  v/henever  they 
could  meet  with  them. 

But  Catiline  was  in  condition  still  to  make  a  stouter 
resistance  than  they  imagined  :  he  had  filled  up  his 
troops  to  the  number  of  two  legions,  or  about  twelve 
thousand  fighting  men ;  of  which  a  fourth  part  only 
was  completely  armed,  the  rest  furnished  with  v/hat 
chance  offered,  darts,  lances,  clubs.  He  refused  at 
first  to  inlist  slaves,  who  flocked  to  him  in  great  num- 
bers, trusting  to  the  proper  strength  of  the  conspiracy, 
and  knowing  that  he  should  quickly  have  soldiers 
enough,  if  his  friends  performed  their  part  at  home  "^. 
'So  that  when  the  consul  Antonius  approached  towards 
him  with  his  army,  he  shifted  his  quarters,  and  made 
fi'equent  motions  and  marches  through  the  mountains, 
sometimes  towards  Gaul,  sometimes  tovv^ards  the  city, 
in  order  to  avoid  an  engagement  till  he  could  hear 
some  news  from  Rome  :  but  v/hen  the  fatal  account 
came  of  the  death  of  Lentulus,  and  the  rest,  the  face 


*   Sperabat  propcdiem  maguas  copias  sc  babituruin,  si   Romce 
so/::a  inccpta  patravissent — intcrea  sevitia  repudiabat.      'iallust.  q6 

O      3 


244  The  LIFE  of  Sect.  III. 

of  his  affairs  began  presently  to  change,  and  his  army 
to  dwindle  apace,  by  the  desertion  of  those,  whom 
the  hopes  of  victory  and  plunder  had  invited  to  his 
camp.  His  first  attempt,  therefore,  was,  by  long 
marches  and  private  roads  through  the  Apennine,  to 
make  his  escape  into  Gaul :  but  (^  Metellus,  who 
had  been  sent  thither  before  by  Cicero,  imagining 
that  he  would  take  that  resolution,  had  secured  all 
the  passes,  and  posted  himself  so  advantageously,  with 
an  army  of  three  legions,  that  it  was  impossible  for 
him  to  force  his  way  on  that  side  ;  whilst,  on  the  o- 
ther,  the  consul  Antonius,  with  a  much  greater  force, 
blocked  him  up  behind,  and  enclosed  him  within  the 
mountains  "*  :  Antonius  himself  had  no  inclination  to 
fight,  or  at  least  with  Catiline ;  but  would  willingly 
have  given  him  an  opportunity  to  escape,  had  not  his 
quaestor,  Sextius,  who  was  Cicero's  creature,  and  his 
lieutenant  Petreius,  urged  him  on,  against  his  will,  so 
force  Catiline  to  the  necessity  of  a  battle  f  ;  who  see- 
ing all  things  desperate,  and  nothing  left  but  either  to 
die  or  conquer,  resolved  to  try  his  fortune  against  An- 
tonius, though  much  the  stronger,  rather  than  Metel- 
lus ;  in  hopes  still,  that,  out  of  regard  to  their  former 
engagements,  he  might  possibly  contrive   some  way 


*  Sallust.  57. 

-f-  Hoc  breve  dlcam  :  Si  M.  Petreii  non  excellens  animo  et  amo- 
re  Reip.  virtus,  non  summa  auctoritas  apud  milites,  .non  mirificus 
usus  in  re  militari  extitisset,  neque  adjutor  ei  P.  Sextius  ad  exci- 
tandum  Antonium,  cohortandum,  ac  impellendem  fuisset,  datus 
jllo  in  belle  esset  hiemi  locus,  &.c. 

Sextius,  cum  suo  exercitu,  summa  celeritate  est  Antonium  con- 
secutus.  Hie  ego  quid  pratrdicem,  quibus  rebus  consulem  ad  rem 
gcrendam  excitarit ;  quod  stimulus  admoverit,  &:c.     Pro  Sext.  5- 


&CT.  IIL  CICERO.  %^^ 

at  last,  of  throwing  the  victory  into  his  hai>ds  *,  But 
Antonius  happened  to  be  seized  at  that  very  time 
with  a  fit  of  the  gout,  or  pretended  at  least  to  be  so, 
that  he  might  have  no  share  in  the  destruction  of  an 
old  friend  :  so  that  the  command  fell,  of  course,  to  a 
much  better  soldier,  and  honester  man,  Petreius ;  who, 
after  a  sharp  and  bloody  action,  in  which  he  lost  a 
considerable  part  of  his  best  troops,  destroyed  Catiline 
and  his  whole  army,  fighting  desperately  to  the  last 
man  f.  They  all  fell  in  the  very  ranks  in  which  they 
stood,  and,  as  if  inspired  with  the  genuine  spirit  of 
their  leader,  fought,  not  so  much  to  conquer,  as  to 
sell  their  lives  as  dear  as  they  could,  and,  as  Catiline 
had  threatened  in  the  senate,  to  mingle  the  public  ca- 
lamity with  their  own  ruin. 

Thus  ended  this  famed  conspiracy  ;  in  which  some 
of  the  greatest  men  in  Rome  were  suspected  to  be  pri- 
vately engaged,  particularly  Crassus  and  C^sar  :  they 
v/ere  both  influenced  by  the  same  motive,  and  might 
hope,  perhaps,  by  their  interest  in  the  city,  to  advance 
themselves,  in  the  general  confusion,  to  that  sovereign 
power  which  they  aimed  at.  Crassus,  who  had  always 
been  Cicero's  enemy,  by  an  officiousness  of  bringing 
letters  and  intelligence  to  him  during  the  alarm  of 
the  plot,  seemed  to  betray  a  consciousness  of  some 
guilt  X ;  and  Caesar's  whole  life  made  it  probable,  that 
there  could  hardly  be  any  plot  in  which  he  had  not 
some  share  ;  and  in  this  there  was  so  general  a  suspi- 
cion upon  him,  especially  after  his  speech  in  favour  of 


].    37.   p.  47. 

f   Sallust.  59.  t  Plutarch,  in  Cic. 

Q.4 


246  The  life  of  Sect.  III. 

the  criminals,  that  he  had  some  difficulty  to  escape 
with  hfe  from  the  rage  of  the  knights,  who  guarded 
the  avenues  of  the  senate  ;  where  he  durst  not  ven- 
ture to  appear  any  more,  till  he  entered  upon  his  prae- 
torship  with  the  nev/  year  *.  Crassus  was  actually 
accused  by  one  Tarquinius,  who  was  taken  upon  the 
road  as  he  was  going  to  Catiline,  and,  upon  promise  of 
pardon,  made  a  discovery  of  what  he  knew :  where, 
after  confirming  what  the  other  witnesses  had  depos- 
ed, he  added,  that  he  was  sent  by  Crassus  to  Catiline, 
with  advice  to  him,  not  ito  be  discouraged  by  the  seiz- 
ure of  his  accomplices,  but  to  make  the  greater  haste, 
for  that  reason,*  to  the  city,  in  order  to  rescue  them, 
and  revive  the  spirits  of  his  other  friends.  At  the 
name  of  Crassus,  the  senate  was  so  shocked,  that  they 
would  hear  the  man  no  farther ;  but  calling  upon  Ci- 
cero to  put  the  question,  and  take  the  sense  of  the 
liouse  upon  it,  they  voted  Tarquinius's  evidence  to  be 
false,  and  ordered  him  to  be  kept  in  chains,  not  to  be 
produced  again  before  them,  till  he  would  confess 
who  it  was  that  had  suborned  him  f .  Crassus  declar- 
ed afterwards,  in  the  hearing  of  Sallust,  that  Cicero 
was  the  contriver  of  this  affront  upon  him  f .  But 
that  does  not  seem  probable,  since  it  was  Cicero's  con- 
stant maxim,  as  he  frequently  intimates  in  his  speeches, 
to  mitigate  and  reclaim  all  men  of  credit  by  gentle 


*  Uti  nonnulli  Eqiiites  Romam,  qui  praisidii  causa  cum  telis 
erant  circum  a.dem  Concordice — egredienti  ex  senatu  Ceesari  gladio 
minitarentur.  Sallust.  49.  Vix  pauci  complexu,  togaque  objecta 
protexerint.  Tunc  plane  deterritus  non  modo  cessic,  sed  etiam  in 
reliquum  anni  tempus  curia  abstinuit.      Sueton.  J.  Ctes.  14. 

f   Sallust.  48. 

X  Ipsum  Crassum  ego  postea  proedlcantem  audivi,  tantam  iVisin 
«~r,ri;i;r,icliaiTri  sibl  i!  C'i<.crc)i:e  iinpor.itani.     Ibid, 


Sect.  UL  CICERO.  ^47 

Hfiethods,  rather  than  make  them  desperate  by  an  un- 
seasonable severity ;  and  in  the  general  contagion  of 
the  city,  not  to  cut  off,  but  to  heal  every  part  that 
was  curable.  So  that  when  some  information  was  gi- 
ven likewise  against  Caesar,  he  chose  to  stifle  it,  and 
could"  not  be  persuaded  to  charge  him  with  the  plot, 
by  the  most  pressing  solicitations  of  Catulus  and  Piso, 
who  were  both  his  particular  enemies,  the  one  for  the 
loss  of  the  high  priesthood,  the  other  for  the  impeach- 
ment above  mentioned  *. 

Whilst  the  sense  of  all  these  services  was  fresh,  Ci- 
cero was  repaid  for  them  to  the  full  of  his  wishes,  and 
in  the  very  way  that  he  desired,  by  the  warm  and 
grateful  applauses  of  all  orders  of  the  city.  For,  be- 
sides the  honours  already  mentioned,  L.  Gellius,  who 
had  been  consul  and  censor,  said  in  a  speech  to  the 
senate,  "  That  the  republic  owed  him  a  civic  crown, 
*'  for  having  saved  them  all  from  ruin  f  :"  and  Catu- 
lus, in  a  full  house,  declared  him  the  father  of  his, 
country  J  ;  as  Cato  did  hkewise  from  the  rostra,  with 
the  loud  acclamations  of  the  whole  people  || :  whence 
Pliny,  in  honour  of  his  memory,  cries  out,  "  Hail  thou, 
"  who  wast  first  saluted  the  parent  of  thy  country  L" 
This  title,  the  most  glorious  which  a  mortal  can  wear, 
was  from  this  precedent  usurped  afterwards  by  those 

*  Appian.  bell.  civ.  1.  2.  p.  430.      Sallust.  49. 

f  -L.  Gellius,  his  audientibus,  civicam  coronam  deberi  a  repu- 
blica  dixit.     In  Pison.  3.  it.  A.  Gel.  5,  6. 

i  Me  Q^ Catulus,  princeps  hujus  ordinis,  frequentissimo  senatu 
Parentem  PxItri^  nominavit.      In  Pis.  3. 

II  Plutarcli.  in  Cic. — Kurofvo^  S'  otvrov  kcci  Tra\i^oc  rvig  ttccIpi^o^  Trpoar- 
uyc^iva-uvrog  l7ri^ovi<riv  0  oyi^o^.      Appian.  p.  43 1. 

§  Salve,  primus  omnium  parens  patriae  appellate,  &c.  Plin. 
Hist.  N.  7.  30. 


The   life   of  (Sect.  Ill, 


who,  of  all  mortals,  deserved  it  the  least,  the  empe-, 
rors,  proud  to  extort  from  slaves  and  flatterers  what 
Cicero  obtained  from  the  free  vote  of  the  senate  and 
people  of  Rome. 


■Ro7na  parent  em  ^ 


Kama  pair  em  pair  ice  Ciceronem  libra  dixit, 

Juv.  8, 

Thee,  Cicero,  Rome,  while  free,  nor  jet  enthrall-d 
To  tyrant's  will,  thy  Country's  Parent  call'd. 

All  the  towns  of  Italy  followed  the  example  of  the 
metropolis,  in  decreeing  extraordinary  honours  to  him, 
and  Capua  in  particular  chose  him  their  patron,  and 
erected  a  gilt  statue  to  him  *. 

Sallust,  who  allows  him  the  character  of  an  excel- 
lent consul,  says  not  a  word  of  any  of  these  honours, 
nor  gives  him  any  greater  share  of  praise  than  what 
could  not  be  dissembled  by  an  historian.  There  are 
two  obvious  reasons  for  this  reservedness ;  first,  the 
personal  emnity  which,  according  to  tradition,  subsist- 
ed between  them ;  secondly,  the  time  of  publishing 
his  history,  in  the  reign  of  Augustus,  while  the  name 
of  Cicero  was  still  obnoxious  to  envy.  The  other  con- 
sul Antonius  had  but  a  small  share  of  the  thanks  and 
honours  which  were  decreed  upon  this  occasion :  he 
was  known  to  have  been  embarked  in  the  same  cause 
with  Catiline,  and  considered  as  acting  only  under  a 
tutor,  and  doing  penance,  as  it  were,  for  past  offences ; 
so  that  all  the  notice  which  was  taken  of  him  by  the 
senate,  was  to  pay  him  the  slight  compliment  above 


*  Me  inaurata  statua  donarunt :  me  patronum  unum  adscieve- 
rant.     In  Pis.  ii. 


Sect.  HI.  CICERO.  M9 

mentioned,  for  having  removed  his  late  profligate  com- 
panions from  his  friendship  and  councils  f . 

Cicero  made  two  new  laws  this  year ;  the  one,  as  it 
has  been  said,  against  bribery  in  elections ;  the  other,  to 
correct  the  abuse  of  a  privilege  called  Legatlo  libera  ; 
that  is,  an  honorary  legation  or  embassy,  granted  arbi- 
trarily by  the  senate  to  any  of  its  members,  when  they 
travelled  abroad  on  their  private  aiFairs,  in  order  to  give 
them  a  public  character,  and  a  right  to  be  treated  as 
ambassadors  or  magistrates,  Vv^hich,  by  the  insolence  of 
these  great  guests,  was  become  a  grievous  burden  up- 
on all  the  states  and  cities  through  which  they  passed. 
Cicero's  design  was  to  abohsh  it,  but  being  driven 
from  that  by  one  of  the  tribunes,  he  was  content  to 
restrain  the  continuance  of  it,  which  before  was  unli- 
mited, to  the  term  of  one  year  J. 

At  his  first  entrance  into  his  office,  L.  LucuUus  was 
soliciting  the  demand  of  a  triumph  for  his  victories 
over  Mithridates,  in  which  he  had  been  obstructed 
three  years  sucessively,  by  the  intrigues  of  some  of 
the  magistrates  *,  who  paid  their  court  to  Pom- 
pey,  by  putting  this  affront  upon  his  rival.  By  the 
law  and  custom  of  the  republic,  no  general,  while  he 
was  in  actual  command,  could  come  within  the  gates 
of  Rome,  without  forfeiting  his  commission,  and  con- 


f  Atque  etiam  collegce  meo  laus  impertltur,  quod  eos  qui  hujus 
conjurationis  participes  fuissent,  a  suis  et  a  leip.  consiliis  removis- 
set.     In  Catil.  3.  6. 

:|:  Jam  illud  apertum  est,  nihil  esse  turpius,  quam  quenquam  le- 
gari  nisi  reipub.  causa — quod  qiildem  genus  legationis  ego  consul, 
quanquam  ad  commodum  senatus  pertinere  videatur,  tarnen  adpro-- 
bante  senatu  frequentissimo,  nisi  mihi  levis  tribunus  plebis  turn  in- 
tercessisset,  sustulissem  :  minui  tamen  tempus,  et  quod  erat  infini- 
tum, annuum  feci.     De  leg.  3.8. 

*  Plutarch,  in  LucuU. 


2S0  The  LIFE  of  Sect.  III. 

sequently  all  pretensions  to  a  triumph,  so  that  Lucul- 
lus  continued  all  this  time  in  the  suburbs,  till  the  af- 
fair was  decided.  The  senate  favoured  his  suit,  and 
were  solicitous  for  him  f ;  but  could  not  prevail,  till 
Cicero's  authority  at  last  helped  to  introduce  his  tri- 
umphal carr  into  the  city  J,  making  him  some  amends 
by  this  service,  for  the  injury  of  the  Manilian  law, 
which  had  deprived  liim  of  his  government.  Af- 
ter his  triumph,  he  entertained  the  whole  Roman  peo- 
ple with  a  sumptuous  feast,  and  was  much  carressed 
by  the  nobility,  as  one  whose  authority  would  be  a 
proper  check  to  the  ambition  and  power  of  Pompey : 
but  having  now  obtained  all  the  honours  which  he 
could  reasonably  hope  for  in  life,  and  observing  the 
turbulent  and  distracted  state  of  the  city,  he  withdrew 
himself  not  long  after  from  pubhc  affairs,  to  spend  the 
remainder  of  his  days  in  a  polite  and  splendid  retreat  *. 
He  was  a  generous  patron  of  learning,  and  himself  e- 
minently  learned ;  so  that  his  house  was  the  constant 
resort  of  the  principal  scholars  and  wits  of  Greece  and 
"Rome,  where  he  had  provided  a  well  furnished  library, 
with  porticos  and  galleries  annexed,  for  the  convenience 
of  walks  and  literary  conferences,  at  which  he  himself 
used  frequently  to  assist,  giving  an  example  to  the 
world  of  a  life  truly  noble  and  elegant,  if  it  had  not 
been  sullied  by  too  great  a  tincture  of  Asiatic  softness, 
and  epicurean  luxury. 

f   Plutarch,  in  Lucull. 

X  Cum  victor  a  Mithridatico  bello  revertisset,  inimicorum  ca- 
lumnia  triennio  tardius,  quam  debuerat,  triumphavit.  Nos  enim 
consules  introduximus  pciene  in  urbem  currum  clarissimi  viri.  Aca- 
dem.  1.  2.  I. 

*  Piutarch.  in  Lucull. 


Sect.  m.  CICERO.  25! 

After  this  act  of  justice  to  Lucullus,  Cicero  had  an 
opportunity,  before  the  expiration  of  his  consulship,  to 
pay  all  due  honour  likewise  to  his  friend  Pompey, 
who,  since  he  last  left  Rome,  had  gloriously  finished 
the  Piratic  and  the  Mithridatic  war,  by  the  destruc- 
tion of  Mithridates  himself:  upon  the  receipt  of  which 
news,  the  senate,  at  the  motion  of  Cicero,  decreed  a 
public  thanksgiving,  in  his  name,  of  ten  days,  which 
was  twice  as  long  as  had  ever  been  decreed  before  to 
any  general,  even  to  Marius  himself,  for  his  Cimbric 
victory  f . 

But  before  we  close  the  account  of  the  memorable 
events  of  this  year,  we  must  not  omit  the  mention  of 
one  which  distinguished  it  afterwards  as  a  particular 
sera  in  the  annals  of  Rome,  the  birth  of  Octavius,  sur- 
named  Augustus,  which  happened  on  the  twenty- 
third  of  September.  Velleius  calls  it  an  accession  of 
glory  to  Cicero's  consulship  J :  but  it  excites  specula- 
tions rather  of  a  different  sort,  on  the  inscrutable  me- 
thods of  Proyidence,  and  the  shr.rt  sighted  policy  of 
man,  that  in  the  moment  when  Rome  was  preserved 
from  destruction,  and  its  liberty  thought  to  be  esta- 
blished more  firm^Iy  than  ever,  an  infant  should  be 
thrown  into  the  world,  who,  within  the  course  of 
twenty  years,  effected  what  Catiline  had  attempted, 
and  destroyed  both  Cicero  and  the  republic.  If  Rome 
could  have  been  saved  by  human  council,  it  would 
have  been  saved  by  the  skill  of  Cicero :  but  its  desti- 


f  Qiio  consule  referente,  primum  decern  dies  supplicatio  decre- 
ta  Cn.  Pompeio  Mithridate  interfecto  *,  cujus  sententia  primum 
duplicata  est  supplicatio  consularis.     De  pro\inc.  Consular,  xi. 

X  Consulatui  Ciceronis  non  mediocre  adjecit  decus,  natus  eo 
^raio  1).  Augustus.     Veli.  2.  ^6.     Suet.  c.  5.     Dio,  p.  590. 


25?  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  IIL 

ny  was  now  approaching :  for  governments,  like  na- 
tural bodies,  have,  with  the  principles  of  their  preser- 
vation, the  seeds  of  ruin  also  essentially  mixed  in  their 
constitution,  which,  after  a  certain  period,  begin  to 
operate,  and  exert  themselves  to  the  dissolution  of  the 
vital  frame.  These  seeds  had  long  been  fermenting 
in  the  bowels  of  the  repubhc,  when  Octavius  came, 
peculiarly  formed  by  nature,  and  instructed  by  art, 
to  quicken  their  operation,  and  exalt  them  to  their 
maturity. 

Cicero's  administration  was  now  at  an  end,  and  no- 
thing remained  but  to  resign  the  consulship,  accord- 
ing to  custom,  in  an  assembly  of  the  people,  and  to 
take  the  usual  oath,  of  his  having  discharged  it  with 
fidehty.  This  was  generally  accompanied  with  a 
speech  from  the  expiring  consul ;  and  after  such  a 
year,  and  from  such  a  speaker,  the  city  was  in  no 
small  expectation  of  what  Cicero  would  say  to  them : 
but  Metellus,  one  of  the  new  tribunes,  who  affected 
commonly  to  open  their  magistracy  by  some  remark- 
able act,  as  a  specimen  of  the  measures  which  they 
intended  to  pursue,  resolved  to  disappoint  both  the 
orator  and  the  audience  :  for  when  Cicero  had  mount- 
ed the  rostra,  and  was  ready  to  perform  this  last  act 
of  his  office,  the  tribune  would  not  suffer  him  to  speak, 
or  to  do  any  thing  more  than  barely  to  take  the  oath, 
declaring,  that  he  who  had  put  citizens  to  death  un- 
heard, ought  not  to  be  permitted  to  speak  for  himself: 
upon  which  Cicero,  who  was  never  at  a  loss,  instead 
of  pronouncing  the  ordinary  form  of  the  oath,  exalting 
the  tone  of  his  voice,  swore  out  aloud,  so  as  all  the 
people  might  hear  him,  that  be  had  saved  the  republic 
and  the  city  from  ruin ;  which  the  multitude  below 


Sect.  m.  CICERO. 


^51 


confirmed  with  an  universal  shout,  and  with  one  voice 
cried  out,  that  what  be  had  sworn  was  true  *.  Thus" 
the  intended  affront  was  turned,  by  his  presence  of 
mind,  to  his  greater  honour,  and  he  was  conducted 
from  the  forum  to  his  house,  with  all  possible  demon- 
strations of  respect  by  the  whole  city. 


*  Ego  cum  in  condone,  abiens  maglstratu,  dicere  a  tribuno  ple^ 
bis  prohiberer,  quse  constitueram  :  cumque  is  mihi,  tantummodo  ut 
jurarem,  permitteret,  sine  ulla  dubitatione  juravi,  rempublicam  at- 
que  banc  urbem  mea  unius  opera  esse  salvam.  Mihi  populus  Ro- 
manus  iiniversus  non  unius  diei  gratulationem,  sed  aeternitatem  im- 
moitalitatemque  donavit,  cum  meum  jusjurandum  tale  atque  tari- 
tum  juratus  ipse  una  voce  et  consensu  approbavit.  Quo  quidem 
tempore  is  meus  domum  fuit  e  foro  reditus,  ut  nemo,  nisi  qui  me- 
cum  esset,  civium  esse  in  numero  videretur.     In  Pison.  3. 

Cum  ille  mihi  nihil  nisi  ut  jurarem  permitteret,  magna  voce  ju- 
ravi verissimum  pulcherrimumque  jusjurandum  :  quod  populus  item 
magna  voce  me  vere  jurasse  juravit.     Ep.  fam.  5.  2. 

Etenim  pauUo  ante  in  concione  dixerat,  ei,  qui  in  alios  animad- 
vertisset  indicta  causa,  dicendi  ipsi  potestatem.  fieri  non  oportere. 
Ibid. 


254  The  LIFE  of  Sect,  IV. 


SECTION   IV. 


A*  Urb.  691.     Cic.  45.  Coss. — D.  Junius  Silanus.    L.  Licinius  Murena. 

'ICERO  being  now  reduced  to  the  condition  of  a  pri- 
vate senator,  was  to  take  his  place  on  that  venerable 
Bench  of  Consulars,  who  were  justly  reckoned  the  first 
citizens  of  the  republic.  They  delivered  their  opi- 
nions the  first  always  in  the  senate,  and  commonly  de- 
termined the  opinions  of  the  rest ;  for  as  they  had  pas- 
sed through  all  the  public  offices,  and  been  conver- 
sant in  every  branch  of  the  administration,  so  their 
experience  gave  them  great  authority  in  all  debates ; 
and  having  little  or  nothing  farther  to  expect  for  them- 
selves, they  were  esteemed  not  only  the  most  know- 
ing, but,  generally  speaking,  the  most  disinterested  of 
all  the  other  senators,  and  to  have  no  other  view  in 
their  deliberation,  but  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the 
republic. 

This  v/as  a  station  exactly  suited  to  Cicero's  temper 
and  wishes :  he  desired  no  foreign  governments,  or 
command  of  armies ;  his  province  was  the  senate  and 
the  forum ;  to  guard,  as  it  were,  the  vitals  of  the  em- 
pire, and  to  direct  all  its  councils  to  their  proper  end, 
the  general  good;  and  in  this  advanced  post  of  a 
Consular  Senator^  as  in  a  watch-tower  of  the  state,  to 
observe  each  threatening  cloud  and  rising  storm,  and 
give  the  alarm  to  his  fellow-citizens,  from  what  quar- 
ter it  was  coming,  and  by  what  means  its  effect^ 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO. 


^5S 


A.  Urb.  961.    Cic.  45.    Coss.—D.  Junius  Silanus.    L.  Lucinius  Murena. 

might  be  prevented  *.  This,  as  he  frequently  inti- 
mates, was  the  only  glory  that  he  sought,  the  comfort 
with  which  he  flattered  himself*  that,  after  a  life  of 
ambition  and  fatigue,  and  a  course  of  faithful  services 
to  the  republic,  he  should  enjoy  a  quiet  and  secure 
old  age,  beloved  and  honoured  by  his  countrymen,  as 
the  constant  champion  and  defender  of  ail  their  rights 
and  liberties.  But  he  soon  found  himself  mistaken, 
and,  before  he  had  quitted  his  office,  began  to  feel  the 
weight  of  that  envy,  which  is  the  certain  fruit  of  il- 
lustrious merit :  for  the  vigour  of  his  consulship  had 
raised  such  a  zeal  and  union  of  all  the  honest  in  the 
defence  of  the  laws,  that,  till  this  spirit  could  be  bro- 
ken, or  subside  again,  it  was  in  vain  for  the  ambitious 
to  aim  at  any  power,  but  through  the  ordinary  forms 
of  the  constitution,  especially  while  he,  who  was  the 
soul  of  that  union,  continued  to  flourish  in  full  credit 
at  the  head  of  the  senate.  He  was  now,  therefore,  the 
common  mark,  not  only  of  all  the  factions,  against 
whom  he  had  declared  perpetual  war,  but  of  another 
party,  not  less  dangerous,  the  envious  too,  whose  unit- 
ed spleen  never  left  pursuing  him  from  this  moment, 
till  they  had  driven  him  out  of  that  city  which  he  had 
so  lately  preserved. 

The  tribune  Metellus  began  the  attack,  a  fit  leader 
for  the  purpose,  who,  from  the  nobility  of  his  birth, 
and  the  authority  of  his  office,  was  the  most  likely  to 

*  Idcirco  In  hac  custodia  et  tanquam  in  specula  coUocati  sumus, 
ut  vacuum  omni  mctu  populum  Romanum  nostra  vigilia  et  prospi- 
cientia  redderemus.     Phil.  7.  7. 

Vol.  I.  Pv 


25^  The   LIFE  of  Sect.  IX^. 

A.  Urb.  691.    Cic.  45.    Coss.---D.  Junius  Silanus.    L.  Lucinius  Murena. 

Stir  up  some  ill  humour  against  him,  by  insulting  and 
reviling  him  in  all  his  harangues,  for  putting  citizens 
to  death  without  a  trial;  in  all  which  he  was  strenu- 
ously supported  by  Caesar,  who  pushed  him  on  like- 
wise to  the  promulgation  of  several  pestilent  laws, 
which  gave  great  disturbance  to  the  senate.  Cicero 
had  no  inclination  to  enter  into  a  contest  with  the  tri- 
bune, but  took  some  pains  to  make  up  the  matter 
with  him  by  the  interposition  of  the  women-,  particu- 
larly of  Claudia,  the  wife  of  his  brother  Metellus,  and 
of  their  sister  Mucia,  the  wife  of  Pompey  :  he  employ- 
ed also  several  good  friends  to  persuade  him  to  be 
quiet,  and  desist  from  his  rashness ;  but  his  answer 
was,  that  he  was  too  far  engaged,  and  had  put  it  out 
of  his  power  *  :  so  that  Cicero  had  nothing  left,  but 
to  exert  all  his  vigour  and  eloquence  to  repel  the  in^ 
solence  of  this  petulant  magistrate. 

Caesar  at  the  same  time  was  attacking  Catulus  with 
no  less  violence,  and  being  now  in  possession  of  the 
pra^torship,  made  it  the  first  act  of  his  office,  to  call 
him  to  an  account  "  for  embezzling  the  public  mo- 
"  ney  in  rebuilding  the  Capitol ;"  and  proposed  also  a 
kuv,  "  to  efface  his  name  from  the  fabric,  and  grant 
"  the  commission  for  finishing  what  remained  to  Pom- 
*'  pey  :"  but  the  senate  bestirred  themselves  so  'v^arm- 
ly  in  the  cause,  that  Caesar  was  obliged  to  drop  it  f . 
This  experiment  convinced  the  two  magistrates,  that 
it  was  not  possible  for  them  to  make  head  against  the 
authoritv  of  the  senate,  without  the  help  of  Pompey. 


*  Quibus  ille  respondlt,  sibi  non  esse  integram.     Ep.  fura.  5.  z. 
f  Sueton.  j.  Ca;s.  15.     Dio,  1.  37.  p.  49. 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  257 

- 

A,  Urb.  691.    Cic.  45.    Cocs.-— D.  Junius  Silanus.    L.  Lucinius  Murena. 

whom  they  resolved,  therefore,  by  all  the  arts  of  ad- 
dress and  flattery,  to  draw  into  their  measures.  With 
this  view  Metellus  pubHshed  a  law,  "  to  call  him  home 
"  with  his  army,  in  order  to  settle  the  state,  and  quiet 
"  the  public  disorders  raised  by  the  temerity  of  Ci- 
"  cero  X  :'*  for,  by  throwing  all  power  into  his  hands, 
they  hoped  to  come  in  for  a  share  of  it  with  him,  or 
to  embroil  him  at  least  with  the  senate,  by  exciting 
mutual  jealousies  between  them :  but  their  law  was 
thought  to  be  of  so  dangerous  a  tendency,  that  the 
senate  changed  their  habit  upon  it,  as  in  the  case  of  a 
public  calamity ;  and  by  the  help  of  some  of  the  tri- 
bunes, particularly  of  Gato,  resolved  to  oppose  it  to  the 
utmost  of  their  power :  so  that  as  soon  as  Metellus  be- 
gan to  read  it  to  the  people,  Cato  snatched  it  away 
from  him ;  and  when  he  proceeded  still  to  pronounce 
it  by  heart,  Minucius,  another  tribune,  stopped  his 
mouth  with  his  hand.  This  threw  the  assembly  into 
confusion,  and  raised  great  commotions  in  the  city, 
till  the  senate,  finding  themselves  supported  by  the 
better  sort  of  all  ranks,  came  to  a  new  and  vigorous 
resolution,  of  suspending  both  Cissar  and  Metellus  from 
the  execution  of  their  offices  ^, 

Caesar  resolved  at  first  to  act  in  defiance  of  them, 
but,  finding  a  strong  force  prepared  to  controul  him, 
thought  it  more  adviseable  to  retire,  and  reserve  the 
trial  of  arms  till  he  was  better  provided  for  it :  he 

t  Dio,  ib.  Plut.  In  Cic. 

*  Donee  ambo  administratione  reipub.  decretg  patrUm  summo- 
verentur.      Sueton.  J.  Cks.  i6. 


'^5^  The  LIFE   of  Sect.  JV 

A.  Urb.  691.     Cic.  45.    Coss. — D.  Junius  Silanus.    L.  Lucinius  Murena. 

shut  himself  up  therefore  in  his  house,  where,  by  a 
prudent  and  submissive  behaviour,  he  soon  made  his 
peace,  and  got  the  decree  of  their  suspension  revers- 
ed f .  But  Metellus,  as  it  was  concerted  probably  be- 
tween them,  fled  away  to  his  brother  Pompey :[:,  that, 
by  misrepresenting  the  state  of  things  at  home,  and 
offering  every  thing  on  the  part  of  the  people,  he 
might  instil  into  him  some  prejudices  against  the  im- 
moderate power  of  Cicero  and  the  senate,  and  engage 
him,  if  possible,  to  declare  for  the  popular  interest. 
Cicero,  in  the  mean  while,  published  an  invective  ora- 
tion against  Metellus,  which  is  mentioned  in  his  e- 
pistles  under  the  title  of  Metellina  ^  :  it  was  spoken 
in  the  senate,  in  answer  ta  a  speech  which  Metellus 
had  made  to  the  people,  and  is  often  cited  by  Quin- 
tilian  and  others  f ,  as  extant  in  their  time. 

The  senate  having  gained  this  victory  over  Caesar 
and  Metellus,  by  obliging,  the  one  to  submit,  the  other 
to  leave  the  city,  (^  Metellus  Celer,  who  commanded 
in  Cisalpine  Gaul,  wrote  a  peevish  and  complaining 
letter  to  his  friend  Cicero,  upon  their  treating  his  bro- 
ther the  tribune  so  severely  :  to  which  Cicero  answer- 
ed with  that  freedom  which  a  consciousness  of  integri- 
ty naturally  dictates,  yet  with  all  that  humihty  which 


f  Ut  comperit  paratos,  qui  vi  ac  per  arma  piohiberent,  dimissis 
li^toribus,  abjectaque  pr^etexta,  domum  clam  refugit,  pro  condi- 
tione  temporum  quieturas — quod  cum  pr^eter  opinionem  evenisset, 
senatus — accitum  in  curiam  et  amplissimis  verbis  collaudatum,  in 
integrum  restituit,  inducto  priore  decreto.      Sueton.   Ibid. 

%   Plutarch,  in  Cicer. 

*  In  illam  orationem  Metellinam  addidi  quaedam  j  liber  tibi  mit- 
tetur.     Att.  I.  13. 

f  Quint.  1.  9.  3.     A.  Gellius  18.  7. 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  259 

A.  Urb.  691.'  Cic.  45.     Coss. — D.  Junius  Silanus.    L.  I.utiiiius  Murena. 

tlie  sincerest  friendship  inspires,  as  the  reader  will  ob- 
serve from  the  letter  itself,  which  affords  many  in- 
structive hints,  both  historical  and  moral. 

M.  T.  Cicero  to  (^  Metellus  Celer,  Proconsul. 

"  You  write  me  word,  that,  considering  our  mutual 
"  affection  and  late  reconciliation,  you  never  imagin- 
*'  ed  that  you  should  be  made  the  subject  of  public  jest 
*'  and  ridicule  by  me.  I  do  not  well  understand  what 
"  you  mean,  yet  guess  that  you  have  been  told,  that, 
"  when  I  was  speaking  one  day  in  the  senate  of  many 
"  who  were  sorry  for  my  having  preserved  the  repu- 
"  blic,  I  said,  that  certain  relations  of  yours,  to  whom 
"  you  could  refuse  nothing,  had  prevailed  with  you  to 
"  suppress  what  you  had  prepared  to  say  in  the  senate 
"  in  praise  of  me :  when  I  said  this,  I  added,  that,  in 
*'  the  affair  of  saving  the  state,  I  had  divided  the  task 
''  with  you  in  such  a  manner,  that  I  was  to  secure  the 
"  city  from  intestine  dangers,  you  to  defend  Italy  from 
"  the  open  arms  and  secret  plots  of  our  enemies ;  but 
"  that  this  glorious  partnership  had  been  broken  by 
"  your  friends,  who  were  afraid  of  your  making  me 
"  the  least  return  for  the  greatest  honours  and  services 
"  which  you  had  received  from  me.  In  the  same  dis- 
"  course,  when  I  was  describing  the  expectation  which 
"  I  had  conceived  of  your  speech,  and  how  much  I 
"  was  disappointed  by  it,  it  seemed  to  divert  the  house, 
"  and  a  moderate  laugh  ensued ;  not  upon  you,  but 
*^  on  my  mistake,  and  the  frank  and  ingenuous  con- 
**  fession  of  my  desire  to  be  praised  by  you.     Now  in 

R  3 


56o  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  IV. 

■        - 

A.  Urb.  691.    Cic.  45.    Coss.--D.  Junius  Silanus.    L.  Lucinius  Murena. 

"  this  it  must  needs  be  owned,  that  nothing  could  be 
"  said  more  honourably  towards  you,  when,  in  the  most 
"  shining  and  illustrious  part  of  my  life,  I  wanted  still 
"  to  have  the  testimony  of  your  commendation.  As 
"  to  what  you  say  of  our  mutual  affection,  I  do  not 
"  know  what  you  reckon  mutual  in  friendship,  but  I 
•^  take  it  to  be  this ;  when  we  repay  the  same  good 
"  offices  which  we  receive :  Should  I  tell  you  then, 
*'  that  I  gave  up  my  province  for  your  sake,  you  might 
'*  justly  suspect  my  sincerity :  it  suited  my  temper 
"  and  circumstances,  and  I  find  more  and  more  reason 
"  every  day  to  be  pleased  with  it :  but  this  I  can  tell 
*'  you,  that  I  no  sooner  resigned  it  in  an  assembly  of 
"  the  people,  than  I  began  to  contrive  how  to  throw 
*'  it  into  your  hands,  I  say  nothing  about  the  man- 
*'  ner  of  drawing  your  lots,  but  would  have  you  only 
*'  believe,  that  there  is  nothing  done  in  it  by  my  col- 
"  league  without  my  privity.  Pray  recollect  what  fol- 
"  lowed,  how  quickly  I  assembled  the  senate  after 
*'  your  allotment,  how  much  I  said  in  favour  of  you, 
"  when  you  yourself  told  me,  that  my  speech  was  not 
"  only  honourable  to  you,  but  even  injurious  to  your 
*'  colleagues.  Then  as  to  the  decree  which  passed 
*'  that  day  in  the  senate,  it  is  drawn  in  such  a  strain^ 
"  that,  as  long  as  it  subsists,  my  good  offices  to  you  can 
*'  never  be  a  secret.  After  your  departure,  I  desire 
*'  you  also  to  recollect  wliat  I  did  for  you  in  the  se- 
*'  nate,  what  I  said  of  you  to  the  people,  v/hat  I  wrote 
*'  to  you'  myself;  and  when  you  have  laid  all  these 
"  things  together,  I  leave  it  to  you  to  judge,  whether 
*'  rat  your  last  coming  to  Rome  you  made  a  suitable 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  ^6i 


A.  Urb.  691.    Cic.  45.    Coss. — D.  Junius  Silanus.    L.  Lucinius  Murena. 


^'  return  to  them.  You  mention  a  reconciliation  be- 
"  tween  us,  but  I  do  not  comprehend  how  a  friend- 
"  ship  can  be  said  to  be  reconciled,  which  was  never 
^'  interrupted.  As  to  what  you  write,  that  your  bro- 
*'  ther  ought  not  to  have  been  treated  by  me  so  rough- 
•*'  ly  for  a  word  :  In  the  first  place,  I  beg  of  you  to  be- 
"  lieve,  that  I  am  exceedingly  pleased  with  that  affec- 
"  tionate  and  fraternal  disposition  of  yours,  so  full  of 
'"  humanity  and  piety ;  and,  in  the  second,  to  forgive 
"  me,  if  in  any  case  I  have  acted  against  your  brotlier, 
**  for  the  service  of  the  republic,  to  which  no  man  can 
*'  be  a  warmer  friend  than  myself:  but  if  I  have  been 
"  acting  only  on  the  defensive,  against  his  most  cruel 
"  attacks,  you  may  think  yourself  well  used,  that  I 
"  have  never  yet  troubled  you  with  any  complaints  a- 
^'  gainst  him.  As  soon  as  I  found  that  he  was  pre- 
**  paring  to  turn  tCke  whole  force  of  his  tribunate  to 
*'  my  destruction,  I  applied  myself  to  your  wife  Clau- 
"  dia,  and  your  sister  Mucia,  v/hose  zeal  for  my  ser- 
*'  vice  I  had  often  experienced,  on  the  account  of  my 
"  familiarity  with  Pompey,  to  dissuade  him  from  that 
"  outrage":  but  he,  as  I  am  sure  you  have  heard,  on 
•**  the  last  day  of  the  year,  put  such  an  affront  upon 
^'  me,  when  consul,  and  after  having  saved  the  state, 
"  as  had  never  been  offered  to  any  magistrate,  the 
"  most  traitorously  affected,  by  depriving  me  of  the 
"  liberty  of  speaking  to  the  people  upon  laying  down 
"  my  office.  But  his  insult  turned  only  to  my  great- 
■"  er  honour :  for  when  he  would  not  suffer  me  to  do 
■"  apy  thbvr  more  than  swear,  I  swore  v/ith  a  loud 

a.  4 


The   life   of  Sect.  IV, 


A.  Urb.  &91.     Cic.  45.     Coss. — D.  Junius  Silauus.     L.  Luciuius  Murena. 

"  voice  the  vtruest,  as  well  as  the  noblest  of  all  oaths : 
"  while  the  people,  with  acclamations,  swore  likewise 
■'  that  my  oath  was  true.  After  so  signal  an  injury, 
"  I  sent  to  him  the  very  same  day  some  of  our  com- 
*'  mon  friends,  to  press  him  to  desist  from  his  resolu- 
"  tion  of  pursuing  me  ;  but  his  answer  was,  that  it  was 
"  not  then  in  his  power  :  for  he  had  said  a  few  days 
"  before,  in  a  speech  to  the  people,  that  be  who  had 
"  punished  others  without  a  hearings  ought  not  to  be 
**  suffered  to  speak  for  himself.  Worthy  patriot,  and 
"  excellent  citizen  !  to  adjudge  the  man  who  had  pre- 
"  served  the  senate  from  a  massacre,  the  city  from  fire, 
"  and  Italy  from  a  war,  to  the  same  punishment  which 
*'  the  senate,  with  the  consent  of  all  honest  men,  had 
"  inflicted  on  the  authors  of  those  horrid  attempts.  I 
"  withstood  your  brother  therefore  to  his  face,  and,  on 
"  the  first  of  January,  in  a  debate  upon  tlie  republic, 
"  tiandled  him  in  such  a  manner,  as  to  make  liim  sen- 
"  sible,  that  he  had  to  do  with  a  man  of  courage  and 
"  constancy.  Two  days  after,  when  he  begaji  again 
**  to  harangue,  in  every  three  w^ords  he  named  and 
"  threatened  me :  nor  had  he  any  thing  so  much  at 
**  heart  as  to  effect  my  ruin  at  any  rate,  not  by  tlie 
^'  legal  way  of  trial,  or  judicial  proceeding,  but  by  dint 
"  of  force  and  violence.  If  I  had  not  resisted  his  rash- 
"  ness  with  firmness  and  courage,  who  would  not  have 
"  thought  that  the  vigour  of  my  consulship  had  been 
"  owing  to  chance,  rather  than  to  virtue  ?  If  you  have 
^'  not  been  informed  that  your  brother  attempted  all 
**  this  against  me,  be  assured  that  he  concealed  from 
**  you  the  most  material  part :  but  if  he  told  you  any 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  263 

A.  Urb.  691.    Cic.  45.    Coss. — D.  Junius  Silanus.    L.  Lucinius  Murena. 

*'  thing  of  it,  yoQ  ought  to  commend  my  temper  and 
*'  patience,  for  not  expostulating  with  you  about  it : 
"  but  since  you  must  now  be  sensible  that  my  quar- 
"  rel  with  your  brother  was  not,  as  you  write,  for  a  word, 
"  but  a  most  determined  and  spiteful  design  to  ruin 
*'  me,  pray  observe  my  humanity,  if  it  may  be  called 
"  by  that  name,  and  is  not  rather,  after  so  flagrant  an 
"  outrage,  a  bas'"  remissness  and  abjection  of  mind.  I 
"  never  proposed  any  thing  against  your  brother,  when 
*'  there  was  any  question  about  him  in  the  senate ; 
*'  but,  without  rising  from  my  seat,  assented  always  to 
"  those  who  were  for  treating  him  the  most  favour- 
"  ably.  I  will  add  farther,  what  I  ought  not  indeed 
"  to  have  been  concerned  about,  yet  I  was  not  dis- 
"  pleased  to  see  it  done,  and  even  assisted  to  get  it 
"  done  ;  I  mean,  the  procuring  a  decree  for  the  relief 
"  of  my  enemy,  because  he  was  your  brother.  I 
*'  did  not  therefore  attack  your  brother,  but  defend 
"  myself  only  against  him ;  nor  has  my  friendship  to 
"  you  ever  been  variable,  as  you  write,  but  firm  and 
"  constant,  so  as  to  remain  still  the  same,  when  it  was 
"  even  deserted  and  slighted  by  you.  And  at  this 
*■  very  time,  when  you  almost  threaten  me  in  your 
"  letter,  I  give  you  ttiis  answer,  that  I  not  only  for- 
"  give,  but  highly  applaud  your  grief;  for  I  know, 
"  from  what  I  feel  within  myself,  how  great  the  force 
"  is  of  fraternal  love  :  but  I  beg  of  you  also  to  judge 
"  with  the  same  equity  of  my  cause ;  and  if,  without 
*'  any  ground,  I  have  been  cruelly  and  barbarously 
"  attacked  by  your  friends,  to  allow  that  I  ought  not 
*'  only  net  to  yield  to  them,  but  on  sucli  an  occasion 


z64  Tnt  LIFE  of  Sect.  IV. 

A.  UrD.  691.    Cic.  45.    Coss. — D.  Junius  Silanus.    L.  Lucinius  Murena.     , 

*'  to  expect  the  help  even  of  you  and  your  army  also 
**  against  them.  I  was  always  desirous  to  have  you 
"  for  my  friend,  and  have  taken  pains  to  convince  you 
"  how  sincerely  I  am  yours :  I  am  still  of  the  same 
"  mind,  and  shall  continue  in  it  as  long  as  you  please  ; 
*'  and,  for  the  love  of  you,  will  sooner  cease  to  hate 
"  your  brother,  than,  out  of  resentment  to  him,  give 
"  any  shock  to  the  friendship  which  subsists  between 
*'  us.     Adieu  *  " 

Cicero,  upon  the  expiration  of  his  consulship,  took 
care  to  send  a  particular  account  of  his  whole  admini- 
stration to  Pompey,  in  hopes  to  prevent  any  wrong 
impression  there  from  the  calumnies  of  his  enemies, 
and  to  draw  from  him  some  public  declaration  in  praise 
of  what  he  had  been  doing.  But  Pompey,  being  in- 
formed by  Metellus  Cassar  of  the  ill  humour  which 
was  rising  against  Cicero  in  Rome,  answered  him  with 
great  coldness,  and,  instead  of  paying  him  any  com- 
pliment, took  no  notice  at  all  of  what  had  passed  in 
the  affair  of  Catiline  :  upon  which  Cicero  expostulates 
with  him  in  the  following  letter  V\dth  some  little  re- 
sentment, yet  so,  as  not  to  irritate  a  man  of  the  first 
authority  in  the  republic,  and  to  whom  all  parties 
were  forwardly  paying  their  court. 

M.  T.  Cicero  to  Cn.  Pompeius  the  Great,  Emperor  f . 

"  I  had  an  incredible  pleasure,  in  common  v^ith  all 
*'  people,  from  the  public  letter  which  you  sent :  for 

*   Epist.  fam.  5.  2. 

j-  'j'lie  word  E//>/>eror  signified   nothing  more  in  its  original  use, 
thaa  tVie  ger.eral  or  diief  ccininy,nder  of  the  array  :   [Cic.  dc  Orat. 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  265 

A.  Urb.  691.    Cic.  45.    Coss.— D.  Junius  Silanus.    L.  I^icinius  Muren?. 

"  you  gave  us  in  it  that  assurance  of  peace,  which, 
"  from  my  confidence  in  you  alone,  I  had  always  been 
"  promising.  I  must  tell  you,  however,  that  your  old 
"  enemies,  but  new  friends,  are  extremely  shocked 
"  and  disappointed  at  it.  As  to  the  particular  letter 
*'  which  you  sent  to  me,  though  it  brought  me  so 
"  slight  an  intimation  of  your  friendship,  yet  it  was 
"  very  agreeable :  for  nothing  is  apt  to  give  me  so 
*'  much  satisfaction  as  the  consciousness  of  my  ser- 
^*  vices  to  my  friends ;  and  if  at  any  time  they  are  not 
"  requited  as  they  ought  to  be,  I  am  always  content 
*'  that  the  balance  of  the  account  should  rest  on  my 
"  my  side.  I  make  no  doubt,  however,  but  that,  if 
"  the  distinguished  zeal  which  I  have  alvv'ays  shewn 
"  for  your  interests,  has  not  yet  sufficiently  recom- 
"  mended  me  to  you,  the  pubhc  interest  at  least  will 
*'  conciliate  and  unite  us.  But  that  you  may  not  be 
"  at  a  loss  to  know  what  it  was  which  I  exnected  to 


I,  48.]  in  wliicli  Gense  it  belonged  equally  to  all  who  had  slipre-ine 
command  in  any  part  of  the  empire,  and  was  never  used  as  a  pecu- 
liar title.  But  after  a  victory,  in  which  considerable  advantage 
was  gained,  and  great  numbers  of  the  enemy  slain,  the  Soldjers,  by 
an  universal  acclamation,  used  to  salute  their  general  in  the  field 
with  the  appellation  of  E>nperor^  ascribing,  as  it  were,  the  sole  me- 
rit of  the  action  to  his  auspices  and  conduct.  This  became  a  title 
of  honour,  of  which  all  commanders  were  proud,  as  being  the  ef- 
fect of  success  and  victory,  and  won  by  their  proper  valour  j  and 
it  Vv'as  always  the  first  and  necessary  step  towards  a  triumph.  Oa 
these  occasions,  therefore,  the  title  of  Emperor  was  constantly  as- 
sumed and  given  to  generals  in  all  acts  and  letters,  both  public  and 
private,  but  was  enjoyed  by  them  no  longer  than  the  commission 
lastea,  by  v^hich  they  had  obtained  it  j  that  is,  to  the  time  of  their 
return  and  entrance  into  the  city,  from  which  moment  their  com- 
mand and  title  expired  together  of  course,  and  they  resumed  their 
civil  pharacter,  and  became  private  citizens. 


-^66  The  LIFE    of  Sect.  IV. 

A.  Urb.  691.    Cic,  45.    Coss. — D.  Junius  Silanus.    L.  Licinius  Murena. 

"  find  in  your  letter,  I  will  tell  it  you  frankly,  as  my 
"  own  nature  and  our  friendship  require.  I  expected, 
"  out  of  regard  both  to  the  republic,  and  to  our  fami- 
"  liarity,  to  have  had  some  compliment  or  congratula- 
"  tion  from  you,  on  what  I  lately  acted  in  my  consul- 
"  ship,  which  you  omitted,  I  imagine,  for  fear  of  giv- 
"  ing  offence  to  certain  persons :  but  I  would  have 
"  you  to  know,  that  the  things  which  I  have  been  do- 
"  ing  for  the  safety  of  my  country,  are  applauded  by 
*'  the  testimony  and  judgment  of  the  whole  earth ; 
"  and  when  you  come  amongst  us,  you  will  find  them 
"  done  with  so  much  prudence  and  greatness  of  mind, 
"  that  you,  who  are  much  superior  to  Scipio,  will  ad- 
"  mit  me,  who  am  not  much  inferior  to  Lsehus,  to  a 
"  share  both  of  your  public  councils  and  private  friend- 
"  ship.     Adieu  *.-" 

Soon  after  Catiline's  defeat,  a  fresh  inquiry  was  set 
on  foot  at  Rome  against  the  rest  of  his  accompHces, 
upon  the  information  of  one  L.  Vettius,  who,  among 
others,  impeached  J.  Caesar  before  Novius  Niger  the 
quaestor,  as(^Curius  also  did  in  the  senate,  where, 
for  the  secret  intelligence  which  he  had  given  very 
early  to  Cicero,  he  claimed  the  reward  which  had  been 
offered  to  the  first  discoverer  of  the  plot.  He  affirm- 
ed, that  what  he  had  deposed  against  Caesar  was  told 
to  him  by  Catiline  himself;  and  Vettius  offered  to 
produce  a  letter  to  Catiline  in  Caesar's  own  hand.  Cae- 
sar found  some  difficulty  to  repel  so  bold  an  accusa^ 
tion,  and  was  forced  to  implore  the  aid  and  testimony 

tm-.  « ■     J  II  I  ■         [  1. 

*  Epist.  fam.  5.  7. 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  ^tS? 


A.  Urb.  691.     Cic.  45.    Coss. — D.  Junius  Silanus.    L.  Licinius  Murena. 


of  Cicero  to  prove  that  he  also  had  given  early  informal 
tion  of  Catiline's  designs :  but,  by  his  vigour  and  inte- 
rest in  the  city,  he  obtained  a  full  revenge  at  last  up- 
on his  accusers ;  for  he  deprived  Curius  of  the  reward, 
and  got  Vettius  committed  to  prison,  after  he  had 
been  miserably  handled,  and  almost  killed  by  the  mob ; 
nor  content  with  this,  he  imprisoned  the  qoicestor  No- 
vius  too,  for  suffering  a  superior  magistrate  to  be  ar- 
raigned before  him  *. 

Several  others,,  however,  of  considerable  rank  were 
found  guilty,  and  banished,  some  of  them  not  appear- 
ing to  their  citation,  others  after  a  trial ;  viz.  M.  Por- 
cius  Lecca,  C.  Cornelius,  L.  Vargunteius,  Ser\'iu3  Syl- 
la,  and  P.  Autronius,  8tc.  The  last  of  these,  who 
lost  the  consulship  four  years  before,  upon  a  convic- 
tion of  bribery,  had  been  Cicero's  school-fellow  and 
colleague  in  the  quasstorship,  and  sohcited  him  with 
many  tears  to  undertake  his  defence  :  but  Cicero  not 
only  refused  to  defend  him,  but,  from  the  knowledge 
of  his  guilt,  appeared  as  a  witness  against  him  f . 

P.  Sylla  also,  Autronius's  partner  and  fellow-suffer- 
er in  the  cause  of  bribery,  was  now  tried  for  conspir- 
ing twice  with  Catiline ;  once,  when  the  plot  proved 
abortive,  soon  after  his  former  trial ;  and  a  second  time 

*  Cum  implorato  Ciceronis  testimonio,  qutcdam  se  de  conjura- 
tlone  ultro  detulisse  docuisset,  me  Curio  prccmia  darentur,  eflecit : 
Vettium — pro  rostrls  in  concione  pa?ne  discerptum,  in  carcerem 
conjecit.  Eodem  Novium  qucestorem,  quod  compellari  apud  se  ma- 
jorem  potestatem  passus  esset.     Sueton.  Jul.  Cses.  17. 

f  Veniebat  ad  me,  et  saepe  veniebat  Autronius  multis  cum  la- 
chrymis,  supplex,  ut  se  defenderem  :  se  meum  condiscipulum  in 
pueritia,  familiarem  in  adolescentia,  ccUegam  in  quurstura  comme- 
morabat  fuisse.     Pro  Sylla,  6.  30. 


168  The  LIFE   of  Sect.  IV. 

A.  Urb.  691.     Cic.  45.    Coss. — D,  Junius  Silanus.    I..  Licinius  Murena,] 

in  Cicero's  consulship :  he  was  defended  in  the  first 
by  Hortensius,  in  the  last  by  Cicero.  The  prosecu- 
cutor  was  Torquatus,  the  son  of  his  former  accuser,  a 
young  nobleman  of  great  parts  and  spirit,  who,  ambi- 
tious of  the  triumph  of  ruining  an  enemy,  and  fearing 
that  Cicero  would  snatch  it  from  him,  turned  his  rail- 
lery against  Cicero  instead  of  Sylla ;  and,  to  take  off 
the  influence  of  his  authority,  treated  his  character 
with  great  petulence,  and  employed  every  topic  which 
could  raise  an  odium  and  envy  upon  him :  he  called 
him  "  a  king,  who  assumed  a  power  to  save  or  de- 
"  stroy,  just  as  he  thought  fit  ^"  said,  "  that  he  was 
"  the  third  foreign  king  who  had  reigned  in  Rome  af> 
*'  ter  Numa  and  Tarquinius ;"  and  "  that  Sylla  would 
"  have  run  away,  and  never  stood  a  trial,  if  he  had 
"  not  undertaken  his  cause :"  whenever  he  mention- 
ed "  the  plot,  and  the  danger  of  it,  it  Was  with  so  low 
*'  and  feeble  a  voice,  that  none  but  the  judges  could 
"  hear  him ;"  but  when  he  spoke  "  of  the  prison,  and 
"  the  death  of  the  conspirators,  he  uttered  it  in  so  loud 
"  and  lamentable  a  strain,  as  to  make  the  whole  fo- 
"  rum  ring  with  it  *.'* 

Cicero,  therefore,  in  his  reply,  was  put  to  the  trou- 
ble of  defending  himself,  as  well  as  his  client.  "  As 
"  to  Torquatus's  calling  him  a  foreigner,  on  the  ac- 
"  count  of  his  being  bom  in  one  of  the  corporate  towns 
"  of  Italy,  he  owns  it ;  and  in  that  town,"  he  says, 
•'  whence  the  republic  had  been  twice  preserved  from 
"  ruin ;  and  was  glad  that  he  had  nothing  to  reproach 

*  Pro  Sylla,  7.  10.^ 


Sect.  I V.  CICERO.  269 

A.  Urb.  691.    Cic.  45      Coss. — D.  Junius  Silanus.    L.  Licinius  Murena. 

*'  him  with,  but  what  affected,  not  only  the  greatest 
"  part,  but  the  greatest  men  of  the  city,  Curius,  Co- 
"  runcanius,Cato,Marius,&c.;  but  since  he  had  a  mind 
"  to  be  witty,  and  would  needs  make  him  a  foreigner, 
"  why  did  not  he  call  him  a  foreign  consul,  rather 
*'  than  a  king ;  for  that  would  have  been  much  more 
"  wonderful,  since  foreigners  had  been  kings,  but  ne- 
"  ver  consuls  of  Rome.  He  admonishes  him,  who  w^as 
"  now  in  the  course  of  his  preferment,  not  to  be  so 
"  free  of  giving  that  title  to  citizens,  lest  he  should 
"  one  day  feel  the  resentment  and  power  of  such  fo- 
*'  reigners :  that  if  the  Patricians  were  so  proud,  as  to 
"  treat  him  and  the  judges  upon  the  bench  as  foreign- 
"  ers,  yet  Torquatus  had  no  right  to  do  it,  whose  mo-^ 
"  ther  was  of  Asculum  *.  Do  not  call  me  then  fo- 
"  reigner  any  more,"  says  he,  "  lest  it  turn  upon 
"  yourself;  nor  a  king,  lest  you  be  laughed  at,  unless 
*'  you  think  it  kingly  to  live  so  as  not  to  be  a  slave, 
"  not  only  to  any  m.an,  but  even  to  any  appetite ;  to 
"  contemn  all  sensual  pleasures ;  to  covet  no  maa's 
"  gold  or  silver,  or  any  thing  else ;  to  speak  one's 
"  mind  freely  in  the  senate ;  to  consult  the  good,  ra- 
"  ther  than  the  humour  of  the  people ;  to  give  wav 
"  to  none,  but  to  withstand  many  :  If  you  take  this  to 
*'-  be  kingly,  I  confess  myself  a  king :  but  if  the  inso- 
"  lence  of  my  power,  if  my  dominion,  if  any  proud  or 
*'  arrogant  saying  of  mine  provokes  you,  why  do  not 
"  you  urge  me  with  that,  rather  than  the  envy  of  a 
"  name,  and  the  contumely  of  a  groundless  caluninv?'^ 


*  Pic  SvUa,  7,  8, 


17^  ^HE    LIFE    OF  Sect.  IV. 

A.  Urb.  691.    Cic.  45.    Coss. — D.  Junius  Silanus.    L.  I^icinius  Murena. 

— He  proceeds  to  shev/,  "  that  his  kingdom,  if  it  must 
"  be  called  so,  was  of  so  laborious  a  kind,  that  there 
"  was  not  a  man  in  Rome  who  would  be  content  to 
"  take  his  place  "*."  He  puts  him  in  mind,  "  that  he 
"  was  disposed  to  indulge  and  bear  with  his  pertness, 
"  out  of  regard  to  his  youth,  and  to  his  father — 
"  though  no  man  had  ever  thrown  the  slightest  asper- 
"  sion  upon  him,  without  being  chastised  for  it — but 
'*  that  he  had  no  mind  to  fall  upon  one  whom  he 
*'  could  so  easily  vanquish,  who  had  neither  strength, 
*'  nor  age,  nor  experience  enough  for  him  to  contend 
"  with :  he  advised  him,  however,  not  to  abuse  his 
"  patience  much  longer,  lest  he  should  be  tempted 
"  at  last  to  draw  out  the  stings  of  his  speech  against 
"  him  f ."  As  to  the  merits  of  the  cause,  though 
there  was  no  positive  proof,  yet  there  were  many 
strong  presumptions  against  Sylla,  with  which  his  ad- 
versary hoped  to  oppress  him  :  but  Cicero  endeavour- 
ed to  cotifute  them,  by  appealing  "  to  the  tenor  and 
*'  character  of  his  life ;  protesting,  in  the  strongest 
"  terms,  that  he  who  had  been  the  searcher  and  dc- 
*'  tector  of  the  plot,  and  had  taken  such  pains  to  get 
"  intelligence  of  the  whole  extent  of  it,  had  never 
*'  met  with  the  least  hint  or  suspicion  of  Sylla's  name 
"  in  it,  and  that  he  had  no  other  motive  for  defend- 
"  ing  him,  but  a  pure  regard  to  justice ;  and  as  he 
"  had  refused  to  defend  others,  nay,  had  given  evi- 
"  dence  against  them,  from  the  knowledge  of  their 
*<  guilt,  so  he  had  undertaken  Sylla's  defence,  through 

*   Pro  Sylla,  9.  f  Ibid.  16. 


Dect:  IV.  CICERO.  271 

A.  Urb.  691.    Cic.  45.     Coss D.  Junius  Silanus.    L.  Licinius  Murena. 

"  a  persuasion  of  his  innocence  *."  Torquatus,  for 
want  of  direct  proof,  threatened  to  examine  Sylla's 
slaves  by  torture  :  this  was  sometimes  practised  upon 
the  demand  of  the  prosecutor ;  but  Cicero  observes 
upon  it,  "  that  the  effect  of  those  torments  was  go- 
"  verned  always  by  the  constitution  of  the  patient, 
"  and  the  firmness  of  his  mind  and  body ;  by  the  will 
•'  and  pleasure  of  the  torturer,  and  the  hopes  and  fears 
"  of  the  tortured ;  and  that,  in  the  moments  of  so 
"  much  anguish,  there  could  be  no  room  for  truth  : 
"  he  bids  them  put  Sylla's  life  to  the  rack,  and  exa- 
"  mine  that  with  rigour,  whether  there  was  any  hid- 
"  den  lust,  any  latent  treason,  any  cruelty,  any  auda- 
"  ciousness  in  it :  that  there  could  be  no  mistake  in 
"  the  cause,  if  the  voice  of  his  perpetual  life,  which 
*'  ought  to  be  of  the  greatest  weight,  was  but  attend- 
*'  ed  to  f ."  Sylla  was  acquitted,  but  Cicero  had  no 
great  joy  fromhis  victory,  or  comfort  in  preserving 
such  a  citizen,  who  lived  afterwards  in  great  confi- 
dence with  Caesar,  and  commanded  his  right  wing  in 
the  battle  of  Pharsalia  J,  and  served  him  afterwards 
in  his  power,  as  he  had  before  served  his  kinsman  Syl- 
la, in  managing  his  confiscations,  and  the  sale  of  the 
forfeited  estates. 

About  the  time  of  tliis  trial,  Cicero  bought  a  house 
of  M.  Crassus,  oh  the  Palatine  hill,  adjoining  to  tliat 
in  which  he  had  always  lived  with  his  fither,  and 
which  he  is  now  supposed  to  have  given  up  to  his  bro- 
ther Qaintus.     The  house  cost  him  near  tliirty  thou- 

*   Pro  Sylla,  30.  f  Ibid.^  28. 

t  Vid.  Caes.  comment,  de  bello  civili. 

Vol.  I.  S 


172  The   LIFE  of  Sect.  IV. 

A.  Urb.  691.    Cic.  45.    C0S8.....D.  Junius  Silanus.    L.  Licinius  Murena. 

sand  pounds,  and  seems  to  have  been  one  of  the  no- 
blest in  Rome  ;  it  was  built  abont  thirty  years  before 
by  the  famous  tribune,  M.  Livius  Drusus^ ;  on  which 
occasion  we  are  told,  that  when  the  architect  promised 
to  build  it  for  him  in  such  a  manner,  that  none  of  his 
neighbours  should  overlook  him:  "  But  if  you  have  any 
"  skill,"  replied  Drusus,  "  contrive  it  rather  so,  that 
"  all  the  world  may  see  what  I  am  doing  *."  It  was 
situated  in  the  most  conspicuous  part  of  the  city,  near 
to  the  centre  of  all  business,  overlooking  the  forum 
and  the  rostra ;  and,  what  made  it  the  more  splendid, 
was  its  being  joined  to  a  portico  or  colonnade,  called 
by  the  name  of  Catulus ;  who  built  it  out  of  the  Cim- 
bric  spoils,  on  that  area  where  Flaccus  formerly  lived, 
w^hose  house  was  demolished  by  public  authority  for 
his  seditious  practices  with  C.  Gracchus  f .  In  this 
purchase  he  followed  the  rule  which  he  recommends 
in  his  offices,  with  regard  to  the  habitation  of  a  prin- 
cipal citizen ;  that  his  dignity  shouM  be  adorned  by 
liis  house,  but  not  derived  from  it  | :  where  he  men- 
tions several  instances  of  great  men,  who,  by  the  splen- 
dour of  their  houses  on  this  very  hrll,  which  were  con- 
^  tantly  striking  the  eyes  of  the  people,  and  imprinting 


*  Cum  promitttiet  ei  architectus,  ita  se  Gedificaturum,  ut  libera 
a  conspectLi,  Immunis  ab  omnibus  arbitris  esset — Tu  vero,  inquit, 
si  quid  in  te  artis  est,  ita  eompone  domum  meam,  ut  quicquid  agam. 
ab  omnibus  perspici  possit.     Veil.  P.  2.  1 4.      Ep.  fam.  5.  6. 

f  M.  Flaccus,  quia  cum  Graceho  contra  Reipub.  salutem  fece- 
rat,  et  Senatus  sententia  est  interfectus,  et  domus  ejus  eversa  est  : 
in  qua  porticum  post  aliquanto  Q^  Catulus  de  manubiis  Cimbricis 
fecit.     Pr.  dom.  38. 

X  Ornanda  est  cnim  dignitas  domo,  non  ex  dorao  tola  quserenda. 
De  Oaic.  I.  :^9- 


SfecT.  IV.  CICERO.  ^73 

'A.  Urb.  691.    Cic.  45.    Coss. — D.  Junius  Sihnus.    L.  Licinius  Murena. 

a  notion  of  their  magnificence,  made  their  way  the 
more  easily  to  the  highest  honours  of  the  republic. 

A.  Gellius  tells  us,  that  having  resolved  to  buy  the 
house,  and  wanting  money  to  pay  for  it,  he  borrowed 
it  privately  of  his  cHent  Sylla,  when  he  was  under 
prosecution  ;  but  the  story  taking  wind,  and  being 
charged  upon  him,  he  denied  both  the  borrowing  and 
design  of  purchasing,  yet  soon  after  bought  the  house  ; 
and  when  he  was  reproached  with  the  denial  of  it, 
replied  only  laughing,  that  they  must  be  fools  to  ima- 
gine, that  when  he  had  resolved  to  buy,  he  would 
raise  competitors  of  the  purchase  by  proclaiming  it  *. 

The  story  was  taken  probably  from  some  of  the 
spurious  collections  of  Cicero's  jests  ;  which  were 
handed  about  not  only  after  his  death,  but  even  in 
his  life-time,  as  he  often  complains  to  his  friends  f ; 
for  it  is  certain  that  there  could  be  nothing  disho- 
nourable in  the  purchase,  since  it  was  transacted  so 
publicly,  that,  before  it  was  even  concluded,  one  of 
his  friends  congratulated  him  upon  it  by  letter  from 
Macedonia  f .  The  truth  is,  and  what  he  himself  doth 
not  dissem.ble,  that  he  borrowed  part  of  the  money  to 
pay  for  it,  at  six  per  cent. ;  and  says  merrily  upon  it, 


*  A.  Gellius,  12.  12. 

f  Ais  enim,  ut  ego  dlscesserlm  omnia  omnium  dicta,  in  his  e- 
tiam  Sestlana  in  me  conferri.  Quid  ?  tu  id  pateris  ?  nonne  defen- 
dis  ?  nonne  resistls  ?   &c.  Ep.  fam.  7.  32. 

Sic  audio  Csesarem  ■  "  si  quod  afferatur  ad  cum  pro  meo,  quod 
meum  non  est,  rejicere  solere.     Ibid.  9.  16. 

X  Quod  ad  me  pridem  scripseras,  velle  te  bene  evenire,  quod  de 
Crasso  domura  emeram — Emi  cam  ipsam  domum  H.  S.  xxxv.  all- 
quanto  post  tuara  gratulationcm.     Ep.  fam,  5.  6, 

S2 


274  The  LIFE  of  SzeT.  IV. 

A.  Urb.  691.    Cic.  45.     Coss. — D.  Junius  Silanus.    L.  Licinius  Murena. 

*'  that  he  was  now  so  plunged  in  debt,  as  to  be  ready 
"  for  a  plot,  but  that  the  conspirators  would  not  trust 
"  him  *."  It  raised,  indeed,  some  censure  upon  his 
vanity,,  for  purchasing  so  expensive  a  house  with  bor- 
rowed money  :  but  Messaky  the  consul,  happening 
soon  after  to  buy  Autronius's  house  at  a  greater  price, 
and  with  borrowed  money  too,  it  gave  him  some  plea- 
sure, that  he  could  justify  himself  by  the  example  of 
so  worthy  a  magistrate  :  "  By  Messala's  purchase," 
says  he,  "  I  am  thought  to  have  made  a  good  bar- 
"  gain ;  and  men  begin  to  be  convinced  that  we  may 
"  use  the  wealth  of  our  friends,  in  buying  what  con- 
"  tributes  to  our  dignity  f ," 

But  the  most  remarkable  event  which  happened  in 
the  end.  of  this  year,  was  the  pollution  of  the  myste- 
ries of  the  Bona  Dea,  or  tht  good  goddess,  by  P.  Clo- 
dius ;  which,  by  an  unhappy  train  of  consequences^ 
not  only  involved  Cicero  in  an  unexpected  calamity, 
but  seems  to  have  given  the  first  blow  towards  the 
ruin  of  the  republic.  Clodius  was  now  quaestor,  and 
by  that  means  a  senator,  descended  from  the  noblest 
family  in  Rome,  in  the  vigour  of  his  age,  and  of  a  grace- 
ful person,  lively  wit,  and  flowing  eloquence;  but 
with  all  the  advantages  of  nature,  he  had  a  mind  in- 
credibly vicious ;  was  fierce,  insolent,  audacious,  but, 


*  Itaque  scito,  me  nunc  tantum  habere  aeris  alieni,  ut  cuplam 
conjurare,  si  quisquam  recipiat.  Sed  partim  me  excludunt,  &c. 
Ibid. 

f  Ea  emptione  et  nos  bene  emisse  judicati  sumus  •,  et  homines 
intelligere  coeperunt,  licere  amicorum  facultatibus  in  emendo  a(i 
dignitatem  aliquam  pervenire.     Ad  Att.  i.  13. 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO- 


275 


A.  Urb.  691.    Cic.  45.    Coss D.    unius  Silanus.    L.  Licinius  Murena. 


above  all,  most  profligately  wicked,  and  an  open  con- 
temner of  gods  and  men  ;  valuing  nothing  that  either 
nature  or  the  laws  allowed  ;  nothing,  but  in  propor- 
tion as  it  was  desperate,  and  above  the  reach  of  other 
men  ;  disdaining  even  honours  in  the  common  forms 
of  the  repubhc  ;  nor  relishing  pleasures,  but  what 
were  impious,  adulterous,  incestuous  *.  He  had  an 
intrigue  with  Caesars  w ife  Pompeia,  who,  according 
to  annual  custom,  was  now  celebrating  in  her  house 
those  awful  and  mystic  sacrifices  of  the  goddess,  to 
>vhich  no  male  creature  was  ever  admitted,  and  where 
every  thing  masculine  was^  so  scrupulously  excluded, 
that  even  pictures  of  that  sort  were  covered  during 
the  ceremony  f .  This  was  a  proper  scene  for  Clodius's 
genius  to  act  upon  ;  an  opportunity  of  daring,  beyond 
what  man  had  ever  dared  before  him  ;  the  thought  of 

f  Exorta  est  iUa  Reipub.  sacris,  -religionibus,  auctoritati  ves- 
trae,'  judlciis  publicis  funesta  quaestura  :  in  qua  idem  iste  decs  ho- 
minosque,  pudorgm,  pudicitiam,  senatus  auctoritatem,  jus,  fas,  le- 
ges, judicia  violcn/it,  &c.     De  Aruspic.  resp.  20. 

Qui  ita  judicia  pcenamque  contcmpserat,  ut  eum  nihil  d^Ieciavet, 
quod  aut  per  naturam  fas  esset,  aut  per  leges  liceret.'  Pro  Mil.  16. 

P.  Clodius,  homo  nobiiis,  disertus,  audax  ^  qui  ntqm  dicendi, 
neque  faciendi  ullum,  nisi  quern  vellet,  tiosset  modum  j  malorum 
propositorum  executor  acerrimus,  infamis  etiam  soioris  stupro  &c 
Veil.  Pat.  2.  45. 


* 


ubi  velari  pictura  jubetur, 


Qu^cunque  alterius  sexus  imitata  figuram  est. 

Juven.  6.  3^9. 
Quod  quidem  sacrificium  nemo   ante  P.  Clodium  in  omni  memoria 

violavit quod  fit  per  virgines  vestaies  •,  fit  pro  populo  Romano  , 

fit  in  ea  domo,  quae  est  in  imperio  5  fit  incredibili  ceremonia  j  fit 
€1  deae,  cujus  ne  nomen  quidem  viros  scire  fas  est.  D.  Harusp. 
respons.  17. 


s 


3 


276  The  life  of  Sect.  IV. 

A.  Urb.  691.    Cic.  45.  Coss. — D.  Junius  Silanus.    L.  Licinius  Murena. 

mixing  the  impurity  of  his  lusts  with  the  sanctity  of 
these  venerable  rites,  flattered  his  imagination  so  strong- 
ly, that  he  resolved  to  gain  access  to  his  mistress  in 
the  very  midst  of  her  holy  ministry.  With  this  view, 
he  dressed  himself  in  a  woman's  habit,  and,  by  the 
benefit  of  his  smooth  face,  and  the  introduction  of  one 
of  the  maids,  who  was  in  the  secret,  hoped  to  pass 
without  discovery;  but,  by  some  mistake  between 
him  and  his  guide,  he  lost  his  way  when  he  came 
within  the  house,  and  fell  in  unluckily  among  the  o- 
ther  female  servants,  who,  detecting  him  by  his  voice, 
alarmed  the  whole  company  by  their  shrieks,  to  the 
great  amazement  of  the  matrons,  who  presently  threw 
a  veil  over  the  sacred  mysteries,  while  Clodius  found 
means  to  escape  by  the  favour  of  some  of  the  damsels  *. 
The  story  was  presently  spread  abroad,  and  raised 
a  general  scandal  and  horror  through  the  whole  city  ; 
in  the  vulgar,  for  the  profanation  of  a  religion  held 
the  most  sacred  of  any  in  Rome ;  in  the  better  sort, 
for  its  offence  to  good  manners,  and  the  discipline  of 
the  republic.  Caesar  put  away  his  wife  upon  it ;  and 
the  honest  of  all  ranks  were  for  pushing  this  advantage 
against  Clodius  as  far  as  it  would  go,  in  hopes  to  free 
themselves  by  it  of  a  citizen,  who  by  this,  as  well  as 
other  specimens  of  his  audaciousness,  seemed  born  to 
create  much  disturbance  to  the  state  f .     It  had  been 


*  P.  Clodium,  Appii  filium,  credo  te  audisse  cum  veste  mulle- 
bri  deprehensum  dt)mi  C.  Caesaris,  cum  pro  populo  fieret,  eumque 
per  manus  sen'ula;  seryatum  et  eductum  j  rem  esse  insigni  infamia. 
Ad  Att.  I.  12. 

f  Videbam,  iliud  sqelus  tarn  importunum,  audaciam  tam  imma-, 

i?ein 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  277 


A.  Urb.  692.    Cic.  46.    Coss. — M.  Pupius  Piso.    M.  Valerius  Messala. 

the  constant  belief  of  the  populace,  that  if  any  man 
should  ever  pry  into  these  mysteries,  he  would  be  in- 
stantly struck  blind  :  But  it  was  not  possible,  as  Cice- 
ro says,  to  know  the  truth  of  it  before,  since  no  man, 
t)ut  Clodius,  had  ever  ventured  upon  the  experiment ; 
though  it  was  now  found,  as  he  tells  him,  that  the 
bhndncss  of  the  eyes  was  converted  to  that  of  the 
-mind  *. 

The  affair  was  soon  brought  before  tlie  senate  ; 
where  it  was  resolved  to  refer  it  to  the  college  of 
priests,  v/ho  declared  it  to  be  an  abominable  im.piety ; 
upon  which  the  consufls  were  ordered  to  provide  a  law 
for  bringing  Clodius  to  a  trial  for  it  before  the  peo- 
ple f .  But  Q^  Fusius  Calenus,  one  of  the  tribunes, 
•supported  by  all  the  Clodian  faction,  would  not  per- 
mit the  law  to  be  offered  to  the  suffrage  of  the  citi- 
zens. This  raised  a  great  ferment  in  the  city,  while 
the  senate  adhered  to  their  former  resolution,  though 


Tiem  adolescentis,  furentis,  nobilis,  vulne-rati,  tion  posse  arceri  otii 
finibus  :  erupturum  illud  malum  aliquando,  si  irapiuiitum  fuissct,  aJ 
perniciem  civitatis.     De  Harusp.  resp.  3.. 

*  Aut  quod  oculos,  ut  opinio  illius  religionis  est,  non  perdidisti. 
'Quis  enim  ante  te  sacra  ilia  vir  sciens  viderat,  -ut  quisquam  poenam., 
-quae  sequeretur  illud  scelus,  scire  posset  ?      Ibid.  18. 

Poena  omnis  oculorum  ad  CEecitatem  mentis  est  conversa.  Pro 
•dom.  40. 

f  Id  sacrificium  cum  Virgines  instaurassent,  mcntionem  a  Q^ 
Comificio  in  Senatu  factara — post  rem  ex  S.  C.  ad  Pontifices  rela- 
tam  j  idque  ab  eis  nefas  esse  decretum  :  deinde  ex  S.  C.  Consules 
xogationem  promulgasse  :  uxori  Ctesarem  nunclum  remisisse— In  hac 
■causa  Piso,  amicitia  P.  Clodii  ductus,  operam  dat.  ut  ea  rogatio— 
antiquetur,  &c.    Ad  Att.  i.  13. 

S4 


278  The   life   of  Sect.  IV-, 


A.  Urb.  692.     Cic.  46.     Coss M.  Pupius  Piso.    M.  Valerius  Messala. 


the  consul  Piso  used  all  his  endeavours  to  divert  them 
from  it,  and  Clodius,  in  an  abject  manner,  threw  him- 
self at  the  feet  of  every  senator  ;  yet,  after  a  second 
debate,  in  a  full  house,  there  were  fifteen  only  who. 
voted  on  Clodius's  side,"  and  four  hundred  directly  a- 
gainst  him ;  so  that  a  fresh  decree  passed,  to  order 
the  consuls  to  recommend  the  law  to  the  people  with 
all  their  authority,  and  that  no  other  business  should 
be  done,  till  it  was  carried  *  ;  but  this  being  likely  to 
iproduce  great  disorders,  Kortensius  proposed  an  ex- 
pedient, which  was  accepted  by  both  parties,  that  tlie 
tribune  Fusius  should  publish  a  law  for  the  trial  of 
Clodius  by  the  praetor,  with  a  select  bench  of  judges. 
The  only  difference  between  the  two  laws,  was,  whe- 
ther he  should  be  tried  by  the  people,  or  by  particu- 
lar judges ;  but  this,  says  Cicero,  was  every  thing. 
Hortensius  was  afraid,  lest  he  should  escape  in  the 
squabble,  without  any  trial ;  being  persuaded,  that  no 
judges  could  absolve  him,  and  that  a  sword  of  lead, 
as  he  said,  would  destroy  him  :  But  the  tribune  knew, 
that  in  such  a  trial  there  would  be  room  for  intrigue, 
both  in  choosing  and  corrupting  the  judges,  which 
Cicero  likewise  foresaw  from  the  first ;  and  wished, 
therefore,  to  leave  him  rather  to  the  effect  of  that  o- 


*  Senatus  vocatur  ;  cum  dccernerctur  frequenti  senatu  contra 
pugnante  Pisone,  ad  pedes  omnium  sigiilatim  accedente  Clodio,  ut 
consules  populum  cohoitarentur  ad  rogationem  accipiendam  •,  ho- 
mines ad  XV.  Curioni,  nullum  S.  C.  facienti,  assenserunt,  ex  altera 
parte  facile  cccc.  fuerunt  — Senatus  decernebat,  ut  ante  quam  ro- 
gatio  latn  esset,  no  quid  ageretur.     Ibid.  14. 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO. 


V^ 


A.  Urb.  692.    Cic.  46.    Coss M.  Pupius  Piso.    M.  Valerfus  Messah. 

dium,  in  which  his  character  then  lay,  than  brirtg  him 
to  a  trial  where  he  had  any  chance  to  escape  *. 

Clodius's  whole  defence  was,  to  prove  himself  ab- 
sent at  the  time  of  the  fact ;  for  which  purpose,  he 
produced  men  to  swear,  that  he  was  then  at  Inter- 
amna,  about  two  or  three  days  journey  from  the  city. 
But  Cicero,  being  called  upon  to  give  his  testimony, 
deposed,  that  Clodius  had  been  with  him  that  very 
morning  at  his  house  in  Rome  f .  As  soon  as  Cicero 
appeared  in  the  court,  the  Clodian  mob  began  to  in- 
sult him  with  great  rudeness, ;  but  the  judges  rose 
up,  and  received  him  with  such  respect,  that  they 
presently  secured  him  from  all  farther  affronts  J.  C«- 
sar,  vi^ho  was  the  most  particularly  interested  in  the 
affair,  being  summoned  also  to  give  evidence,  declar- 
ed, that  he  l^new  nothing  at  all  of  the  matter ;  though 
his  mother  Aurelia,  and  sister  JuHa,  who  v/ere  exa- 
mined before  him,  had  given  a  punctual  relation  of 
the  whole  fact ;  and  being  interrogated,  how  he  came 
then  to  part  with  his  wife  ?  He  rephed,  *'  That  all 
"  who  belonged  to  him  ought  to  be  free  from   suspi- 

^  *  Postea  yero  quam  Hortensius  excogitavit,  ut  legem  de  reli- 
gione^  Fusius  tribunus  pleb  ferret  j  in  qua  nihil  aliud  a  consular! 
rcgatione  differebat,  nisi  judicum  genus  (in  eo  autem  erant  omnia) 
jugnavitque  ut  ita  fieret  j  quod  et  sibi  et  aliis  persuaserat,  nullus 
ilium  judicibus  effugere  posse  ;  contraxi  vela,  perspiclens  inopiam 
judicum.— Hortensius— non  vidit  illud,  satius  esse  ilium  in  infamia 
et  sordibus  relinqui,  quam  infirmo  jadicio  committi.  Sed  ductus 
odio  properavit  rem  deducere  in  judicium,  cum  ilium  plumbeo  gla- 
dio  jugulatum  iri  tamen  diceret— A  me  tamen  ab  initio  consilium 
Hortensil   repreliendebatur.     Ad  Att.  i.  16. 

f  Plutarch,  in  Cic.  Val.  Max.  i.  5. 

X  Me  vero  teste  producto,  Credo  te— audisse,  qu«  consurrectio 
judicum  facta  sit,  ut  me  circumsteterint,  &c.     Ad  Att.  ibid. 


38o  The  LIFE  op  Sect.  IV. 

A.  Urb.  692.    Cic.  46.    Coss.....M.  Pupius  Piso.    M.  Valerius  Messala. 

"  cion,  as  well  as  guilt  *."  He  saw  very  well  how 
the  thing  was  like  to  turn,  and  had  no  mind  to  exas- 
perate a  man  of  Clodius's  character,  who  might  be  of 
good  service  to  him  for  the  advancement  of  his  future 
projects.  Plutarch  says,  that  Cicero  "  himself  was 
^'  urged  on  to  this  act  against  his  will,  by  the  impor- 
"  tunity  of  his  wife  ;  a  fierce  imperious  dame,  jealous 
*^  of  Clodius's  sister,  whom  she  suspected  of  some  de- 
"  sign  to  get  Cicero  from  her,  which,  by  this  step, 
"  she  hoped  to  make  desperate."  The  story  does 
not  seem  improbable  ;  for,  before  the  trial,  Cicero 
owns  himself  to  be  growing  every  day  more  cool  and 
indifferent  about  it ;  and  in  his  railleries  with  Clodius 
after  it,  touches  upon  the  forward  advances  which  his 
sister  had  made  towards  him ;  and  at  the  very  time  of 
giving  his  testimony,  did  it  with  no  spirit,  nor  said  any 
thing  more,  as  he  tells  us,  than  what  was  so  well  known, 
that  he  could  not  avoid  saying  it  f . 

The  judges  seemed  to  act  at  first  with  great  gravi- 
ty ;  granted  every  thing  that  was  asked  by  the  pro- 
secutors ;  and  demanded  a  guard  to  protect  them  from 
the  mob  :  which  the  senate  readily  ordered,  with  great 
commendation  of  their  prudence  :  but  when  it  came 

*  Negavit  se  quidquam  comperisse,  quamvis  et  mater  Aurelia, 
et  soror  Julia,  apud  eosdem  judices,  omnia  ex  fide  retulissent  :  in- 
terrogatusque,  cur  igitur  repudiasset  uxorem  ?  Quoniam,  inquit, 
meos  tam  suspicione  quam  crimine  judico  carere  oportere.  Suet. 
J.  Ctes.  74         . 

f  Nosmetipsi,  qui  Lycurgei  a  principio  fuissemus,  quotidie  de- 
ijiitigamur.     Ad  Att.  i.  13. 

Neque  dixi  tjuicquam  pro  testimonio,  nisi  quod  erat  ita  notum 
atque  testatum,  ut  non  possera  pra-terire.     Ibid.  16. 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  aSr 


A.Urb.  692.    Cic.  46.    Coss M.  Pupius  Piso.    M.  Valerius  Messala. 


to  the  issue,  twenty-five  only  condemned,  while  thk- 
ty-one  absolved  him.     Grassus  is  said  to  have  been 
Clodius's  chief  manager,  in  tampering  with  the  judges; 
employing  every  art  and  instrument  of  corruption,  as 
it  suited  the  different  tempers  of  the  men  ;  "  and  where 
"  money  would  not  do,  offering  even  certain  ladies 
"  and  young  men  of  quality  to  their  pleasure.    Cicero 
"  says,  that  a  more  scandalous  company  of  sharpers 
"  never  sat  down  at  a  gaming-table  :  infamous  sena- 
"  tors,  beggarly  knights,  with  a  few  honest  men  a- 
"  mong  them,  whom  Clodius  could  not  exclude  ;  who, 
"  in  a  crew  so  unlike  to  themselves,  sat  with  sad  and 
"  mournful  faces,  as  if  afraid  of  being  infected  with 
"  the  contagion  of  their  infamy ;  and  that  Catulus, 
"  meeting  one  of  them,  asked  him,  what  they  meant 
"  by  desiring  a  guard  ?  were  they  afraid  of  being  rob- 
**  bed  of  the  money  which  Clodius  had  given  them  *." 
This  transaction  however  gave  a  very  serious  con- 
cern to  Cicero,  who  laments,  "  that  the  firm  and  quiet 
*'  state  of  the  repubhc,  which  he  had  established  in  his 
"  consulship,  and  which  seemed  to  be  founded  in  the 

*  Nosti  Calvum — biduo  per  unum  servum,  et  eum  ex  gladiatorio 
ludo,  confecit  totum  negotium.  Arcessivit  ad  se,  promisit,  inter- 
cessit,  dedit.  Jam  vero  (O  Diiboni,  rem  perditam  !)  etiam  noctes 
certarum  mullerum,  atque  adolescentulorum  nobilium  introductiones 
nonnuUis  judicibus  pro  mercedis  cumulo  fuerunt — xxv  judices  ita 
fortes  fuerunt,  ut  summo  proposlto  perlculo  vel  perire  maluerint, 
quam  perdere  omnia. — xxxi  fuerunt,  quos  fames  magis  quam  fama 
commoverit.  Quorum  Catulus  cum  vidisset  quendam  :  Quid  vos, 
inquit,  presidium  a  nobis  postulabatis  ?  an,  ne  nummi  vobis  eripe- 
rentur,  timebatis  ? 

Maculosi  Senatores,  nudi  Equites— pauci  tamen  boni  inerant, 
quos  rejectione  fugare  ille  non  poterat  :  qui  mcESti  inter  sui  dissi- 
miles  et  moerentes  sedebant,  et  contagione  turpitudinis  vehementeT 
permovebantur.     Ad  Att,  i.  16. 


^.t2  The    life   of  Sect.  IV. 

A.  Urb.  692.    Cic.  46.    Coss. — M.  Pupius  Piso.    M.  Valerius  Messala. 

*'  union  of  all  good  men,  was  now  lost  and  broken,  if 
*.'  some  deity  did  not  interpose,  by  this  single  judg- 
"  ment ;  if  that,"  says  he,  '*  can  be  called  a  judgment, 
"  for  thirty  of  the  most  contemptible  scoundrels  of 
"  Rome  to  violate  all  that  is  just  and  sacred  for  the 
"  sake  of  money  ;  and  vote  that  to  be  false,  which  all 
*'  the  world  knows  to  be  true."  As  he  looked  upon 
liimself  to  be  particularly  affronted  by  a  sentence, 
given  in  flat  contradiction  to  his  testimony,  so  he  made 
it  his  business  on  all  occasions  to  display  the  several 
actors  in  it  with  all  the  keenness  of  his  raillery  *.  In 
a  debate  soon  after  in  the  senate  on  the  state  of  the 
republic,  taking  occasion  to  fall  upon  this  affair,  he 
"  exhorted  the  fathers  not  to  be  discouraged  for  hav- 
"  ing  received  one  single  wound ;  which  was  of  such 
*'  a  nature,  that  it  ought  neither  to  be  dissembled,  nor 
"  to  be  feared  ;  for  to  fear  it,  was  a  meanness :  and 
*'  not  to  be  sensible  of  it,  a  stupidity  :  That  Lentulus 
"  was  twice  acquitted  :  Catiline  also  twice ;  and  this 
"  man  was  the  third,  whom  a  bench  of  judges  had  let 
**  loose  upon  th€  republic.  But  thou  art  mistaken, 
**  Clodius,"  says  he  ;  "  the  judges  have  not  reserved 
•'  thee  for  the  city,  but  for  a  prison  :  they  designed 
"  thee  no  kindness  by  keeping  thee  at  home,  but  to 
*'  deprive  thee  of  the  benefit  of  an  exile.  Wherefore, 
"  fathers,  rouse  your  usual  vigour ;  resume  your  dig- 
"  nity  ;  there  subsists  still  the  same  union  among  the 
*^'  honest ;  they  have  had  indeed  a  fresh  subject  of 
*'  mortification,  yet  their  courage  is  not  impaired  by 

*   Insectandis  vero,   exagitaiidisque  nummariis  judicibus,  omneoi 
omnibus  studiosis  ac  fautoribus  illius  victorix  Tratf  pjur/ctv  eripui.     U). 


Q^^.IV,  CICERO;  ^^.^ 


A.Urb.69a.    Cic.  46.    Coss.— M.  Pupius  Piso.    M.  Valerius  Messala. 


*'  it ;  no  new  mischief  has  befallen  us ;  but  that  only, 
"  which  lay  concealed,  is  now  discovered,  and,  by  the 
"'  trial  of  one  desperate  man,  many  others  are  found  to 
*'  be  as  bad  as  he  *." 

Clodius,  not  caring  to  encounter  Cicero  by  formal 
speeches,  chose  to  teize  him  with  raillery,  and  turn 
the  debate  into  ridicule.     "  You  are  a  fine  gentleman 
"^indeed,"   says  he,    "  and  have  been  at  Baiae."— 
*'•  That's  not  so  fine,"  rephed  Cicero,  "  as  to  be  caught 
*'  at  the  mysteries  of  the  goddess."—"  fiut  what,"  says 
he,  "  has  a  clown  of  Arpinum  to  do  at  the  hot  wells  ?" 
—''  Ask  that  friend  of  yours,"  replied  Cicero,  *'  who 
"  had  a  month's  mind  to  your  Arpinum  clown  f ." — 
"  You  have    bought   a  house  f,"    says  he.—"  You 
''  should  have  said,  judges,"  replied  Cicero.—*'  Those 
**  judges,"  says  he,  "  would  not  believe  you  upon  your 
"  oath."— Yes,"  replied  Cicero,  "  twenty-five  of  them 
"  gave  credit  to  me  ;  while  the  rest  would  not  give  a- 
"  ny  to  you,  but  made  you  pay  your  money  before- 
"  hand."     This  turned  the  laugh  so  strongly  on  Ci- 
cero's side,  that  Clodius  was  confounded,  and  forced 
to  sit  down  §.     But  being  now  declared  enemies,  they 
never  met  without  some  strokes  of  this  kind  upon  each 
other  ;  "  which,"  as  Cicero  observes,  "  must  needs  ap- 

*  Ad  Att. 

f  This  is  supposed  to  refer  to  his  sister  Clodia,  a  lady  famous 
for  her  intrigues  •,  who  had  been  trying  all  arts  to  tempt  Cicero  to 
put  away  Terentia,  and  to  take  her  for  his  wife. 

%  Though  Clodius  reproaches  Cicero  for  the  extravagant  pur- 
chase of  a  house,  yet  he  himself  is  said  to  have  given  afterwards 
near  four  times  as  much  for  one,  viz.  about  119,000!.  Sterlmg. 
PHn.  Kist.  N.  1.  36.  15. 

^   Ad  Att.  ID, 


284  The  life  of  Sect.  IV. 

A.  Urb.  692.    Cic.  46.    Coss. — M.  Pupius  Piso.    M.  Valerius  Messala. 

"  pear  flat  in  narration,  since  all  their  force  and  beau- 
"  ty  depended  on  the  smartness  of  the  contention,  and 
"  the  spirit  with  which  they  were  delivered  *." 

The  present  consuls  were  M.  Pupius  Piso  and  M, 
Messala  ;  the  first  of  whom,  as  soon  as  he  entered  in- 
to office,  put  a  shght  affront  upon  Cicero :  for  his  o^ 
pinion  having  been  asked  always  the  first  by  the  late 
consuls,  Piso  called  upon  him  only  the  second,  on  Ca- 
tulus  the  third,  Hortensius  the  fourth  :  "  This,  he 
*'  says,  did  not  displease  him,  since  it  left  him  more  at 
"  liberty  in  his  voting ;  and  freed  him  from  the  obli- 
"  gation  of  any  complaisance  to  a  man  whom  he  de- 
*'  spised  f ."  This  consul  was  warmly  in  the  interests 
of  Clodius ;  not  so  much  out  of  friendship,  as  a  na- 
tural inclination  to  the  worst  side  :  for,  according  to 
Cicero's  account  of  him,  he  was  a  man  "  of  a  weak 
*'  and  wicked  mind  ;  a  churlish,  captious  sneerer,  with- 
"  out  any  turn  of  wit ;  and  making  men  laugh  by  his 
"  looks  rather  than  jests  ;  favouring  neither  the  popu- 
"  lar,  nor  the  aristocratical  party ;  from  w^hom  no 
"  good  was  to  be  expected,  because  he  wished  none ; 
"  nor  hurt  to  be  feared,  because  he  durst  do  none  ; 
*'  who  would  have  been  more  vicious,  by  having  one 
"  vice  the  less,  sloth  and  and  laziness  J."  &c.  Cice- 
ro frankly  used  the  liberty,  which  this  consul's  beha- 
\\ouY  allowed  him,  of  delivering  his  sentiments  with- 

*  Nam  caetera  non  possunt  habere  neque  vim,  neque  venustatem, 
remoto  illo  studio  contentionis.     Ibid, 
f  Ibid.  13. 
t  Neque  id  magis  amicitia  Clodii  ductus,  quam  studio  perdita- 
rv.m  rcrum,  atque  partiura.     Ibid.  14. 

Consul 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  285 

A,  Urt>.  692.    Cic.  46.    Coss. — M.  Pupius  Piso.    M.  Valerius  Messala. 

out  any  reserve  ;  giving  Piso  himself  no  quarter,  but 
exposing  every  thing  that  he  did  and  said  in  favour  of 
Clodius,  in  such  a  manner,  as  to  hinder  the  senate 
from  decreeing  to  him  the  province  of  Syria,  which 
had  been  designed,  and,  in  a  manner,  promised  to 
him  ■*.  The  other  consul,  Messala,  was  of  a  quite  dif- 
ferent character ;  a  firm  and  excellent  magistrate,  in 
the  true  interests  of  his  country,  and  a  constant  ad- 
mirer  and  imitator  of  Cicero  f . 

About  this  time  Cicero  is  supposed  to  have  made 
that  excellent  oration,  still  extant,  in  the  defence  of 
his  old  preceptor,  the  poet  Archias  :  he  expected  for 
his  pains  an  immortality  of  fame  from  the  praise  of 
Archias's  muse  ;  but,  by  a  contrary  fate  of  things,  in- 
stead of  deriving  any  addition  of  glory  from  Archias's 
compositions,  it  is  wholly  owing  to  his  own,  that  the 
name  of  Archias  has  not  long  ago  been  buried  in  o- 
blivion.  From  the  great  character  given  by  him  of 
the  talents  and  genius  of  this  poet,  we  cannot  help  re- 
gretting the  entire  loss  of  his  v/orks  :  he  had  sung,  in 
Greek  verse,  the  triumphs  of  Marius  over  the  Cimbri, 
and  of  Lucullus  over  Mithridates ;  and  was  now  at- 

Cdnsul  autem  ipse  parvo  animo  et  pravo  5  tantum  cavlllator  ge- 
nere  illo  moroso,  quod  etiam  sine  dicacitate  ridetur  ;  facie  magis, 
quam  facetiis  ri^iculus  :  nihil  agens  cum  repub.  sejunctus  ab  opti- 
matibus  :  a  quo  nihil  speres  boni  reipub.  quia  non  "vult  ;  nihil  me- 
tuas  mail,  quia  non  audet.     Ibid.  13. 

Uno  vitio  minus  vitiosus,  quod  iners,  quod  somni  plenus.     lb.  14. 

*  Consulem  nulla  in  re  consistere  unquam  sum  passus  :  despon- 
sam  homini  jam  Syriam  ademi.     Ibid.  16. 

f  Messala  consul  est  egregius,  fortis,  constans,  dillgens,  nostri 
laudator,  amator,  imitator.     Ibid.  14'. 


236  The   LIFE   cf  Sect.  IV: 

A.  Uib.  692.    Cic.  46.     Coss.— M.  Pupius  Piso.    M.  Valerius  Messala. 

tempting  the  consulship  of  Cicero  *  :  but  this  perish- 
ed with  the  rest,  or  was  rather  left  unfinished  and  in- 
terrupted by  his  death,  since  we  find  no  farther  men- 
tion of  it  in  any  of  Cicero's  later  writings. 

Ponipey  the  Great  returned  to  Rome  about  the  be- 
ginning of  this  year,  in  the  height  of  his  fame  and  for- 
tunes, from  the  Mithridatic  war.  The  city  had  been 
much  alarmed  about  him  by  various  reports  from  a- 
broad,  and  several  tumults  at  home  ;  w^here  a  general 
apprehension  prevailed,  of  his  coming  at  the  head  of 
an  army  to  take  the  government  h^ito  his  hands  f .  It 
is  certain,  that  he  had  it  now  in  his  power  to  make 
himself  master  of  the  republic,  without  the  hazard  e- 
ven  of  a  war,  or  any  opposition  to  controul  him.  Cae- 
sar, with  the  tribune  Metellus,  w^as  inviting  him  to  it, 
and  had  no  other  ambition  at  present  than  to  serve 
imder  him  :  but  Pompey  was  too  phlegmatic  to  be 
easily  induced  to  so  desperate  a  resolution ;  or  seems 
rather  indeed  to  have  had  no  thoughts  at  all  of  that 
sort,  but  to  have  been  content  with  the  rank  w^hich  he 
then  possessed,  of  the  first  citizen  of -Rome,  without  a 
rival.  He  had  lived  in  a  perpetual  course  of  success 
and  glory,  wdthout  any  slur  either  from  the  senate  or 
the  people,  to  inspire  him  with  sentiments  of  revenge, 

*  Nam  et  Cimbrlcas  res  adolescens  attigit,  et  rpsl  illl  C.  Mario, 
qui  durior  ad  httc  stadia  videbatur,  jucundus  £uit. 

Ivlithridaticum  vero  bellum,  magnum  atque  difficile — totum  ab 
hoc  expressum  est  ;  qui  libri  non  modo  L.  Luculium — verum  etiam 
populi  Rom.  nomen  illustrant. — nam  quas  res  in  consulatu  nostro 
vobi:cum  simul  pro  salutd  urbis  atque  imperii — gessimus,  attigit  hie" 
versibus  atque  inchoavit  :  quibus  auditis,  quod  mihi  magna  res  et 
jucunda  visa  est,  hunc  ad  perfieiendum  hortatus  sum.  ProArchiaf 
6.  II. 

f  Plutarch,  in  Pomp. 


Sect.  it.  CICERO.  287 

A.  Urb.  69a.    Cic.  46.    Cois. — M.  Pupius  Piso.    M.  Valerius  Messala. 

or  to  give  him  a  pretence  for  violent-  measures ;  and 
he  was  persuaded,  that  the  growing  disorders  of  the 
city  would  soon  force  all  parties  to  create  him  dicta- 
tor, for  the  settlement  of  the  state  ;  and  thought  it  of 
more  honour  to  his  character  to  obtain  that  power  by 
the  consent  of  his  citizens,  than  to  extort  it  from  them 
by  violence.  But  whatever  apprehensions  v/ere  con- 
ceived of  him  before  his  coming,  they  all  vanished  at 
his  arrival ;  for  he  no  sooner  set  foot  in  Italy,  than  he 
disbanded  his  troops,  giving  them  orders  only  to  at- 
tend him  in  his  triumph  ;  and,  with  a  private  retinue, 
pursued  his  journey  to  Rome,  where  the  whole  body 
of  the  people  cam.e  out  to  receive  him  with  all  ima- 
ginable gratulations  and  expressions  of  joy  for  his  hap- 
py return  *. 

By  his  late  victories,  he  had  greatly  extended  the 
barrier  of  the  empire  into  the  continent  of  Asia,  hav- 
ing added  to  it  three  powerful  kingdoms  f ,  Pontus, 
Syria,  Bithynia,  which  he  reduced  to  the  condition  of 
Roman  provinces ;  leaving  all  the  other  kings  and 
nations  of  the  East  tributary  to  the  republic,  as  far  as 
the  Tigris.  Among  his  other  conquests,  he  took  the 
city  of  Jerusalem,  by  the  opportunity  of  a  contest  a- 
bout  the  crown,  between  the  two  brothers  Hircanus 
and  Aristobulus :  The  lower  town  was  surrendered 
to  him  with  little  or  no  opposition  ;  but  the  fortress 
of  the  temple  cost  him  a  siege  of  three  months ;  nor 

*  Plutaixli.  in  Pomp. 

f  Ut  Asia,  quae  imperium  antea  nostrum  terminabat,  nunc  tdibus 
novis  provinciis  ipsa  cingatur.     De  Provin.  Consular,  i:?. 

Vol.  I.  T 


28S  The   LIF£   of  Sect.  IV. 

A.  Urb.  692.     Cic.  46.    Coss M.  Pupius  Piso.    M.  Valerius  Messala. 

would  he  have  taken  it  then  so  easily,  as  Dio  tells 
us  *,  had  it  not  been  for  the  advantage  that  the  be- 
sieged gave  him,  by  the  observance  of  their  weekly 
sabbaths,  on  which  they  abstained  so  rehgiously  from 
all  work,  as  to  neglect  even  their  necessary  defence. 
He  shewed  great  humanity  to  the  people,  and  touch- 
ed no  part  of  the  s-icred  treasure,  or  vessels  of  gold, 
which  were  of  an  immense  value  f ;  yet  was  drawn 
by  his  curiosity  into  such  a  profanation  of  their  temple, 
as  mortified  them  more  than  all  that  they  had  suf- 
efred  by  the  war ;  for,  in  taking  a  view  of  the  build- 
ings, he  entered  with  his  officers,  not  only  into  the 
holy  place,  where  none  but  the  priests,  but  into  the 
holy  of  holies,  where  none  but  the  high  priest  was 
permitted,  by  the  law,  to  enter ;  by  which  act,  as 
a  very  eminent  writer,  more  piously  perhaps,  than 
judiciously,  remarks,  he  drew  upon  himself  the  curse 
of  God,  and  never  prospered  afterwards  J.  He  carried 
Aristobulus  and  his  children  prisoners  to  Rome,  for 
the  ornament  of  his  triumph  ;  and  settled  Hircanus 
in  the  government  and  high  priesthood,  but  subject 
to  a  tribute.  Upon  the  receipt  of  the  pubHc  letters, 
which  brought  the  account  of  his  success,  the  senate 
passed  a  decree,  that,  on  all  festival  days,  he  should 
have  the  privilege  to  wear  a  laurel  crown,  with  his 
general's  robe  ;  and,  in  the  equestrian  races  of  the 
circus,  his  triumphal  habit ;  an  honour,  which,  when 

*  Dio,  1.  37.  p.  ^6, 

f  At  Cn.  Pompeius,  captis  Hlerosolymls,  victor  ex  illo  fano  ni- 
hil attigit.     Pro  Flacc.  28. 

.t  Prideaux.     Connect,  par.  2.  p.  343. 


Sect,  IV,  CICERO.  280 


A.  Urb.  692.     Cic.  46.     Coss M.  Pupius  Piso.    M.  Valerips  Messala. 


he  had  once  used,  to  show  his  grateful  sense  of  it,  he 
ever  after  prudently  declined  ;  since,  without  adding 
any  thing  to  his  power,  it  could  serve  only  to  increase 
the  envy  which  many  were  endeavouring  to  stir  up 
against  him  *. 

On  the  merit  of  these  great  services,  he  did  many 
acts  abroad  of  a  very  extraordinary  nature  ;  gave 
what  laws  he  pleased  to  the  whole  East ;  distributed 
the  conquered  countries  at  discretion,  to  the  kings  and 
princes  who  had  served  him  in  the  wars ;  built  twen- 
ty-nine new  cities,  or  colonies ;  and  divided  to  each 
private  soldier  about  50I.  Sterling,  and  to  his  officers 
in  proportion ;  so  that  the  whole  of  his  donative  is 
computed  to  amount  to  above  three  millions  of  our 
money  f. 

His  first  business^  therefore,  after  his  return,  and 
what  he  had  much  at  heart,  was  to  get  these  acts  ra- 
tified by  public  authority.  The  popular  faction  pro- 
mised him  every  thing,  and  employed  all  their  sk;li 
to  divert  him  from  an  union  with  Cicero  and  the  se- 
nate, and  had  m^ade  a  considerable  impression,  upon 
him  ;  but  he  found  the  state  of  things  very  different 
from  their  representations ;  saw  Cicero  still  in  high 
credit ;  and  by  his  means  the  authority  of  the  senate 
much  respected  ;  which  obliged  him  to  use  great  ma- 
nagement, and  made  him  so  cautious  of  offending  any 
side,  that  he  pleased  none.  Cicero  says  of  his  first 
speech,  "  that  it  was  neither  agreeable  to  the   poor, 

*  Dio,  1.  37.  p.  39. 

f  Plin.  Hist.  1.  37.  2.      Aoplan,  de  bell.  Mithridat. 


^go  The  LIFE  of  Sect.  iV. 

A.  Urb.  6<)Z.    Cic  46.    Coss. — M.  Pupius  Piso,  M.  Valerius  Messala. 

"  nor  relished  by  the  rich  ;  disappointed  the  seditious, 
*^yet  gave  no  satisfaction  to  the  honest  *."  As  he 
happened  to  come  home  in  the  very  heat  of  Clodius's 
affair,  so  he  was  presently  urged  by  both  parties  to 
declare  for  the  one  and  the  other.  Fusius,  a  busy 
factious  tribune,  demanded  of  liim  before  the  people, 
what  lie  thought  of  Clodius's  being  tried  by  the  prae- 
tor and  a  bench  of  judges  ?  To  which  he  answ^ered 
very  aristocratically,  as  Cicero  calls  it ;  That  he  had 
ever  taken  the  authority  of  the  senate  to  be  of  the 
greatest  weight  in  all  cases.  And  w4ien  the  consul 
Messala  asked  him  in  the  senate,  what  his  opinion  was 
of  that  profanation  of  religion,  and  the  law  proposed 
about  it  ?  he  took  occasion,  without  entering  into  par- 
ticulars, to  applaud  in  general  all  that  the  senate  had 
done  in  it ;  and  upon  sitting  down,  told  Cicero,  who 
sat  next  to  him,  that  he  had  now  said  enough,  he 
thought,  to  signify  his  sentiments  of  the  matter  f. 

Crassus  observing  Pompey's  reserve,  resolved  to  push 
him  to  a  more  explicit  declaration,  or  to  get  the  better 
of  him  at  least  in  the  good  opinion  of  the  senate  ;  ri- 
sing up  therefore  to  speak,  he  launched  out,  in  a  very 
liigh  strain,  into  the  praises  of  Cicero's  consulship  ; 
declaring  himself  indebted  to  it,  for  his  being  at  that 
time  a  senator  and  a  citizen  ;  nay,  for  his  very  liberty 
and  his  life  ;  and  that  as  often  as  he  saw  his  wafe,  his 
family,  and  his  country,  so  often  he  saw  his  obliga- 


*  Prima  concio  Pompeii — non  jucunda  miseris,  inani.^  Improbii', 
beatis  non  grata,  bonis  non  gravis.   Itaque  frigebat.  Ad  Att.  i.  14. 

•j-  IVIibique,  ut  assedit,  dixit,  se  putare  salis  ab  se  etiam  de  istis 
rebus  esse  responsum.     lb. 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  api 

A.  Urb.  69a.    Cic.  46.    Coss. — M.  Pupius  Piso,  M.  Valerius  Messala, 

tions  to  Cicero.  This  discomposed  Pompey,  who  was 
at  a  loss  to  understand  Crassus's  motive ;  whether  it 
was  to  take  the  benefit  of  an  opportunity,  which  he 
had  omitted,  of  ingratiating  himself  with  Cicero ;  or 
that  he  knew  Cicero's  acts  to  be  in  high  esteem,  and 
the  praise  of  them  very  agreeable  to  the  senate  ;  and 
it  piqued  him  the  more,  for  its  coming  from  a  quarter, 
whence  it  was  least  to  be  expected  ;  from  one  whom 
Cicero,  out  of  regard  to  him,  had  always  treated  with 
a  particular  shght.  The  incident,  however,  raised 
Cicero's  spirits,  and  made  him  exert  himself  before  his 
new  hearer  Pompey,  with  all  the  pride  of  his  elo- 
quence :  his  topics  were,  the  firmness  and  gravity  of 
the  senate  ;  the  concord  of  the  equestrian  order ;  the 
concurrence  of  all  Italy;  the  lifeless  remains  of  a 
baffled  cdnspiracy  :  the  peace  and  plenty  which  had 
since  succeeded  :  all  which  he  displayed  with  his 
utmost  force,  to  let  Pompey  see  liis  asceadant  still  in 
that  assembly,  and  how  much  he  had  been  imposed 
upon  by  the  accounts  of  his  new  friends  J.  Pompey 
hkewise  on  his  side,  began  presently  to  change  Im 
tone,  and  affected  on  all  public  occasions  to  pay  so 
great  a  court  to  Cicero,  that  the  other  faction  gave 
bim  the  nick-name  of  Cnsus  Ci^cero  :  and  their  seem- 
ing union  was  so  generally  agreeable  to  the  city,  that 
they  were  both  of  them  constantly  clapped,  whenever 


t  Proxime  Pompeium  sedebam  :   Intellexi  hominem  moved  5   u- 
trum  Crassum  inire  earn  gratiam,  quain  ipse  praitermisisset. 

Ego^  autera,   Dii  boni,   quomodo   eiviTri^Tru^cic-ctf.nv  novo  audltori 
Pompeio  ? — Hsec  erat  v7ro6i<rt?^    de  gravitate    ordinis,    de  equestn 
Concordia,  de  consensione  Italiae,  de  immortuis  reliquils  cbniuratk) 
^ii?.  de  utilitate.  de  ';^' ;.      \d  Att.  i.  14. 


agi 


The   life    of  Sect.  IV= 


A.  Urb.  692.     Cic.  46.     Coss. — M.  Pupius  IMso.     M.  Valerius  Messala. 


they  appeared  in  the  Theatre,  without  a  hiss  from  a- 
117  quarter  "*.  Yet  Cicero  easily  discovered,  that  all 
this  outward  civility  was  but  feigned  and  artificial ; 
that  he  was  full  of  envy  within,  and  had  no  good  in- 
tentions towards  the  public  ;  nothing  candid  or  sin- 
cere ;  nothing  great,  generous,  or  free  in  him  f . 

There  was  one  point  which  Pompey  resolved  to 
carry  this  summer,  against  the  universal  inclination  of 
the  city ;  the  election  of  L.  Afranius,  one  of  his  crea- 
tures, to  the  consulship  :  in  which  he  fights,  says  Ci- 
cero, neither  with  authority,  nor  interest,  but  with 
what  Philip  of  Macedon  took  every  fortress,  into  which 
he  could  drive  a  loaded  ass  t.  Plutarch  says,  that  he 
himself  distributed  the  money  openly  in  his  own  gar- 
dens :  but  Cicero  mentions  it  as  a  current  report,  that 
the  consul  Piso  had  undertaken  to  divide  it  at  his 
Jiouse  :  which  gave  birth  to  two  new  laws,  drawn  up 
by  Cato  and  his  brother-in-law  Domitius  Ahenobar- 
bus,  and  supposed  to  be  levelled  at  the  consul ;  the 
one  of  which  gave  a  liberty  to  search  the  houses  even 
of  magistrates,  on  information  of  bribery ;  the  other 
declared  all  those  enemies  to  the  state,  at  whose  hou- 

*  Usque  eo,  ut  nostri  illi  commissatores  conjurationis,  barbatuli 
juvenes,  ilium  in  sermonibus  Cn^um  Ciceronem  appellent.  Itaque 
&  ludis  &  gladiatoribus  mirandas  iTrtcrK^^o-U?^  sine  uUa  pastoricia 
fistula,  auferebamus.     Ibid  16. 

f  Nos,  ut  ostendit,  admodum  dlligit— aperte  laudat  •,  occulte, 
sed  ita  ut  perspicuum  fit,  invidet  :  nihil  come,  nihil  simplex,  nihil 
h  re7i  '7rcxfli>cc7?  nihil  honestem,  nihil  illustre,  nihil  fortre,  nihil  libe^ 

rum.     Ibid.  13.  ^  ,       -u      dt,- 

X  In  eo  neque  auctoritate,  neque  gratia  pugnat ',  sed  quibus  rhi- 
lippus  omnia  castella  expugnari  posse  dicebat,  in  quje  modo  assllus 
onustus  auro  posset  ascendere.     Ibid.  16* 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  293 

A.  Urb.  692.    Cic.  46.    Goes. — M.  Pupius  Piso.    Valerius  Messala. 

ses  the  dividers  of  money  were  found  ^\  Pompey 
however  obtruded  Afranius  upon  the  city,  by  which 
he  disgusted  all  the  better  sort  both  of  the  senate  and 
people  f . 

He  had  been  making  preparation  all  this  summer 
for  his  triumph,  which  he  deferred  to  his  birth-day, 
the  thirtieth  of  September ;  having  resided  in  the 
mean  while,  as  usual,  in  the  suburbs  :  so  that  the  se- 
nate and  people,  in  compliment  to  him,  held  their  as- 
sembhes  generally,  during  that  time,  without  the 
walls ;  some  of  which  are  mentioned  to  have  been  in 
the  Flaminian  circus  5.  His  triumph  lasted  two  days, 
and  was  the  most  splendid  which  had  ever  been  seen 
in  Rome  :  he  built  a  temple  to  Minerva  out  of  the 
spoils,  with  an  inscription  giving  a  summary  of  liis  vic- 
tories ;  "  That  he  had  finished  a  war  of  thirty  years  ; 
"  had  vanquished,  slain,  and  taken  tvvo  millions,  one 
*'  hundred  and  eighty-three  thousand  men ;  sunk  or 
*'  taken  eight  hundred  and  forty-six  ships  ;  reduced  to 
"  the  power  of  the  Empire,  a  thousand  five  hundred 
"  and  thirty-eight  towns  and  fortresses ;  and  subdued 
**  all  the  countries  between  the  lake  Maeotis  and  the 
*'  Red  Sea  *. 

*  Consul  autem  ille — susceplsse  negotium  dicltur,  et  domi  divi- 
sores  habere  :  sed  S.  C^^  duo  jam  facta  sunt  odiosa,  quod  in  Con- 
sulem  facta  putantur,  Catone  et  Domitio  postulante,  &c.   Ibid.  i6. 

f  Consul  est  impo situs  nobis,  quern  nemo  praetor  nos  philosophos 
auspicere  sine  suspiratu  posset.      Ibid.  i8. 

§  Fusius  in  concionem  produxit  Pompeium  j  res  agebatur  in  Cir- 
Co  Flaminio.     lb.  14. 

*  Cn.  Pompeius.  Cn.  F.  Magnus.  Imp. 

BeLLO.  XXX.  ANNORUM.  CONFECTO. 
FUSIS.  FUGATIS.  OCCISIS.  IN  DEDITIONEM 

AcCEPTIg. 


^94 


The  life  of  Sect.  IV. 


A.  Urb.  692.    Cic.  46.    Coss.— M.  Pupius  Piso.   M.  Valerius  Messala. 


QuiNTUs  CiCEPvO,  who,  by  the  help  and  interest  of 
his  brother,  was  following  him  at  a  proper  distance, 
through  all  the  honours  of  the  state,  having  been  prae- 
tor the  last  year,  now  obtained  the  government  of  A- 
sia ;  a  rich  and  noble  province,  comprehending  the 
greatest  part  of  what  is  called  Asia  minor.  Before  he 
went  to  take  possession  of  it,  he  earnestly  pressed  At* 
ticus,  whose  sister  he  married,  to  go  along  with  him  as 
one  of  his  lieutenants ;  and  resented  his  refusal  so  hei- 
nously, that  Cicero  had  no  small  trouble  to  make  them 
friends  again.  There  is  an  excellent  letter  on  th^ 
subject  from  Cicero  to  Atticus  :  which  I  cannot  for- 
bear inserting,  for  the  light  which  it  gives  us  into  the 
genuine  character  of  all  the  three,  as  well  as  of  other 
great  men  of  those  times,  with  a  short  account  also  of 
the  present  state  of  the  republic. 

Cicero  to  Atticus. 
"  I  PERCEIVE,  from  your  letter,  and  the  copy  of  my 
"  brother's,  which  you  sent  with  it,  a  great  alteration 
"  in  his  affection  and  sentiments  with  regard  to  you  : 
"  which  affects  me  with  all  that  concern  which  my  ex-, 
"  treme  love  for  you  both  ought  to  give  me  ;  and  witl| 
"  wonder  at  the  same  time,  what  could  possibly  hap- 
**  pen  either  to  exasperate  him  so  highly,  or  to  effect  so 

~- r- 

acceptis.  hominum.  centi£s.  vicies. 

semel.  centenis.  lxxxiii.  m. 

Depresses  aut  capt.  navibus.  Dcccxlvi. 

Oppidis.  Castellis.  Md.xxxviii. 

in  fideim  receptis. 

Terris.  a.  M^oti.  Lacu.  ad  Ruerum. 

Mare,  subactis. 

VoTUia.  MERITO.   Ml?x'ERV^ 

P3m.  KIst,  N.  7,  ;6. 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  295 

A.  Urb.  692.    Cic.  46.    Coss. — M.  Pupius  Piso.    M.  Valerius  Messala. 

*'  great  a  change  in  him.     I  had  observed  indeed  be- 
"  fore,  what  you  also  mistrusted  at  your  leaving  us, 
"  that  he  had  conceived  some  secret  disgust,  which 
"  shocked  and  filled  his  mind  with  odious  suspicions : 
"  which  though  I  was  often  attempting  to  heal,  and 
*'  especially  after  the  allotment  of  his  province,  yet  I 
"  could  neither  discover  that  his  resentment  was  so 
"  great,  as  it  appears  to  be  from  your  letter,  nor  find, 
''  that  what  I  said  had  so  great  an  effect  upon  him  as  I 
"  wished.     I  comforted  myself  however  with  a  persua-* 
"  sion,  that  he  w^ould  contrive  to  see  you  at  Dyrrha- 
"  chium,  or  some  other  place  in  those  parts ;  and  in 
"  that  case  made  no  doubt,  but  that  all  would  be  set 
"  right ;  not  only  by  your  discourse,  and  talking  the 
*'  matter  over  between  yourselves,  but  by  the  very 
"  sight  and  mutual  embraces  of  each  other ;   for  I 
"  need  not  tell  you,  who  know  it  as  well  as  m_yself, 
"  what  a  fund  of  good  nature  and  sweetness  of  tern- 
"  per  there  is  in  my  brother,  and  how  apt  he  is,  both 
"  to  take  and  to  forgive  an  offence.     But  it  is  very 
"  unlucky   that  you  did  not  see  him  ;   since,  by  that 
"  means,  what  others  have  artfully  inculcated,  has  had 
**  more  influence  on  his  mind,  than  either  his  duty,  or 
"  his  relation  to  you,  or  your  old  friendship,  which 
"  ought  to  have  had  the  most.     Where  the  blame  of 
'Vail  this  lies,  it  is   easier  for  me  to  imagine,  than  to 
*'  write  ;  being  afraid,  lest,  while  I  am  excusing  my 
"  own  people,  I  should  be  too  severe  upon  yours  ;  for, 
"  as  I  take  the  case  to  be,  if  those  of  his  own  family 
*'  did  not  make  the  wound,  they  might  at  least  have 
"  cured  it.     When  we  see  one  another  again,  I  shalj 


2^6  The  LIFE   of  Sect.  IV, 

A.  Urb.  692.    Cic.  46.    Coss. — M.  Pupius  Piso.    M.  Valerius  Mcssala. 

*'  explain  to  you  more  easily  the  source  of  the  whole 
'•  evil,  which  is  spread  somewhat  wider  than  it  seems 
"  to  be. — As  to  the  letter  which  he  wrote  to  you  from 
*'  Thessalonica,  and  what  you  suppose  him  to  have 
"said  of  you  to  your  friends  ^t  Rome,  and  on  the  road, 
*'  I  cannot  perceive  what  could  move  him  to  it.  But 
*'  all  my  hopes  of  making  this  matter  easy,  depend  on 
**  your  humanity  :  for  if  you  will  but  reflect,  that  the 
**  best  men  are  often  the  most  easy,  both  to  be  pro- 
*'  voiced,  and  to  be  appeased  ;  and  that  this  quick- 
*'  ness,  if  I  may  so  call  it,  or  flexibility  of  temper  is  ge- 
*•  nerally  the  proof  of  a  good  nature  ;  and  above  all, 
*'  that  we  ought  to  bear  with  one  another's  infirrnities 
*'  or  faults,  or  even  injuries :  this  troublesome  affair,  I 
*'  hope,  will  soon  be  made  up  again.  I  beg  of  you 
*'  that  it  may  be  so.  For  it  ought  to  be  my  special 
**  care,  from  the  singnlar  affection  which  I  bear  to 
**  you,  to  do  every  thing  in  my  power  that  all,  who 
*'  belong  to  me,  may  both  love  and  be  beloved  by  you. 
"  There  was  no  occasion  for  that  part  of  your  letter, 
"  in  which  you  mention  the  opportunities,  which 
*'  you  have  omitted  of  employments  both  in  the  city 
*' and  the  provinces;  as  well -at  other  times,  as 
*'  in  my  consulship  ;  I  am  perfectly  acquainted  with 
"  the  ingenuity  and  greatness  of  your  mind ;  and 
*'  never  thought  that  there  was  any  other  difference 
"  between  you  and  me,  but  in  a  different  choice  and 
"  method  of  life ;  whilst  I  was  drawn,  by  a  sort  of 
"  ambition,  to  the  desire  and  pursuit  of  honours  ;  you, 
^'  by  other  maxims,  in  no  wise  blameable,  to  the  en- 
''  joyment  of  an  honourable  retreat.     But,  for  the  ge-^ 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  m 


A.Urb.69Z.    Cic.46.    Coss,-M.PupiusPiso.    M.  Valerius  Messala. 


-  nuine  character  of  probity,  diligence,  exactness  of 
M  behaviour,  I  neither  prefer  myself,  nor  any  man 
.''  else,  to  you;  and  as  for  love  to  me,  after  my  bro- 
"  ther  and  my  own  family,  I  give  you  always  the  first 
"  place.     For  I  saw,  and  saw  it  in  a  manner  the  most 
"  affecting,  both  your  solicitude  and  your  joy,  in  all 
"  the  various    turns  of  my  affairs  ;    and   was   often 
*'  pleased,  as  well  with  the  applause  which  you  gave 
"  me  in  success,  as  the  comfort  which  you  administer- 
*'  ed  in  my  fears  :  and  even  now,  in  the  time  of  your 
"  absence,  I  feel  and  regret  the  loss,  not  only  of  your 
^'  advice,  in  which  you  excel  all ;  but  of  that  familiar 
^'  chat  with  you,  in  which  I  used  to  take  so  much  de- 
"  hght.     Where  then  shall  I  tell  you  that  I  m^ost  want 
"  you  ?  in  pubhc  affairs  ?  where  it  can  never  be  per- 
*'  mitted  to  me  to   sit  idle ;  or  in  my  labours  at  the 
^'  bar  ?  which  I  sustained  before  through  ambition ; 
"  but  now,  to  preserve  my  dignity  :  or  in  my  domics- 
*'  tic  concerns  ?  where,  though  I  always  wanted  your 
"  help  before,  yet  since  the  departure  of  my  brother, 
*'  I  now  stand  the  more  in  need  of  it.     In   short,  nei- 
"  ther  in  my  labours,  nor  rest ;  neither  in  busmess, 
"  nor  retirement ;  neither  in  the  forum,  nor  at  home  ; 
**  neither  in  public,  nor  in  private  affairs,  can  I  hve 
"  any  longer  without  your  friendly  council,  and  en- 
'  "  dearing  conversation.     We  have  often  been  restrain- 
"  ed  on  both  sides,  by  a  kind  of  shame,  from  explain- 
**  ing  ourselves  on  this  article  :  but  I  was  now  forced 
"  to  it  by  that  part  of  your  letter,  in  which  you  thought 
"  fit  to  justify  yourself  and  your  way  of  life  to  me.— 
'\  But,  to  return  to  my  brother  ;  in  the  present  state 


^9^  The   LIFE  of  Sect.  IV. 

fc  ,      , . ,. 

A,  Urb.  692.    Cic.  46.    Coss M.  Pupius  Piso.    M.  Valerius  Messala. 

"^  of  the  ill  humour  which  he  expresses  towards  you, 
"  it  happens,  however,  conveniently,  that  your  reso- 
^  lution  of  declining  all  employments  abroad  was  de- 
"  clared  and  known  long  before-hand,  both  to  me 
*'  and  your  other  friends ;  so  that  your  not  being  now 
"  together,  cannot  be  charged  to  any  quarrel  or  rup- 
*'  ture  betv/een  you,  but  to  your  judgment  and  choice 
*'  of  life.  Wherefore,  both  this  breach  in  your  union 
'•  will  undoubtedly  be  healed  again,  and  your  friend- 
"  ship  with  me  remain  for  ever  inviolable,  as  it  has 
^''  hitherto  been. — We  live  here  m  an  infirm,  wvetch- 
*'  ed,  tottering  republic  :  for  you  have  heard,  I  guess, 
"  that  our  knights  are  now  almost  disjoined  again  from 
**  the  senate.  The  first  thing  which  they  took  amiss, 
"  was  the  decree  for  calling  the  judges  to  account, 
"  who  had  taken  money  in  Clodius's  affair :  I  happen- 
*'  ed  to  be  absent  when  it  passed  ;  but  hearing  after- 
"  wards  that  the  whole  order  resented  it,  though  with- 
"  out  complaining  openly,  I  chid  the  senate,  as  I 
"  thought,  with  great  effect ;  and  m  a  cause  not  very 
**  modest,  spoke  forcibly  and  copiously.  They  have 
*'  now  another  curious  petition,  scarce  fit  to  be  endur* 
*•  ed  :  which  yet  I  not  only  bore  with,  but  defended. 
*'  The  company,  who  hired  the  Asiatic  revenues  of 
*'  the  censors,  complained  to  the  senate,  that,  through 
*'  too  great  an  eagerness,  they  had  given  more  for 
"  them  than  they  are  worth,  and  begged  to  be  releas- 
!'  ed  from  the  bargain.  I  was  their  chief  advocate,  or 
*'  rather  indeed  the  second  ;  for  Crassus  was  the  man, 
*'  v;ho  put  them  upon  making  this  requ^t.  The 
''  thing  is  odious  and  shameful,  and  a  public  confes- 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  299 

A.  Urb.  692.    Cic.46.    Coss.— M.  Pupius  Piso.    M.  Valeriur>  Messala. 


"  sion  of  their  rashness :  but  there  was  great  reason 
"  to  apprehend,  that  if  they  should  obtain  nothing, 
"  they  would  be  wholly  alienated  from  the  senate ;  so 
"  that  this  point  also  was  principally  managed  by  me. 
"  For,  on  the  first  and  second  of  December,  I  spoke 
"  a  great  deal  on  the  dignity  of  the  two  orders,  and 
"  the  advantages  of  the  concord  between  them,  and 
"  was  heard  very  favourably  in  a  full  house.     No- 
"  thing,  however,  is  yet  done  ;  but  the  senate  appears 
"  well  disposed :  for  Metellus,  the  consul-elect,  was 
"  the  only  one  who  spoke   against  us ;  though  that 
"  hero  of  ours,  Cato,  was  going  also  to  speak,  if  the 
"  shortness  of  the  day  had  not  prevented  him.     Thus, 
*'  in  pursuit  of  my  old  measures,  I  am  supporting,  as 
"  well  as  I  can,  that  concord  which  my  consulship 
"  had  cemented  :  but  since  no  great  stress  can  now 
*'  be  laid  upon  it,  I  have  provided  myself  another  way, 
"  and  a  sure  one,  I  hope,  of  maintaining  my  authori- 
*'  ty  ;  which  I  cannot  w^ell  explain  by  letter,  yet  will 
"  give  you  a  short  hint  of  it.     I  am  in  strict  friendship 
*'  with  Pompey— I  know  already  what  you  say — and 
"  will  be  upon  my  guard,  as  .  far  as  caution  can  serve 
*'  me  ;  and  give  you  a  farther  account,  some  other 
"  other  time,  of  my  present  conduct  in  politics.     You 
"  are  to  knov/,  in  the  mean  while,  that  Lucceius  designs" 
"  to  sue  directly  for  the  consulship  ;  for  he  will  have, 
'•  it  is  said,  but  two  competitors :  Cassar,  by  means  of 
*'  Arrius,  proposes  to  join  with  him ;  and  Bibulus,  by 
"  Piso's  mediation,  thinks  of  joining  with  Caesar.     Do 
*'  you  laugh  at  this  ?     Take  my  word  for  it,  it  is  no 
*'  laughing  matter.      Wha.t   shall   I   write   farther  ? 


300 


The   life   of  Sect.  IV: 


A.  Urb.  692.     Cic.  46.    Coss.— M.  Pupius  Piso.    M.  Valerius  Messala. 

"  What  ?  There  are  many  things ;  but  for  another* 
"  occasion.  If  you  would  have  us  expect  you,  pray 
"  let  me  know  it :  at  present  I  shall  beg  only  modest- 
"  ly,  what  I  desire  very  earnestly,  that  you  would 
"  come  as  soon  as  possible.      Deceinher  the  ffth  *." 

As  to  the  petition  of  the  knights,  mentioned  in  this 
letter,  Cato,  whon  he  came  afterwards  to  speak  to  it, 
opposed  it  so  resolutely,  that  he  prevailed  to  have  it 
rejected  :  w^hich  Cicero  often  condemns,  as  contrary 
to  all  good  pohcy  ;  and  complains  sometimes  in  his 
letters,  "  that  Cato,  though  he  was  the  only  man  who 
"  had  any  regard  for  the  republic,  yet  frequently  did 
"  mischief,  by  pursuing  his  maxims  absurdly,  and 
"  without  any  regard  to  the  times  f  :"  and  upon  a  re- 
view of  the  transactions  which  had  passed  since  his 
consulship,  and  the  turn  which  the  public  affairs  were 
then  taking,  he  seems  to  foretell  "  that  the  republic 
*'  could  not  stand  much  longer ;  since  this  very  year 
"  had  overthrown  the  two  main  pillars  of  it,  which  he 
"  had  been  erecting  with  such  pains  ;  the  authority  of 
"  the  senate,  and  their  union  with  the  knights  J," 

*  Ad  Att.  I.  17. 

f  Unus  est,  qui  curet  constantia  magis  et  integritate,  quam, 
ut  mihi  videtur,  consilio  et  ingenio,  Cato  j  qui  miseros  publicanos, 
quos  habuit  amantissimos  sui,  tertium  jam  mensem  vexat,  neque 
eis  a  senatu  responsum  dari  patitur.     Ad  Atti  i.  18.  it.  2.  I. 

X  Nam  ut  ea  breviter,  quae  post  discessum  tuum  acta  sunt,  col- 
llgam,  jam  exclames  necesse  est,  res  Romanas  diutius  stare  non 
posse.  ^ 

Sic  ille  annus  duo  firmamenta  reipub.  per  me  unum  constltuta,  e- 
vertit :  nam  et  senatus  auctoritatem  abjecit,  et  ordinum  concordiarr 
disjunxit.    Ad  Att.  i.  18. 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  ^-^t 


A.  Urb.  693.  .  Cic.  47.     Coss. — Q^Csecilius  Metellus  Celcr.    L.  Afranius. 

Q^C.^ciLius  Metellus  and  L.  Afranius  were  now 
consuls.  The  first  had  been  praetor  in  Cicero's  con- 
sulship, and  commanded  an  army  against  Catiline,  and 
was  an  excellent  magistrate  and  true  patriot ;  a  firm" 
opposer  of  all  the  factious,  and  a  professed  enemy  al- 
ways to  Pompey  ; '  in  which  he  was  the  more  heated 
by  a  private  resentment  of  the  affront  offered  to  his 
sister  Mucia,  whom  Pompey  had  lately  put  away  J, 
His  partner,  Afranius,  was  the  creatur^  of  Pompey 's 
power ;  but  of  no  credit  or  service  to  him,  on  the  ac- 
count of  his  luxury  and  laziness  ;  being  fonder  of  balls, 
than  of  business.  Cicero  calls  him  a  consul,  whom 
none  but  a  philosopher  could  look  upon  without  sigh- 
ing ;  a  soldier  without  spirit ;  and  a  proper  butt  for 
the  raillery  of  the  senate,  where  Palicanus  abused  him 
every  day  to  his  face  ;  and  so  stupid,  as  not  to  know 
the  value  of  what  he  had  purchased  |!. 

By  the  help  of  this  consul  and  some  of  the  tribunes, 
Pompey  imagined,  that  he  should  readily  obtain  the 
ratification  of  his  acts,  together  with  an  Agrarian  law, 
which  he  was  pushing  forward  at  the  same  time,  for 
the  distribution  of  lands  to  his  soldiers ;  but  he  was 
vigorously  opposed  in  them  both  by  the  other  consul 

X  Metellus  est  consul  egregius,  et  nos  amat,  &c.  lb.  18,  19,  20. 
Dio,  1.  37.  p.  52. 

Ij  Quern  nemo  prseter  nos  philosophos  aspicere  sine  suspiratu 
posset. 

Aull  autem  fillus,  6  dii  iramortales  !  quam  ignavus  et  sine  animo 
miles  !  quam  dignus,  qui  Palicano,  sicut  facit,  os  ad  male  audien- 
dum  quotidie  prsebeat ! 

Ille  alter  ita  nihil  est,  ut  plaice  quid  emerit,  nesciat. 

Auli  filius  vero  ita  se  gerit,  ut  ejus  consulatus  non  consulatus  fit, 
sed  magni  nostri  v-«;r»5y.     Ad  Att.  ib.  Dio,  ib. 


3^2  The   LIFE  op  Sect.  IV. 

A.  Urb.  693.    Cic.  47.    Coss Q^Caecilius  Meteilus  Ccler.    L.  Afranius. 

Metellus,  and  the  generality  of  the  senate  §.  LucuL 
lus  declared,  that  they  ought  not  to  confirm  his  acts 
in  the  gross,  as  if  they  received  them  from  a  master, 
but  to  consider  them  separately,  and  ratify  those  only 
which  were  foimd  to  be  reasonable  *,  But  the  tri- 
bune Flavins,  who  was  the  promoter  of  the  law,  im- 
patient of  this  opposition,  and  animated  by  Pompey's 
power,  had  the  hardiness  to  commit  Metellus  to  pri- 
son ;  and  when  all  the  senate  followed,  and  resolved 
to  go  to  prison  too,  he  clapt  his  chair  at  the  prison- 
door  to  keep  them  out :  but  this  violence  gave  such 
a  general  scandal  to  the  city,  that  Pompey  found  it 
advisable  to  draw  off  the  tribune,  and  release  the  con- 
-sul  f .  In  order  to  allay  these  heats,  Cicero  offered  an 
amendment  to  the  law,  which  satisfied  both  parties, 
"  by  securing  the  possessions  of  all  private  proprietors, 
**  and  hindering  the  public  lands  from  being  given  a- 
"  way :"  his  proposal  was,  ''  that  out  of  the  new  re- 
'*  venues,  which  Pompey  had  acquired  to  the  empire, 
*'  five  years  rents  should  be  set  apart  to  purchase  lands 
"  for  the  intended  distribution  J."     But  the  progress 


§  Agraria  autem  promulgata  est  a  Flavio,  sane  levis,  &.c.  Ad 
Att.  I.  18. 

Agraria  lex  a  Flavio  tribuno  pleb.  vehementer  agitabatur,  auctore 
Pompeio  : — Nihil  populare  habebat  praeter  auctorem  : — Huic  toti 
rationi  agrarise  senatus  adversabatur,  suspicans  Pompeio  novam 
quandam  potentiam  quaeri.     Ibid.  19. 

*  Dio,  1.  37.  52. 
,     f  Ibid. 

X  Ex  hac  ego  lege,  secunda  concionis  voluntate,  omnia  tollebam 
quse  ad  privatorum  incommodum  pertinebant.  Unum  rationem  non 
rejiciebam,  ut  ager  hac  adventitia  pecunia  emeretur,  quae  ex  novis 
vectigalibus  per  quinqueniium  reciperetur*— Magna  cum  Agrario- 

rum 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO. 


3^5^ 


A.  Urb.  693,    Cic.  47.    Coss.-— Q^Caecilius  Metellus  Celer.    L.  AfraniuS. 

of  the  affair  was  suspended  by  the  sudden  alarm  of  a 
GauHc  war,  which  was  always  terrible  to  Rome,  and 
being  now  actually  commenced  by  several  revolted 
nations,  called  for  the  immediate  care  and  attention  of 
the  government  *. 

The  senate  decreed  the  two  Gauls  severally  to  the 
two  consuls ;  and  required  them  to  make  levies  with- 
out any  regard  to  privilege,  or  exemption  from  service : 
and  that  three  senators  should  be  chosen  by  a  lot,  one 
of  them  of  consular  rank,  to  be  sent  with  a  public 
character  to  the  other  Gauhc  cities,  to  dissuade  them 
from  joining  in  the  war.  In  the  allotment  of  these 
ambassadors,  the  first  lot  happened  to  fall  upon  Ci- 
cero ;  but  the  whole  assembly  remonstrated  against 
it,  declaring  his  presence  to  be  necessary  at  Rome, 
and  that  he  ought  not  to  be  employed  on  such  an  er- 
rand. The  same  thing  happened  to  Pompey,  on  whom 
the  next  lot  fell,  who  was  retained  also  Vvdth  Cicero, 
as  two  pledges  of  the  pubhc  safety  f .  The  three  at 
last  chosen  were  Q^  Metellus  Creticus,  L.  Flaccus,  and 
Lentulus.    The  Transalpine  Gaul,  which  was  the  seat 


rum  gratia  confirmabam  omnium  privatorum  possessiones,  (is  enim 
est  noster  exercitus,  hominum  ut  tute  scis,  locupletium)  populo  au- 
tem  et  Pompelo  (nam  id  quoque  volebam)  satisfaciebam  emptlone. 
Ad  Att.  I.  19. 

*   Sed  liaec  tota  res  interpellata  bello  refrixerat.    Ad  Att.  i.  19. 

f  Senatus  decrevit,  ut  consules  duas  Galiias  sortirentur  j  delec- 
tus liaberetur  ;  vacatlones  ne  valerent  5  legati  cum  auctoritate  mit-. 
terentur,  qui  adirent  Gallitie  civitates.— -Cum  de  consularibus  inea 
prima  sors  exisset,  una  voce  senatus  frequens  me  in  urbe  retinen- 
dum  censuit.  Hoc  idem  post  me  Pompeio  accidit :  ut  nos  duo. 
u  asi  pignora  reipub.  retineri  videremur.      Ibid, 

Vol.  J.  U 


3P4  The  LIFE  of  Sect.  IV. 

A.  Urb-  693.    Cic.  47.    Coss. — Q^Cjecilius  Metellus  Celer.    L.  Afranius. 

of  the  war,  fell  to  the  lot  of  Metellus,  who  could  not 
contain  his  joy  upon  it,  for  the  prospect  of  glory  which 
it  offered  him.  *'  Metellus,"  says  Cicero,  "  is  an  ad- 
"  mirable  consul :  I  blame  him  only  in  one  thing,  for 
"  not  seeming  pleased  with  the  news  of  peace  from 
*'  Gaul.  He  longs,  I  suppose,  to  triumph.  I  wish 
"  that  he  was  as  moderate  in  this,  as  he  is  excellent  in 
"  all  other  respects  f ." 

Cicero  now  finished  in  the  Greek  language,  and  in 
the  stile  and  manner  of  Isocrates,  what  he  calls  a  Com- 
mentary or  Merjioirs  of  the  transactions  of  bis  Consul- 
ship, and  sent  it  to  Atticus,  with  a  desire,  if  he  ap- 
proved it,  to  publish  it  in  Athens,  and  the  cities  of 
Greece.  He  happened  to  receive  a  piece  at  the  same 
time,  and  on  the  same  subject,  from  Atticus,  which 
he  rallies  as  rough  and  unpolished,  and  without  any 
beauty,  but  its  simplicity.  He  sent  his  own  work  al- 
so to  Posidonius  of  Rhodes,  and  begged  that  he  would 
undertake  the  same  argument  in  a  more  elegant  and 
masterly  manner.  But  Posidonius  answered  him  with 
a  compliment,  that,  instead  of  being  encouraged  to 
write  by  the  perusal  of  his  piece,  he  was  quite  deter- 
red from  attempting  it.  Upon  which  Cicero  says  jo- 
cosely, that  he  had  confoimded  the  whole  Greek  na- 
tion, and  freed  himself  from  the  importunity  of  those 
little  v/its  wlio  had  been  teazing  him  so  long,  to  be 


f  Metellus  tuus  est  egreglus  consul :  unum  reprehendo,  quod 
otium  e  Gallia  nunciari  non  magnopere  gaudet.  Cupit,  credo,  tri- 
unjphare.     Hoc  vellem  nediocrius ;  cetera  egregia.     Ibid.  20. 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  305 

A.  Urb.  693-    Cic.  47.    Coss Q^Cscilius  Metellus  Celer.    L.  Afranius. 

employed  in  writing  the  history  of  his  acts  J.  What 
he  says  in  excuse  for  taking  that  task  upon  himself,  is, 
that  it  was  not  a  panegyric,  but  a  history,  which  makes 
our  loss  of  it  the  greater,  since  it  must  have  given  a 
more  ^xact  account  of  those  times  than  can  nov/  be 
possibly  had,  in  an  entertaining  work,  finished  with 
care  and  elegance,  which  not  only  pleased  himself,  as 
it  seems  to  have  done  very  highly,  but,  as  he  tells  us, 
every  body  else  :  "  If  there  be  any  thing  in  it,"  says 
he,  "  w^hich  does  not  seem  to  be  good  Greek,  or  polite 
"  enough  to  please  your  taste,  I  v/ill  not  say  what  Lu- 
"  cullas  told  you  of  his  own  history  at  Panormus,  that 
"he  had  scattered  some  barbarisms  in  it,  on  purpose 
"  to  make  it  appear  to  be  the  v/ork  of  a  F.oman  :  for 
*'  if  any  thing  of  that  kind  should  be  found  in  mine, 
"it  is  not  Vvdth  design,  but  contrary  to  my  inten- 
"  tion  *." 

Upon  the  plan  of  these  memoirs,  he  composed  af- 
terwards a  Latin  poem  in  three  books,  in  which  he 
carried  down  the  history  to  the  end  of  his  exile,  but 


X  Tua  ilia— ^horridula  mihl  atque  Incompta  visa  sunt  ;  sed  ta- 
men  erant  ornata  hoc  ipso,  quod  ornamenta  neglexerant :  et  ut  mu- 
lieres,  ideo  bene  olere,  quia  nihil  olebant,  videbantur — Ad  me  re- 
scripsit  jam  Rhodo  Posidonius,  se  nostrum  illud  vTro^v.'.i^a  cum  le- 
geret, — non  modo  ncn  exitatum  ad  scribendum,  sed  etiam  plane 
^erterritum  esse. — Conturbavi  Grgecam  nationem  :  ita  vulgo  qui 
instabant,  ut  darem  sibi  quod  ornarent,  jam  exhibere  mihi  modes- 
tiam  destiterunt.     Ad  Att.  2.  i. 

*  Commentarium  consulatus  mel  Grasce  compositum  ad  te  misi : 
in  quo  si  quid  erit,  quod  homini  Attico  minus  Graecum,  eruditum- 
que  videatur,  non  dicam,  quod  tibi,  ut  opinor,  Panormi  LircuUu-; 
de  suis  historiis  dixerat,  se,  quo  facilius  illas  probaret  Romani  ho- 
minis  esse,  idcirco  barbara  quaedam  et  cro'Koiy.u.  dispersisse.  Apud 
ice  si  quid  erit  ejusmodi,  me  imprudente  erit  et  invito.  Att.  i.  iq. 

U  2 


3o6  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  IV, 

A.  Urb.  693.    Cic.  47.    Coss.— Q^Cxcilius  Metcllus  Celer.    L.  Afranius. 

did  not  venture  to  publish  it  till  several  years  after : 
"  Not  that  he  was  afraid,"  he  says,  "  of  the  resentment 
*'  of  those  whom  he  had  lashed  in  it,  for  he  had  done 
"  that  part  very  sparingly,  but  of  those  rather  whom 
"  he  had  not  celebrated,  it  being  endless  to  mention 
"  all  who  had  been  serviceable  to  him  f ."  This  piece 
is  also  lost,  except  a  few  fragments  scattered  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  his  other  writings.  The  three  books 
were  severally  inscribed  to  three  of  the  Muses,  of 
which  his  brother  expresses  the  highest  approbation, 
and  admonishes  him  to  bear  in  mind  what  Jupiter  re- 
commends in  the  end  of  Urania,  or  the  second  book, 
which  concluded  probably  with  some  moral  lesson, 
not  unlike  to  what  Calliope  prescribes  in  the  third  J. 

Inter ea  cursus,  quos  prima  a  parte  jwventce^ 
^uosque  adeo  consul  virtute  animoque petisti, 
Hos  retine  ;  atque  augefamam  laudesque  hojiorum. 

That  noble  course,  in  which  thy  earliest  youth 
Was  train'd  to  virtue,  liberty,  and  truth. 
In  which,  when  consul,  you  sudh  honour  won, 
"While  Rome  with  wonder  and  applause  look'd  on. 
The  same  pursue  ;  and  let  each  growing  year 
A  fresh  increase  of  fame  and  glory  bear. 


f  Scripsi  etiam  verslbus  tres  libros  de  temporibus  mels,  quosjam- 
pridem  ad  te  misissem,  si  esse  edendos  putassem — non  quia  verebar 
eos,  qui  se  Itesos  arbitrarentur,  etenim  id  feci  parce  et  moHter  5 
sed  eos,  quos  erat  infinitum  bene  de  me  meritos  omnes  nominare. 
Ep.  fam.  I.  9. 

:|;  Quod  me  admones  de  nostra  Urania,  suadesque  ut  meminerim 
Jovis  orationem,  quae  est  in  extreme  illo  libro  :  ego  vero  memini^ 
et  ilia  omnia  milii  magis  scripsi,  quam  caeteris.  Ep.  ad.  Quint* 
frat.  2.  9.     Vid.  Att.  2.  3.     De  Divin.  1.  11. 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  307 

A.  Urb.  961.    Cic.  45.    Coss. — Q^Cxcilius  Metellus  Celer.    L.  Afranius. 

He  published  likewise  at  this  time  a  collection  of  the 
principal  speeches  which  he  had  made  in  his  consul- 
ship, under  the  title  of  bis  Consular  Orations  :  he  chose 
to  make  a  separate  volume  of  them,  as  Demosthenes 
had  done  of  his  Philippics,  in  order  to  give  a  specimen 
of  his  civil  or  pohtical  talents ;  "  being  of  a  different 
"  manner,"  he  says,  "  from  the  dry  and  crabbed  stile 
"  of  the  bar,  and  shewing,  not  only  how  he  spoke,  but 
"  how  he  acted."  The  two  first  were  against  the  ag- 
rarian law  of  Rullus ;  the  one  to  the  senate,  the  other 
t^  the  people  :  the  third  on  the  tumult  about  Otho  : 
the  third,  for  Rabirius :  the  fifth,  to  the  sons  of  the 
proscribed  :  the  sixth,  upon  his  resigning  the  province 
of  Gaul :  the  seventh,  eighth,  ninth,  and  tenth,  on  the 
affair  of  Catihne  :  with  two  more  short  ones,  as  ap- 
pendixes to  those  of  the  Agrarian  law.  But  of  these 
twelve,  four  are  entirely  lost ;  the  third,  fifth,  and 
sixth,  with  one  of  the  short  ones ;  and  som.e  of  the 
rest  left  maimed  and  imperfect.  He  published  also, 
at  this  time,  in  Latin  verse,  a  translation  of  the  Prog- 
nostics of  Aratus,  which  he  promises  to  send  to  Atti- 
ticus  with  the  volume  of  his  orations  *  ;  of  which 
w^ork  there  are  only  two  or  three  small  fragments  now 
remaining. 

*  Fuit  exiim  mini  commodura,  quod  in  eis  orationibus,  quae  Phi-- 
lippicse  nominantur,  enituerat  civis  ille  tuus  Demosthenes,  et  quod 
se  ab  hoc  refractariolo  judicial!  dicendi  genere  abjunxerat,  ut  c-ifivo- 
li^og  T<$  et  TTdXiTiKaTi^og  videretur  curare,  ut  meat;  quoque  esset  ora- 
tiones,  quae  consulares  nominarentur. — Hoc  totum  G-Zf^x  curabo  ut 
habeas  :  et  quoniam  te  cum  scripta,  turn  res  mese  delectant  iisdem 
libris  perspicies,  et  quae  gesserim,  et  quce  dixerim.     Att.  2.  i. 

Prognostica  mea  cum  oratiunculis  prcpedieni  expecta.     Ibid, 

u  5 


3o8  The  LIFE  of  Sect.  IV. 

A.  Urb.  691.     Cic,  45.  Coss.-'C^Caecilius  Metellus  Celer.    L.  Afranius. 

Clodius,  who  had-  been  contriving  all  this  while  how 
to  revenge  himself  on  Cicero,  began  now  to  give  an 
opening  to  the  scheme  which  he  had  formed  for  that 
purpose.  His  project  was,  to  get  himself  chosen  tri- 
bune, and  in  that  office  to  drive  him  out  of  the  city, 
by  the  publication  of  a  law,  which,  by  some  strata*- 
gem  or  other,  he  hoped  to  obtrude  upon  the  people  *. 
But  as  all  patricians  were  incapable  of  the  tribunate,  by 
its  original  institution,  so  his  first  step  was  to  make 
himself  a  plebeian,  by  the  pretence  of  an  adoption  in- 
to a  plebeian  house,  v/hich  could  not  yet  be  done  with- 
out the  suffrage  of  the  people.  This  case  was  wholly 
new,  and  contrary  to  all  the  forms  ;  wanting  every 
condition,  and  serving  none  of  the  ends  which  were 
required  in  regular  adoptions ;  so  that,  on  the  first 
proposal,  it  seemed  too  extravagant  to  be  treated  se- 
riously, and  would  soon  have  been  hissed  off  with  scorn, 
had  it  not  been  concerted  and  privately  supported  by 
persons  of  much  more  Vv^eight  than  Clodius.  Caesar 
was  at  the  bottom  of  it,  and  Pompey  secretly  favour- 
ed it :  not  that  they  intended  to  ruin  Cicero,  but  to 
keep  him  only  under  the  lash ;  and,  if  they  could  not 
draw  him  into  their  measures,  or  make  him  at  least  sit 
quiet,  to  let  Clodius  loose  upon  him.  The  solicitor 
of  it  v/as  one  Herennius,  an  obscure,  hardy  tribune, 
xvho  first  moved  it  tT)  the  senate,  and  afterwards  to  the 
people,  but  met  with  no  encouragement  from  either  : 
fpr  the  consul  I^vletellus,  though  brother-in-law  to  Clo- 


*  Ille  autf:ni  non   siiiulat,   sed  plane  triuunus  plcb,  fieri  cuijlt. 
Ad.  Av..  2.  1. 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  309 

A.  Urb.  691.    Cic.  45.    Coss. — Q^Cae  ilius  Metellus  Celer.    L.  Afranius. 

dius,  warmly  opposed  it  ^ ;  and  declared,  ^'  that  he 
*'  would  strangle  him  sooner  with  his  own  hands,  than 
^*  suffer  him  to  bring  such  a  disgrace  upon  his  fami- 
"  ly  f  :"  yet  Herennius  persisted  to  press  it,  but  with- 
out any  visible  effect  or  success  ;  and  so  the  matter 
Jiung  through  the  remainder  of  the  year. 

Cicero  affected  to  treat  it  with  the  contempt  which 
it  seemed  to  deserve  ;  sometimes  rallying  Glodius  v/ith 
much  pleasantry,  sometimes  admonishing  him  with 
no  less  gravity  :  he  told  him  in  the  senate,  that  his  at- 
tempt gave  him,  no  manner  of  pain  ;  and  that  it  should 
not  be  any  more  in  his  power  to  overturn  the  state, 
when  a  plebeian,  than  it  was  in  the  pov/er  of  the  Pa- 
tricians of  the  same  stamp  in  the  time  of  his  consul- 
ship J.  But  whatever  face  he  put  outwardly  on  this 
affair,  it  gave  him  a  real  uneasiness  within,  and  made 
him  unite  himself  more  closely  with  Pompey,  for  the 
benefit  of  his  protection  against  a  storm  which  he  saw 
ready  to  break  upon  him  ;  while  Pompey,  ruffled  like- 
wise by  the  opposition  of  the  senate,  was  as  forward 
on  his  side  to  embrace  Cicero,  as  a  person  necessary 
to  his  interests.  Cicero  how^ever,  imagining  that  this 
step  would  be  censured  by  many,  as  a  desertion  of  his 
old  principles,  takes  frequent  occasion  to  explain  the 
motives  of  it  to  his  friend  Atticus,  declaring,  "  that  the 
"  absolution  of  Clodius,  the  alienation  of  the  knights, 


*  Verum  praeclare  Metellus  impedit  et  Impediet.     Ibid. 

f  Qui  consul  incipientem  furere  atq^ue  conantem,  sua  se  nianu  in- 
teifecturum,  audiente  senatu,  dixerit.    Pro  Ca^lio,  24. 

J  ^Sed  neque  raagnopere  di:-a  esse  uobis  Iabo?aridum,  quod  nikilo- 
jmagis  ei  liciturum  esset  Plebeio  Rempub.  pcrdere,  qyara  sirailibus 
ejus  me  cououle  pauiciis  esset  llcitum.     Ad  Att.  2.  r. 

U4 


310  The    LIFE   of  Sect.  IV. 

A.  Urb.  693.    Gic.  47.     Coss....CieciIius  Metellus  Ccler.    L.  Afranius. 

"  the  indolence  and  luxury  of  the  consular  senators, 
"  who  minded  nothing  but  their  fish-ponds,  their  carps 
"  and  mullets,  and  yet  were  all  envious  of  him,  made  it 
"  necessary  for  him  to  seek  some  firmer  support  and 
"  alliance. — That  in  this  new  friendship  he  should  at- 
"  tend  still  to  what  the  Sicilian  wag  Epicharmus  whis- 
"  pered,"  "  Be  watchful  and  distrust,  for  those  are  the 
"  nerves  of  the  mind  *."  On  another  occasion  he  ob- 
serves, **  That  his  union  with  Pompey,  though  useful 
"  to  himself,  was  more  useful  to  the  republic,  by  gain- 
"  ing  a  man  of  his  power  and  authority,  who  was  wa- 
"  vering  and  irresolute,  from  the  hopes  and  intrigues 
"  of  the  factious  :  that  if  this  could  not  have  been  done 
'*  without  drawing  upon  himself  a  charge  of  levity,  he 
"  would  not  have  purchased  that,  or  any  other  advan- 
"  tage  at  such  a  price ;  but  he  had  managed  the  mat- 
*'  ter  so,  as  not  to  be  thought  the  worst  citizen  for 
*'  joining  with  Pompey,  but  Pompey  himself  the  bet- 
"  ter,  by  declaring  for  him. — That  since  Catulus's 
"  death,  he  stood  single  and  unsupported  by  the  other 
*'  consulars  in  the  cause  of  the  aristocracy ;  for  as  the 
"  poet  Rhinton  says,  some  of  them  were  good  for  no- 
"  thing,  others  cared  for  nothing  f .     But  how  much 


*  Cum  hoc  ego  me  tanta  famillaritate  conjunxi,  ut  uterque  nos- 
trum in  sua  ratione  munitior,  et  in  repub.  firmior  hac  conjunctione 
esse  possit. 

Et  si  iis  novis  amicitiis  implicati  sumus,  ut  crebro  mihi  vafer  ille 
Siculus,  insusurret  Epicharmus,  cantilenam  illam  suam  : 

Ad  Att.  I.  19. 
\  Illud  tamen  velim  existimes,  me  banc  viam  optimatium  post 

CatuU 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  311 


A.  Urb.  693.     Cic.  47.     Coss. — Q^CaJcilus  Metellus  Celer.    L.  Afranius. 

"  these  fish-mongers  of  ours  envy  me,  "  says  he,"  I  will 
**  write  you  word  another  time,  or  reserve  it  to  our 
"  meeting.  Yet  nothing  shall  ever  draw  me  away 
^  from  the  senate  :  both  because  it  is  right,  and  most 
"  agreeable  to  my  interest,  and  that  I  have  no  reason 
**  to  be  displeased  with  the  marks  of  respect  which 
"  they  give  me  J."  In  a  third  letter,  he  says,  "  You 
"  chide  me  gently  for  my  union  with  Pompey  :  I 
"  would  not  have  you  to  think  that  I  sought  it  only 
^'-  for  my  own  sake  ;  but  things  were  come  to  such  a 
"  crisis,  that  if  any  difference  had  happened  between 
"  us,  it  must  have  caused  great  disturbance  in  the  re- 
**  public  ;  which  I  have  guarded  against  in  such  a 
"  manner,  that,  without  departing  from  my  own  max- 
*'  ims,  I  have  rendered  him  the  better,  and  made  him 
**  remit  somewhat  of  his  popularity:  for  you  must 
"  know,  that  he  now  speaks  of  my  acts,  which  many 
"  have  been  incensing  him  againt,  much  m^ore  glori- 
*^  ously  than  he  does  of  his  own ;  and  declares,  that 
"  he  had  only  served  the  state  successfully,  but  that  I 
"  had  saved  it||.  What  good  this  will  do  to  me,  I  know 
*^  not ;  but  it  will  certainly  do  much  to  the  republic, 
**  What  if  I  could  make  Caesar  also  abetter  citizen,  whose 

Catuli  mortem  nee  prcesidio  ullo  nee  comitatu  tenere.  Nam  ut 
ait  Rhinton,  ut  opinor, 

O/  *tjv  Tca,^  iioiv  UTiv  cU  o   kalv  ^iXzi. 

Ad  Att    21.  10. 

X  Mihi  vero  ut  invideant  pisclnarii  nostri,  aut  scribam  ad  te  alias, 
aut  in  congressum  nostrum  reservabo.  A  curia  autem  nulla  me 
jres  divellet.     Ibid. 

jl  Quern  de  meis  rebus,  in  quas  multi  eum  incitarant,  multo  sci- 
to  gloriosius,  quam  de  suis  praedicare.  SIbi  enim  bene  gestae  railii 
fODServatae  rerpub.  dat  testimonium.     lb.  2.  i. 


31- 


The  life  of  Sect.  IV. 


A.  Urb.  693.    Cic.  47.    Coss. — Q^Cxcilius  Metellus  Celer.    L.  Afranius. 


"  winds  are  now  very  prosperous  ;  should  I  do  any 

"  great  harm  by  it  ?  Na^ ,  if  there  were  none  who 

"  really  envied  me,  but  all  were  encouraging  me  as 

"  they  ought   it  would  yet  be  more  commendable  to 

"  heal  the  vitiated  parts  of  the  state,  than  to  cut  them 

*'  off:  but  now,  when  that  body  of  knights,  who  were 

*•  planted  by  me  in  my  consulship,  with  you  at  their 

*'  head,  as  our  guard  in  the  Capitol,  have  deserted  the 

*'  senate,  and  our  consulars  place  their  chief  happiness 

**  in  training  ^the  fish  in  their  ponds  to  feed  from  their 

**  hands,  and  mind  nothing  else ;  do  not  you  think 

**  that  I  am  doing  good  service,  by  managing  so,  that 

"  those,  who  can  do  mischief,  will  not  ?  For  as  to  our 

"  friend  Cato,  you  cannot  love  him  more  than  I  do ; 

•*  yet    with  the  best  intentions  and  the  greatest  inte- 

*'  grity,  he  often  hurts  the  republic  ;  for  he  delivers 

*'  his  opinion,  as  if  it  were  in  the  polity  of  Plato,  not 

**  in  the  dregs  of  Romulus  §.     What  could  be  more 

**  just,  than  to  call  those  to  an  account,  who  had  re- 

**  ceived  money  for  judging  ?  Cato  proposed,  the  se- 

"  nate  agreed  to  it :  the  knights  presently  declared 

**  war  against  the  senate   not  against  me  ;  for  I  was 

"  not  of  that  opinion.     What  more  impudent,  than 

**  to  demand  a  release  from  their  contract  ?  yet  it  was 

*'  better  to  suffer  that  loss,  than  to  alienate  the  whole 

**  order  :  but  Cato  opposed  it,  and  prevailed ;  so  that 

**  now,  when  the  consul  was  thrown  into  prison,  as 

*'  well  as  in  all  the  tumults  which  have  lately  happen- 

J  Nam  Catone»  nostrum  ncntu  amas  plus  quam  ego.     Sed  ta- 


Sect.  IV,  CICERO.  313 

A.  Urb.  693.    Cic.  47.    Cofis.— (^Caecilius  Metcllus  Celer,  L.  Afranius. 

"  ed,  not  one  of  them  would  stir  a  foot ;  though  under 
"  me,  and  the  consuls  who  succeded  me,  they  had 
"  defended  the  repubhc  so  strenously,  &c.  *." 

In  the  midst  of  these  transactions,  Julius  Caesar  re- 
turned from  the  government  of  Spain,  which  had  been 
allotted  to  him  from  his  praetorship,  with  great  fame 
both  for  his  mihtary  and  political  acts.  He  conquer- 
ed the  barbarous  nations  by  his  arms,  and  civilized 
them  by  his  laws ;  and  having  subdued  the  whole 
country  as  far  as  the  ocean,  and  been  saluted  emper- 
or by  the  soldiers,  came  away  in  all  haste  to  Rome, 
to  sue  at  the  same  time  for  the  double  honour  of  a 
triumph  and  the  consulship  f .  But  his  demand  of 
the  first  was,  according  to  the  usual  forms,  incompati- 
ble with  his  pretensions  to  the  second  ;  since  the  one 
obliged  him  to  continue  without  the  city,  the  other 
made  his  presence  necessary  within :  so  that,  finding 
an  aversion  in  the  senate  to  dispense  with  the  laws  in 
his  favour,  he  preferred  the  solid  to  the  specious,  and 
dropt  the  triumph,  to  lay  hold  on  the  consulship  J. 


men  ille  optimo  anlmo  utens,  et  summa  fide,  nocet  interdum  reipub. 
dicit  enlm  tanquam  in  Platonis  •7roA/]j;a,  non  tanquam  in  Romuli  fce- 
ce,  sententiam.      Ad  Att.  1.2. 

*  Restitit  et  pervicit  Cato.  Itaque  nunc,  consule  in  carcere  in- 
cluso,  saepe  item  seditione  commota,  aspiravit  nemo  eorum,  quorum 
ego  concursu,  itemque  consules,  qui  post  me  fuerunt,  rempub.  de- 
fendere  solebant.      Ad  Att.  2.  i. 

f  Jura  ipsorum  permissu  statuerit ;  inveteratam  quandam  bar- 
bariam  ex  Gaditanorum  moribus  et  disciplina  delerit.     Pro  Balbo. 

'9-  .     .  .... 

Pacataque  provincia,  pari  festmatione,  non  expectato  successore, 

ad  triurapbum   simul  consulatumque  decessit.  Sueton.  J.  Cses.  18. 

Vid.  it.  Dio,  1,  37.  p.  54. 

+  Dio,  ibid. 


314  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  IV. 

-  —  -" 

A.  Urb.  693.    Lie.  47.    Loss Q^Caecilius  MetcUus  Celer.    L.  Afranius. 

He  designed  L.  Lucceius  for  his  colleague,  and  pri- 
vately joined  interests  with  him,  on  condition  that 
Lucceius,  who  was  rich,  should  furnish  money  suffici- 
ent to  bribe  the  centuries.  But  the  senate,  always 
jealous  of  his  designs,  and  fearing  the  effects  of  his 
power,  when  supported  by  a  colleague  subservient  to 
his  vnll,  espoused  the  other  candidate,  Bibulus,  with 
all  their  authority,  and  made  a  common  purse  to  en- 
able him  to  bribe  as  high  as  his  competitors :  which 
Cato  himself  is  said  to  have  approved  J.  By  this 
means  they  got  Bibulus  elected,  to  their  great  joy ;  a 
man  firm  to  their  interests,  and  determined  to  obstruct 
aU  the  ambitious  attempts  of  Caesar. 

Upon  Caesar's  going  to  Spain,  he  had  engaged  Cras- 
sus  to  stand  bound  for  him  to  his  creditors,  who  w^ere 
clamorous  and  troublesome,  as  far  as  two  hundred 
thousand  pounds  sterling  :  so  much  did  he  want  to  be 
worth  nothing,  as  he  merrily  said  of  himself  |[.  Cras- 
sus  hoped,  by  the  purchase  of  his  friendship,  to  be  a- 
ble  to  make  head  against  Pompey  in  the  administra- 
tion of  pubUc  affairs  :  but  Caesar,  who  had  long  been 
courting  Pompey,  and  labouring  to  disengage  him 
from  an  union  with  Cicero  and  the  aristocratical  in- 
terest, easily  saw,  that  as  things  then  stood,  their  joint 


:|:  Pactus  ut  is,  quoniam  inferior  gratia  esset,  pecuniaque  polleret, 
nummos  de  suo,  communi  nomine  per  centurias  pronunciaret.  Qua 
cognita  re,  optimates,  quos  metus  ceperat,  nihil  non  ausurum  eum 
in  summo  magistratu,  concordi  et  consentiente  collega,  auctores 
Bibulo  fuerunt  tantundem  poUicendi  :  ac  plerique  pecunias  con- 
tulerimt  j  ne  Catone  quidem  abnuente  earn  largitionem  e  repub* 
fieri.  Sueton.  ib.  19. 

Ij  Plutarch,  in  C:es.  Appian.  de  bello  civ.  2.  p.  432.  Sueton.  ib.  i8. 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO-  31^ 

A.  Urb.  695.     Cic.  47.    Coss Q^Crecilius  Metellus  Celer.    L.  Afranius. 

Strength  would  avail  but  little  towards  obtaining  what 
thej  aimed  at,  unless  they  could  induce  Pompey  also 
to  join  them :  on  pretence,  therefore,  of  reconciling 
Pompey  and  Crassus,  who  had  been  constant  enemies, 
he  formed  the  project  of  a  triple  league  betv/een  the 
three  ;  by  which  they  should  mutually  oblige  them- 
selves to  promote  each  others  interest,  and  to  act  no- 
thing but  by  common  agreement :  to  this  Pompey 
easily  consented,  on  account  of  the  disgust  which  the 
senate  had  impoliticly  given  him,  by  their  perverse  op- 
position to  every  thing  which  he  desired  or  attempted 
in  the  state. 

This  is  commonly  called  the  First  Triumvirate;  which 
was  nothing  else  in  reality  but  a  Traitorous  Conspiracy 
of  Three,  the  most  powerful  citizens  of  Rome,  to  ex- 
tort from  their  country  by  violence  what  they  could 
not  obtain  by  law.  Pompey's  chief  motive  was,  to 
get  his  acts  confirmed  by  Caesar  in  his  consulship  ; 
Csesar's,  1)y  giving  way  to  Pompey's  glory,  to  advance 
his  owm ;  and  Crassus's,  to  gain  that  ascendant,  which 
he  could  not  sustain  alone,  by  the  authority  of  Pom- 
pey and  the  vigour  of  Caesar  §.  But  Caesar,  who 
formed  the  scheme,  easily  saw  that  the  chief  advan- 
tage of  it  would  necessarily  redound  to  himself;  he 
knew,  that  the   old  enmity  between  the  other  two, 


§  Hoc  concilium  Pompeius  habuerat,  ut  tandem  acta  in  trans- 
marinis  provinciis  per  Ciesarem  conlirmarentur  consulem  :  Cs^sar 
autem,  quod  aiiimadvertebat,  se  cedendo  Pompeii  gloria?  aucturum 
suam  5  et  invidia  communis  potentlee  in  ilium  relegata,  confirmatu- 
rum  vires  suas  :  Crassus,  ut  quern  principatum  solus  assequi  ndn 
poterat,  auctoritate  Pompeii,  viribus  ter.eret  Cicsaris.  Veil;  Pnt. 
Q..  44. 


3i6  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  IV, 

A.  Urb.  693.    .Cic.  47.    Coss. — Q^Caecilius  Metellus  Celer.    L.  Afranius. 

though  it  might  be  palliated,  could  never  be  healed 
without  leaving  a  secret  jealousy  between  them  ;  and 
as  by  their  common  help  he  Vv^as  sure  to  make  himself 
superior  to  all  others,  so,  by  managing  the  one  against 
the  other,  he  hoped  to^gain  at  last  a  superiority  also 
over  them  both  *.  To  cement  this  union  therefore 
the  more  strongly  by  the  ties  of  blood  as  well  as  in- 
terest, he  gave  his  daughter  Juha,  a  beautiful  and  ac- 
complished young  lady,  in  marriage  to  Pompey  :  and 
from  this  aera  all  the  Roman  writers  date  the  origin 
of  the  civil  wars,  which  afterwards  ensued,  and  the 
subversion  of  the  republic,  in  which  they  ended  f . 


tu  causa  malorum 


Facta  tribus  dominis  communis  Roma — 

Luc  AN.  I.  85 

Hence  ilow'd  our  ills,  hence  all  that  civil  flame. 
When  Rome  the  common  slave  of  three  became. 

Cicero  might  have  made  what  terms  he  pleased 
with  the  Triumvirate  ;  been  admitted  even  a  partner 
of  their  power,  and  a  fourth  in  their  league ;  which 
seemed  to  Avant  a  man  of  his  character  to  make  it  com- 
plete. For,  while  the  rest  were  engaged  in  their  go- 
vernments, and  the  command  of  armies  abroad,  his 


'*   Sciebat  enim,  se  alios  facile  omncs  ipsorum  auxilio,  deinde  ip- 
sos  etlam,  imum  per  altcrum,   baud  multo  postea  superaturum  esse. 

X^io,  1-  37-  SS- 

f  Inter   eum   et   Cn.  Pompelum  et   M.  Crassum  inita  potential 

.SQcietas,  quse  urbi  orbique  tt rrarum,  nee  minus  diverse  quoque  tem- 
pore, etiam  ipsis  exitiabilis  fuit.  Veil.  Pat.  2.  44. 

Motum  ex  Metello  consule  civicum,  &c. 

Hor.  Carm.  2.  i. 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  317 

A.  Urb.  691.    Cic.  45.    Coss. — Q^Csecilfus  MettUus  Celer.    L,  Afranius. 

authority  would  have  been  of  singular  use  at  home,  to 
manage  the  affairs  of  the  city,  and  solicit  what  they 
had  to  transact  with  the  senate  or  people.  C^sar 
therefore  was  extremely  desirous  to  add  him  to  the 
party,  or  to  engage  him  rather  in  particular  measures 
with  himself ;  and  no  sooner  entered  into  the  consul- 
ship, than  he  sent  him  word,  by  their  common  friend 
Balbus,  that  he  would  be  governed  in  every  step  by 
him  and  Pompey,  with  whom  he  would  endeavour  to 
join  Crassus  too  *,  But  Cicero  would  not  enter  into 
any  engagements  jointly  with  the  Tbree^  w^hose  union 
he  abhorred ;  nor  into  private  measures  with  Caesar, 
whose  intentions  he  always  suspected.  He  thought 
Pompey  the  better  citizen  of  the  two  ;  took  his  views 
to  be  less  dangerous,  and  his  temper  more  tractable  ; 
and  imagined  that  a  separate  alliance  with  him  would 
be 'sufficient  to  screen  him  from  the  malice  of  his  ene- 
mies. Yet  this  put  him  under  no  small  difficulty  : 
for.  if  he  opposed  the  Triumvirate,  he  could  not  ex- 
pect to  continue  well  with  Pompey  ;  or,  if  he  served 
it,  with  the  senate  :  in  the  first,  he  saw  his  ruin  ;  in 
the  second,  the  loss  of  his  credit.  He  chose  therefore, 
what  the  wise  v/ill  always  chuse  in  such  circumstan- 
ces, a  middle  way ;  to  temper  his  behaviour  so,  that 


*  Caesar  consul  egit  eas  res,  quarum  me  paticipem  esse  volult 
— me  In  tribus  sibi  conjur^ctissiinis  consuiaribus  esse  volait.  De 
Provinc.  consular.  17. 

Nam  fuit  apud  me  Corneiius,  ^A;nc  dico  E album,  Csssarls  fami- 
Harem.  Is  atr.rmabat,  earn  omnibus  in  rebus  meo  &  Pompeii  con- 
silio  usurum,  daturumque  operam  ut  cum  Pompeio  Crassum.  con- 
jungeret.  Hie  sunt  htec.  Conjunctio  milu  summa  cum  Pompexo  j 
si  placet  etiam  cum  Csesare.     Ad  Att.  2.  3. 


3i8  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  iV, 


A.  Urb.  691.    Cic.  45-     Coss. — CX  Caecilius  Metellus  Celer.    L.  Afranius. 


with  the  constancy  of  his  duty  to  the  repiibhc,  he 
might  have  a  regard  also  to  his  safety,  by  remitting 
somewhat  of  his  old  vigom'  and  contention,  without 
submitting  to  the  meanness  of  consent  or  approbation ; 
and,  when  his  authority  could  be  of  no  use  to  his  coun- 
try, to  manage  their  new  masters  so,  as  not  to  irritate 
their  power  to  his  own  destruction  ;  which  was  all  that 
he  desired  f .  This  was  the  scheme  of  politics  which, 
as  he  often  lam.ents,  the  weakness  of  the  honest,  the 
perverseness  of  the  envious,  and  the  hatred  of  .the 
wicked,  obliged  him  to  pursue. 

One  of  his  intimate  friends  Papirius  Paetus,  made 
him  a  present  about  this  time  of  a  collection  of  books, 
which  fell  to  him  by  the  death  of  his  brother  Servius 
Claudius,  a  celebrated  scholar  and  critic  of  that  age  *. 
The  books  were  all  at  Athens,  where  Servius  probably 
died ;  and  the  manner  in  which  Cicero  writes  about 
them  to  Atticus,  shews  what  a  value  he  set  upon  the 
present,  and  what  pleasure  he  expected  from  the  use 
of  it. 

"  Papirius  Partus,  says  he,  an  honest  man,  who  loves 
"  me,  has  given  me  the  books  which  his  brother  Ser- 
"  vius  left ;  and  since  your  agent  Cincius  tells  me^ 
"  that  I  may  safely  take  them  by  the  Gincian  law  f, 

f  Nihil  jam  a  me  asperum  in  qneiiquam  fit,  nectamen  quidquam 
populare  ac  dissolutum  ;  sed  ita  temperata  tota  ratio  est,  ut  Reip. 
constantiam  prsestem,  privatis  rebus  meis,  propter  infirmitatem  bo- 
norum,  iniquitatem  malevolorum,  odiuin  in  me  improborum  5  adhibe- 
am  quandam  cautionem.      Ad  Att.  i.  19.  .. 

*  Ut  Servius,  frater  tuus,  quem  literatissimum  fuisse.  judico,  fa- 
cile diceret,  hie  versus  Piauti  non  est.     Ep.  fam.  9.  16. 

f  The  pleasantry,  which  Cicero  aims  at,  turns  on  the  name  of 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  319 

A,  Urb.  694.    Cic.  4.8.     Coss. — C.  Julius  Cfssar.     M.  Calpurnius  Eibulu?. 

"  I  readily  signified  my  acceptance  of  them.  Now  if 
"  you  love  me,  or  know  that  I  love  you,  I  beg  of  you 
"  to  take  care,  by  your  friends,  clients,  hosts,  freed- 
"  men,  slaves,  that  not  a  leaf  of  them  be  lost.  I  am 
"  in  extreme  want  both  of  the  Greek  books,  which  I 
*'  guess,  and  the  Latin,  which  I  know  him  to  have 
*'  left :  for  I  find  more  and  more  comfort  every  day, 
*'  in  giving  all  the  time,  which  I  can  steal  from  the 
"  Bar,  to  those  studies.  You  will  do  me  a  great  plea- 
"  sm-e,  a  very  great  one,  I  assure  you,  by  shewing  the 
"  same  diligence  in  this,  that  you  usually  do  in  all  o- 
"  ther  affairs,  which  you  take  me  to  have  much  at 
"  heart,  &c."J. 

While  Cicero  was  in  the  country  in  the  end  of  the 
year,  his  architect  Cyrus  was  finishing  for  him  at  Rome 
some  additional  buildings  to  his  house  on  mount  Pala- 
tine :  but  Atticus,  who  was  just  returned  from  Atheas, 
found  great  fault  with  the  smallness  of  the  windows ; 
to  which  Cicero  gives  a  jocose  answer,  bantering  both 
the  objection  of  Atticus,  and  the  way  of  reasoning  of 
the  architects  :  "  You  little  think,"  says  he,  '*  that  in 
"  finding  fault  with  my  windows,  you  condemn  the 
"  Institution  of  Cyrus  *  ;  for  when  I  made  the  same 
"  objection,  Cyrus  told  me,  that  the  prospect  of  the 
"  fields  did  not  appear  to  such  advantage  through  lar- 
*'  ger  lights.     For  let  the  eye  be  A  ;  the  object  B.  G  \ 


Attlcus''s  agent,  being  tlie  same  with  that  of  the  author  of  the  law  j 
as  if,  by  being  of  that  family,  Iris  authority  ^^as  a  good  warrant  for 
taking  any  present. 

X  Ad.  Att.  I.  20. 

*  Referring  to  the  celebrated  piece  of  Xcnophon^  called  b/  that 
name. 

Vol.  L  X 


320  The    LIFE   of  Sect.  IV 


A.  Urb.  694.    Cic.  48.    Coss. — C.  Julius  Caesar.     M.  Calpurnius  Bibulus. 

"  the  rays,  D,  E  ;  you  see  the  rest.  If  vision  indeed 
"  were  performed,  as  you  Epicureans  hold,  by  images 
"  flying  off  from  the  object,  those  images  would  be 
"  well  crowded  in  so  strait  a  passage ;  but  if,  by  the 
"  emission  of  rays  from  the  eye,  it  will  be  made  com- 
"  modiously  enough.  If  you  find  any  other  fault, 
"  you  shall  have  as  good  as  you  bring ;  unless  it  can 
"  be  mended  v/ithout  any  cost  to  me  f ." 

Caesar  and  Bibulus  entered  now  into  the  Consul- 
ship, v/ith  views  and  principles  wholly  opposite  to  each 
other  ;  while  the  senate  were  pleasing  themselves  with 
their  address,  in  procuring  one  consul  of  their  own,  to 
check  the  ambition  of  the  other,  and  expecting  now 
to  reap  the  fruit  of  it.  But  they  presently  found  u- 
pon  a  trial,  that  the  balance  and  constitution  of  the 
republic  was  quite  changed  by  the  overbearing  power 
of  the  three :  and  that  Caesar  Vv-as  too  strong  to  be  con- 
trouled  by  any  of  the  legal  and  ordinary  methods  of 
opposition  :  he  had  gained  seven  of  the  Tribunes,  of 
whom  Vatinius  was  the  captain  of  his  mercenaries ; 
whose  task  it  was  to  scour  the  streets,  secure  the  ave- 
nues of  the  forum,  and  clear  it  by  a  superior  force  of 
all  who  were  prepared  to  oppose  them.. 

Clodius,  in  the  mean  time,  was  pushing  on  the  af- 
fair of  his  adoption  ;  and  soliciting  the  people  to  con- 
firm the  law,  which  he  had  provided  for  that  purpose. 
The  Triumvirate  pretended  to  be  against  it,  or  at  least 
to  stand  neuter ;  but  were  v/atching  Cicero's  motions, 
in  order  to  take  their  measures  from  his  conduct, 
which  they  did  not  find  so  obsequious  as  they  expect- 

-f-  Ad.  Att.  2.  3, 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  321 

A»  Urb.  694.    Cic.  48.    Coss. — C.  Julius  Caisar.     M.  Calpurnius  Eibulus. 


ed.  In  this  interval,  it  happened  that  G.  Antonius, 
Cicero's  colleague,  who  had  governed  Macedonia  from 
the  time  of  his  consulship,  was  now  impeached  and 
brought  to  a  trial,  for  the  maladministration  of  his 
province  ;  and  being  found  guilty,  was  condemned  to 
perpetual  exile.  Cicero  was  his  advocate,  and,  in  the 
course  of  his  pleading,  happened  to  fall,  with  the  usual 
freedom,  into  a  complaint  of  the  times,  and  the  op- 
pression of  the  repubhc,  in  a  stile  that  was  interpreted 
to  reflect  severely  upon  their  present  rulers.  The 
story  was  carried  directly  to  C^sar,  and  represented 
to  him  in  such  colours,  that  he  resolved  to  revenge  it 
presently  on  Cicero,  by  bringing  on  Clodius's  law ; 
and  was  so  eager  in  it,  that  he  instantly  called  an  as- 
sembly of  the  people,  and  being  assisted  by  Pom.pey, 
as  augur,  to  make  the  act  legal  and  auspicious,  got 
the  adoption  ratified  by  the  people  through  all  the 
forms  *,  within  three  hours  from  the  time  of  Cicero's 
speaking. 

Bibulus,  who  was  an  augur  too,  being  advertised  of 
what  was  going  forward,  sent  notice  to  Pompey,  that 
he  was  observing  the  heavens,  and  taking  the  auspi- 
ces, during  which  function  it  was  illegal  to  transact 
any  business  with  the  people  f .     But  Pompey,  instead 


*  Hora  fortasse  sexta  diei  questus  sum  in  judicic,  cura  C.  An- 
tonium  defenderem,  qusedam  de  repub.  quae  mihi  visa  sunt  ad  cau- 
sam  miseri  illius  pertinere.  Haec  homines  improbi  ad  quosdam  vi- 
ros  fortes  longe  aliter  atque  a  me  dicta  erant,  detulerunt.  Hora 
nona,  illo  ipso  die,  tu  es  adoptatus.  Pro  Dbm.  16.  Vid.  Sueton. 
J.  Cses.  20. 

•=!•  Negant  fas  esse  agi  cum  populo  cum  de  coelo  servatum  sit. 

X  2  Quo 


322  The    LIFE   or  Sect.  IV. 

A.  Urb.  694.    Cio.  48.     Coss. — C.  Julius  Ca-sar.    M.  Calpurnius  BibuJus. 


of  paying  any  regard  to  his  message,  gaye  a  sanction 
to  the  proceeding  by  presiding  in  it ;  so  that  it  v/as 
carried  without  any  opposition.  "  And  thus  the  bow," 
as  Cicero  calls  it,  "  which  had  been  kept  bent  against 
*'  him  and  the  republic,  was  at  last  discharged  * ;" 
and  a  plain  admonition  given  to  him,  what  he  had  to 
expect,  if  he  would  not  be  more  complying.  For  his 
danger  was  brought  one  step  nearer,  by  laying  the 
tribunate  open  to  Clodius,  whose  next  attempt  might 
probably  reach  home  to  him.  These  lav/s  of  adoption 
v/ere  drawn  up  in  the  stile  of  a  petition  to  the  people, 
after  the  following  form. 

"  May  it  please  you,  citizens,  to  ordain,  that  P. 
"  Clodius  be,  to  all  intents  and  purposes  of  law,  as 
"  truly  the  son  of  Fonteius,  as  if  he  were  begotten  of 
"  his  body  in  lawful  marriage  ;  and  that  Fonteius 
*'  have  the  power  of  life  and  death  over  him,  as  much 
"  as  a  father  has  over  a  proper  son  :  this,  citizens, 
"  I  pray  you  to  coniirm  in  the  manner  in  which  it  is- 
"  desired  f ." 


Quo  die  de  te  lex  curiaca  lata  esse  dicatur  andes  negare  de  cceIo- 

esse  servatum  ?      Adest  prajsens  vir   singular!  virtute M.  Bibu- 

lus  :  hunc  consulem  illo  ipso  die  ccntendo  servasse  de  coelo.  Pro 
Dom.  15. 

*  Fuerat  ille  annus tanquam  intentus  arcusin  me  unum,  si- 
cut  vulgo  rerum  ignari  loquebantur,  re  quidem  vera  in  universam 
rempub.  traductione  ad  plebem  faribundi  honiinis.     Pro  Sext.  7. 

-f-  The  lav7yers  and  all  the  later  writers,  from  the  authoiity  of 
A.  Caeiiius,  call  this  kind  of  adoption,  which  was  confirmed  by  a 
law  of  the  people,  an  adrogation  :  but  it  does  not  appear  that  there 
was  any  such  distinction  in  Cicero's  time,  who,  as  he  speaks  of 
this  act,  either  to  the  senate  or  the  people,  never  uses  any  other 
term,  than  that  of  adoption.     Vid.  A.  Gell.  1.  5.  19. 


Sjtct.  IV.  CICERO.  323 


A.  Urb.  694.    Cic.  48.    Co3S.---C.  Julius  Caesar.    M.  Calpumius  Bibulus. 


There  were  three  conditions  absolutely  necessary 
to  make  an  act  of  this  kind  regular  :  first,  "  that  the 
"  adopter  should  be  older  than  the  adopted,  and  in- 
"  capable  of  procreating  children,  after  having  endea- 
"  voured  it  without  success,  when  he  was  capable  : 
*'  secondly,  that  no  injury  or  diminution  should  be 
*'  done  to  the  dignity,  or  religious  rights  of  either  fa- 
"  miiy  :  thirdly,  that  there  should  be  no  fraud  or  col- 
*'•  lusion  in  it ;  nor  any  thing  sought  by  it,  hxit  the 
"  genuine  effects  of  a  real  adoption."  AH  these  par- 
ticulars were  to  be  previously  examined  by  the  col- 
lege of  priests ;  and  if,  after  a  due  inquiry,  they  ap- 
proved of  the  petition,  it  was  proposed  to  the  suffrage 
of  tlie  citizens  living  in  Rome,  who  voted  according 
to  their  original  division,  into  thirty  curiae,  or  wards, 
w^hich  seem  to  have  been  analagous  to  our  parishes  *  : 
v/here  no  business,  hov/ever,  could  be  transacted, 
when  an  augur  or  consul  was  observing  the  heavens. 
Now,  in  this  adoption  of  Clodius,  there  was  not  one 
of  these  condition:,  observed;  the  college  of  priests 
was  not  so  much  as  consulted ;  the  adopter  Fonteius 
had  a  wife  and  children  ;  was  a  man  obscure  and  un- 
known, not  full  twenty  years  old,  when  Clodius  was 
thirty -five,  and  a  senator  of  the  noblest  birth  in  Rom.e  : 
nor  was  there  any  thing  meant  by  it,  but  purely  to 
evade  the  lav;s,  and  procure  the  tribunate  ;  for  the  af- 
fair was  no  sooner  over,  than  Clodius  v/as  emancipat- 
ed, or  set  free  again  by  his  new  father  from  all  his  o- 

*   Comitiis  Carlatis. 

X3 


SM 


The  life  of  Sect.  IV. 


A.  Urb.  694.    Cic.  48.    Coss.— C.  Julius  Czsar.    M.  Calpurnius  Bibulus. 

bligations  f.  But  these  obstacles  signified  nothing  to 
Caesar,  who  always  took  the  shortest  way  to  what  he 
aimed  at,  and  valued  neither  forms  nor  laws,  when  he 
had  a  power  sufficient  to  controul  them. 

But  the  main  trial  of  strength  between  the  two 
consuls  was  about  the  promulgation  of  an  Agrarian 
law,  which  C^sar  had  prepared  for  distributing  the 
lands  of  Campania  to  twenty  thousand  poor  citi- 
zens, who  had  each  three  childeren,  or  more.  Bibu- 
lus mustered  all  his  forces  to  oppose  it,  and  came 
down  to  the  forum  full  of  courage  and  resolution, 
guarded  by  three  of  the  tribunes,  and  the  whole  body 
of  the  senate  ;  and  as  oft  as  Caesar  attempted  to  re- 
commend it,  he  as  often  interrupted  him,  and  loudly 
remonstrated  against  it,  declaring,  that  it  should  ne- 
ver pass  in  his  year.  From  words  they  soon  came 
to  blows  ;  where  Bibulus  was  roughly  handled,  his 
fasces  broken,  pots  of  filth  thrown  upon  his  head  ;  his 
three  tribunes  wounded,  and  the  whole  party  driven 
out  of  the  forum  by  Vatinius,  at  the  head  of  Caesar's 
mob  *.     When  the  tumult  was  over,  and  the  forum 


f  Quod  jus  est  adoptionis,  Pontlfices  ?  Nempe,  ut  Is  adoptet, 
qui  neque  procreare  liberos  jam  possit,  et  cum  potuerit,  sit  exper- 
tus.  Quui  denique  causa  cuique  adoptionis,  quc«  ratio  generum,  ac 
dignitatis,  quae  sacrorum,  quaeri  a  pontificum  collcglo  solet.  Quid 
est  horum  in  ista  adoptione  qua  sit  um  ?  Adopt  at  annos  viginti  na- 
tus,  etiam  minor,  senatorem.     Liberorumne  causa  ?   at  procreare 

potest.     Habet  uxorrm :    suscepit   etiam  liberos. Q^^    omnis 

notio  pontificum  cum  adoptaret  esse  debuit,  6cc.  Pro  Dom.  ad 
Pontif.  13. 

*  Idcmque  tu — nomine  C.  C'cxsarls,  clementissimi  atque  optimi 
viri,  scelere  vero  atque  audacia  tua  M.  Sibulum  fovo,  curia,  tempJir,^ 
locis  pubiicis  omnibus  expulisses,   inclusum  dcmi  ccntifiCies.     In 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  325 

A.  Urb.  694.     Cic.  48.     Coss. — C.  Julius  Caesar.     M.  Calpurnius  Bibulus. 

cleared  of  their  adversaries,  Cccsar  produced  Pompej 
and  Crassus  into  the  rostra,  to  signify  their  opinion  of 
the  law  to  the  people;  w?iere  Pompey, after  speaking 
largely  in  praise  c£  it,  declared, in  the  conclusion,  that 
if  any  should  be  so  hardy  as  to  oppose  it  with  the 
sword,  he  would  defend  it  with  his  shield.  Crassus 
applauded  what  Pompey  said,  and  warmly  pressed  the 
acceptance  of  it ;  so  that  it  passed  upon  the  spot  with- 
out any  farther  contradiction  f .  Cicero  was  in  the 
country  during  this  contest,  but  speaks  of  it  with  great 
indignation  in  a  letter  to  Atticus,  and  wonders  at  Pom- 
Jsey's  policy,  in  supporting  Caesar  in  an  act  so  odious, 
of  alienating  the  best  revenues  of  the  republic  ;  and 
says,  that  he  must  not  think  to  make  them  amends  by 
his  rents  on  mount  Libanus,  for  the  lose  of  those 
which  he  had  taken  from  them  in  Campania  ||.  The 
senate  and  all  the  magistrates  were  obliged,  by  a  spe- 
cial clause  of  this  law,  to  take  an  oath  to  the  obser- 
vance of  it ;  which  Cato  himself,  though  he  had  pub- 
licly declared  that  he  would  never  do  it,  was  forced 
at  last  to  swallow  §. 

Bibulus  made  his  complaint  the  next  day  in  the  se- 
nate, of  the  violence  offered  to  his  person ;  but  find- 
ing the  assembly  so  cold  and  intimidated,  that  no  body 
cared  to  enter  into  the  affair,  or  to  move  any  thing 


Vatln.  9.  Dio,  38.  61.  Suet.  Cses.  20.  Plutarch.  Pomp. 

f.  Dio,  ibid.  I.  38.61. 

II  Cn^us  quidem  noster  jam  plane  quid  cogitet,  nesclo.  Ad  Att. 
2.  16. 

Quid  dices?  Vectigal  te  nobis  in  monte  Antilibauo  constituissc, 


^gri  Campani  abstivlissc.     ibid. 
§   Dio,  ibid. 

X4 


326 

The 

LIFE   OF 

Sect. 

IV. 

A. 

Urb. 

694- 

Cic.  48. 

Coss.—C 

.  Julius  Cresar.    M. 

Ca 

Ipurni 

us  Eibulus 

!. 

about  it,  he  retired  to  his  house  in  despair,  with  a  re- 
solution to  shut  himself  up  for  the  remaining  eight 
months  in  the  year,  and  to  act  no  more  in  public,  but 
by  his  edicts  *.  This  was  a  weak  step  in  a  magistrate 
armed  v/ith  sovereign  authority ;  for  though  it  had 
one  effect,  v/hich  he  proposed  by  it,  of  turning  the  odi- 
um of  the  city  upon  his  coUeague,  yet  it  had  another 
that  overbalanced  it,  of  strengthenhig  the  hands,  and 
raising  the  spirits  of  the  adverse  party,  by  leaving  the 
field  wholly  clear  to  them. 

As  Caesar's  view,  in  the  Agrarian  law,  was  to  obhge 
the  populace,  so  he  took  the  opportunity,  which  the 
senate  had  thrown  into  his  hands,  of  obuging  the 
knights  too,  by  easing  them  of  the  disadvantageous 
contract  which  they  had  long  in  vain  complained  of, 
and  remitting  a  third  part  of  what  they  had  stipulated 
to  pay  f  :  and  when  Cato  still  opposed  it  with  his  u- 
sual  firmness,  he  ordered  him  to  be  hurried  away  ta 
prison.  He 'imagined,  that  Cato  would  have  appealed 
to  the  Tribunes ;  but  seeing  him  go  along  patiently, 
without  speaking  a  word,  and  reflecting,  that  such  a 
violence  would  create  a  fresh  odium,  without  serving 
any  purpose,  he  desired  one  of  the  Tribunes  to  inter- 
pose and  release  him  ||.  Re  next  procured  a  special 
law  from  the  people,  for  the  ratification  of  all  Fom- 


*  Ac  postero  die  in  senatu  conquestiim,  nee  quoquam  reperto, 
qui  super  tali  constcrnatione  referre,  aut  censcre  aliquid  auderet — 
in  earn  coegit  desperationem,  ut  quoad  pbtestate  abiret,  domo  ab- 
ditus  nihil  aliud  quam  peredicta  cbnunciaret,  Sueton.  Cces.  20. 

f  Dio,  38.  62- 

11  Plutarch.     Cses- 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  327 


A.  IJrb.  654.    Cic.  4S.    Coss.— C.  Julias  Cx.mr.  M.  GJpunrlus  Bibulus. 

pey's  acts  in  Asia  ;  and,  in  the  struggle  about  it,  so 
•terrified  and  humbled  Lucullus,  who  was  the  chief  op- 
poser,  that  he  brought  him  to  ask  pardon  at  his 
feet  *. 

He  carried  it  still  with  great  outward  respect  to- 
wards Cicero ;  and  gave  him  to  understand  again  by 
Balbus,  that  he  depended  on  his  assistance  in  the  A- 
grarian  law ;  but  Cicero  contrived  to  be  out  of  the  wav, 
and  spent  the  months  of  April  and  May  in  his  Villa 
near  Antium  where  he  had  placed  his  chief  collec- 
tion of  books  f  ;  amusing  himself  Vvith  the  studies  and 
his  children,  or,  as  he  says  jocosely,  in  counting  the 
waves.  He  was  projecting  however  a  system  of  geo- 
graphy at  the  request  of  Atticus,  but  soon  grew  wea- 
ry of  it,  as  a  subject  too  dry  and  jejune  to  admit  of  a- 
ny  ornament  j|  ;  and  being  desired  also  by  Atticus  to 
send  him  the  copies  of  two  orations  which  he  had  late- 
ly made,  his  answer  was,  that  he  had  torn  one  of  them 
and  could  not  give  a  copy  ;  and  did  not  care  to  let 
the  other  go  abroad,  for  the  praises  which  it  bestowed 
on  Pompey ;  being  disposed  rather  to  recant,  than 


*  L.  Lucullo,  liberius  resistenti  tantum  calumniavum  metum  in- 
jecit,  ut  ad  genua  ultro  sibi  accederet.  Sueton.  J.  Caes.  30. 

f  Nam  aut  fortiter  resistendum  est  legi  Agrarise,  in  quo  est  quae  - 
dam  dimicatio,  sed  plena  laudis:  aut  quiesceadimi,  quod  est  nan  db  ■ 
simile,  atque  ire  in  Solonium,  aut  Antiitm  :  aut  etiam  adjavandum, 
quod  a  me  aiunt  Csesarem  sic  expectaie,  ut  non  dubitet.     Ad  Att. 

Itaque  aut  libris  me  delecto,  quorum  habeo  Antii  festivam  copi- 
am,  aut  fluctus  numero.     Ibid.  6, 

jj  Etenim  ymy^tci^ix.ci,  qure  constitueiam,  magmim  opus  c^t, — ct 
hercule  sunt  res  difliciles  ad  explicandnm  et  cfiou^iig  j  nee  tarn  pcs- 
sunt  civ§yj^oy^cc<piis-6cc(,  quam  videbatur.     Ibid. 


3^^ 


The   life   of  Sect.  IVw 


A.  Urb.  694.  Cic.  48.  Coss.— C.  Julius  Cassar.     C.  Calpurnius  Bibulus. 


publish  them,  since  the  adoption  of  Clodius  §.  He 
seems  indeed  to  have  been  too  splenetic  at  present  to 
compose  any  thing  but  invectives ;  of  which  kind  he 
was  now  drawing  up  certain  anecdotes,  as  he  calls 
them,  or  a  secret  history  of  the  times,  to  be  showed  to 
none  but  Atticus,  in  the  stile  of  Theopompus,  the 
jiiost  satirical  of  all  writers:  for  all  his  politics,  he  says, 
were  reduced  to  this  one  point,  of  hating  bad  citizens, 
and  pleasing  himself  with  writing  against  them :  and 
since  he  was  driven  from  the  helm,  he  had  nothing  to 
wish,  but  to  see  the  wreck  from  the  shore  :  or,  as  So- 
phocles says  *, 

Under  the  shelter  cf  a  good  war 711  roof. 
With  mind  serenely  calm  and  prone  to  sleeps 
Hear  the  loud  storm  and  beating  rain  without. 

Clodius  having  got  through  the  obstacle  of  his  a- 
doption,  began  without  loss  of  time  to  sue  for  the  tri- 
bunate,   whilst   a   report   was    industriously   spread, 


5  Orationes  me  quas  postulas,  quarum  alteram  non  licebat  mihi 
bcribere,  quia  abscideram  j  alteram,  ne  laudarem  eum^  quern  non  a- 
^aabam.      Ibid.  7. 

Ut  sciat  hie  noster  Hierosolymarius,  traductor  ad  plebem,  quam 
bonam  meis  pulissimis  orationibus  gratiam  retulerit  j  quarum  ex- 
pecta  divlnam  -Trt^XivoJ^Kv.     Ibid.  9. 

*  Itaque  ^v^x^olaf,  quae  tibi  uni  legamus,  Theopompino  genera, 
aut  etiam  asperiore  multo,  pangentur.  Neque  aliud  jam  quicquam 
^oXinvofuccf^  nisi  odisse  irnprobos.     Att.  2.  6. 

Nunc  vero  cum  cogar  exire  de  navi,  non  abjectis  J^ed  receptis  gu- 
bernacuiis,  cupio  istorum  naufragia  ex  terra  intueri  ?  cupio,  ut  ait 
i:<uus  amicus  Sophocles, 

— y^XV    VTTO    ^S'/^ 

I\v;y.a,q  fiiKiiif?  -^iKCi^oc  '.vdatrf)  ^^f\i.      ibul.  "J 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  329 

A.  Urb.  694.     Cic.  48.    Coss C  Julius  Cxsar.    M.  Calpurnius  Bibulus, 


which  amused  the  city  for  a  while,  of  a  breach  be- 
tween him  and  Caesar.  He  declared  every  where 
loudly,  that  his  chief  view  in  desiring  that  office  was 
to  rescind  all  Caesar's  acts ;  and  Caesar,  on  his  part,  as 
openly  disclaimed  any  share  in  his  adoption,  and  de- 
nied him  to  be  a  plebeian.  This  was  eagerly  carried 
to  Cicero  by  young  Curio,  who  assured  him,  that  all 
the  young  nobles  were  as  much  incensed  against  their 
proud  kings  as  he  himself,  and  would  not  bear  them 
much  longer,  and  that  Memmius  and  Metellus  Nepos 
had  declared  against  them ;  which  being  confirmed  al- 
so by  Atticus's  letters,  gave  no  small  comfort  to  Cicero, 
all  whose  hopes  of  any  good,  depended,  he  says,  upon 
their  quarreling  among  themselves  *.  The  pretend- 
ed ground  of  this  rupture,  as  it  is  hinted  in  Cicero's 
letters,  was  Clodius's  slighting  an  offer  which  the  tri- 
umvirate made  to  him,  of  an  embassy  to  king  Tigra- 
nes ;  for,  being  weary  of  his  insolence,  and  jealous  of 
his  growing  power,  they  had  contrived  this  employ- 
ment as  an  honourable  way  of  getting  rid  of  him  :  but 
in  the  present  condition  of  the  republic,  Clodius  knew 
his  own  importance  too  well,  to  quit  his  views  at  home, 
by  an  offer  of  so  little  advantage  abroad ;  and  was  dis* 


*  Scito  Curlonem  adolescentem  venlsse  me  salutatum.  Valde 
ejus  sermo  de  Public  cum  tuis  litteris  congruebat.  Ipse  vero  mi- 
randum  in  modum  reges  cxlisse  superbos.  Perseaque  narrabat  in- 
censam  esse  juventutcm,  neque  ferre  haec  posse.     Att.  2.  8. 

Incurrit  in  me  Roma  veniens  Curio  meus — Publius,  inquit,  tri- 
bunatum  plebis  petit.  Quid  ais,  et  inimicissiiTius  quidem  Caesaris, 
et  ut  omnia,  inquit,  ista  rescindat.  Quid  Cfcsar  ?  inquam.  Negat 
se  quicquam  de  illius  adopticne  tulisse.  Deinde  suum,  Memmii, 
Metelii  Nepotis  exprom.sit  odium.  Complexus  juvenem  dimisi,  pro- 
perans  ad  epi:;LQlas.     Ibid.  1 2. 


33'^  The  LIFE   of  Sect.  IV. 


;^A.  Urb.  694.  Cic.  48.    Coss.— C.  Julius  C»sar.    M.  Calpurnius  Bibulus. 


gusted  that  Cassar  had  not  naPxied  him  among  the 
twenty  commissioners  appointed  to  divide  the  Cam- 
panian  lands,  and  resolved  not  to  stir  from  the  city, 
till  he  had  reaped  the  fruits  of  the  tribmiate.  Cicero, 
mentioning  this  affair  to  Atticus,  says,  "  I  am  much 
*'  dehghted  with  what  you  write  about  Ciodius :  try 
"  all  means  to  search  into  the  bottom  of  it,  and  send 
*'  or  bring  me  v/ord,  w^hatever  you  either  learn  or 
*'  suspect,  and  especially  what  he  intends  to  do  about 
"  the  embassy.  Before  I  read  your  letter,  I  was  wish- 
"  ing  that  he  would  accept  it,  not  for  the  sake  of  de- 
*'  dining  a  battle  w^ith  him,  for  I  am  in  wonderful  spi- 
*'  rits  for  fighting ;  but  I  imagined  that  he  w^ould  lose 
"  by  it  all  the  popularity  which  he  had  gained  by  go- 
"  ing  over  to  the  plebeians. — What  then  did  you  m.ean 
"  by  making  yourself  a  plebeian  ?  Was  it  only  to  pay 
*'  a  visit  to  Tigranes  ?    Do  not  the  kings  of  Armenia 

*'  use  to  take  notice  of  patricians  ?- You  see  hov/  I 

"  had  been  preparing  myself  to  rally  the  embassy, 
*'  v/hich  if  he  slights^after  all,  and  if  this,  as  you  say, 
*•  disgusts  the  authors  and  promoters  of  the  law,  we 
;'  shall  have  rare  sport.  But,  to  say  the  truth,  Pub- 
''  blius .  has  been  treated  somewhat  rudely  by  them, 
"  since  he,  who  was  lately  the  only  man  with  Cscsar, 
*'  cannot  nov\^  fmd  a  place  among  the  twenty ;  and, 
*'  after  promising  one  embassy,  they  put  him  off  with 
''-  another,  and,  while  they  bestow  the  rich  ones  upon 
"  Drusus  or  Vatinius,  reserve  this  barren  one  for  him, 
"  whose  tribunate  was  proposed  to  be  of  such  use  to 
"  them.  Warn  him,  I  beg  of  you,  on  this  head,  as 
*'  much  as  you  can  :  all  our  hopes  of  safety  are  placed 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO. 


33 


A.  Urb.  694.     Ck.  48.     Cocs.-C.  Julius  C.-Esar.     IvI.  Capurnius  Bibulu-'. 

"  on  their  falling  out  among  themselves,  of  which,  as 
"  I  understand  from  Curio,  some  symptoms  begin  al- 
"  ready  to  appear  *."  But  all  this  noise  of  a  quarrel 
was  found  at  last  to  be  a  mer€  artifice,  as  the  event 
quickly  shewed  :  or,  if  there  was  any  real  disgust  a- 
mong  them,  it  proceeded  no  farther  than  to  give  the 
better  colour  to  a  report,  by  which  they  hoped  to  im- 
pose upon  Cicero,  and  draw  some  unwary  people  into 
a  hasty  declaration  of  themselves ;  and,  above  all,  to 
weaken  the  obstruction  to  Clodius's  election  from  that 
quarter,  whence  it  was  chiefly  to  be  apprehended. 

Cicero  returned  to  Rome  in  May,  after  an  inter- 
view wnth  Atticus,  who  went  abroad  at  the  same  time 
to  his  estate  in  Epirus :  he  resolved  to  decline  all  pu- 
blic business  as  much  as  he  decently  could,  and  to 
give  the  greatest  part  of  his  time  to  the  Bar,  and  to 
the  defence  of  causes ;  an  employment  always  popu- 
lar, which  made  many  friends  and  few  enemies ;  so 
that  he  was  still  fiequented  at  home,  and  honourably 
attended  abroad,  and  maintained  his  dignity,  he  says, 
not  meanly,  considering  the  general  oppression  ;  nor 
yet  greatly,  considering  the  part  which  he  had  before 
acted  f .  Among  the  other  causes  Vvhicli  he  pleaded 
this  summer,  he  twice  defended  A.  Thermus,  and  once 
L.  Flaccus,  men  of  praetorian  dignity,  wlio  were  both 
acquitted.  The  speeches  for  Thermus  are  lost,  but: 
that  for  Flaccus  remains,  yet  somewhat  imperfect ; 
in  which,  tlioiigh  he  had  lately  paid  so  dear  for  speak- 

*  Ad  Att.  2.  7, 
f  Me  tuor,  ut  oppressis  omnibus,  non  demisse  :  tu  tantis'rebu'; 
gestis,  parum  fortiter.     Ad  Att.  2.  18. 


332  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  IV, 

A,  Urb.  694.    Cic.  48.    Coss.—C.  Julius  Cxsar.    M.  Calpurnius  Bibulus. 

ing  his  mind  too  freely,  we  find  several  bold  reflec- 
tions on  the  wretched  state  of  subjection  to  which  the 
city  was  now  reduced. 

This  L.  Valerius  Flaccus  had  been  praetor  in  Cice- 
ro's consulship,  and  received  the  thanks  of  the  senate 
for  his  zeal  and  vigour  in  the  seizure  of  Catiline's  ac- 
complices, but  was  now  accused  by  P.  Laelius  of  ra- 
pine and  oppression  in  his  province  of  Asia,  which  was 
alloted  to  him  from  his  prsetorship.  The  defence  con- 
sists chiefly  in  displaying  the  dignity  of  the  criminal, 
and  invalidating  the  credit  of  the  Asiatic  witnesses. 
Cicero  observes,  "  That  the  judges  who  had  known 
"  and  seen  the  integiity  of  Flaccus's  life  through  a  se- 
*'  ries  of  great  employments,  were  themselves  the  best 
**^  witnesses  of  it,  and  could  not  want  to  learn  it  fronj 
*'  others,  especially  from  Grecians :  that  for  his  part, 
*'  he  had  always  been  particularly  addicted  to  that 
"  nation  and  their  studies,  and  knew  many  modest 
*'  and  worthy  men  among  them:  that  he  allowed 
*'  them  to  have  learning,  the  discipline  of  many  arts, 
"  an  elegance  of  writing,  a  fluency  of  speaking,  and 
*'  an  acuteness  of  wit :  but  as  to  the  sanctity  of  an 
"  oath,  they  had  no  notion  of  it,  knew  nothing  of  the 
"  force  and  the  efficacy  of  it :  that  all  their  concern 
**  in  giving  evidence  was,  not  how  to  prove,  but  how 
"  to  express  what  they  said : — that  they  never  ap- 
**  peared  in  a  cause  but  with  a  resolution  to  hurt,  nor 
"  ever  considered  what  words  were  proper  for  an  oath, 
**  but  what  were  proper  to  do  mischief,  taking  it  for 
"  the  last  disgrace,  to  be  baflied,  confuted,  and  out- 
"  done  in  swearing  :  so  that  they  never  chose  the  best 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO. 


333 


A.  Urb.  694.    Cic.  48.    Coss. — C-  Julius  Csesar.    M.  Calpurnius  Bibulus. 


"  and  worthiest  men  for  witnesses,  but  the  most  dar- 
"  ing  and  loquacious : — In  short,  that  the  whole  na- 
"  tion  looked  upon  an  oath  as  a  mere  jest,  and  placed 
*'  all  their  credit,  livelihood,  and  praise,  on  the  success 
"  of  an  impudent  lie  : — whereas  of  the  Roman  wit- 
"  nesses,  who  were  produced  against  Flaccus,  though 
"  several  of  them  came  angry,  fierce,  and  walUng  to 
"  ruin  him,  yet  one  could  not  help  observing,  witli 
"  what  caution  and  religion  they  delivered  what  they 
*'  had  to  say ;  and  though  they  had  the  greatest  de- 
"  sire  to  hurt,  yet  could  not  do  it  for  their  scruples  :— 
"  that  a  Roman,  in  giving  his  testimony,  was  always 
*'  jealous  of  himself,  lest  he  should  go  too  far,  w^eigh- 
"  ed  all  his  words,  and  was  afraid  to  let  any  thing 
"  drop  from  him  too  hastily  and  passionately,  or  to 
"  say  a  syllable  more  or  less  than  was  necessary  *." 
Then,  after  shewing  at  large  by  v\'hat  scandalous  me- 
thods this  accusation  was  procured  against  Flaccus, 
and  after  exposing  the  vanity  of  the  crimes  cliarged 
upon  him,  together  v/ith  the  profligate  characters  of 
the  particular  Vv^itnesses,  he  declares,  "  That  the  true 


*  Pro  Flacco,  4,  5.  This  character  of  the  Greek  and  Romaji 
■witnesses  is  exactly  agreeable  to  what  Polyblus,  though  himself  a 
Grecian,  had  long  before  observed  ;  that  those  who  manag^cd  the 
public  money  in  Greece,  though  they  gave  ever  so  many  bonds  and 
sureties  for  their  behaviour,  could  not  be  induced  to  act  honestly, 
or  preserve  their  faith,  in  the  case  even  of  a  single  talent;  whertas 
in  Rome,  out  of  pure  reverence  to  the  sanctity  of  an  oath,  they 
were  never  known  to  violate  their  trust,  though  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  greatest  sums.  [Polyb.  1.  6.  p.  49S.]  This  was  cer- 
tainly true  of  the  old  republic  ;  but  v.-e  must  make  great  allowance 
for  the  language  of  the  bar,  when  we  find  Cicero  applying  the  same 
integrity  and  regard  to  an  oath  to  the  character  of  his  own  times. 


334  The   LIFE   or  Sect.  IV» 

A.  Urb.  694.    Cic.  48.    Coss.— C.  Julius  Ca:sar.    ]^.  Calpurnius  Bibuius. 

"  and  genuine  Grecians  were  all  on  Flaccus's  side, 
"  with  public  testimonies  and  decrees  in  his  favour. — 
"  Here,"  says  he,  "  you  see  the  Athenians,  whence 
*'  humanity,  learning,  religion,  the  fruits  of  the  earth, 
"  the  rights  and  lavv  s  of  mankind,  are  thought  to  have 
*'  been  first  propagated  ;  for  the  possession  of  whose 
"  city  the  gods  themselves  are  said  to  have  contend- 
"  ed,  on  the  account  of  its  beauty,  which  is  of  so  great 
"  antiquity,  that  it  is  reported  to  have  brought  forth 
"  its  own  citizens,  and  the  same  spot  to  have  been 
*^ their  parent,  their  nurse,  and  their  country ;  and  of 
"  so  great  authority,  that  the  broken  and  shattered 
"  frame  of  Greece  depends  now  singly  on  the  credit 
"  of  this  city. — Here  also  the  Lacedaemonians,  whose 
"  tried  and  renowned  virtue  was  confirmed,  not  only 
**  by  nature,  but  discipline,  v»^ho  alone,  of  all  the  na- 
"  tions  upon  earth,  have  subsisted  above  seven  hun- 
*'  dred  years,  without  any  change  in  their  laws  and 
"  manners. — Nor  can  I  pass  over  the  city  of  Mar- 
"  seilles,  which  knew  Flaccus  when  first  a  soldier,  and 
"  afterwards  quaestor,  the  gravity  of  whose  discipline 
"  I  think  preferable,  not  only  to  Greece,  but  to  all  o- 
"  ther  cities,  which,  though  separated  so  far  from  the 
"  country,  the  customs,  and  the  language  of  all  Gre- 
"  cians,  surrounded  by  the  nations  of  Gaul,  and  wash- 
"  ed  by  the  navies  of  barbarism,  is  so  wisely  governed 
*'  by  the  councils  of  an  aristocracy,  that  it  is  easier  to 
"  praise  their  constitution  than  to  imitate  it  *."  One 
part  of  the  charge  against  Flaccus,  was,  for  prohibit- 


Ibid.  26. 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  335 


A.  Urb.  694.     Cic.  48.    Coss —C.  Julius  Csesar.     M.  Calpurnius  Bibulus. 

ing  the  Jews  to  carry  out  of  his  provmce  the  gold 
which  they  used  to  collect  annually  through  the  em- 
pire for  the  temple  of  Jerusalem,  all  which  he  seized 
and  remitted  to  the  treasury  at  Rome.  The  charge 
itself  seems  to  imply,  that  the  Jews  made  no  mean  fi- 
gure at  this  tim.e  in  the  empire ;  and  Cicero's  answer, 
though  it  betrays  a  great  contempt  of  their  religion, 
through  his  ignorance  of  it,  yet  shews  that  their  num- 
bers and  credit  were  very  considerable  also  in  Rome. 
The  trial  was  held  near  the  Aurelian  steps,  a  place  of 
great  resort  for  the  populace,  and  particularly  for  the 
Jews,  who  used  it  probably  as  a  kind  of  exchange  or  ge- 
neral rendezvous  of  their  countrymen :  Cicero  therefore 
proceeds  to  say,  "  It  was  for  this  reason,  Laslius,  and 
"  for  the  sake  of  this  crime,'  that  you  have  chosen  this 
"place,  and  all  this  crovv^d  for  the  trial;  you  know 
"  what  a  numerous  band  the  Jews  are ;  what  concord 
"  among  themselves ;  what  a  bustle  they  make  in 
"  our  assemblies — I  will  speak  softly,  that  the  judges 
^'  only  may  hear  me  ;  for  there  are  people  ready  to 
"  incite  them  against  me  and  against  every  honest 
"  man ;  and  I  would  not  v;illingly  lend  any  help  to 
"  that  design— Since  our  gold  then  is  annually  carried 
"  out  of  Italy,  and  all  the  provinces,  in  the  name  of 
"  the  Jews,  to  Jerusalem,  Flaccus,  by  a  public  edict, 
"  prohibited  the  exportation  of  it  from  Asia:  and 
"  w^here  is  there  a  man,  judges,  who  does  not  truly 
"  applaud  this  act  ?  The  senate,  on  several  different 
"  occasions,  but  more  severely  in  my  consulship,  con- 
"  demned  the  exportation  of  gold.  To  withstand  this 
*'  barbarous  superstition  was  a  piece  therefore  of  laud- 
Vol.  I.'  Y 


33(5  The  LIFE   of  Sect.  I V. 

A.  Urb.  694.     Cic.  48.     Coss. — C.  Julius  Csesar.    M.  Caipurnius  Bibulus. 


''  able  discipline  ;  and,  out-  of  regard  to  the  republic, 
"  to  contemn  the  multitude  of  Jews,  who  are  so  tu- 
"  multuous  in  all  our  assemblies,  an  act  of  the  greatest 
"  gravity  :  but  Pompey,  it  seems,  when  he  took  Je- 
"  rusalem,  meddled  v/ith  nothing  in  that  temple  :  in 
"  which,  as  on  many  other  occasions,  he  acted  pru- 
"  dently,  that  among  so  suspicious  and  ill-tongued  a 
"  people,  he  would  not  give  any  handle  for  calumjny ; 
*  for  I  can  never  believe,  that  it  was  the  religion  of 
"  Jews  and  enemies,  which  hindered  this  excellent 
"  general,  but  his  own  modesty."  Then,  after  shew- 
ing "  that  Flaccus  had  not  embezzled  or  seized  the 
"  gold  to  his  own  use,  but  transmitted  it  to  the  public 
"  treasury,  he  observes,  that  it  was  not  therefore  for 
*'  the  sake  of  the  crime,  but  to  raise  an  envy,  that  this 
"  fact  was  mentioned  ;  and  that  the  accuser's  speech 
"  was  turned  from  the  judges,  and  addressed  to  the 
"  circle  around  them  :  Every  city,"  says  he,  "  Laelius, 
**  has  its  religion  ;  we  have  ours  :  while  Jerusalem 
*'  flourished,  and  Judasa  was  at  peace  with  us,  yet  their 
"  rehgious  rites  were  held  inconsistent  with  the  splen- 
*'  dour  of  this  empijre,  the  gravity  of  the  Roman  name, 
"  and  the  institutions  of  our  ancestors  :  but  much 
"  more  ought  they  to  be  held  so  now ;  since  they 
"  have  let  us  see,  by  taking  arms,  what  opinion  they 
"  have  of  us ;  and  by  their  being  conquered,  how 
"  dear  they  are  to  the  gods  *."  He  proceeds  in  the 
last  place  to  shew,  what  he  had  intimated  in  the  be- 
ginning, "  that  the  real  aim  of  this  trial  was  to  sac- 

*  Ibid.  28. 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  337 

A.  Urb.  694.     Cic.  48.     Coss.— C.  Julius  Cxsar.     M.  Calpiirnius  Bitulus. 

"  riiice  those  who  had  signalized  themselves  against 
*'  Catiline,  to  the  malice  and  revenge  of  the  seditious:" 
and  puts  the  judges  in  mind,  "  that  the  fate  of  the  ci- 
"  ty,  and  the  safety  of  all  honest  men,  now  rested  on 
"  their  shoulders  :  that  they  saw  in  what  an  unsettled 
"  state  things  were,  and  what  a  turn  their  affairs  had 
"  taken  :  that  among  many  other  acts,  which  certain 
"  men  had  done,  they  were  now  contriving,  that  by 
"  the  votes  and  decisions  of  the  judges  every  honest 
*'  man  might  be  undone  :  that  these  judges  indeed 
"  had  given  many  laudable  judgements  in  favour  of 
*'  the  republic  ;  many,  against  the  wickedness  of  the 
"  conspirators  :  yet  some  people  thought  the  republic 
*'  not  yet  sufficiently  changed,  till  the  best  citizens 
"  were  involved  in  the  same  punishment  with  the 
*'  worst.  C.  Antonius,"  says  he,  "  is  already  oppres- 
"  sed  ;  let  it  be  so  :  he  had  a  pecuhar  infamy  upon 
"  him  :  yet  even  he,  if  I  may  be  allowed  to  say  it, 
"  would  not  have  been  condemned  by  you :  upon 
"  whose  condemnation  a  sepulchre  was  dressed  up  to 
"  Cataline,^  and  celebrated  v/ith  a  feast  and  concourse 
"  of  our  audacious  and  domestic  enemies,  and  funeral 
*'  rites  performed  to  him  :  nov/  the  death  of  Lentulus 
"  is  to  be  revenged  on  Flaccus ;  and  what  m.ore  agree- 
"  able  sacrifice  can  you  offer  to  him,  than  by  Flaccus's 
"  blood  to  satiate  his  detestable  hatred  of  us  all  ?  Let 
*'  us  then  appease  the  manes  of  Lentulus ;  pay  the 
"  last  honours  to  Cethegus ;  recal  the  banished  ;  nay, 
"  let  me  also  be  punished  for  the  excess  of  my  love  to 
"  my  country  ;  I  am  already  named  and  mnrked  out 
"  for  a  trial ;  have  crim.es  forged ;  dangers  prepared 

Y  2 


358  The   LIFE  of  Sect.  IV. 


A.  Urb.  (^g^.     Cic.  48.     Coss. — C.  Julius  Csesar.    M.  Calpurnius  Bibulus. 

"  for  me  ;  which  if  they  had  attempted  by  any  other 
"  method ;  or  ifT  in  tlie  name  of  the  people,  they  had 
"■  stirred  up  the  unwary  multitude  against  me,  I  could 
"  better  have  born  it ;  but  it  is  not  to  be  endured, 
*'  that  they  sho^jld  think  to  drive  out  of  the  city  the 
"  authors,  the  leaders,  the  champions  of  our  common 
*'  safety ;  by  the  help  of  senators  and  knights,  who 
"  With  one  mind  and  consent  assisted  so  greatly  in 
"  the  same  cause.  They  know  the  mind  and  inclina- 
"  tion  of  the  Roman  people  :  the  people  themselves 
"  take  all  possible  occasions  of  declaring  it :  there  is 
"  no  variety  in  their  sentiments,  or  their  language. 
"  If  any  one  therefore  call  me  hither,  I  come  :  I  do 
"  not  only  not  refuse,  but  require  the  Roman  people 
"  for  my  judge  :  let  force  only  be  excluded ;  let 
"  swords  and  stones  be  removed  ;  let  mercenaries  be 
"  quiet ;  let  slaves  be  silent ;  and  when  I  come  to  be 
"  heard  for  myself,  there  will  not  be  a  man  so  unjust,  if 
*'  he  be  free  and  a  citizen,  who  will  notbe  of  opinion,  that 
"  they  ought  to  vote  me  rewards,  rather  than  punish- 
"  ment  *."  He  concludes,  by  applying  himself  as 
usual,  to  move  the  pity  and  clemency  of  the  bench 
towards  the  person  of  the  criminal,  by  all  the  topics 
proper  to  excite  compassion  :  "  the  merit  of  his  for- 
"  mer  services ;  the  lustre  of  his  family  ;  the  tears  of 
"  his  children  ;  the  discouragement  of  the  honest ; 
"  and  the  hurt  which  the  republic  would  suffer,  in 
*'  being  deprived,  at  such  a  time,  of  such  a  citizen."** 

Q^  Cicero,  who  succeeded  Flaccus  in  the  province 
of  Asia,  was  now  entering  into  the  third  year  of  his 

""  ~     *  Ibid.  3S. 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  S39 

A.  Urb.  961.    Cic.  45.    Coss. — C.  Julius  Caesar.    M.  Caipurnius  Eibulus. 


government,  when  Cicero  sent  him  a  most  admirable 
letter  of  advice  about  the  administration  of  his  pro- 
vince ;  fraught  with  such  excellent  precepts  of  mode- 
ration, humanity,  justice,  and  laying  down  rules  of  go- 
verning, so  truly  calculated  for  the  good  of  mankind, 
that  it  deserves  a  place  in  the  closets  of  all  who  go- 
vern :  and  especially  of  those  who  are  entrusted  v/ith 
the  command  of  foreign  provinces ;  who,  by  their  dis- 
tance from  any  immediate  controul,  are  often  tempt- 
ed, by  the  insolence  of  power,  to  acts  of  great-  oppres- 
sion. 

The  Triumvirate  was  now  dreaded  and  detested  by 
all  ranks  of  men  :  and  Pomxpey,  as  the  first  of  the 
league,  had  the  first  share  of  the  public  hatred  :  "  so 
"  that  these  afFecters  of  popularity,"  says  Cicero, "  have 
"  taught  even  modest, men  to  hiss*."  Bibulus  was 
continually  teasing  them  by  his  edicts ;  in  which  he 
inveighed  and  protested  against  all  their  acts.  These 
edicts  were  greedily  received  by  the  city  ;  all  people 
got  copies  of  them  ;  and  wherever  they  were  fixed  up 
in  the  streets,  it  was  scarce  possible  to  pass  for  the 
crov/ds  which  were  reading  them  f .  "  Bibulus  was 
"  extolled  to  the  skies ;  though  I  know  not  why,"  says 

*  Qui  fremitus  liominum  ?  qui  irati  animi  ?  quanto  in  odio  noster 
amicus  Magnus  ?     Ad  Att.  2.  13. 

Scito  nihil  unquam  fuisse  tam  infame,  tarn  turpe,  tam  perseque 
omnibus  generibus,  ordinibus,  setatibus  offensum,  quam  hunc  sta- 
tum,  qui  nunc  est  magis  mehercuie  quam  vellem,  non  modo  quara 
putaram.  Popuiares  isti  jam  etiam  modestos  homines  sibilare  do- 
cuerunt.     Ibid.  19. 

f  Itaque  archilochia  in  ilium  edicta  Bibuli  populo  ita  sunt  ju- 
cunda,  ut  eum  locum,  ubi  proponuntur,  pia;  multitudine  eorum  qui 
legunt,  tran-jire  neoueunt.     Ad  Att.  2.  21. 

Y3 


340 


The   life   oi'  Sect.  IV„ 


A.  Uib.  693.    Cic.  47.    Coss. — C  Julius  Cxsar.     M.  Calpurnius  Bibulus. 

Cicero,  "  unless,  like  another  Fabius,  he  is  thought  to 
"  save  the  state  by  doing  nothing  :  for  what  is  'all  his 
"  greatness  of  mind,  but  a  mere  testimony  of  his  sen- 
"  timents,  without  any  service  to  the  repubhc  *  ?"■ — 
His  edicts  however  provoked  Caesar  so  far,  that  he  at- 
tempted 10  excite  the  mob  to  storm  his  house,  and 
drag  himi  out  by  force  :  and  Vatinius  actually  made 
jin  assault  upon  it,  though  without  success  f .  But 
while  all  the  Vv'orld  disliked,  lamented,  anci  talked 
loudly  against  these  proceedings  ;  and,  above  all, 
yomig  Curio,  at  the  head  of  the  young  nobihty  :  "  yet 
*'  we  seek  no  remedy,"  says  Cicero,  "  through  a  per- 
J'  suasion  that  there  is  no  resisting,  but  to  our  destruc- 
"  tion  J." 

The  inclinations  of  the  people  were  shewn  chiefly, 
as  he  tells  us,  in  the  theatres  and  public  shews ;  where, 
when  Caesar  entered,  he  was  received  only  with  a  dead 
applause  ;  but  when  young  Curio,  who  followed  him, 
appeared,  he  was  clapped,  as  Pompey  used  to  be  in 
the  height  of  his  glory.     And,  in  the  Apollinarian 

*  Bibulus  in  coelo  est  •,  nee  quare,  scio.  Sed  ita  laudatur,  qua- 
si unus  homo,  nobis  cunctando  restituit  rem.     lb.  19. 

Bibuli  autem  Ista  magnitudo  animi  in  comitiorum  dilatlone,  quid 
habet,  nisi  ipsius  judicium  sine  ulla  correctione  reipub.     Ibid.  15. 

f  Putaret  Caesar  oratione  sua  posse  impelli  concionem,  ut  iret  ad 
Bibulum ;  multa  cum  seditiosissime  diceret,  vocem  exprimere  non 
potuit.     Ad  Att.  2.  21. 

Qui  consulem  morti  objeceris,  inclusum  obsederis,  extrahere  ex 
suis  tectis  conatus  sis.     In  Vatin.  9. 

X  Nunc  quidem  novo  quodam  morbo  civitas  iporitur  j  ut  cum 
omnes  ea,  quae  sunt  acta,  improbent,  querantur,  doleant,  varietas  in 
re  nulla  sit,  aperteque  loquantur  et  jam  clare  gemant  j  tamen  me- 
dicina  nulla  afferatur,  ncque  cnim  resisti  sine  internecione  posse  ar- 
fcitramur.     Att.  2.  21. 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  341 

A.  Urb.  693.    Cic.  47.    Coss. — C.  Julius  Caesar.     M.  Calpumius  Bibulus. 

plays,  Diphilus,  the  tragedian,  happening  to  have  some 
passages  in  his  part,  which*  were  thought  to  hit  the 
character  of  Pomp ey,  he  was  forced  to  repeat  them  a 
thousand  times : 

Thou  by  our  miseries  art  great 

The  time  will  come,  when  thou  wilt  wretchedly  lament  that 

greatness- 

If  neither  law  nor  custom  can  restrain  thee — ■ — 

at  each  of  which  sentences  the  whole  theatre  made 
such  a  roaring  and  clapping,  that  they  could  hardly 
be  quieted  *.  Pompey  was  greatly  shocked,  to  find 
himself  fallen  so  low  in  the  esteem  of  the  city :  he  had 
hitherto  lived  in  the  midst  of  glory,  an  utter  stranger 
to  disgrace,  which  made  him  the  more  impatient  under 
so  mortifying  a  change  :  "  I  could  scarce  refrain  from 
"  tears,"  says  Cicero,  '^  to  see  what  an  abject,  paultry 
"  figure  he  made  in  the  Rostra,  where  he  never  used 
*'  to  appear,  but  with  universal  applause  and  admira- 
*'  tion ;  meanly  haranguing  against  the  edicts  of  Bi- 


*  Diphilus  Tragoedus  in  nostrum  Pompeium  petulanter  invectus 
€st  :  "  Nostra  miseria  tu  es  magnus,"  millies  coactus  est  dicere. 
*'  Tandem  virtutem  istam  veniet  tempus  cum  graviter  gemes,"  to- 
tius  theatri  clamore  dixit,  itemque  csetera.  Nam  et  ejusmodi  sunt 
ii  versus,  ut  in  tempus  ab  inimico  Pompeii  scripti  esse  videantur.  Si 
neque  leges,  ncque  mores  cogunt,  et  caitera  magno  cum  fremitu  et  cla- 
more dicta  ^sunt.     Ibid.  19. 

Valerius  Maximus,  who  tells  the  same  story,  says,  "  that  Diphi- 
"  lus,  in  pronouncing  those  sentences,  stretched  out  his  hands  to- 
**  wards  Pompey,  to  point  him  out  to  the  company."  But  it  ap- 
pears, from  Cicero's  account  of  it  in  this  letter  to  Atticus,  that 
Pompey  was  then  at  Capua  •,  whither  Ccesar  sent  an  express  to  him 
in  all  haste,  to  acquaint  him  with  what  had  passed,  and  to  call  him 
j)robab]y  to  Rome.     Val.  Max.  6.  2. 

Y4 


342  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  IV. 

A.  Urb.  691.     Cic,  45.  Coss. — C.  Julius  Cffisar.    M.  Calpurnius  Bibulus. 

"  bulus,  and  displeasing,  not  only  his  audience,  but 
"  liimself :  a  spectacle,  agreeable  to  none  so  much  as 
"  to  Crassus ;  to  see  him  fallen  so  low  from  such  a 
"  height : — and,  as  Apelles  or  Protogenes  would  have 
"  been  grieved  to  see  one  of  their  capital  pieces  be- 
'>  smeared  with  dirt ;  so  it  was  a  real  grief  to  me,  to 
"  see  the  man,  whom  I  had  painted  with  all  the  co- 
"  lours  of  my  art,  become  of  a  sudden  so  deformed  : 
*'  for  though  no  body  can  think,  since  the  affair  of 
"  Clodius,  that  I  have  any  reason  to  be  his  friend ; 
"  ytt  my  love  for  him  was  so  great,  that  no  injury 
"  could  efface  it  ^\'' 

Caesar,  on  the  other  hand,  began  to  reap  somxC  part 
of  that  fruit,  which  he  expected  from  their  union  :  he 
foresaw,  from  the  first,  that  the  odium  of  it  would  fall 
upon  Pompey ;  the  benefit  accrue  to  hnnself  f  :  till 
Pompey,  gradually  sinking  under  the  envy,  and  him- 
self insensibly  rising  by  the  power  of  it,  they  might 
come  at  last  to  act  upon  a  level :  or,  as  Florus  states 
tlie  several  views  of  the  three,  "  Caesar  wanted  to  ac- 
"  quire ;  Crassus  to  encrease  ;  Pompey  to  preserve  his 
"  dignity  J."     So  that  Pompey,  in  reahty,  was  but  the 


*  Ut  ille  tum.humilis,  ut  demissus  erat :  ut  ipse  etiam  sibi,  non 
lis  solum  qui  aderant,  dispiicebat.  O  spectaculum  uni  Crasso  ju- 
cundum,  ike — (^lannuam  nemo  putabat  propter  Clbdianum  nego- 
tium  me  ilii  amicum  esse  dcbeie  :  tamen  taiitus  fuit  amor,  ut  ex- 
hauriri  nulla  posset  injuria.     Ad  Att.  2.  21. 

f  Caisar  aniiuadvertebat  se — iuvidia  communis  potentiae  in  ilium 
r^legata,  conhrmatuxum  vires  suas.     Veil.  Pat.  2.  24a  ' 

X  ^ic  igitur  Caesare  dignitatem  comparare,  Crasso  augere,  Pom- 
pf-'o  ret-'nere,  cupicntibus,  omnibusque  pariter  potentia  cupidis,  de. 
ihv?.aendii  repub.  iacile  ccnvemt.     Lib.  4.  2.,  ii.. 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  343 


A.  Urb.  693.    Cic.  47.     Coss.-!»C.  Julius  Caesar.    M.  Caipurnius  Bibulus. 

dupe  of  the  other  two  :  whereas,  if  he  had  united  him- 
self with  Cicero ;  and,  through  him,  with  the  senate  ; 
whither  his  ow^h  and  his  country's  interest  called  him^ 
and  where,  from  the  different  talents  of  the  men,  there 
could  have  been  no  contrast  of  glory  or ,  power  ;  he 
must  have  preserved  through  life  what  his  utmost  am- 
bition seemed  to  aim  at,  the  character,  not  only  of  the 
first,  but  of  the  best  citizen  in  Rome  :  but,  by  his  al- 
liance with  Caesar,  he  lent  his  authority  to  the  nursing 
up  a  rival,  who  gained  upon  him  daily  in  credit,  and 
grew  too  strong  for  him  at  last  in  power.  The  peo- 
ple's disaffection  began  to  open  his  eyes,  and  make 
him  sensible  of  his  error ;  which  he  frankly  owned  to 
Cicero,  and  seemed  desirous  of  entering  into  measures 
v/ith  him  to  retrieve  it  *.  He  saw  himself  on  the 
brink  of  a  precipice,  where  to  proceed  was  ruinous,  to 
retreat  ignominious  :  the  honest  were  become  his  e- 
nemies ;  and  the  factious  had  never  been  his  friends  : 
But  though  it  was  easy  to  see  his  mistake,  it  w^as  dif- 
ficult to  find  a  remedy  :  Cicero^  pressed  the  only  one, 
which  could  be  effectual,  an  immediate  breach  with 
Caesar ;  and  used  all  arguments  to  bring  him  to  it  ; 
but  Caesar  was  more  successful,  and  drew  Pompey 
quite  away  from  him  f  ;   and,  having  got  possession, 


*   Sed  quod  facile  sentias,  taedet  ipsum  Pompelum,  vehementer- 
que  poenltet,  &.c.      Att.  2.  22. 

,  Primum  igitur  lllud  te  scire  volo,  Sampsiceranum,  nostrum  ami- 
cum,  vehementer  sui  status  poenitere,  restituique  in  eum  locum  cu- 
pere,  ex  quo  decidit,  doloremque  suum  impertire  nobis,  et  medici- 
nam  interdum  aperte  quterere  j  quam  ego  possum  invenire  nuilam. 
ibid.  23. 

f  Ego  M.  Bibulo,  pra:stantissImo  cive,  consuJe.  niliil  praetermisi, 

quantum 


344  The  LIFE  of  Sect.  IV, 

A.  Urb.  693.     Cic.  46.    Coss — C.  Julius  Csesar.    M.  Calpumius  Bibulus. 

entangled  him  so  fast,  that  he  could  never  disengage 
himself  till  it  was  too  late. 

But,  to  give  a  turn  to  the  disposition  of  the  people, 
or  to  draw  their  attention  at  least  another  way,  Caesar 
contrived  to  amuse  the  city  with  the  discovery  of  a 
new  conspiracy,  to  assassinate  Pompey.  Vettius,  who, 
in  Catiline's  affair,  had  impeached  Caesar,  and  smarted 
severely  for  it,  was  now  instructed  how  to  make  a- 
mends  for  that  step,  by  swearing  a  plot  upon  the  op- 
posite party ;  particularly  upon  young  Curio,  the  brisk- 
est opposer  of  the  Triumvirate.  For  this  purpose,  he 
insinuated  himself  into  Curio's  acquaintance,  and  when 
he  was  grown  familiar,  opened  to  him  a  resolution 
which  he  pretended  to  have  taken  of  killing  Pompey  ; 
in  expectation  of  drav/ing  some  approbation  of  it  from 
him  :  but  Curio  carried  the  story  to  his  father,  who 
gave  immediate  information  of  it  to  Pompey  ;  and  so 
the  matter,  being  made  public,  was  brought  before 
the  senate.  This  w^as  a  disappointment  to  Vettius', 
who  had  laid  his  measures  so,  "  that  he  himself  should 
"  have  been  seized  in  the  forum  with  a  poignard,  and 
"  his  slaves  taken  also  with  poignards  ;  and,  upon  his 
"  examination,  was  to  have  made  the  first  discovery, 
*'  if  Curio  had  not  prevented  him.  But  being  now 
*'  examined  before  the  senate,  he  denied  at  first  his 
"  having  any  such  discourse  with  Curio  ;  but  present- 
"  ly  recanted,  and  offered  to  discover  what  he  knew, 
"  upon  promise  of  pardon,  which  was  readily  granted  : 


quantum  facere,  nltique  potui,  quin  Pompeium  a  Csesaris  conjunc- 
tionc  avocarem.  In  quo  Caesar  felicior  fuit :  ipse  enim  Pompeiuni 
a,  mea  familiaritate  disjunxit.     Philip.  2.  10. 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  345 

A.  Urb.  694.    Cic.  46,    Coss. — C.  Julius  Ccesar.     M.  Calpurnius  Bibulus. 

^'  he  then  told  them,  that  there  was  a  plot  formed  by 
"  many  of  the  young  nobility,  of  which  Curio  was  the 
**:  head  :  that  Paullus  was  engaged  in  it  from  the  first, 
*'  with  Brutus  also  and  Lentulus,  the  son  of  the  Fia^ 
**  men,  with  the  privity  of  his  father  :  that  Septimus, 
*'  the  secretary  of  Bibulus,  had  brought  him  a  dagger 
"  from  Bibulus  himself—  This  was  thought  ridiculous, 
"  that  Vettius  should  not  be  able  to  procure  a  dagger, 
*'  unless  the  consul  had  given  him  one. — Young  Cu- 
*'  rio  was  called  in  to  answer  to  Vettius's  information, 
"  who  soon  confounded  him,  and  shewed  his  narrative 
"  to  be  inconsistent  and  impossible  :  for  he  had  de- 
"  posed,  that  the  young  nobles  had  agreed  to  attack 
"  Pompey  in  the  forum,  on  the  day  when  Gabinus 
♦^  gave  his  shew  of  gladiators,  and  that  PauMus  was  to 
**  be  the  leader  in  the  attack  ;  but  it  appeared,  that 
,  ♦*  Paullus  was  in  Macedonia  at  that  very  time.  The 
*'  senate  therefore  ordered  Vettius  to  be  clapt  into  i- 
"  rons,  and  that  if  any  man  released  him,  he  should 
*'  be  deemed  ^public  enemy." 

Caesar  however,  unwilling  to  let  the  matter  drop  so 
easily,  brought  him  out  again. the  next  day,  and  pro- 
duced him  to  the  people  in  the  rostra ;  and  in  that 
place,  where  Bibulus,  though  consul,  durst  not  ven- 
ture to  shew  himself,  exhibited  this  wretch,  as  his  pup- 
pet, to  utter  whatever  he  should  think  fit  to  inspire. 
Vettius  impeached  several  here,  ^yhom  he  had  not 
named  before  in  the  senate  ;  particularly  LucuUus  and 
Domitius ;  he  did  not  name  Cicero,  but  said,  that  a 
certain  senator  of  great  eloquence,  and  consular  rank, 
and  a  neighbour  of  the  consul,  had  told  him,  that  the 


346  The   life   of  Sect.  IV. 

A.  Urb.  694.    Cic.  48.    Coss. — C.  Julius  Csesar.    M.  Calpurnius  Bibulus. 

times  wanted  another  Brutus  or  Ahala.  When  he 
had  done,  and  was  going  down,  being  called  back  a- 
gain,  and  whispered  by  Vatinius,  and  then  asked  a- 
loud,  whether  he  could  recollect  nothing  more,  he  far- 
ther declared,  that  Piso,  Cicero's  son-in-law,  and  M. 
Laterensis  w^ere  also  privy  to  the  design  *.  But  it 
happened  in  this,  as  it  commonly  does  in  all  plots  of 
the  same  kind,  that  the  too  great  eagerness  of  the  ma- 
nagers destroyed  it's  effect :  for,  by  the  extravagance 
to  which  it  w^as  pushed,  it  confuted  itself;  and  was  en- 
tertained v/ith  so  general  a  contempt  by  all  orders, 
that  Caesar  was  glad  to  get  rid  of  it,  by  stranghng  or 
poisoning  Vettius  privately  in  prison,  and  giving  it  out, 
that  it  was  done  by  the  conspirators  f . 

The  senate  had  still  one  expedient  in  reserve  for 
mortifying  Caesar,  by  throwing  some  contemptible 
province  upon  him  at  the  expiration  of  his  consulship  ; 
as  the  care  of  the  woods  or  the  roads ;  or  what  should 
give  him  at  least  no  power  to  molest  them  .%  The 
distribution  of  the  provinces  was,  hf  ancient  usage 
and  express  law,  their  undoubted  prerogative  ;  which 
had  never  been  invaded  or  attempted  by  the  people  J  ; 

*  Ad  Atto  2.  24.  in  Vatin.  11.  Sueton.  J.  Cses.  20. 

f  Fiegerisne  in  carctre  cervices  ipsi  illi  Vettio,  ne  quod  indic;r 
um  corrupci  judicii  extaiet  ?  In  Vatin.  11. 

Caesar — desperans  tam  prsecipitis  consilii  eventum,  intercepisse 
veneno  indicem  creditur.    Sueton.  J.  Caes.  20.  Plutarch,  in  Lucull. 

X  Eandem  ob  causam  opera  optimatibus  data  est,  ut  provincite 
futuris  Coss.  minimi  negotii,  id  est,  sylvae  callesque,  decerneientur. 
Sueton.  19. 

*  Tu  provincias  consulares,  quas  C.  Gracchus,  qui  unus  maxime 
popularis  fuit,  non  modo  non  abstulit  ab  senatu,  scd  etiam  ut  necesse 
esset,  quotanr/is  constilui  per  senatum  decreta  lege  sanxit.  Prj 
l>om.  9. 


Sect.  IV,  CICERO.  347 

A.  Urb.  694.    Cic.  48.    Coss. — C.  Julius  Caesar.    M.  Calpurnius  Bibulus. ; 

SO  that  this  piece  of  revenge,  or  rather  self-defence, 
seemed  to  be  clearly  in  their  power  :  but  Caesar,  who 
valued  no  law  or  custom,  which  did  not  serve  his  pur- 
poses, without  any  regard  to  the  senate,  applied  him- 
self to  his  better  friends,  the  people  ;  and  by  his  agent 
Vatinius  procured  from  them,  by  a  new  and  extraor- 
dinary law,  the  grant  of  Cisalpine  Gaul,  with  the  ad- 
dition of  Illyricum,  for  the  term  of  five  years.  This 
was  a  cruel  blow  to  the  power  of  the  senate,  and  a  di- 
rect infringement  of  the  old  constitution  ;  as  it  trans- 
ferred to  the  ,  people  a  right  which  they  had  never 
exercised,  or  pretended  to  before  *.  It  convinced  the 
senate  however,  that  all  opposition  was  vain  ;  so  that 
when  Caesar  soon  after  declared  a  desire  to  have  the 
Transalpine  Gaul  added  to  his  other  provinces,  they 
decreed  it  to  him  readily  themselves  ;  to  prevent  his 
recurring  a  second  time  to  the  people,  and  establish- 
ing a  precedent,  so  fatal  to  their  authority  f . 

Clodius  began  now  to  threaten  Cicero  with  all  the 
terrors  of  his  tribunate  ;  to  which  he  was  elected  with- 
out any  opposition  :  and  in  proportion  as  the  danger 
approached,  Cicero's  apprehensions  were  every  day 
more  and  more  alarmed.  The  absence  of  his  friend 
Atticus,  who  was  lately  gone  to  Epirus,  was  an  ad- 
ditional mortification  to  him  :  for  Atticus  having  a 

j-  Eripueras  senatui  provinclge  decernendae  potestatem  j  Impera- 
toris  deligendi  judicium  j  a^iarii  dispensationein  5  quas  nunquarn  sibi 
populus  Romanus  appetivit,  qui  nunquarn  haec  a  summi  consilii  gu- 
bernatione  aufcrre  conatus  est.     In  Vatin.  15. 

%  Initio  quidem  Galliam  Cisalpinam,  adjecto  Illyrico,  lege  Va- 
tinia  accepit,  mox  per  senatum  Comatam  quoqi  °  ;  veritis  patribus, 
ne  si  ipsi  ^egassent,  populus  &  banc  daret.     Sueton.  22. 


34^  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  1^. 


A.  Urb.  694.    Cic.  48.     Coss C.  Julius  Caisar.     M.  Calpurnius  Bibulus. 

great  familiarity  with  all  the  Clodian  family,  might 
have  been  of  Service,  either  in  dissuading  Clodius  from 
any  attempt,  or  in  fishing  out  of  him  at  least  what  he 
really  intended.  Cicero  pressed  him  therefore  in  e- 
very  letter  to  come  back  again  to  Rome  ;  "  If  you  love 
"  me,"  says  he,  as  much  as  I  am  persuaded  you  do, 
"  hold  yourself  ready  to  run  hither,  as  soon  as  I  call : 
*'  though  I  am  doing,  and  will  do  every  thing  in  my 
"  power  to  save  you  that  trouble  J. — My  wishes  and 
"  my  affairs  require  you  :  I  shall  want  neither  council, 
"  nor  courage,  nor  forces,  if  I  see  you  here  at  the  time; 
"  I  have  reason  to  be  satisfied  with  Varro  :  Pompey 
"  talks  divinely  ^.  How  much  do  I  wish  that  you 
"  had  staid  at  Rome  ;  as  you  surely  would  have  done^ 
"  if  you  had  imagined  how  things  would  happen  :  we 
"  should  easily  have  managed  Clodius,  or  learnt  at 
"  least  for  certain  what  he  meant  to  do.  At  present 
**  he  flies  about ;  raves ;  knows  not  what  he  would  be 
"  at ;  threatens  many  ;  and  will  take  his  measures  pcr^ 
"  haps  at  last  from  chance.  When  he  reflects,  in 
"  what  a  general  odium  the  administration  of  our  af- 
"  fairs  now  is,  he  seems  disposed  to  turn  his  attacks 
"  upon  the  authors  of  it ;  but  when  he  considers  their 
"  power,  and  their  armies,  he  falls  again  upon  me  ; 
"  and  threatens  me  both  with  violence  and  a  trial — 


*  Tu,  si  me  amas  tantum,  quantum  profecto  amas,  expeditus  fa- 
cito  ut  sis  ;  si  inclamaro,  ut  accurras.  Sed  do  operam,  &.  dabo,  ne 
sit  necesse.     Ad  Att.  2.  20. 

f  Te  cum  ego  desidero,  tum  etiam  res  ad  tempus  illud  vocat. 
Plurimum  consilii,  animi,  pnesidii  denique  mihi,  si  te  ad  tempus  vi- 
dero,  accesserit.  Varro  mihi  satisfacit,  Pompeius  loquitur  divinitus. 
ib.2i. 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  349 

A.  Urb.  694.    Cic.  48-    Coss. — C  Julius  Caesar.    M.  Calpurnius  Bibulus. 

"  Many  things  may  be  transacted  by  our  friend  Var- 
"  ro,  which,  when  urged  also  by  you,  would  have  the 
"  greater  weight ;  many  things  may  be  drawn  from 
*'  Clodius  himself;  many  discovered,  which  cannot  be 
"  concealed  from  you ;  but  it  is  absurd  to  run  into 
*'  particulars,  when  I  want  you  for  all  things — the 
"  whole  depends  on  your  coming  before  he  enters  in- 
"  to  his  magistracy  f.  Wherefore,  if  this  finds  you 
"  asleep,  awake  yourself;  if  standing  still,  come  away  ; 
"  if  coming,  run  ;  if  running,  fly  :  it  is  incredible,  what 
"  a  stress  I  lay  on  your  counsel  and  prudence ;  but  a- 
"  bove  all,  on  your  love  and  fidelity,  &c.  ^" 

Caesar's  whole  aim  in  this  affair  was  to  subdue  Ci- 
cero's spirit,  and  distress  him  so  far,  as  to  force  him 
to  a  dependence  upon  him;  for  which  end,  while 
he  was  privately  encouraging  Clodius  to  pursue  him, 
he  was  proposing  expedients  to  Cicero  for  his  secu- 
rity :  he  offered  to  piic  him  into  the  commission, 
for  distributing  the  lands  of  Campania,  with  which 
twenty  of  the  principal  senators  w^ere  charged ;  but 
as  it  was  an  invitation  only  into  the  place  of  one  de- 
ceased, and  not  an  original  designation,  Cicero  did 
not  think  it  for  his  dignity  to  accept  it :  nor  cared,  on 
any  account,  to  bear  a  part  in  an  affair  so  odious  f  : 


%  Ibid  22. 

*  Quamobrem,  si  dormis,  expergiscere  ;  si  stas,  ingredere  j  si  in- 
grederis,  curre  j  si  curris,  advola.  Credibile  non  est,  quantum  ego 
in  consiliis  &:  prudentia  tua,  &  quod  maximum  est,  quantum  in  a- 
more  &.  fide  ponam.     Ad  Att.  2.  23. 

f  Cosconio  mortuo,  sum  in  ejus  locum  invitatus.  Id  erat  voca- 
ri  in  locum  mortui.  Nihil  me  turpius  apud  homines  fuisset :  neque 
vero  ad  istam  ipsam  cKr^dxaxv  quicquam  alienius.  Sunt  enim  iill 
apud  bones  invidiosi.     Ibid.  19, 


55-  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  IV. 


A.  Urb.  694.     CIc.  48.     Coss.— C  Julius  Cxsar.     M.  Calpurnius  Bibulus. 

he  then  offered,  in  the  most  obliging  manner,  to  make 
him  one  of  his  lieutenants  in  Gaul,  and  pressed  it  ear- 
nestly upon  him  ;  which  was  both  a  sure  and  honour- 
able way  of  avoiding  the  danger,  and  what  he  might 
have  made  use  of,  so  far  only  as  it  served  his  purpose, 
without  embarrassing  himself  with  the  duty  of  it  ^  ; 
yet  Cicero,  after  some  hesitation,  dechncd  this  also. 
He  was  unwilling  to  owe  the  obligation  of  his  safety 
to  any  man,  and  much  more  to  Caesar ;  being  desir- 
ous, if  possible,  to  defend  himself  by  his  own  strength ; 
as  he  could  easily  have  done,  if  the  Triumvirate  would 
not  have  acted  against  him.  But  this  stiffness  so  ex- 
asperated Caesar,  that  he  resolved  immediately  to  as- 
sist Clodius,  with  all  his  power,  to  oppress  him,  and 
in  excuse  for  it  afterwards,  used  to  throw  the  whole 
blame  on  Cicero  himself,  for  slighting  so  obstinately 
all  the  friendly  offers  which  he  made  to  him  J.  Pom- 
pey  all  this  while,  to  prevent  his  throwing  himself  per- 
haps into  Caesar's  han^s,  v^as  giving  him  the  strongest 
assurances,  confirmed  by  oaths  and  vows,  that  there 
was  no  danger,  and  that  he  would  sooner  be  killed 

*  A  Ciesare  valde  liberaliter  invitor  in  legationem  illam,  sibi  ut 
<Am.  legatus.  Ilia  et  munitior  est,  et  non  impedit,  quo  minus  ad- 
sim,  cum  veliro.     Ibid.  18. 

Csesar  me  sibi  vult  esse  legatum.  Honestior  haec  declinatio  pe- 
riculi.  S.ed  ego  hoc  nunc  repudio.  Quid  ergo  est  ?  Pugnare  ma- 
lo  :  nihil  tamcn  ccrti.     Ibid.  19. 

'  %  Ac  solct,  cum  se  purgat,  in  me  conferre  omnem  istorum  tem- 
pOTum  tulpam  :  ita  me  sibi  fuisse  inimicum,  ut  ne  honorem  quidem 
a  se  accipere  vellem.     Att.  9.  2. 

Non  caruerunt  suspicione  oppressi  Ciceronis,  Caesar  et  Pompeius. 
Hoc  sibi  contraxisse  videbatur  Cicero,  quod  inter  xx.  viros  divi- 
dendo  agro  Campano  esse  noluisset.     Veil.  Pat.  2.  45. 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  ^s^ 

A  Urb.  694.     Cic.  48.     Coss. — C  Julius  Caesar.     M.  Calpurnius  Bibulus. 

himself,  than  suffer  him  to  be  hurt ;  that  both  Clo- 
dius,  and  his  brother  Appius,  had  solemnly  promised 
to  act  nothing  against  him,  but  to  be  wholly  at  his 
disposal ;  and,  if  they  did  not  keep  their  word,  that  he 
would  let  all  the  world  see  how  much  he  preferred 
Cicero's  friendship  to  all  his  other  engagements.  In 
Cicero's  account  of  this  to  Atticus,  "  Varro,"  says  he, 
"  gives  me  full  satisfaction.  Pompey  loves  me,  and 
"  treats  me  with  great  kindness.  Do  you  believe  him  ? 
"  you'll  say.  Yes  I  do.  He  convinces  me,  that  he 
"  is  in  earnest. — Yet  since  all  men  of  affairs,  in  their 
"  historical  reflections,  and  even  poets  too  in  their  ver- 
"  ses,  admonish  us  always  to  be  upon  our  guard,  nor 
"  to  believe  too  easily,  I  comply  with  them  in  one 
"  thing  ;  to  use  ail  proper  caution,  as  far  as  I  am  able  ; 
"  but  for  the  other,  find  it  impossible  for  me  not  to 
"  believe  him  *." 

But  whatever  really  passed  between  Clodius  and 
Pompey ;  Cicero  perceiving  that  Clodius  talked  in  a 
different  strain  to  every  body  else,  and  denounced  no- 
thing but  war  and  ruin  to  him,  began  to  be  very  sus~ 

*  Pompeius  omnia  pollicetur  et  Caisar  :  quibus  ego  ita  credo, 
«t  nihil  de  mea  comparatione  diminuam.     Ad.  Quint.  Fr.  i.  2. 

Pompeius  aniat  nos,  carosque  habet.  Credis  ?  inquies.  Credo  : 
Prorsus  mihi  persuadet.  Sed  quia,  ut  video,  pragmatici  liomines 
omnibus  historicis  praeceptis,  versibus  denique  cavere  jubent,  et  ve- 
tant  credere  j  alterum  facio,  ut  caveam  :  alterum,  ut  non  credam, 
facere  non  possum.  Clodius  adhuc  mihi  denunciat  periculum  : 
Pompeius  afhrmat  non  esse  periculum  ;  adjurat,  addit  etiam,  se  pri- 
lls occisum  iri  ab  eo,  quam  me  violatum  iri.      Ad  Att.  2.  20. 

Fidem  recepisse  sibi  et  Clodium  et  Appium  de  me  :  banc  si  ille 
non  servaret,  ita  laturum,  ut  omnes  intelligerent,  nihil  antiquius 
amicitia  nostra  fuisse,  &c.     Ibid.  22, 

Vol.  I.  Z 


35^  The    LIFE  of  Sect.  IV. 

A.  Urb.  6^4.     Cic.  48.     Coss.—C.  Julius  Cxsar.     M.  Calpurnhis  Bibulu^. 

picious  of  Pompey;  and  prepared  to  defend  himself 
by  his  genuine  forces,  the  senate  and  the  knights,  with 
the  honest  of  all  ranks,  who  were  ready  to  fiy  to  his. 
assistance,  from  all  parts  of  Italy  *.  This  was  the  si- 
tuation of  affairs,  when  Clodius  entered  upon  the  tri^ 
bunate  ;  where  his  first  act  was,  to  put  the  same  af- 
front on  Bibulus,-  which  had  been  offered  before  to 
Cicero,  on  laying  down  that  oftice,  by  not  suflering 
him  to  speak  to  the  people,  but  only  to  take  the  ac- 
customed oath. 

(^  Metellus  Celer,  an  excellent  citizen  and  patriot, 
who  from  his  consulship  obtained  the  government  of 
Gaul,  to  which  Caesar  now^  succeeded,  died  suddenly 
this  summer  at  Rome,  in  the  vigour  of  his  health  and 
flower  of  his  age,  not  without  suspicion  of  violence. 
His  wife,  the  sister  of  Clodius,  a  lew^d,  intriguing  wo^ 
man,  was  commonly  thought  to  have  poisoned  him  ; 
as  well  to  revenge  his  opposition  to  all  the  attempts  of 
her  brother,  as  to  gain  the  greater  liberty  of  pursuing 
her  own  amours.  Cicero  does  not  scruple  to  charge 
her  with  it  in  his  speech  for  Caelius,  where  he  gives  a 
moving  account  of  the  death  of  her  husband,  whom 
he  visited  in  his  last  moments ;  when,  in  broken,  faul- 
tering  accents,  he  foretold  the  storm  which  w^as  ready 


*  Clodius  est  inimicus  nobis.  Pompeius  confirmat  eum  nihil 
facturum  esse  contra  me.  Mihi  peiiculosum  est  credere  :  ad  resis- 
tendum  me  paro.  Studia  spero  me  summa  habiturum  omnium  or- 
tlinum.     Ibid.  2i. 

Si  diem  Clodius  dixerit,  tota  Italia  concurret — sin  autem  vi  age- 
re  conabitur — omnes  se  et  suos  liberos,  amicos,  clientes,  liberos, 
servos,  pecunias  denique  suas  pollicentur.     Ad  Quint.  Fr,  1.2. 


Sect.  IV.  CiCERO.  ^Si 

A.  Urb.  694.     Cic,  48.     Coss.— C.  Julius  Csesar.     M.  Calpurnlus  IBIbuTus. 

to  break,  both  upon  Cicero  and  the  repubhc  ;  and,  in 
the  midst  of  his  agonies,  signified  it  to  be  his  only  con- 
cern in  dying,  that  his  friend  and  his  country  should 
be  deprived  of  his  help  at  so  critical  a  conjuncture  *. 
By  Metelliis's  death  a  place  became  vacant  in  the 
college  of  Augurs  :  and  though  Cicero  was  so  shy  of 
accepting  any  favour  from  the  Triumvirate,  yet  he 
seems  incHned  to  have  accepted  this,  if  it  had  been 
offered  to  him,  as  he  intimates  in  a  letter  to  Atticus. 
"  Tell  me,"  says  he,  "  every  tittle  of  news  that  is  stir- 
"  ring  ;  and  since  Nepos  is  leaving  Rome,  who  is  to 
"  have  his  brother's  Augurate  :  it  is  the  only  thing 
"  with  which  they  could  tempt  me.  Observe  my 
"  weakness  !  But  what  have  I  to  do  with  such  things, 
"  to  which  I  long  to  bid  adieu,  and  turn  myself  en- 
"  tirely  to  philosophy  ?  I  am  now  in  earnest  to  do  it  ; 
"  and  wish  that  I  had  been  so  from  the  beginning  f ." 


*  Cum  ille — tertio  die  post  quam  in  curia,  quam  inrostris,  quam 
in  repub.  tloruisset,  integerrima  tetate,  optimo  habitu,  maximis  vi- 
ribus,  eriperetur  bonis  omnibus  atque  universye  civitati. — Cum  me 
mtuens  flentem  significabat  interruptis  atque  morientibus  vocibus, 
quanta  impenderet  procella  urbi,  quanta  tempestas  civitati — ut  non 
se  emori,  quam  spoliari  suo  prresidio  cum  patriam,  tum  etiam  me 
doleret. — Ex  hac  igitur  domo  progressa  ilia  mulier  de  veneni  cele- 
ieritate  dicere  audebit  ?     Pro  Coelio,  24. 

f  Et  numquid  novi  oninino  :  et  quoniam  Nepos  proiiciscitur, 
cuinam  Auguratus  deferatur,  quo  quidem  uno  ego  ab  istis  capi 
possum.  Vide  levitatem  meam  !  Sed  quid  ego  base,  qiwd  cupio 
deponere,  et  toto  animo  atque  omni  cura  <PiX6a-o(pih  ?  Sic,  inquamj 
in  animo  est  j   vellem  ab  initio.     Ad  Att.  2.  5. 

An  ingenious  French  writer,  and  an  English  one  also,  not  less 
ingenious,  have  taken  occasion  from  this  passage  to  form  a  heavy- 
charge  against  Cicero  both  in  his  civil  and  moral  character.  Thc^ 
Frenchman  descants  with  great  gr^.vitv  on  the  foible  of  human  na- 
ture, and  the   astonishing  weakness  of  our  orator,  in  suffering  a 

Z    2 


354 


The  life  of"  Sect.  IV. 


A.  Urb.  694.    Cic  48.    Coss. — C  Julius  Casar.   M.  Calpurnius  Bibulus. 

But  his  inclination  to  the  Augurate,  at  this  time,  was 
nothing  else,  we  see,  but  a  sudden  start  of  an  unweigh- 
ed  thought ;  no  sooner  thrown  out,  than  retracted  ; 
and  dropt  only  to  Atticus,  to  whom  he  used  to  open 
all  his  thoughts  with  the  same  freedom  with  which 
they  offered  themselves  to  his  own  mind  f  :  for  it  is 
certain  that  he  might  have  had  this  very  Augurate, 
if  he  had  thought  it  worth  asking  for ;  nay,  in  a  let- 
ter to  Cato,  who  could  not  be  ignorant  of  the  fact, 
he  says,  that  he  had  actually  slighted  it ;  which  seems 
indeed  to  have  been  the  case  J  :  for  though  he  was 
within  twenty  miles  of  Rome,  yet  he  never  stirred 
from  his  retreat  to  solicit  or  offer  himself  for  it,  which 
he  must  necessarily  have  done,  if  he  had  any  real  de- 
sire to  obtain  it. 

Cicero's  fortunes  seemed  now  to  be  in  a  tottering 
condition :    his   enemies  Vv  ere  gaining  ground  upon 

thought  to  drop  from  him,  which  must  for  ever  ruin  his  credit  with 
posterity,  and  destroy  that  high  opinion  of  his  virtue,  which  he  la- 
bours every  where  to  inculcate.  But  a  proper  attention  to  the  ge- 
neral tenor  of  his  conduct  would  easily  have  convinced  him  of  the 
absurdity  of  so  severe  an  interpretation  •,  and  the  facts  produced  in 
this  history  abundantly  shew,  that  the  passage  itself  cannot  admit 
any  other  sense,  than  what  I  have  given  to  it,  as  it  is  rendered  also 
by  Mr  Mongault,  the  judicious  translator  of  the  epistles  to  Atticus, 
viz.  that  the  Augurate  was  the  only  bait  that  could  tempt  him.  j  not 
to  go  into  the  measures  of  the  Triumvirate,  for  that  was  never  in 
his  thoughts,  but  to  accept  any  thhig  from  them,  or  suffer  himself 
to  be  obliged  to  them.  See  Hist,  de  I'Exil  de  Ciceron.  p.  42. 
Considerations  on  the  Life  of  Cic.  p.  27. 

f   Ego  tecum,  tanquam  mecum  loquor.  Ad.  Att.  8.  14. 

:|:  Sacerdotium  denique,  cum,  quemadmodum  te  existimare  arbil- 
ror,  non  dilhcillime  consec^ui  possem,  non  appetivi. — Idem  post  in- 
iuriam  acceptam — studui  quam  ornatissima  senatus  populique  Ro- 
mani  de  me  judicia  intercedere.  Itaque  et  Augur  postea  fieri  volui, 
quod  antea  neglexeram.  Ep.  fam.  15.  4. 


.Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  355 


A.  Urb.  695.     Cic.  49.     Coss.— L.  Calpurnius  Piso.     A.  Gabiniss. 

him,  and  any  condition  of  help  from  the  new  magi- 
strates might  turn  the  scale  to  his  ruin.  Catuius 
used  to  tell  him,  that  he  had  no  cause  to  fear  any 
thing ;  for  that  one  good  consul  was  sufficient  to  pro- 
tect him  ;  and  Rome  had  never  known  two  had  ones 
in  office  together,  except  in  Cinna's  tyranny  ||.  But 
that  day  was  now  come  ;  and  Rome  saw  in  this  year, 
what  it  had  never  seen  before  in  peaceful  times  since 
its  foundation,  two  proffigate  men  advanced  to  that 
jiigh  dignity. 

These  were  L.  Calpurnius  Piso  and  A.  Gabinius  ; 
the  one,  the  father-in-law  of  Caesar ;  the  other,  the 
creature  of  Pompey.  Before  their  entrance  into  of- 
fice, Cicero  had  conceived  great  hopes  of  them,  and 
not  without  reason  :  for,  by  the  marriage  of  his  daugh- 
ter he  was  aUied  to  Piso ;  who  continued  to  give 
him  all  the  marks  of  his  confidence,  and  had  employ- 
ed him,  in  his  late  election,  to  preside  over  the  votes 
of  the  leading  century  ;  -  and,  when  he  entered  hzlr* 
his  office,  on  the  first -of  Jsn-aaiy,  asked  his  opinion  the 
third  in  the  senate,  or  the  next  after  Pompey  and 
Crassus  §  :  and  he  might  flatter  himself  also  probably, 


II  AudieraiR  ex  saplentlssimo  homme,  Q^  Catulo,  non  saepe  un- 
um  consulem  improbum,  duos  vero  TiUnquam  post  Romam  cond> 
tam,  excepto  illo  Cinnano  tempore,  fuisse.  Quare  meam  causam 
semper  fore  flrmissimam  dicere  solebat,  dum  vel  unus  in  repub. 
Consul  esset.     Post  red.  in  Sen.  4. 

§    Consules  se  optime  ostendunt.      Ad  Quint.     Fr.  i,  2. 

Tu  misericors  me  affinerti  tuum,  quern  tuis  comitiis  pr-derogativae 
primum  custodeni  prarfeceras  :  quem  kalendis  Januariis  tertia  loco 
??fcntentiam  rogaras,  constrictitm  inimicis  reipub.  tradidisti.  Fbst 
r^'-l    h\  S^r!.  7.    In  Pis'.  ^,  6- 


^^6  Ths   life   of  Sect.  IV.    • 

A.  Urb.  695.     Cic,  49.     Coss.— L.  Calpurnius  Piso.     A.  Gabinius. 

that,  on  account  of  the  inlluence  which  they  were 
under,  they  w^ould  not  be  very  forward  to  declare 
themselves  against  him  ^.  But  he  presently  found 
himself  deceived  :  for  Clodius  had  already  secured 
them  to  his  measures,  by  a  private  contract  to  procure 
for  them,  by  a  grant  of  the  people,  two  of  the  best 
governments  of  the  empire ;  for  Piso,  Macedonia, 
with  Greece  and  Thessaly ;  for  Gabinius,  Cihcia : 
and  when  this  last  was  not  thought  good  enough,  and 
Gabinius  seemed  to  be  displeased  with  his  bargain,  it 
was  exchanged  soon  after  for  Syria,  with  a  power  of 
making  war  upon  the  Parthians  f .  For  this  price 
they  agreed  to  serve  him  in  all  his  designs,  and  parti- 
cularly in  the  oppressions  of  Cicero  ;  who,  on  that  ac- 
count, often  calls  them,  not  consuls,  but  brokers  of 
provinces,  and  sellers  of  their  country  J. 

They  were,  both  of  them,  equally  corrupt  in  their 
morals,  yet  very  different  in  their  tempers.  Piso  had 
been  accused  the  year  before  by  P.  Clodius,  of  plun- 
iiering  and  oppressing  the  allies :  when,  by  throwing 


*  The  author  of  the  Ex?7e  of  Cicero,  to  aggravate  the  perfidy  of 
Gabinius,  tells  us,  that  Cicero  had  defended  him  in  a  capital  cause, 
and  produces  a  fragment  of  the  oration  :  but  he  mistakes  the  time 
of  the  fact  •,  for  that  defence  was  not  made  till  several  years  itfter 
this  consulship  *,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter  in  its  proper  place.  Hist, 
de  TExile  de  CIc.  p.  115. 

j-  Foedus  fecerunt  cum  tribuno  pleb.  palam,  ut  ab  eo  provincias 
acciperent,  quas  vellent — id  autem  foedus  meo  sanguine  ictum  san- 
ciri  posse  dicebant.      Pro  Sex.  10. 

Cui  qiiidem  cum  Ciliciam  dedisses,  mutasti  pactionem  et — Gabi- 
jiio,  pretio  amplificato,  Syriam  nominatim  dedisti.     Pro  Dom.  9. 

X  Non  consules,  sed  mercatores  provinciarum,  ac  venditores  ves- 
.Jr^  dignitatis.     Post  red.  in  Sen.  4. 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  357 


A.  Urb.  695.     Cic.  49.     Coss. — L.  Calpuraius  Piso.     A.  Gabjnius. 

iiiAiself  at  the  feet  of  his  judges  in  the  most  abject 
manner,  and  in  the  niidst  of  a  violent  rain,  he  is  s?ad 
to  have  moved  the  compassion  of  the  bench,  who 
thonght  it  punishment  enough  tor  a  man  of  his  birth, 
to  be  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  prostrating  himself 
50  miserably,  and  rising  so  deformed  and  besmeared 
■witA  dirt  II .  Eut  in  truth,  it  v/as  Cesar's  authority 
that  saved  him  and  reconciled  him  at  the  same  time 
to  Clodius.  In  his  outward  carriage,  lie  affected  the 
mien  and  garb  of  a  philosopher ;  and  his  aspect  great- 
ly contributed  to  give  him  the  credit  of  that  charac- 
ter :  he  was  severe  in  his  looks  :  squalid  in  his  dress ; 
slow  in  his  speech  ;  morose  in  his  m.anners ;  the  very 
picture  of  antiquity,  and  a  pattern  of  the  ancient  re- 
public ;  ambitious  to  be  thought  a  patriot,  and  a  re- 
viver of  th«  old  discipline.  But  this  garb  of  rigid  vir- 
tue covered  a  most  lewd  and  vicious  mind  :  he  was 
•surrounded  always  with  Greeks,  to  imprint  a  notion 
of  his  learning:  but  v/hile  others  entertained  them 
for  the  improvement  of  their  knowledge  ;  he,  for  the 
gratification  of  his  lusts ;  as  his  cooks,  his  pimps,  or 
his  drunken  companions.  In  short,  he  was  a  dirty, 
sottish,  stupid  Epicurean  ;  wallowing  in  all  the  low 
and  fdthy  pleasures  of  hfe  ;  till  a  false  opinion  of  his 
wisdom,  the  splendor  of  his  great  family,  aud  the 
smoky  images  of  ancestors,  whom  he  resembled  in  no- 


il L.  Piso,  a  P.  Clodio  accusatus,  quod  graves  et  intolerabiles  in- 
jurias  sociis  intulisset,  baud  dubice  ruinie  metum  fortuito  auxilio  vi- 
tavit — quia  jam  satis  groves  euni  poenas  sociis  dedisse  arbitrati  mnt 
hue  deducUun  necessitatis,  ut  abjicere  se  tam  suupliciter,  aut  attol- 
kre  tarn  deibrmiter  cogerctur.     Val.  M.  3.  i.   "'  .  ' 


35B  The  LIFE   of  vSect,  IV. 

A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49.    Coss.— L.  Calpurnius  Piso.    A  Gabinius. 


thing  but  his  complexion,  recommended  him  to  the 
consulship  ;  which  exposed  the  genuine  temper  and 
talents  of  the  man  ^. 

His  colleague  Gabinius  was  no  hypocrite  but  a  pro- 
fessed rake  from  the  beginning  ;  gay,  foppish,  luxuri- 
ous ;  always  curled,  and  perfumed ;  and  living  in  a 
perpetual  debauch  of  gaming,  wine,  and  women ;  void 
of  every  principle  of  virtue,  honour,  and  probity ;  and 
so  desperate  in  his  fortunes,  through  the  extravagance 
of  his  pleasures,  that  he  had  no  other  resource,  or 
hopes  of  subsistence,  but  from  the  plunder  of  the  re- 
public. In  his  tribunate,  to  pay  his  court  to  Pompey, 
he  exposed  to  the  mob  the  plan  of  Lucullus's  house, 
to  shew  w^hat  an  expensive  fabric  one  of  the  greatest 
subjects  of  Rome  was  building,  as  he  w^ould  intimate, 
put  of  the  spoils  of  the  treasury :  yet  this  vain  man, 
oppressed  with  debts,  and  scarce  able  to  shew  his  head, 


*  Quam  teter  incedebat  ?  quam  truculentus  ?  quam  terribilis  as- 
pectu  ?  Aliquem  te  ex  barbatis  illis,  exeniplum  veteris  imperii,  ima- 
ginein  antiquitatis,  columen  reipub.  diceres  intueri.  Vestitus  aspe- 
le,  nostra  hac  purpura  plebeia,  et  pene  fusca.  Capillo  ita  horrido, 
ut — tanta  erat  gravitas  in  oculo,  tanta  contractio  frontis,  ut  illo  su- 
percilio  respub,  tanquam  Atlante  ccElura,  niti  videretur.  Pro  Sext. 
8.  Quia  tristem  semper,  quia  taciturnum,  quia  subhorridum  atque 
incultum  videbant,  et  quod  erat  eo  nomine,  ut  ingenerata  familiar 
frugalitas  videretur  j  favebant — etenim  animus  ejus  vultu,  flagitia 
parietibus  tegebantur — laudabat  homo  doctus  philosophos  nescio 
quos — 9.  Jacebat  i^  sue  Gra^corum  foetore  et  vino — Gricci  stipati 
quini  in  lectulis,  saepe  plures.     In  Pis.  10.  27, 

His  utitur  quasi  praifectis  libidinum  suarum  :  hi  voluptates  om- 
nes  vestigant  atque  odorantur:  hi  sunt  conxlitores  instructoresque 
convivii,  &c.     Post  red.  in  Sen.  6. 

Obrepisti  ad  honores  errcre  hominum,  commendatione  fumosa- 
rum  imaginum,  quapm  simile  nihil  habes  prieter  colorem.  In 
Pis.  I. 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  359 

A,  Urb.  695.  Cic  49.     Coss. — I-..  Calpumjus  Piso.    A.  Gabinius. 

found  means,  from  the  perquisites  of  his  consulship, 
to  build  a  much  more  magnificent  palace  than  Lucul- 
lus  himself  had  done  *.  No  wonder  then,  that  two 
such  consuls,  ready  to  sacrifice  the  empire  itself  to 
their  lusts  and  pleasures,  should  barter  away  the  safe- 
ty and  fortunes  of  a  private  senator,  whose  virtue  was 
a  standing  reproof  to  them,  and  whose  very  presence 
gave  some  check  to  the  free  indulgence  of  their 
vices. 

Clodius  having  gained  the  consuls,  made  his  next 
attempt  upon  the  people,  by  obliging  them  with  seve- 
ral new  laws,  contrived  chiefly  for  their  advantage, 
which  he  now  promulgated.  "  First,  that  corn  should 
"  be  distributed  gratis  to  the  citizens.  Secondly, 
**  that  no  magistrates  should  take  the  auspices,  or  ob- 
*'  serve  the  heavens,  when  the  people  were  actually  as- 
"  sembled  on  public  business.  Thirdly,  that  the 
*'  old  companies  or  fraternities  of  the  city,  v/hich  the 
"  senate  had  abolished,  should  be  revived,  and  new 
"  ones  instituted.  Fourthly,  to  please  those  also  of 
higher  rank,  that  the  senators  should  not  expel 
"  from  the  senate,  or  inflict  any  mark  of  infamy  on  a- 
"  ny  man,  who  was  not  first  openly  accused  and  con- 
"  victed  of  some  crime  by  their  joint  sentence  f ," 


*  Alter  unguentis  affluens,  calamistra  coma,  despiciens  conscios 
stuprorum — fefellit  neminem — hominem  emersum  subito  ex  diutur- 
nis  tenebris  lustrorum  ae  stuprornm — vino,  ganeis,  lenociniis,  adul- 
teriisque  consectum.     Pro  Sext.  9. 

Cur  ille  gurges,  heluatus  tecum  simul  reipub.  sanguinem,  ad  coe.- 
lum  tamen  extruxit  villam  in  Tusculano  visceribus  xrarii.  Pr© 
Pom.  47. 

f  Vid.  Orat.  in  Pilon.  4.  et  notas  Asconii.     Dio.  L  38.  p.  67.    , 


360  The  life   of  Sect.  I V, 

A-  Urb.  695.  Cic.  49.  C039. — L.  Csi'purnius  Piso.    A.  Gabinius. 

These  laws,  though  generally  agreeable,  were  highly 
unseasonable;  tending  to  relax  the  public  discipline, 
at  a  time  w^hen  it  wanted  most  to  be  reinforced  :  Ci- 
cero took  them  all  to  be  levelled  at  himself,  and  con- 
trived to  pave  the  way  to  iiis  ruin  ;  so  that  he  provid- 
ed his  friend  L.  Ninnius,  one  of  the  tribunes,  to  put  hi^ 
negative  upon  them  ;  especially  on  the  law  af  frater- 
nities; which, under  colour  of  incorporating  those  soci- 
eties, gave  Clodius  an  opportunity  of  gathering  an  ar- 
my, and  enlisting  into  his  service  all  the  scum  and 
dregs  of  the  city  .*  Dion  Cassius  says,  that  Clodius 
fearing,  lest  this  opposition  should  retard  the  effect  of 
his  other  projects,  persuaded  Cicero,  in  an  amicable 
conference,  to  withdraw  his  tribune,  and  give  no  inter- 
ruption to  his  laws,  upon  a  promise  and  condition, 
that  he  would  not  make  any  attempt  against  him  f  : 
but  w^e  find,  from  Cicero's  account,  that  it  was  the  ad- 
vice of  his  friends  which  induced  him  to  be  quiet  a- 
gainst  his  own  judgment ;  because  the  laws  themselves 
were  popular,  and  did  not  personally  affect  him :  though 
he  blamed  himself  soon  afterwards  for  his  indolence, 
and  expostulated  with  Attic  us  for  advising  him  to  it ; 
Avhen  he  felt  to  his  cost  the  advantage  which  Clodius 
had  gained  by  it  J. 

For  the  true  design  of  all  these  laws  was,  to  intro- 
duce only  with  better  grace  the  grand  plot  of  the  play, 


*■  Collegia,  non  ea  solum,  quic  Senatus  sustulerat,  restituta,  sejl 
innumerabilla  quctdam  aova  ex  omni  fctce  urbis  ac  servitio  conci- 
tata.     In  Pison.  4. 

f  DIo,  1.  38.  p.  67.  _  ...        ' 

X  Nunquam  esses  passus  mihi  persuader!,  utile  nobis  esse  legem, 
de  Collegiis  perferri.     Ad  Att.  $>  iS' 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  361 


A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49.    Co-SS.--L.  Calpiirniu.s  Piso.    A.  Gubinius. 


the  banisment  of  Cicero,  which  was  now  directly  at- 
tempted hy  a  special  law,  importing,  that  whoever 
had  taken  the  life  of  a  citizen,  uncondemned,  and 
without  a  trial,  should  be  prohibited  from  fire  and 
water  f .     Though  Cicero  was  not  named,  yet  he  was 
marked  out  by  the  law :  his  crime  was,  the  putting 
Catihne's   accomphces  to  death,  which,  though  not 
done  by  his  single  authority,  but  by  a  general  vote  of 
the   senate,  and  after  a  solemn  hearing  and  debate, 
was  alleged  to  be  illegal,  and  contrary  to  the  liberties 
of  the  people.     Cicero,  finding  himself  thus  reduced 
to  the  condition  of  a  criminal,  changed  bis  habit  upon 
it,  as  it  was  usual  in  the  case  of  a  public  impeach- 
ment,  and  appeared  about  the  streets  in  a  sordid  or 
mourning  gown,  to  excite  the  compassion  of  his  citi- 
zens ;  whilst  Ciodius,  at  the  head  of  his  mob,  contriv- 
ed to  meet  and  insult  him  at  every  turn,  reproaching 
him  for  his  cowardice  and  xiejection,  throwing  dirt 
and  stones  at  him  %-     ^^^^  Cicero  soon  gathered  friends 
enough  about  him,  to  secure  him  from  such  insults ; 
"  the  v/hole  body  of  the  knights,  and  the  young  nobi- 
*'  lity,    to  the  number  of  twenty  thousand  "*',  v/ith 
**  young  Crassus  at  their  head,  who  all  changed  their 
"  habit,  and  perpetually  attended  him  about  the  city^ 
*'  to  implore  the  protection  and  assistance  of  tbe  peo- 
»'  pie."' 


f  Qui  civem  Romanum  indemnatum  perimisiet,  ei  aqua  et  igiu 
interdiceretur.     Nci^A.  Pat.  2.  45. 

:j:  Plutarch.  Cicero. 

*  Pro  me  pra^sente  senatus,  iioiuinumque  viginti  miliia  vesteia 
miitaveruut.     Post.  red.  ad  Quir.  ^.  ■  » 


3^2  The    LIFE  OF  Sect.  IV. 


A.  Urb.  $95.    Cic.  49 .    Coss. — L.  Capurnius  Piso.    A.  Gabinius. 

The  city  was  now  in  great  agitation,  and  every  part 
of  it  engaged  on  one  side  or  the  other.     The   senate 
met  in  the  temple  of  Concord,  while  Cicero's  ^friends 
assembled  in  the  Capitol,  whence  all  the  knights  and 
young  nobles  went  in  their  habit  of  mourning,  to 
throw  themselves  at  the  feet  of  the  consuls,  and  beg 
their  interpasition  in  Cicero's  favour.     Piso  kept  his 
■  house  that  day,  on  purpose  to  avoid  them,  but  Gabi- 
nius received  them,  with  intolerable  rudeness,  though 
their  petition  was  seconded  by  the  entreaties  and  tears 
01  the  whole  senate  :  he  treated  Cicero's  character  and 
consulship  with  the  utmost  derision,  and  repulsed  the 
whole  company  with  threats   and  insults,  for  their 
iruitless  pains  to  support  a  sinking  cause.     This  rais- 
ed great  indignation  in  the  assembly,  where  the  tri- 
bune Ninnius,  instead  of  being  discouraged  by  the 
violence  of  the  consul,  made  a  motion,  that  the  senate 
also  should  change  their  habit,  with  the  rest  of  the 
city,  which  was  agreed  to  instantly,  by  an  unanimous 
vote.     Gabinius,  enraged  at  this,  flew  out  of  the  se- 
nate into  the  forum,  where  he  declared  to  the  people 
from  the  rostra,  "  That  men  were  mistaken,  to  ima- 
■*  gine  that  the  senate  had  any  power  in  the  repu- 
•'  bhc  ;  that  the  knights  should  pay  dear  for  that  day's 
*'  work,  Vv'hen,  in  Cicero's  consulship,  they  kept  guard 
*'  in  the  Capitol,  with  their  drawn  swords ;  and  that 
"  the   hour  was  now  come,  when  those  who  hved  at 
'*  that  time  in  fear,  should  revenr^^e   themselves  on 
**  their  enemies :  and  to  confirm  the  truth  of  what  he 
**  .said,  he  banished  L.  Lamia,  a  Roman  knight,  two 
'*  lumdred  milqs  from  t4ie  city,  for  his  distinguished 


Skct.  IV,  CICERO.  3^3 

A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49.    Coss. — L.  Calpurnius  Piso.    A.  Gabinius. 

"  zeal  and  activity  in  Cicero's  service  ^ ;"  an  act  of 
power  ivhich  no  consul  before  him  had  ever  presum- 
ed to  exert  on  any  citizen,  which  was  followed  pre- 
sently, "  by  an  edict  from  both  the  consuls,  forbid- 
"  ding  the  senate  to  put  their  late  vote  in  execution, 
"  and  enjoining  them  to  resume  their  ordinary  dress  f. 
"  And  w^here  is  there,"  says  Cicero,  "  in  all  history,  a 
"  more  illustrious  testimony  to  the  honour  of  any  man, 
"  than  that  all  the  honest,  by  private  inclination,  and 
"  the  senate,  by  a  public  decree,  should  change  their 
"  habit  for  the  sake  of  a  single  citizen  t  ?" 

But  the  resolution  of  changijig  his  gown  was  too 
hasty  and  inconsiderate,  and  helped  to  precipitate  his 
ruin.     He  was  not  named  in  the  law,  nor  personally 


*  Hie  sublto  cum  incredlbilis  in  Capitoliura  multitudo  ex  tota 
urbe,  cunctaque  Italia  coiivenisset,  vestem  mutandam  omnes,  me- 
que  etiam  omni  ratione,  private  consilio,  quoniani  pubiicis  ducibus 
respub.  careret,  defendendum  putarunt.  Erat  eodem  tempore  se- 
natus  in  sede  Concordife, — cum  flens  universus  ordo  Cincinnatum 
consulem  orabat,  nam  alter  ille  horridus  et  severus  domi  se  ccnsul- 
to  tenebat.  Qua  tum  superbia  coenum  illud  ac  labes  amplissimi  or- 
dinis  preces  et  clarissimorum  civium  lacrymas  repudiavit  ?  Me  ip- 
sum  ut  contem^sit  helluo  patrite  ? — Vestris  precibus  a  iatrone  isto 
repudiatis,  vir  incredibili  fide — L.  Ninnius  ad  seiiatum  de  repub. 
retulit.  Senatusque  frequens  vestem  pro  mea  salute  mutandam 
censuit — Exanimatus  evolat  e  senatu — advocat  concionem — errare 
homines,  si  etiam^  tum  senatum  aliquid  in  rep.  posse  arbitrarentur. 
— Venisse  tempus  iis,  qui  in  timore  fuissent,  ulciscendi  se. — L.  La- 
miam — in  concione  relegavit,  edixitque  ut  ab  urbe  abesset  miHia 
passuum  ducenta  — [Pro  Sext.  11,  12,  13.  it.  post  red.  in  Sen.  5.] 
Quod  ante  id  tempus  civl  Romano  contigit  nemini.  Euist.  fam. 
II.  16. 

f  Cum  subito  edicunt  duo  consules,  ut  ad  suum  vestitum  sena- 
tores  redirent.     Ep.  fam.  11.  14. 

X  Quid  enim  quisquam  potest  ex  omni  memoria  sumere  illustriu?;, 
^uam  pro  uno  cive  et  bonos  omnes  privato  consensu,  et  univerrum 
*feenatum  publico  consilio  rautasse  vestem  ^     Ibid.  12. 


SH  The   life   of  Sect,  IV. 

A.  Urb.  695.     Cic.  49.     Coss. — L.  Calpurnius  Pi^o.     A.  dabiniua. 

affected  by  it :  the  terms  of  it  were  general,  and  seem- 
ingly just,  reached  only  to  those  itbo  bad  taken  the 
lift-  of  a  L  itizen  illegally.  Whether  this  was  the  case 
or  not,  was  not  yet  the  point  in  issue,  but  to  be  the 
subject  of  another  trial ;  so  that,  by  making  himself  a 
criminal  before  his  time,  he  shortened  the  trouble  of 
his  enemies,  discouraged  his  friends,  and  made  his  case 
more  desperate  than  he  needed  to  have  done:  where- 
as, if  he  had  taken  the  part  of  commending  or  shght- 
ing  the  law,  as  being  wholly  unconcerned  in  it,  and, 
when  he  came  to  be  actually  attacked  by  a  second 
law,  and  brought  to  trial  upon  it,  had  stood  resolutely 
upon  his  defence,  he  might  have  baffled  the  malice  of 
his  prosecutors.  He  was  sensible  of  his  error  when  it 
was  too  late,  and  oft  reproaches  Atticus,  that,  being  a 
stander-by,  and  less  heated  in  the  game  than  himself, 
he  would  suffer  him  to  make  such  blunders  f . 

As  the  other  consul,  Piso,  had  not  yet  explicitly  de- 
clared himself,  so  Cicero,  accompanied  by  his  son-in- 
law,  who  was  his  near  kinsman,  took  occasion  to  make 
him  a  visit,  in  hopes  to  move  him  to  espouse  his  cause, 
and  support  the  authority  of  the  senate.  They  went 
to  him  about  eleven  in  the  morning,  and  found  him, 
as  Cicero  afterwards  told  the  senate,  "  coming  out 


f  Niim  prior  lex  nos  nihil  lii^uebat :  quam  si,  ut  est  promulgata, 
laudare  voluissemus,  aut,  ut  erat  negligenda,  negligere,  nocere  om- 
Tiino  nobis  non  potuisset.  Hie  mihi  primum  meum  consilium  de- 
fuit  *,  sed  etiam  obfuit.  Citci,  cseci,  iuquam,  fuimus  in  vestitu 
mutando,  in  populo  rogando.  Quod,  nisi  norainatim  mecum  agi 
coeptum  esset,  perniciosum  fuit. — Me,  meos  mcis  tradidi  inimicis, 
inspectante  et  tacente  te  j  qui,  si  non  plus  ingenio  valebas  quam 
ego,  certe  timebas  minus.     Ad  Att.  3.  I5' 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  36^^ 

A.  tJfb.  695.    Cie.  49.     Coss. — L.  Calpurnius  Piso.    A.  Gabinius. 

"  from  a  little,  dirty  hovel,  fresh  from  the  last  night's 
"  debauch,  with  his  slippers  on,  his  head  muffled,  and 
**  his  breath  so  strong  of  wine,  that  they  could  hardly 
**  bear  the  scent  of  it :  he  excused  his  dress,  and  smell 
"  of  wine,  on  the  account  of  his  ill  health  ;  for  which 
"  he  was  obliged,  he  said,  to  take  some  vinous  medi- 
"  cines ;  but  he  kept  them  standing  all  the  while  in 
"  that  filthy  place,  till  they  had  finished  their  business, 
"  As  soon  as  Cicero  entered  into  the  affair,  he  frank^ 
"  ly  told  them,  that  Gabinius  was  so  miserably  poor, 
"  as  not  to  be  able  to  shew  his  head  ;  and  must  be  ut- 
"  terly  ruined,  if  he  could  not  procure  some  rich  pro- 
*'  vince  ;  that  he  had  hopes  of  one  from  Clodius,  but 
**  despaired  of  any  thing  from  the  senate  ;  that  for  his 
*'  own  part,  it  was  his  business  to  humour  him  on  this 
"  occasion,  as  Cicero  had  humoured  his  colleague  in 
*'  his  consulship,  and  that  there  was  no  reason  to  im^ 
•*  plore  the  help  of  the  consuls,  since  it  was  every 
"  man's  duty  to  look  to  himself*  :"  which  was  alt 
that  they  could  get  from  him. 

Clodius,  all  the  Vv^hile,  was  not  idle,  but  pushed  on 
his  law  with  great  vigour  ;  and,  calling  the  people  in- 
to the  Flaminian  circus,  summoned  thither  all  the 
young  nobles  and  the  knights,  who  were  so  busy  in 
Cicero's  cause,  to  give  an  account  of  their  conduct  to 
that  assembly  :  but  as  soon  as  they  appeared,  he  or- 


*   Egere— — Gabinlum  j  sine   provincia  stare  non  posse  :   speni 

habere   a  tribuno  pleb. a  senatu  quldem  desperasse:  hiiju.s  te 

cupiditati  obsequi,  slcut  ego  fecissem  m  cqllega  meo  :  nihil  esse 
quod  presidium  consukim  implorarem  j  slbi  rj^uemque  consulere  o- 
portere,  S^q.     In  Fison.  6. 


366  The   LIFE   op  Sect.  IV. 

A.  Urb.  695.    Cic  49.    Coss. — L.  Calpurnius  Piso-.    A.  Gabinius. 

dered  his  slaves  and  mercenaries  to  fall  upon  them  with 
drawn  swords,  and  vollies  of  stones,  in  so  rude  a  man- 
ner, that  Hortensius  was  almost  killed,  and  Vibienus,. 
another  senator,  so  desperately  hurt,  that  he  died  soon 
after  of  his  wounds  *.  Here  he  produced  the  two 
consuls,  to  deliver  their  sentiments  to  the  people  on 
the  merit  of  Cicero's  consulship ;  when  Gabinus  de- 
clared, with  great  gravity,  that  he  utterly  condemned 
the  putting  citizens  to  death  without  a  trial :  Piso  on-. 
ly  said,  "  that  he  had  always  been  on  the  merciful 
"  side,  and  had  a  great  aversion  to  cruelty  f ."  The 
reason  of  holding  this  assembly  in  the  Flaminian  circus, 
without  the  gates  of  Rome,  w^as  to  give  Csesar  an  op- 
portunity of  assisting  at  it,  who,  being  now  invested 
with  a  military  command,  could  not  appear  within  the 
walls.  Caesar,  therefore,  being  called  upon,  after  the 
consuls,  to  deliver  his  mind  on  the  same  question,  de- 
clared, "  that  the  proceedings  against  Lentulus  and 
"  the  rest  were  irregular  and  illegal ;  but  that  he  could 
"  not  approve  the  design  of  punishing  any  body  for 
"  them  :  that  all  the  world  knew  his  sense  of  the  mat- 


*  Qui  adesse  nobilissimos  adolescentes,  honestisslmos  equites  Ro- 
manos  deprecatores  mese  salutis  jusserit  j  eosque  operarum  suarum 
gladils  et  lapidlbus  objecerit.     Pro  Sext.  12. 

Vidl  hunc  ipsum  Hortenslum,  lumen  et  omamentum  reipub.  pane 
interfici  servorum  manu — qua  in  turba  C.  Vibienus,  senator,  vir  op- 
timus,  cum  hoc  cum  esset  una,  ita  est  mulctatus,  ut  vitam  amiserit. 
Pro  Mil.  14. 

f  Pressa  voce  et  tumulenta,  quod  in  cives  indemnatos  esset  animad- 
versum,  id  sibi  dixit  gravis  auctor  vehementissime  displicere.  Post 
red.  in  Sen.  6. 

Cum  esses  interrogatus  quid  sentires  de  consulatu  meo,  respondes, 
crudelitatem  tibi  non  placere.  In  Pis.  6.  Te  semper  misericor- 
dem  fuisse.     Post  red.  in  Sen.  7. 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  367 

A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49.     Coss. — L.  Calpurnius  Piso.    A.  Gabinius. 

**  ter,  and  that  he  had  given  his  vote  against  taking 
"  away  their  hves ;  yet  he  did  not  think  it  right  to 
"  propound  a  law  at  this  time,  about  things  that  were 
"  so  long  past  *."  This  answer  was  artful,  and  agree- 
able to  the  part  which  he  was  then  acting  ;  for  while 
it  confirmed  the  foundation  of  Clodius's  law,  it  carried 
a  shew  of  moderation  towards  Cicero  ;  or,  as  an  mge- 
nious  writer  expresses  it,  "  left  appearances  only  to  the 
**  one,  but  did  real  service  to  the  other  f." 

In  this  assembly,  Clodius  got  a  new  law  likewise  e- 
nacted,  that  made  a  great  alteration  in  the  constitution 
of  the  republic  ;  viz.  the  repeal  of  the  ^lian  and  Fu- 
sian  laws :  by  which  the  people  were  left  at  liberty  to 
transact  all  public  business,  even  on  the  days  called 
Fasd,  without  being  liable  to  be  obstructed  by  the 
magistrates  on  any  pretence  whatever  J.  The  two 
laws,  now  repealed,  had  been  in  force  about  a  hundred 
years  §  ;  and  made  it  unlawful  to  act  any  thing  with 
the  people,  while  the  augurs  or  consuls  were  observing 
the  heavens  and  taking  the  auspices.     This  wise  con- 


*  Dio,  1.  38.  p.  69.  f  Exil.  de  Cic.  p.  133. 

:j:  lisdem  consulibus  sedentibus  atque  inspectantibus  lata  lex  est, 
ne  auspicia  valerent,  ne  quis  obnunciaret,  ne  quis  leg!  intercederet  j 
ut  omnibus  fastis  diebus  legem  ferre  liceret :  ut  lex  ^lia,  lex  Fu- 
sia  ne  valeret.  Qua  una  rogatione  quis  non  intelligat,  universam 
rempublicam  esse  deletam  ?  [Pro  Sext.  15.]  Sustulit  duas  le- 
ges, ^liam  et  Fusiam,  maxime  reipub.  salutares.  De  Harusp, 
resp.  27. 

The  Dies-  Fasti  were  the  days  on  which  the  courts  of  law  were 
open,  and  the  prcetors  sat  to  hear  causes,  which  were  marked  for 
that  purpose  in  the  calendars  :  but  before  this  Ciodian  laiu^  it  was 
not  allowed  to  transact  any  business  upon  them  with  the  people. 

§  Centum  prope  annos  legem  ^^liam  et  Fusiam  tenueramus. 
In  Pis.  5. 

Vol,  I.  A  a 


368  The  LIFE  of  Sect.  IV. 

A.  Urb.  695.     Cic.  49.    Coss. — L.  Calpurnius  Piso.    A.  Gabinius. 

sti'tution  was  the  m^in  support  of  the  aristocratical  in- 
terest, and  a  perpetual  curb  to  the  petulance  of  fac- 
tious tribunes,  whose  chief  opportunity  of  doing  mis- 
chief lay  in  their  power  of  obtruding  dangerous  laws 
upon  the  city,  by  their  credit  with  the  populace.    Ci- 
cero therefore  frequently  laments  the  loss  of  these  two 
laws,  as  fatal  to  the  republic  ;  he  calls  them  "  the  most 
"  sacred  and  salutary  laws  of  the  state ;  the  fences  of 
"  their  civil  peace  and  quiet ;  the  very  walls  and  bul- . 
"  w^arks  of  the  republic ;  which  had  held  out  against 
"  the  fierceness  of  the  Gracchi ;  the  audaciousness  of 
"  Saturninus ;  the  mobs  of  Drusus;  the  bloodshed  of 
"  Cinna  ;  the  arms  of  Sylla  *,    to  be  abolished  at  last 
by  the  violence  of  this  worthless  tribune. 

Pompey,  who  had  hitherto  been  giving  Cicero  the 
strongest  assurances  of  his  friendship,  and  been  fre- 
quent and  open  in  his  visits  to  him,  began  now,  as  the 
plot  ripened  towards  a  crisis,  to  grow  cool  and  reserv- 
ed ;  while  the  Clodian  faction,  fearing  lest  he  mjght 
be  induced  at  last  to  protect  him,  were  employing  all 
their  erts,  "  to  infuse  jealousies  and  suspicions  into  him 
•'  of  a  design  against  hiai  from  Cicero.  They  posted 
"  some  of  their  confidents  at  Cicero's  house,  to  v/atch 
*'  his  coming  thither,  and  to  admonish  him  by  whis- 
*'  pers  and  billets  put  into  his  hands,  to  be  cautious  of 
"  venturing  himself  there,  and  to  take  better  care  of 


*  Dclnde  sanctiisunas  leges,  iEliam  et  Fusiarn,  quce  in  Graccho- 
jum  fcrocitate,  et  in  audacia  Satuinini,  et  in  coUuvione  Drusi,  et 
in  cruore  Cinnano,  etiam  inter  Syllana  arma  vixenmt,  solus  con- 
culcaris  ac  pro  nihilo  putaris.  In  Vatin.  9.  Propugnacula  muri- 
rjue  tranquillitatis  et  otii.     In  Piscn.  4. 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  369 


A.  Urb.  695.     Cic.  49.    Coss L.  Calpurnius  Piso.    A  Gabinius. 

**  his  life ;  which  was  inculcated  to  him  likewise  so 
"  strongly  at  home  by  perpetual  letters  and  messages 
*'  from  pretended  friends,  that  he  thought  fit  to  with- 
"  draw  himself  from  the  city,  to  his  house  on  the  Al- 
"  ban  hill  *."  It  cannot  be  imagined  that  he  could 
entertain  any  real  apprehension  of  Cicero  ;  both  Cice- 
ro's character  and  his  own  make  that  incredible  :  but 
if  he  had  conceived  any,  it  was  not,  as  Cicero  says,  a- 
gainst  him,  but  against  the  common  enemies  of  them 
both,  lest  they  might  possibly  attempt  somewhat  in 
Cicero's  name  ;  and,  by  the  opportunity  of  charging 
it  upon  Cicero,  hope  to  get  rid  of  them  both  at  the 
same  time.  But  the  most  probable  conjecture  is,  that 
being  obliged,  by  his  engagemxent^'  with  Caesar,  to  de- 
sert Cicero,  and  suffer  him  to  be  driven  out  of  the  ci- 
ty, he  was  willing  to  humour  these  insinuations,  as 
giving  the  m^ost  plausible  pretext  of  excusing  his  per- 
fidy. 

But  Cicero  had  still  with  him  not  only  all  the  best, 
but  much  the  greatest  part  of  the  city  :  determined  to 
run  all  hazards,  and  expose  their  lives  for  his  safety ;  f 


*  Cum  iidem  ilium,  ut  me  metueret,  me  caveret,  monuerunt  5 
jidem  me,  mihi  ilium  uni  esse  inimicissimum,  dlcerent. — Pr.  Dom. 
XI. 

Quern — dcrai  mese  certi  homines  ad  earn  rem  composlti  momie  - 
rmit,  ut  esset  cautior  :  ejusque  vltoe  a  me  iusidias  apud  me  domi 
positas  esse  dixerunt  :  atque  banc  ei  suspicionem  alii  litteris  mitten  - 
dis,  alii  nunciis,  alii  coram  ipsi  excitaverunt,  ut  ille,  cum  a  me  cer- 
tc  nihil  timeret,  ab  illis,  ne  quid  rneo  nomine  molirentur,  cavendum 
putaret.     Pro  Sext.  18. 

f  Si  ego  in  causa  tam  bona,  tanto  studio  senatus,  consensu  tam 
incredibili  bonorum  omnium,  tam  parato,  t'ota-  denique  Italia  ad 
omnem  contentionem  expedita.      lb.  16. 

A  a  2 


370  The   LIFE   or  Sect.  iV. 

A.  Urb.  695.  Cic.  49.  Coss. — L.  Calpurnius  Piso.     A-  C.binius. 

and  was  more  than  a  match  for  all  the  strength  of 
Clodius  and  the  consuls,  if  the  Triumvirate  only  would 
stand  neater.  Before  things  came  therefore  to  extre- 
mity, he  thought  it  adviseable  to  press  Pompey  in  such 
a  manner,  as  to  know  for  certain,  what  he  had  to  ex- 
pect from  him  :  some  of  his  chief  friends  undertook 
this  task  ;  Lucullus,  Torquatus,  Lentulus,  &c.  who, 
with  a  numerous  attendance  of  citizens,  went  to  find 
him  at  his  Alban  Villa,  and  to  intercede  with  him, 
not  to  desert  the  fortunes  of  his  old  friend.  He  re- 
ceived them  civilly,  though  coldly ;  referring  them 
wholly  to  the  consuls,  and  declaring,  **  that  he,  being 
**  only  a  private  man,  could  not  pretend  to  take  the 
*'  field  against  an  armed  tribune,  without  a  public  au- 
"  thority ;  but  if  the  consuls,  by  a  decree  of  the  se- 
"  nate,  would  enter  into  the  affair,  he  would  presently 
"  arm  himself  in  their  defence  f ."  With  this  answer 
they  addressed  themselves  again  to  the  consuls  :  but 
with  no  better  success  than  before  :  Gabinius  treated 
them  rudely ;  but  Piso  calmly  told  them,  "  that  he 
*'  was  not  so  stout  a  consul,  as  Torquatus  and  Cicero 
'•  had  been ;  that  there  was  no  need  of  arms,  or  fight- 
"  ing ;  that  Cicero  might  save  the  repubhc  a  second 
''  time,  if  he  pleased,  by  withdrawing  himself;  for  if 
''  he  staid,  it  would  cost  an  infinite  quantity  of  civil 
*'  blood  ;  and  in  short,  that  neither  he  nor  his  col- 


X  Nonne  ad  te  L.  Lentulus,  L.  Torquatus,  M.  Lucullus  venit  ? 
Qui  omnes  ad  eum,  multique  mortales  oratum  in  Albanum  obse- 
cratumque  venerant,  ne  meas  fortunas  desereret,  cum  reipub.  fortu- 
nis  conjunctas.— Se  contra  armatum  Tribunum  plcb.  sine  consilio 
publico  decertare  nolle  :  Consulibus  ex  senatus  consulto  rempub. 
defendentibus,  se  arnia  sumpturum.     In  Pison.  31. 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO.  371 

A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49.     Goss. — 1>.  Calpurnius  Piso.    A  Gabinius. 

"  league,  nor  his  son-in-law,  Caesar,  would  relinquisk 
"  the  party  of  the  tribune*." 

After  this  repulse,  Cicero  resolved  to  make  his  last 
effort  on  Pompey,  by  throwing  himself  in  person  at 
his  feet.  Plutarch  tells  us,  that  Pompey  sHpt  out  of 
a  back  door,  and  would  not  see  him  :  but  it  is  certain, 
from  Cicero's  account,  that  he  was  admitted  to  an  au- 
dience ;  *'  and  when  he  began  to  press,  and  even  sup- 
"  plicate  him,  in  a  manner  the  most  affecting,  that 
*'  Pompey  flatly  refused  to  help  him  ;  alleging,  in  ex- 
*'  cuse  to  himself,  the  necessity  which  he  was  under, 
"  of  acting  nothing  against  the  will  of  Ccxsar  f /'  This 
experiment  convinced  Cicero  that  he  had  a  much 
greater  power  to  contend  with,  than  what  had  yet  ap- 
peared in  sight;  he  called  therefore  a  council  of  his 
friends,  with  intent  to  take  his  final  resolution,  agree- 
ably to  their  advice.  The  question  was,  "  Whether 
"  it  was  best  to  stay,  and  defend  himself  by  force  ; 
"  or  to  save  the  effusion  of  blood,  by  retreating,  till 
"  the  storm  should  blow  over?"  Lucullus  advised 
the  first  \  but  Cato,  and  above  ail,  Hortensius,  warm- 
ly urged  the  last,  which  concurring  also  with  Atticus's 
advice,  as  well  as  the  fears  and  entreaties  of  his  own 

*  Quid,  infeKx,  responderis  ? — Te  non  esse  tarn  fortem,  quam 
•ipse  Torquatus  in  consulatu  fuisset,  aut  ego  •,  nihil  opu-s  esse  armis, 
nihil  contentione  :  me  posse  iterum  rempub.  servare,  si  cessissem  j 
jnfinitam  caedem  fore,  si  restitissem.  Deinde  ad  extremum,  neque 
se,  neque  generuin,  neque  coUegam  suum  tribune  pleb.  defuturum. 
Ibid. 

f  Is,  qui  nos  sibi  quondam  ad  pedes  stratos  ne  sublevabat  qul- 
4ein,  qui  se  nihil  contra  hujus  voluntatem  facere  posse  aiebat.  Ad 
Att.  10.  4. 

Aa3 


37^  The  LIFE  of  Sect.  IV. 

A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49.    Coss L*  Calpurnius  Piso.    A.  Gabinius. 

family,  made  him  resolve  to  quit  the  field  to  his  ene- 
mies, and  submit  to  a  voluntary  exile  ^', 

A  little  before  his  retreat,  he  took  a  small  statue  of 
Minerva,  which  had  long  been  reverenced  in  his  fa- 
mily, as  a  kind  of  tutelar  deity,  and  carrying  it  to  the 
Capitol,  placed  it  in  the  temple  of  Jupiter,  under  the 
title  of  Minerva,  the  guardian  of  the  city  f .  His  view 
might  possibly  be  to  signify,  that  after  he  had  done 
all,  which  human  prudence  could  contrive,  for  the  de- 
fence of  the  republic,  he  was  now  forced  to  give  it  up 
to  the  protection  of  the  gods  :  since  nothing  less  than 
the  interposition  of  som.e  deity  could  preserve  it  from 
ruin ;  or  rather,  as  he  himself  seems  to  intimate,  in 
the  uncertain  issue  of  his  flight,  and  the  plunder  of 
his  goods,  which  was  likely  to  ensue,  he  had  a  mind 
to  preserve  this  sacred  image,  in  the  most  conspicuous 
part  of  the  city,  as  a  monument  of  his  services,  which 
would  naturally  excite  an  affectionate  remembrance 
of  him  in  the  people,  by  letting  them  see  that  his 
heart  was  still  there,  where  he  had  deposited  his  gods. 
After  this  act,  he  withdrew  himself  in  the  night,  es- 
corted by  a  numerous  train  of  friends,  who,  after  a 
day's  journey  or  two,  left  him,  with  great  expressions 
of  tenden:ess,  to  pursue  his  way  towards  Sicily  ;  which 
he  proposed  for  the  place  of  his  residence,-  and  where, 
for  his  eminent  services  to  the  island,  he  assured  him- 
self of  a  kind  reception  and  safe  retreat. 

*  Lacrym-je  meorum  me  ad.  mortem  ire  prcliibuerunt.  Ibid.  4, 
Piutar.  in  Cic. 

f  Xos,  qui  illam  custodem  iirbis  omnibus  ereptis  nostris  rebus 
ac  perditis,  vlolari  ab  impiis  passi  non  sumus,  eamque  ex  ncstro  du- 
nio  In  Ip^iub  i-atiia  domum  detulimus.     Dc  Leg.. 2.  27. 


Sect.  V.  CICERO.  37J 

SECTION  V. 


A.  Urb.  695.     Cic.  49.     Coss. — L,  Calpurnlus  Piio.     A.  Gablnlus, 

JL  HE  wretched  alternative  to  which  Cicero  was  re- 
duced, of  losing  either  his  country  or  his  life,  is  suffi- 
cient to  confute  all  the  cavils  of  those,  w^ho,  f^^om  a 
hint  or  two  in  his  writings  obscurely  thrown  out,  and 
not  well  understood,  are  so  forward  to  char^^e  him 
Vv^th  the  levity  of  temporizing,  or  selling  himself  for 
any  bribe,  which  could  feed  his  vanity  :  for  nothing 
is  more  evident,  than  that  he  might  not  only  have  a- 
voided  this  storm,  but  obtained  whatever  honours  he 
pleased,  by  entering  into  the  measures  of  the  Trium^ 
virate^  and  lending  his  authority  to  the  support  of 
their  power ;  and  that  the  only  thing  which  provoked 
Caesar  to  bring  this  calamity  upon  him,  was,  to  see  all 
his  offers  slighted,  and  his'^friendship  utterly  rejected 
by  him  ^.  This  he  expressly  declares  to  the  senate, 
who  were  conscious  of  the  truth  of  it ;  "  That  Caesar 
"  had  tried  all  means  to  induce  him  to  take  part  in 
"  the  acts  of  his  consulship  ;  had  offered  him  commis- 
"  sions  and  lieutenancies  of  what  kind,  and  with  what 
"  privileges  he  should  desire  ;  to.  make  him  even  a 
"•fourth  in  the  alUance  of  the  'Three  ^  and  to  hold  him 
"  in  the  same  rank  of  friendship  with  Pompey  himself, 
"  — All  which  I  refused,   says  he,  not   out  of  slight 


*  Hoc  sibi  contraxisse  videbatur  Cicero,  quod  inter  xx.  viros 
dividendo  agro  Campano  esse  noluisset.  Veil.  Pater.  2.  45.  Ad 
Att.  9.  2. 

Aa  3 


374  The   LIFE   c?  Sect.  V, 


A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49-    Coss. — L.  Calpurnius  Fiso.    A.  Gabinius. 


*'  to  Caesar,  but  constancy  to  my  principles ;  and  be- 
^'  cause  I  thought  the  acceptance  of  them  unbecom- 
"  ing  the  character  which  I  sustained  ;  how  wisely,  I 
"  will  not  dispute  ;  but  I  am  sure,  that  it  was  firmly 
"  and  bravely  ;  when,  instead  of  baffling  the   malice 
"  of  my  enemies,  as  I  could  easily  have  done  by  that 
"  help,  I  chose  to  suffer  any  violence,  rather  than  to 
"  desert  your  interest,  and  descend  from  my  rank  *." 
Caesar  continued  at  Rome,  till  he  saw  Cicero  driven 
out  of  it ;  but  had  no  sooner  laid  down  his  consulship, 
than  he  began  to  be  attacked  and  affronted  himself^ 
by  two  of  the  new  praetors,  L.  Domitius  and  C.  Mem- 
mius ;  who  called  in  question  the  vahdity  of  his  acts, 
and  made  several  efforts  in  the  senate  to  get  them  an- 
nulled by  public  authority.     But  the  senate  had  no 
stomach  to  meddle  with  an  affair  so  delicate  ;  so  that 
the  whole  ended  in  some  fruitless  debates  and  alterca- 
tions ;  and  Caesar,  to  prevent  all  attempts  of  that  kind 
in  his  absence,  took  care  always,  by  force  of  bribes,  to 
secure  the  leading  magistrates  to  his  interests ;  and  so 


*  Consul  egit  eas  res,,  quarum  me  participem  esse  volu.it. — Me. 
ille  ut  Quinqueviratum  acciperem  jogavit ;  me  in  tribus  sibi  con- 
junctissimis  consularibus  esse  voluit  •,  mihi  legationem,  quam  vel- 
lera,  quanto  cum  honore  vellem,  dctulit.  Qua^  ego  non  ingrato  a- 
Tiimo,  sed  obstinatione  quada.m  sententice  repudiavi,  &;c.  De  Prov. 
Cons.  17* 

-f  Functus  consulatu,  C.  Memmio,  L,  Domltio  praitonbus,  de 
supciiori^  anni  actis  referentibus,  cognitionem  senatui  detulit  :  nee 
illo  suscipientc,  triduoque  per  irritas  altercationcs  absumpto,  in  pro- 

vinciam  abiit ad  securitatem  igitur   posteri  temporis  in  magno 

negotio  habuit  obligare  semper  annuos  magistratus  et  e  petitoribus 
lion  alios  adjuvare,  aut  ad  honorem  pati  pervenlre,  quam  qui  sibi 
iccepissent  propugnaturos  absentiam  .suam.—- — Suetoti.  J.  Ca^s.  23. 


S^CT,  V.  CICERO.  371 

A.  Urb.  695.    Ck.  49.    Goss. — L.  Calpurnius  Piso.    A.  Gabinius. 

went  off  to  his  province  of  Gaul  *.  But  as  this  un- 
pxpected  opposition  gave  some  httle  ruffle  to  the  Tri- 
umvirate, so  it  served  them  as  an  additional  excuse 
for  their  behaviour  towards  Cicero  ;  alleging  that  their 
own  dangers  v/ere  nearer  to  them  than  other  people's ; 
and  that  they  were  obliged,  for  their  ov/n  security, 
not  to  irritate  so  popular  a  tribune  as  Clodius  f . 

As  soon  as  it  was  known  that  Cicero  was  gone,  Clo- 
dius filled  the  Forum  with  his  band  of  slaves  and  in- 
cendiaries, and  published  a  second  law  to  the  Roman 
people,  as  he  called  them,  though  there  was  not  one 
honest  citizen,  or  man  of  credit,  amongst  them  J. 
The  law,  as  we  may  gather  from  the  scattered  pas- 
sages of  it,  was  conceived  in  the  following  terms. 

"  Whereas  M.  T.  Cicero  has  put  Roman  citizens  to 
"  death,  unheard  and  uncondemned  ;  and,  for  this  end, 
"  forged  the  authority  and  decree  of  the  senate  :  may 
"  it  please  you  to  ordain,  that  he  be  interdicted  from 
*'  fire  and  water :  that  nobody  presume  to  harbour  or 
♦*  receive  him,  on  pain  of  death  :  and  that  wlioever 
"  shall  move,  speak,  vote,  or  take  any  step  towards 
**  recalling  him,  he  should  be  treated  as  a  public  ene- 
*'  my  ;  unless  those  should  first  be  recalled  to  life, 
"  whom  Cicero  unlawfully  put  to  death  J." 


*  Illi  autem  aliquo  turn  timore  perterrlti,  quod  acta  ilia,  atque 
omnes  res  anni  superiorls  labefactari  a  pr£etcribus,  infirmari  a  sena- 
tu,  atque  principibus  civitatis  putabant.  Tribunum  popularem  a 
se  alienare  nolebant,  suaque  sibi  propiora  pericula  esse,  quam  mea 
loquebantur.     Pro  Sext.  18. 

f  Non  denique  sufTragii  latorem  in  ista  tua  proscriptlone  queu- 
<3,uaiTi,  nisi  furem  ac  sicarium  reperire  potuisti.      Pro  Dom.  18, 

t  Vid.  Pro  Bom.  18,  19,  20.     Post.  red.  in  Sen.  2.  x. 

A  a  4 


37^  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  V. 

A.  Urb.  695.     Cic,  49.     Coss — L.  Calpurnlus  Piso-     A.  Gabinius. 

The  law  was  drawn  by  Sext.  Clodius,  the  kinsman 
and  prime  minister  of  the  tribune ;  though  Vatinius 
also  laid  some  claim  to  it^  and  was  the  only,  one  of 
Senatorian  rank  who  openly  approved  it  *.  It  was 
essentially  null  and  invalid,  both  for  the  matter  and 
the  form  :  for  in  the  first  place,  it  was  not  properly  a 
law,  but  what  they  called  a  privilege  ;  or  an  act,  to  in- 
llict  penalties  on  a  particular  citizen  by  name,  with- 
out any  previous  trial ;  which  was  expressly  prohibit- 
ed by  the  most  sacred  and  fundamental  constitutions 
of  the  republic  f .  Secondly,  the  terms  of  it  were  so 
absurd,  that  they  annulled  themselves ;  for  it  enacted, , 
not  that  Cicero  may  or  should  be,  but  that  he  be  in- 
terdicted ;  which  was  impossible  ;  since  no  power  on 
earth,  says  Cicero,  can  make  a  thing  to  be  done  J. 
Thirdly,  the  penal  clause  being  grounded  on  a  sugges- 
tion notoriously  false,  that  Cicero  had  forged  the  de- 
crees of  the  senate ;  it  could  not  possibly  stand,  for 

*  Hanc  tibi  legem    S.  Clodius    scripsit — homini  egentisslmo  ac 

facinorosissimo    S.   Clodio,   socio  tui  sanguinis Hoc  tu  scriptore, 

hoc  consiliario,  hoc  ministro — Rempub.  perdidisti.  Pro  Dom.  2.  x. 
18.  lUe  unus  ordinis  nostri  discessu  meo — palam  exultavit. — Pro 
S^xt.  64. 

f  Vetant  leges  sacratse,  vetant  XII.  tabulae,  leges  privatis  homi- 
nibus  irrograri.     Id  est  enim  privilegium.      Pro  Dom.  17. 

%  Non  tulit  ut  interdlcatur  sed  ut  interdictum  sit — Sexte  noster, 
bona  venia,  quoniam  jam  dialecticus  es — quod  factum  non  est,  ut 
sit  factum,  ferri  ad  populum,  aut  verbis  ullis  sanciri,  aut  suffragiis 
confirmari  potest  ?  ib.  18.  Quid  si  iis  verbis  scripta  est  ista  pro- 
scriptio,  ut  se  ipsa  dissolvat  ?    ib.  19. 

N.  B.  The  distinction  here  intimated  between  z'ntert/icafur,  and; 
interdictum  sit,  deserves  the  attention  of  all  Grammarians.  They 
are  commonly  used  indifferently,  as  terms  wholly  equivalent  ;  yet, 
according  to  Cicero's  criticism,  the  one,  we  see,  makes  the  sens*. 
absLird,  where  the  other  Is  just  and  proper. 


Sect.  V.  CICERO.  377 

A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49.    Coss. — L.  Calpuniius  Piso.    A.  Gabinius. 

want  of*  a  foundation  II .  Lastly,  though  it  provided 
that  no  body  should  harbour  him,  yet  it  had  not  or- 
dered him  to  be  expelled,  or  injoined  him  to  quit  the 
city  §.  It  was  the  custom,  in  all  laws  made  by  the 
tribes,  to  insert  the  name  of  the  tribe,  which  was  first 
called  to  vote ;  and  of  the  man,  who  first  voted  in  it 
for  the  law  ;  that  he  might  be  trajismitted  down  with 
the  law  itself,  as  the  principal  espouser  and  promoter 
of  it  *.  This  honour  was  given  to  one  Sedulius,  a 
mean,  obscure  fellow,  v^dthout  any  settled  habitation, 
who  yet  afterwards  declared,  that  he  was  not  in  Rome 
at  the  time,  and  knew  nothing  at  all  of  the  matter  : 
which  gave  Cicero  occasion  to  observe,  when  he  v/as 
reproaching  Ciodius  with  this  act,  that  Sedulius  might 
easily  be  the  first  voter,  who  for  want  of  a  lodging, 
used  to  lie  all  night  in  the  forum  ;  but  it  was  strange, 
that  when  he  was  driven  to  the  necessity  of  forging  a 
leader,  he  should  not  be  able  to  find  a  more  reputable 
one  f , 


II  Est  enim,  quod  M.  Tulllus  falsum  senatus  consultum  retulerit, 
si  igitur  retulit  talsiim  senatus  consultum,  turn  est  rogatio  :  si  non 
retulit,  nulla  est.     Pro  Dom.  19. 

§  Tulisti  de  me  ne  reciperer,  non  ut  exlrem — poena  est,  qui  re- 
ceperit :   quam  omnes  neglexerunt  j  ejectio  nulla  est.     lb.  20. 

*  Tribus  Sergia  principium  fuit :  pro  Tribu,  Sextus  L.  F. 
Varro  primus  scivit.  This  was  the  form,  as  appears  from  fragments 
of  the  old  laws.  Vid.  Frontin.  de  Aquaed. — Fragment.  Legis 
Thorise.  apud  rei  agrar.  Scriptores.     Liv.  9.  38. 

f  Sedulio  prIncipe,  qui  se  illo  die  confirmat  Romse  non  fuisse. 
Quod  si  non  fuit,  quid  te  audacius,  qui  in  ejus  nomen  incideris  ? 
Quid  desperatius,  qui  ne  ementiendo  quidem  potueris  auctorem  ad- 
umbrare  rneliorem  ?  Sin  autem  is  primus  scivit,  quod  facile  potuit^ 
propter  inopiam  tecti  in  foro  pernoctans.  Pro  Dom.  Quam  Ss- 
lb.  :!i. 


^yt  The   LIFE  of  Sect.  V, 

A.  Urb.  695.     Cic.  49.    Coss.— L.  Calpurniug  Pis6,    A.  Gabinius. 

With  this  law  against  Cicero,  there  was  another 
p'ubhshed  at  the  same  time,  which,  according  to  the 
stipulation  already  mentioned,  was  to  be  the  pay  and 
price  for  it ;  to  grant  to  the  two  consuls  the  provinces 
above  specified,  with  a  provision  of  whatever  troops 
and  money  they  thought  fit  J.  Both  the  laws  passed 
w^ithout  opposition  ;  and  Clodius  lost  no  time  in  put- 
ting the  first  of  them  in  execution  ;  but  fell  to  work 
immediately  in  plundering,  burning  and  demolishing 
Cicero's  houses,  both  in  the  city  and, the  country.  The 
best  part  of  his  goods  was  divided  between  the  two 
consuls ;  the  marble  columns  of  his  Palatin  house  vvere 
carried  publicly  to  Piso's  father-in-law  ;  and  the  rich 
furniture  of  his  Tuscuian  villa  to  his  neighbour  Gabi- 
nius ;  who  removed  even  the  trees  of  his  plantations 
into  his  own  grounds  ||  :  and,  to  make  the  loss  of  liis 
house  in  Rome  irretrievable,  Clodius  consecrated  the 
Area,  on  which  it  stood,  to  the  perpetual  service  of 
religion,  and  built  a  temple  upon  it  to  the  goddess 
Liberty  §, 


X  Ut  provlncias  acxipereiit,  quas  ipsi  vellent :  exercitum  et  pe-- 
cuniam  qnantam  vellent.  Pro  Sex  x.  in  Pison.  16.  ^  Illo  ipso  die  — 
TYiihi  Reique  pub.  pernicies,  Gabinio  et  Pisoni  provincia  rogata  est. 
Pro  Sext.  24. 

11  Uno  eodemque  tempore  domus  uiea  diripiebatur,  ardebat  :  bona 
ad  vicinum  consulem  de  Palatio  ',  de  Tusculano  ad  item  alterum  vi- 
■cinum  consulem  deferebantur.    Post  red.  in  Sen.  7. 

Cum  domus  in  Palatio,  villa  in  Tusculano,  altera  ad  alterum  con- 
sulem transferebatur,  columns  marmoreae  ex  a;dibus  meis,  inspec- 
tatite  populo  Romano,  ad  socerum  consulis  portabantur  :  in  fundum 
autem  vicini  consulis  non  instrumentum,  aut  ornamenta  villoe,  sed 
etiam  arbores  transferebantur.     Pro  Dom.  24. 

§  Cum  suis  dicat  se  m.anibus  domum  clvis  optimi  evertisse,  et 
earn  iisdem  manibus  consecrasse. — lb.  40. 


Sect.  V.  CICERO. 


379 


A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49.    Cos*— 1..  Calpurnius  Pisg.    A.  Gabinius. 

While  Cicero's  house  was  in  flames,  the  two  con- 
suls, with  all  their  seditious  crew  round  them,  were 
publitly  feasting  and  congratulating  each  other  for 
their  victory,  and  for  having  revenged  the  death  of 
their  old  friends  on  the  head  of  Cicero  :  where,  in  the 
gaiety  of  their  hearts,  Gabinius  openly  bragged,  that 
he  had  always  been  the  favourite  of  Catiline  ;  and  Pi- 
so,  that  he  was  cousin  to  Cethegus  ^.  Clodius  in  the 
mean  while,  not  content  with  exerting  his  vengeance 
only  on  Cicero's  houses,  pursued  his  wife  and  children 
with  the  same  fury  :  and  made  several  attempts  to  get 
young  Cicero,  the  son,  into  his  hands,  then  about  six 
years  old,  with  an  intent  to  kill  him  f  :  but  the  child 
was  carefully  guarded  by  the  friends  of  the  family,  and 
removed  from  the  reach  of  his  malice.  Terentia  had 
taken  sanctuary  in  the  temple  of  Vesta,  but  was  drag- 
ged out  of  it  forcibly,  by  his  orders,  to  the  public  of- 
fice or  tribunal,  where  he  was  sitting,  to  be  examined, 
about  the  concealment  of  her  husband's  effects :  but, 
being  a  woman  of  singular  spirit  and  resolution,  she 
bore  all  his  insults  with  a  masculine  courage :[:. 


*  Domus  ardebat  in  Palatio — Consules  epulabantur,  et  in  conju- 
ratorum  gratulatione  versabantur  j  cum  alter  se  CatilinEe  delicias, 
alter  Cethegi  consoblrinum  fuisse  diceret — Pro  Dom.  24.  in  Pison* 
XL     Pro  8ext.  24. 

f  Vexabatur  uxor  mea  :  liberi  ad  necem  qu^erebantur.  Pro 
Sext.  24. 

Quid  vos  uxor  mea  misera  violarat  ?  Quam  vexavistis,  rapta- 
vistis — quid  mea  filja  ? — Quid  parvus  filius  ? — Quid  fecerat,  quod 
eum  toties  per  insidias  interficere  voluistis  ? — Pro  Dom.  23. 

J  A  te  quidem  omnia  fieri  fortissime,  atque  amantissime  video  : 
nee  miror  5 — nam  ad  me  P.  Valerius — scripsit  id  quod  ego  maximo 
cum  fietu  legi,  queraadmodum  a  Vesta  ad  tabulam  Valeriam  duct  a 
esses.  Ep.  Fam.  14.  2^ 


38o  The    LIFE    of  Sect.  V. 


A.  Uib.  695.     Cic.  49.     Coss. — L.  Calpurnius  Piso.     A.  Gabinius. 

But  while  Clodius  seemed  to  aim  at  nothing  in  this 
affair,  but  the  gratification  of  his  revenge,  he  was  car- 
rying on  a  private  interest  at  the  same  time,  which  he 
had  much  at  heart.     The  house,  in  which  he  himself 
lived,  was  contiguous  to  a  part  of  Cicero's   ground ; 
which,  being  now  laid  open,  made  that  side  of  the  Pa- 
latine hill,   the   most   airy  and  desireable  situation  in 
Rome  :  his  intention  therefore  was,  by  the  purchase 
of  another  house'  which  stood  next  to  him,  to  make 
the  whole  area  his  own,  with  the  benefit  of  the  fine 
portico  and  temple  annexed  :  so  that  lie  had  no  soon- 
er demolished  Cicero's  house,  than  he  began  to  treat 
with  the  owner  of  the  next,  Q^Seius  Postumus,  a  Ro- 
man knight,  who  absolutely  refused  to  sell  it,  and  de- 
clared, that  Clodius,  of  all  men,  should  never  have  it, 
while   he   lived  ;  Clodius  -threatened  to  obstruct  his 
windows ;  but  finding  that  neitlier  his  threats  nor  of- 
fers availed  any  thing,  he  contrived  to  get  the  knight 
poisoned  ;  and  so  bought  the  house,  after  his  death,  at 
the  sale  of  his  effects,   by  outbidding  all  who  offered 
for  it.     His   next   step  was,  to  secure  the  remaining 
part  cf  Cicero's  area,  which  was  not  included  in  the 
consecration,  and  was  now  also  exposed  by  his  direc- 
tion to  a  public  auction  ;  but  as  it  was  not  easy  to  find 
any  citizen  who  would  bid  for  it ;  and  he  did  not  care 
to  buy  it  in  his  own  name,  he  was  forced  to  provide 
an  obscure  needy  fellovv%  called  Scato,   to  purchase  it 
for  him,  and  by  that  means  became  master  of  the  most 
spacious  habitation  in  all  the  city  ■*'. 


Ipse  cum  loci  illius,  cum  eccHr.m  cupiditate  flagraret.  Pro  Dom.  41. 

Monumentum 


Sect.  V.  CICERO.  3^1 


A.  Urb.  695.     Cic.  49.     Coss.— L.  Calpurnius  Piso.     A.  Gabinlus. 


This  desolation  of  Cicero's  fortunes  at  home,  and  the 
misery  which  he  suffered  abroad,  in  being  deprived  of 
every  thing  that  was  dear  to  him,  soon  made  him  re- 
pent of  the  resolution  of  his  flight ;  which  he  ascribes 
to  the  envy  and  treachery  of  his  counsellors,  who,  tak- 
ing the  advantage  of  his  fears,  and  the  perplexity 
which  he  was  under,  pushed  him  to  an  act  both  rui- 
nous and  inglorious.  This  he  chiefly  charges  on  Hor- 
tensius :  and  thought  he  forbears  to  name  him  to  At* 
ticus,  on  account  of  the  strict  friendship  between  them, 
yet  he  accuses  him  very  freely  to  his  brother  Quintus, 
of  coming  every  day  insidiously  to  his  house,  and,  with 
the  greatest  professions  of  zeal  and  affection,  perpetual- 
ly insinuating  to  his  hopes  and  fears,  that,  by  giving 
way  to  the  present  rage,  he  could  not  fail  of  being  re- 
called with  glory  in  three  days  time  "*.      Hortensius 


Monumentum  iste,  nunquam  aut  reiigionem  ullam  excogitavit  : 
habitare  laxe  et  magnifice  volult  :  duasque  et  magnas  et  nobiles  do- 
mos  conjungere.  Eodem  puncto  temporis  quo  meus  discessus  isti 
causam  caedis  eripuit,  a  Q^Seio  contendit,  ut  domum  sibi  venderet. 
Cum  ille  id  negaret,  primo  se  luminibus  ejus  esse  obstructurum  mi- 
nabatur.  Affirmabat  Postumus,  se  vivo,  domum  suam  istius  nun- 
quam futuram.  Acutus  adolescens  ex  istius  sermone  intellexit, 
quid  fieri  cporteret.  Hominem  veneno  apertissime  sustulit.  Emit 
domum,  licitatoribus  defatigatis — -in  Palatio  pulchcrrim.o  prospectu 
porticum  cum  conclavibus  pavimentatam  trecentum  pedum  concu- 
pierat  ;  amplissimum  peristylum,  facile  ut  omnium  domes  et  laxi- 
tate  et  dignitate  superaret  :  et  homo  religiosus,  cum  cedes  meas  i- 
dem  emeret  et  venderet,  tamen  illis  tantis  tenebris,  non  ausu5  est 
suum  nomen  emptioni  ascribere.  Posuit  scilicit  Scatoncm  ilium. 
Pro  Dom.  44. 

At  in  iis  aidibus,  quas  tu  Q^Seio  equite  Romano — per  te  aper- 
tissime interfecto,  tenes.     De  Harusp.  respon.  14. 

*  Me  summa  simulatione  amoris,  summaque  asslduitate  quotidia- 
na  sceleratissime,  insidiosissimeque  tractavit,  adjuncto  etiam  Arrio, 

quorum 


3B2  The  life   of  Sect.  V. 

A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49.    Coss.— L.  Caipurnius  Piso.    A.  Gabinius, 

was  particularly  intimate  at  this  time  with  Pompey ; 
and  might  possibly  be  employed  to  urge  Cicero  to  this 
step,  in  order  to  save  Pompey  the  disgrace  of  being 
forced  to  act  against  him  with  a  high  hand.  But  let 
that  be  as  it  will,  it  was  Pompey's  conduct  which 
shocked  Cicero  the  most :  not  for  its  being  contrary 
to  his  oaths,  which  the  ambitious  can  easily  dispense 
with,  but  to  his  interest,  which  they  never  neglect, 
but  through  weakness.  The  consideration  of  what 
was  useful  to  Pompey,  made  him  depend  on  his  assis- 
tance *  :  he  could  have  guarded  against  his  treache- 
ry, but  coidd  not  suspect  him  of  the  folly  of  giving 
himself  entirely  up  to  Caesar,  who  was  the  principal 
mover  and  director  of  the  whole  affair. 

In  this  ruffled  and  querulous  state  of  his  mind,  stung 
with  the  recollection  of  his  own  mistakes,  and  the  per- 
fidy of  his  friends,  he  frequently  laments,  "  that  he 
"  had  not  tried  the  fate  of  arms,  and  resolved  either 
"  to  conquer  bravely,  or  fall  honourably  :"  which  he 
dwells  so  much  upon  in  his  letters,  as  to  seem  persuad- 
ed that  it  would  have  been  his  wisest  course.  But 
this  is  a  problem  not  easy  to  be  solved :  it  is  certain, 
that  his  enemies  were  using  all  arts,  to  urge  him  to  the 


quorum  ego  consiliis,  proralssis,  prseceptis  destitutus,  in  hanc  cala- 
luitatem  incidi.      Ad  Quint.  Frat.  i.  3. 

ScEpe  triduo  summa  cum  gloriam  dicebat  esse  rediturus.     lb.  4, 

*  Sed  si  quisquam  fuisset,  qui  me  Pompeii  minus  liberali  respon- 
se, perterritum,  a  turpissimo  consilio  revocaret.     Ad  Att.  3.  15. 

Multa,  qua3  mentem  exturbarent  meam ;  subita  defectio  Pom- 
peii.    Ad  Quin.  Frat  i.  4. 

Nullum  est  meum  peccatum,  nisi  quod  iis  credidi,  a  quibus  nefa3 
putaram  esse  me  decipi,  aut  etiam  quibus  ne  id  exp«dire  quidem  ar- 
bitrabar.     Ibid. 


Sect.  V.  CICERO,  383 


A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49.    Coss. — L.  Calpurnius  Piso.    A.  Gabinius* 

resolution  of  retreating ;  as  if  they  apprehended  the 
consequences  of  his  stay ;  and  that  the  real  aim  of  the 
Triumvirate  was,  not  to  destroy,  but  to  humble  him  : 
yet  it  is  no  less  certain,  that  all  resistance  must  have 
been  vain,  if  they  had  found  it  necessary  to  exert  their 
strength  against  him  ;  and  that  they  had  already  pro- 
ceeded too  far,  to  suffer  him  to  remain  in  the  city,  in 
defiance  of  them  :  and  if  their  power  had  been  actual- 
ly employed  to  drive  him  av/ay,  his  return  must  have 
been  the  more  desperate,  and  they  the  more  interest- 
ed to  keep  him  out ;  so  that  it  seems  to  have  been  his 
most  prudent  part,  and  the  most  agreeable  to  his  cha- 
racter, to  yield,  as  he  did,  to  the  necessity  of  the  times. 
But  we  have  a  full  account  of  the  motives  of  his  re- 
treat, in  the  speeches  v/hich  he  made,  after  his  return, 
both  to  the  senate  and  the  people. — "  When  I  saw 
"  the  senate,"  says  he,  "  deprived  of  its  leaders ;  my- 
"  self  partly  pushed,  and  partly  betrayed  by  the  ma- 
"  gistrates ;  the   slaves  enrolled  by  name,  under  the 
*'  colour  of  fraternities ;  the  remains  of  Catiline's  for- 
"  ces  brought  again  into  the  field,  under  their  old 
"  chiefs  ;  the  knights  terrified  with  proscriptions ;  the 
"  corporate  towns  with  military  execution ;  and  all 
"  Vv'ith  death  and  destruction  :— I  could  still  have  de- 
"  fended  myself  by  arms ;  and  was  advised  to  it  by 
"  many  brave  friends  ;  nor  did  I  want  that  same  cou- 
"  rage  which  you  had  all  seen  me  exert  on  other  oc-^ 
"  casions ;  but  when  I  saw%   at  the  same  time,  that, 
*'  if  I  conquered    my    present   enemy,    there   were 
**  many  more  behind,  whom  I  had  still  to  conquer  ; 
*'  that  if  I  happened  to  be  conquered,  many  honest 
Vol.  I.  B  b 


-3B4  The  life  of  Sect.  V, 

- -■ 

A.  Urb.  695.     Gic.  49.     Coss. — L.  Calpurnius  Piso.     A.  Gabinius. 

'"  men  would  fall  both  with  me  and  after  me  ;  that 
"  there  were  people  enough  ready  to  rcvenge  the  tri- 
"  bune's  blood,  while  the  punishment  of  mine  would 
"  be  left  to  the  forms  of  a  trial  and  to  posterity  ;  I  re- 
*'  solved  not  to  employ  force  in  defending  my  private 
"  safety,  after  I  had  defended  that  of  the  public  with- 
**  out  it :  and  was  wilhng,  that  honest  men  should  ra- 
"  ther  lament  the  ruin  of  my  fortunes,  than  make 
"  their  own  desperate  by  adhering  to  me  :  and  if,  af- 
"  ter  all,  I  had  fallen  alone,  that  would  have  been  dis- 
"  honourable  to  myself:  if  amidst  the  slaughter  of  my 
"  citizens,  fatal  to  the  repubhc  *." 

In  another  speech  ;  "  If  in  so  good  a  cause,"  says 
he,  "  supported  with  such  zeal  by  the  senate  ;  by  the 
"  concurrence  of  all  honest  men  ;  by  the  ready  help 
"  of  all  Italy ;  I  had  given  way  to  the  rage  of  a  despi- 
"  cable  tribune,  or  feared  the  levity  of  two  contempti- 
"  ble  consuls,  I  must  own  myself  to  have  been  a  cow- 
"  ard,  without  heart  or  head — but  there  were  other 
"  things  which  moved  me.  That  fury  Clodius  was 
"  perpetually  proclaiming  in  his  harangues,  that  what 
"  he  did  against  me,  was  done  by  the  authority  of 
*'  Pompey,  Crassus,  and  Caesar — that  these  three  were 
"  his  counsellors  in  the  cabinet,  his  leaders  in  the  field ; 
"  one  of  whom  had  an  army  already  in  Italy,  and  the 
"  other  tw^o  could  raise  one  whenever  they  pleased 

« What  then  ?  Was  it  my  part  to  regard  the 

"  vain  brags  of  an  enemy,  falsely  thrown  out  against 
"  those  eminent  men  ?  No  ;  it  was  not  his  talking,  but 

*  Post  red.  In  Sen.  13,  14. 


Sect.  V.  CICERO.  385 

A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49.    Coss. — I..  Calpurnius  Piso.    A.  Gabinius. 

"  their  silence,  which  shocked  me  ;  and,  though  they 
"  had  other  reasons  for  holding  their  tongues,  yet  to 
"  one  in  my  circumstances,  their  saying  nothing  was 
'^  a  declaration ;  their  silence  a  confession  :  they  had 
"  cause  indeed  to  be  alarmed  on  their  own  account, 
"  lest  their  acts  of  the  year  before  should  be  annulled 

*'  by  the  praetors  and  the  senate many  people  also 

*'  were  instilling  jealousies  of  me  into  Pompey,  and 

"  perpetually  admonishing  him  to  beware  of  me 

**  and  as  for  Caesar,  whom  some  imagined  to  be  angry 
"  v/ith  me,  he  was  at  the  gates  of  the  city  with  an  ar- 
"  my  ;  the  command  of  which  he  had  given  to  Appi- 
**  us,  my  enemy's  brother —When  I  saw  all  this,  which 
"  was  open  and  manifest  to  every  body  ;  what  could 
"  I  do  ? — When  Clodius  declared  in  a  public  speech, 
**  that  I  must  either  conquer  twice,  or  perish — so  that 
"  neither  my  victory,  nor  my  fall  would  have  restored 
"  the  peace  of  the  republic  *." 

Clodius,  having  satiated  his  revenge  upon  Cicero, 
proposed  another  law,  not  less  violent  and  unjust,  a- 
gainst  Ptolemy,  king  of  Cyprus  ;  to  deprive  him  of  his 
kingdom,  and  reduce  it  to  a  Roman  province,  and 
confiscate, his  whole  estate.  This  prince  was  brother 
to  the  king  of  ^gypt,  and  reigning  by  the  same  right 
of  hereditary  succession  ;  In  full  peace  and  amity  with. 
Rome ;  accused  of  no  practices,  nor  suspected  of  any 
designs  against  the  republic  ;  whose  only  crime  was  to 
be  rich  and  covetous  ;  so  that  the  law  was  an  unparal- 
lelled  act  of  injustice,  and  what  Cicero,  in  a  pubhc 


Pr.  Sextio.  i6, — iS,  19. 

Bba 


386  The  LIFE  of  Sect.  V, 

A.  Urb.  695.     Cic.  49.    Coss — L.  Calpurnius  Piso.    A  Gabinius, 


speech,  did  not  scruple  to  call  a  mere  robbery  f .  But 
Clodius  had  an  old  grudge  to  the  king,  for  refusing  to 
ransom  him,  when  he  was  taken  by  the  pirates  ;  and 
sending  him  only  the  contemptible  sum  of  two  ta- 
lents J  :  and  what,  says  Cicero,  must  other  kings  think 
of  their  security,  to  see  their  crowns  and  fortunes  at 
the  disposal  of  a  tribune,  and  six  hundred  mercena- 
ries "^  ?  The  law  passed  however  without  any  opposi- 
tion ;  and  to  sanctify  it,  as  it  w^re,  and  give  it  the  bet- 
ter face  and  colour  of  justice,  Cato  was  charged  with 
the  execution  of  it :  which  gave  Clodius  a  double  plea- 
sure, by  imposing  so  shameful  a  task  upon  the  gravest 
man  in  Rome.  It  was  a  part  likewise  of  the  same 
law,  as  well  as  of  Cato's  commission,  to  restore  certain 
exiles  of  Byzantium,  whom  their  city  had  driven  out 
for  crimes  against  the  public  peace  f .  The  engaging 
Cato  in  such  dirty  work  was  a  master-piece,  and  ser- 

-|-  Qui  cum  lege  nefaria  Ptolemtt-uni,  regem  Cypri,  fratrem  regis 
Alexandrini,  eodem  jure  regnantem,  causa  incognita,  publicasses, 
populuinque  Romanum  scelere  obligasses  :  cum  in  ejus  regnum,  bo- 
na, fortunas,  latrocinium  hujus  imperii  iramisisses,  cujus  cum  patre, 
•avo,  majoribus,  societas  nobis  &  amicitia  fuisset. — Pro  Dom.  8. 

Rex  amicus,  nulla  injuria  commemorata,  nulla  repelitis  rebus, 
cum  bonis  omnibus  publicaretur.  Pro  Sext.  26.  De  quo  nulla 
unquam  suspicio  durior.     lb,  27. 

X  Dio.  38.  p.  78.  Appian.  1.  2.  441. 

*   En  !  cur  ceeterr  reges  stabilem  esse  forlunam  suam  arbitrentur, 

cum videant,  per  tribunum  aliquem  8i  fexcentas  operas  se  for- 

tunis  spoliari,  &.  regno  omni  posse  nudari  r  Pro  Sext.  27. 

-f-  Hujus  pecuniae  deportand^e,  &.,  si  quis  suum  jus  defenderet, 
bello  gerendo  Catonem  prcefecisti, Pro  Dom  8. 

At  etiam  eo  negotio  M.  Catonis  splendorem  maculare  voluerunt. 
Pro  Sext.  28. 

Tu  una  lege  tulistl,  ut  Cyprlus  rex — -cum  bonis  omnibus  sub  prse- 
cone  subjiceretur,  &.  exules  Byzantium  reducerentur.  Eidem,  in« 
quit,  utra«iue  de  re  negotium  dedi.     Pro  Dom.  20. 


Sect.  V.  CICERO.  387 


A.  Urb.  695.     Cic.  49.     Coss.— L.  Calpurnius  Piso      A.  Gabinius 


ved  many  purposes  of  great  use  to  Clodius :  first,  to 
get  rid  of  a  troublesome  adversary  for  the  remainder 
of  his  magistracy  :  secondly,  to  fix  a  blot  on  Cato  hiix: . 
self,  and  shew,  that  the  most  rigid  pretenders  to  vn'^ 
tue  might  be  caught  by  a  proper  bait :  thirdly,  to  stop 
his  mouth  for  the  future,  as  he  openly  bragged,  from 
clamouring  agamst  extraordinary  commxissions :  fourth-- 
ly,  to  oblige  him,  above  all,  to  acknowledge  the  vaJi- 
dity  of  his  acts,  by  his  submitting  to  bear  a  part  :n 
them  f .  The  tribune  had  the  satisfaction  to  see  Cato 
taken  in  his  trap  ;  and  received  a  congratulatory  let- 
ter upon  it  from  Caesar,  addressed  to  him  in  the  fami- 
liar stile,  of  Caesar  to  Clodius ;  which  he  read  publicly 
to  the  people,  as  a  proof  of  tlie  singular  intimacy  be- 
tween them  *.  King  Ptolemy,  in  the  mean  while, 
as  soon  as  he  heard  of  the  law,  and  of  Cato's  approach 
towards  Cyprus,  put  an  end  to  his  life  by  poison,  un- 
able to  bear  the  disgrace  of  losing  at  once  both  his 
crown  and  his  wealth.  Cato  executed  his  commission 
with  great  fidelity ;  and  returned  the  year  following, 
in  a  kind  of  triumph  to  Rome,  with  all  the  king's  ef- 


X  Sub  honorificentisslmo  ministerli  titulo  M.  Catonem  a  rep.  re- 
legavit.  (Vel.  P.  2.  45.)  Non  illi  ornandum  M,  Catonem,  sed 
relegandum  putaverunt  :  qui  In  concione  palam  dixerint,  linguam 
se  evellisse  Catonl,  quo?  semper  contra  extraordlnarias  potest ktes  li- 
bera fuisset.— -Quod  si  ille  repudiasset,  dubitatis  (|uin  ei  vis  asset  al- 
lata,  cum  omnia  acta  illius  auni  per  ilium  ununi  labefactari  vide- 
rentur  ? — Pro  Sext.  28,  29. 

Gratulari  tibi,  quod  idem  In  pcsterum  M.  Catonem,  tribunatu 
tuo  removlsses.     Pro  Dom  9. 

*  Literas  in  concione  recltasti,  quas  tibi  a  C.  CcL^are  missas  e.^- 
se  diceres  j  Caisar  Pulchro.  Cum  etiam  es  argumentatus,  amoris 
ipsse  hoc  signum,  cum  nominibus  tantum  uteretur.     Ibid. 


Bb3 


388  The  LIFE   of  Sect.  V. 


A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49.    Coss.— L.  Calpurnius  Piso.    A.  Gaabinius. 

fects  reduced  into  money,  amounting  to  about  a  mil- 
lion and  a  half  sterling ;  which  he  delivered  with  great 
pomp  into  the  public  treasury  f. 

This  proceeding  was  severely  condemned  by  Cice- 
ro ;  though  he  touches  it  in  his  public  speeches  with 
some  tenderness  for  the  sake  of  Cato  ;  whom  he  la- 
bours to  clear  from  any  share  of  the  iniquity  :  "  The 
"  commission,"  says  he,  "  was  contrived,  not  to  adorn, 
"  but  to  banish  Cato  ;  not  offered,  but  imposed  upon 
"him. — Why  did  he  then  obey  it?  Just  as  he  haa 
"  sworn  to  obey  other  laws  which  he  knew  to  be  un- 
"  just,  that  he  might  not  expose  himself  to  the  fury  of 
"  his  enemies,  and,  without  doing  any  good,  deprive 
"  the  republic  of  such  a  citizen. — If  he  had  not  sub- 
"  mitted  to  the  law,  he  could  not  have  hindered  it, 
"  the  stain  of  it  would  still  have  stuck  upon  the  re- 
"  public,  and  he  himself  suffered  violence  for  rejecting 
"  it ;   since  it  would  have  been  a  precedent  for  invali- 
"  dating  all  the  other  acts  of  that  year  :  he  considered, 
"  therefore,  that  since  the  scandal  of  it  could  not  be 
"  avoided,  he  was  the  person  the  best  qualified  to  draw 
"  good  out  cf  evil,   and  to  serve  his  country  well, 
"  though  in  a  bad  cause  J."     But  howsoever  this  may 
colour,  it  cannot  justify  Cato's  conduct ;  who  valued 
himself  highly  upon  his  Cyprian  transactions  ;  and  for 
the  sake  of  that  commission  was  drawn  in,  as  Clodius 
expected,  to  support  the  authority,    from  which  it 
flowed,  and  to  maintain  the  legality  of  Clodius  tribu- 

f  Plutarch — Cato.  Flor.  3.  9. 
X  Pro  Sext.  28,  29. 


Sect.  V.  CICERO.  389 

A.  Urb.  695.    Cic,  49.    Coss. — L.  Calpurnius  Piso.    A.  Gabinius. 

nate  in  some  warm  debates  even  with  Cicero  himself*. 

Among  the  other  laws  made  by  Clodius,  there  was 
one  likewise  to  give  relief  to  the  private  r^embers  of 
corporate  towns,  against  the  public  injmies  of  their 
communities.  The  purpose  of  it  was  specious,  but 
the  real  design,  to  screen  a  creature  of  his  own,  one 
Merula.  of  Anagnia,  w^ho  had  been  punished  or  driven 
from  the  city  for  some  notorious  villainies,  and  Vv^ho, 
in  return  for  this  service,  erected  a  statue  to  his  pa- 
tron, on  part  of  the  area  of  Cicero's  house,  and  inscrib- 
ed it  to  Clodius,  the  author  of  so  excellent  a  law.  But 
as  Cicero  told  him  afterwards  in  one  of  his  speeches, 
the  place  itself  where  the  statue  stood,  the  scene  of  so 
memorable  an  injury,  confuted  both  the  excellency 
of  the  law  and  the  inscription  ||. 

But  it  is  time  for  us  to  look  after  Cicero  in  his  flight ; 
who  left  Rome  about  the  end  of  March ;  for,  on  the 
eight  of  April  w^e  find  him  at  Vibo  ;  a  towm  in  the 
most  southern  part  of  Italy ;  where  he  spent  several 
days  with  a  friend,  named  Sica  ;  here  he  received  the 
copy  of  the  law  made  against  him ;  which  after  some 
alteration  and  correction  fixed  the  limits  of  his  evil  to 
the  distance  of  four  hundred  miles  from  Italy  J.    His 


*  Plut.  In  Cato.     Dio,  1.  39.  ico. 

H  Legem  de  injuriis  publicis  tulisti,  Anagnino  nescio  cui  Meru- 
Ise  per  gratiam,  qui  tibi  ob  earn  legem  statuam  in  mels  aedibus  posu- 
h  ;  ut  locus  ipse  in  tua  tanta  injuria  legem  et  inscriptionem  statuae 
refelleret.  Quae  res  Anagninis  multo  majori  dolori  fuit,  quam  quaj 
idem  ille  gladiator  scelera  Anagnife  fecerat.     Pro  Dom.  30. 

X  Allata  est  nobis  rogatio  de  pernicie  mea,  in  qua  quod  confec- 
tum  est  audieramus  esse  ejusmodi,  ut  mihi  ultra  quadringenta  mil- 

lia 

Bb4 


390  The    LIFE   of  Sect.  V» 

A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49.    Coss. — L.  Capumius  Piso.    A.  Gabinius. 

thoughts  had  hitherto  been  wholly  bent  on  Sicily  ;  but 
when  he  was  arrived  within  sight  of  it,  the  Praetor  C. 
Virgilius  sent  him  word,  that  he  must  not  set  his  foot 
in  it.  This  was  a  cruel  shock  to  him ;  and  the  first 
taste  of  the  misery  of  disgrace ;  that  an  old  friend,  who 
had  been  highly  obliged  to  him  *,  of  the  same  party 
and  principles,  should  refuse  him  shelter  in  a  calami- 
ty, which  he  had  drawn  upon  himself  by  his  services 
to  the  republic  ;  speaking  of  it  afterwards,  when  it 
was  not  his  business  to  treat  it  severely, "  see,  says  he, 
"  the  horror  of  these  times  ;  when  all  Sicily  was  com- 
**  ing  out  to  meet  me,  the  praetor,  who  had  often  felt 
"  the  rage  of  the  sam.e  tribune,  and  in  the  same  cause, 
**  would  not  suffer  me  to  come  into  the  island.  What 
"  shall  I  say  ?  That  Virgilius,  such  a  citizen,  and  such 
*'  a  man,  had  lost  all  benevolence,  all  remembrance  of 
*'  our  common  sufferings,  all  his  piety,  humanity  and 
'*  faith  towards  me  ?  No  such  thing  :  he  was  afraid 
"  how  he  should  singly  sustain  the  weight  of  that 
*'  storm,  which  had  overpowered  our  joint  forces  f ". 

This  unexpected  repulse  from  Sicily  obliged  him  to 
change  his  rout,  and  turn  back  again  towards  Brundi- 
sium,  in  order  to  pass  into  Greece  :  he  left  Vibo  there- 


lia  liccret  esse — statim  iter  Brundisium  versus  contuli-  -ne  et  SIca, 
apud  quern  eram,  periret.     Ad  Att.  3.  4. 

*   Plutarch,  in  Cicero. 

f  Sicilium  pctivi  animo,  quae  et  ipsa  erat  mihi,  sicut  domus  una, 
conjuncta  j  et  obtinebatur  a  Virgilio  •,  quocum  me  uno  vel  maxime 
turn  vetusta  aniicitia,  turn  mei  fratris  collegia,  turn  respub.  sociarat. 
Vide  nunc  caligincm  temponim  illorum.  Cum  ipsa  pa;ne  insula 
raihi.sese  obviumfcrre  velkt,  prixtcr  ille  ejusdtm  tribuni  pleb.  con- 
ci^r.ihus  propter  eandem  reipub.  causrm  svepe  vexatus,  nihil  ampli- 
Ui,  dico,  :usi  uic  in  Siciliuiu  Vw"i.;ic  iiov>iit>  6cc.— Pro  Cn.  Plane.  40^ 


Sect.  V.  CICERO.  391 

A.  Urb.  695.  Cic.  49.    Coss. — L.  Calpxiniius  Piso.    A.  Gabinius. 

fore,  that  he  might  not  expose  his  host  Sica  to  any 
danger,  for  entertaining  him ;  expecting  to  find  no 
quiet,  till  he  could  remove  himself  bejond  the  bounds 
prescribed  by  the  law.  But  in  this  he  found  himself 
mistaken ;  for  all  the  towns  on  his  road  received  him 
with  the  most  public  marks  of  respect :  inviting  him 
to  take  up  his  quarters  with  them  ;  and  guarding  him, 
as  he  passed  through  their  territories,  with  all  imagin- 
able honour  and  safety  to  his  person.  He  avoided 
however  as  much  as  possible,  all  public  places ;  and 
when  he  came  to  Brundisium,  would  not  enter  into 
the  city,  though  it  expressed  the  warmest  zeal  for  his 
service,  and  offered  to  run  all  hazards  in  his  de- 
fence J. 

In  this  interval,  he  was  pressing  Atticus  in  every 
letter,  and  in  the  most  moving  terms,  to  come  to  him  ; 
and  when  he  removed  from  Vibo,  gave  him  daily  in- 
telligence of  all  his  stages,  that  he  might  know  still 
where  to  find  him ;  taking  it  for  granted,  that  he 
would  not  fail  to  follow  him  *.  But  Atticus  seems  to 
have  given  him  no  answer  on  this  head,  nor  to  have  ' 


J  Cum  omnia  Ilia  Municipia,  quae  sunt  a  Vibone  Brundisium, 
in  fide  mea  essent,  iter  mihi  tutum,  multis  minitantibus,  magno  cum 
6U0  metu  praestiterunt.  Brundisium  veni,  vel  potius  ad  moenia  ac- 
cessl.  Urbem  unam  mihi  amicissimam  declinavi,  quae  se  vel  poti- 
us exscindi,  quam  e  sue  complexu  ut  eriperer  facile  pateretur.  lb. 

*  Sed  te  oro,  ut  ad  me  Vibonem  statim  venias. — Si  id  non  fece- 
ris  mirabor,  sed  confido  te  esse  facturum.     Ad  Att.  3.  i 

Nunc,  ut  ad  te  antea  scripsi,  si  ad  nos  veneris,  consilium  totius 
rei  capiemus.     Ib»  2. 

Iter  Brundisium  versus  contull — nunc  tu  propera,  ut  nos  conse- 
quare,  si  modo  reclplemur.     Adhuc  invitamur  benlgne,     lb.  3. 

Nihil  mihi  optatius  cadere  posse,  quara  ut  tu  me  quam  primum 
conscquare.     lb.  4. 


392 


The  life   or  Sect.  V. 


A-  Urb.  69J.    Cic.  49.    Cos?.— C  Julius  Caesar.   M.  Calpumius  Bibulus. 

had  any  thoughts  of  stirring  from  Rome :  he  was  per- 
suaded perhaps,  that  his  company  abroad  could  be  of 
no  other  use  to  him,  then  to  give  some  Httle  rehef  to 
his  present  chagrin  ;  whereas  his  continuance  in  the 
city  might  be  of  the  greatest;  not  only  in  reheving, 
but  in  removing  his  calamity,  and  procuring  his  resto- 
ration :  or  we  may  imagine,  what  his  character  seems 
to  suggest,  that  though  he  had  a  greater  love  for  Ci- 
cero, than  for  any  man,  yet  it  was  always  with  an  ex- 
ception, of  not  involving  himself  in  the  distress  of  his 
friend,  or  disturbing  the  tranquiUity  of  his  life,  by  tak- 
ing any  share  of  another's  misery  ;  and  that  he  was 
following  only  the  dictates  of  his  temper  and  princi- 
ples, in  sparing  himself  a  trouble,  which  would  have 
made  him  suffer  more  than  his  philosophy  coidd  easi- 
ly bear.  But  whatever  was  the  cause,  it  gave  a  fresh 
mOTtification  to  Cicero  ;  who,  in  a  letter  upon  it,  says, 
**  I  made  no  doubt,  but  that  I  should  see  you  at  Ta- 
"  rentum  or  Brundisium  :  it  would  have  been  conve- 
*'  nient  for  many  reasons  ;  and  above  all,  for  my  de- 
**  sign  of  spending  some  time  with  you  in  Epirus,  and 
*'  regulating  all  my  measures  by  your  advice  :  but 
*'  since  it  has  not  happened,  as  I  wished,  I  shall  add 
*•  this  also  to  the  great  number  of  many  other  afllic- 
*'  tions"  *.  He  was  now  lodged  in  the  villa  of  M. 
Lenius  Flaccus,  not  far  from  the  walls  of  Brundisium  : 


*  Non  fuerat  mlhi  dubium,  quin  te  TarentI  aut  Brundisii  %asuriis 
essem  :  idque  ad  multa  pertinuit  •,  in  els,  et  ut  in  Epiro  consistere- 
mus,  et  de  reliquis  rebus  tuo  concillo  uteremur.  Quoniam  id  non 
contigit,  erit  hoc  quoque  in  ma^no  numero  nostrorum  malorum. 
lb.  6. 


Sect.V.  CICERO.  393 

A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49.    Coss. — L.  Calpuniius  Piso.    A.  Gaianius. 

where  he  arrived  on  the  eventeeth  of  April,  and  on 
the  last  of  the  same  month  embarked  for  Djrrhachi- 
um.  In  his  account  of  himself  to  his  wife,  *'  I  spent 
'*  thirteen  days,"  says  he,  "  with  Flaccus,  who  for  my 
"  sake  slighted  the  risk  of  his  fortunes  and  life ;  nor 
"  was  deterred  hy  the  penalty  of  the  law  from  per- 
"  forming  towards  me  all  the  rights  of  friendship  and « 
"  hospitahty :  I  wish  that  it  may  ever  be  in  my  pow- 
*'  er  to  make  a  proper  return  ;  I  am  sure  that  I  shall 
**  always  think  myself  obliged  to  do  it  f . 

During  his  stay  with  Flaccus,  he  was  in  no  small 
perplexity  about  the  choice  of  a  convenient  place  for 
his  residence  abroad :  Atticus  offered  him  his  house 
in  Epirus  ;  which  was  a  castle  of  some  strength,  and 
likely  to  afford  him  a  secure  retreat.  But  since  Atti- 
nus  could  not  attend  him  thither  in  person,  he  dropt 
all  thoughts  of  that,  and  was  inclined  to  go  to  Athens ; 
till  he  was  informed,  that  it  would  be  dangerous  for 
him  to  travel  into  that  part  of  Greece  ;  where  all  those, 
who  had  been  banished  for  Catiline's  conspiracy,  and 
especially  Autronius,  then  resided  ;  who  would  have 
had  some  comfort,  in  their  exile,  to  revenge  themselves 


f  ^  In  hortos  M.  Lenii  Flacci  me  contull :  cui  cum  omnis  metus, 
publicatio  bonorum,  exilium,  mors  proponeretur,  hsec  perpeti,  si  ac- 
ciderent,  maluit,  quam  custodiam  mei  capitis  dimittere. — Pro  Plan- 
cio.  41. 

Nos  Brundisii  apud  M.  Lenium  Flaccum  dies  XIIl.  fuimus,  vi- 
rum  optimum  :  qui  periculum  fortunarum  et  capitis  sui  proe  mea  sa- 
lute neglexit  j  neque  legis  improbissimae  poena  deductus  est,  quo 
minus  hospitii  et  amicitice  jus,  officiumque  pra^staret.  Huic  utinaru 
gratiam  aliquando  referre  possiicus  j  habebimus  quidem  semper. — 
Ep.  Fam.  i^.  4. 


394 


The  life  op  Sect.  V. 


A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49.  Coss. — L.  Calpurnius  Piso.    A.  Gabinius. 

on  the  author  of  thek  misery,  if  they  could  have  caught 
him*. 

Plutarch  tells  us,  "  that,  in  sailing  out  of  Brundisium, 
"  the  wind,  which  was  fair,  changed  of  a  sudden,  and 
<*  drove  him  back  again  ;  and  when  he  passed  over  to 
"  Dyrrhachium,  in  the  second  attempt,  that  there  hap- 
"  penedan  earthquake,  and  a  great  storm,  immediately 
"  after  his  landing  ;  from  which  the  soothsayers  fore- 
"  told,  that  his  stay  abroad  would  not  be  long."  But 
it  is  strange,  that  a  writer,  so  fond  of  prodigies,  which 
nobody  else  takes  notice  of,  should  omit  the  story  of 
Cicero's  dream,  which  was  more  to  his  purpose,  and  is 
related  by  Cicero  himself :  "  That  in  one  of  the  stages 
"  of  his  flight,  being  lodged  in  the  villa  of  a  friend, 
"  after  he  had  lain  restless  and  wakeful  a  great  part 
"  of  the  night,  he  fell  into  a  sound  sleep  near  break  of 
"  day,  and  when  he  awaked  about  eight  in  the  morn- 
"  ing,  told  his  dream  to  those  round  him  :  That  as  he 
"  seemed  to  be  wandering  disconsolate  in  a  lonely 
"  place,  C.  Marius,  with  his  fasces  wreathed  with  lau- 
"  rel,  accosted  him,  and  demanded  why  he  was  so  me- 
*'  lancholy :  and  when  he  answered,  that  he  was  dri- 
"  ven  out  of  his  country  by  violence,  Marius  took 
"  him  by  the  hand,  and  bidding  him  be  of  courage, 
*'  ordered  the  next  lictor  to  conduct  him  into  his  mo- 


*  Quod  me  rogas  et  hoitaris,  ut  apud  te  in  Epiro  sim  •,  voluntas 
tua  mihi  valde  grata  est. — Sed  itineris  causa  ut  diverterem,  primum 
est  devium  j  deinde  ab  Autronio  et  cneteris  quatridui ;  delnde  sine 
te.  Nam  castellum  munitum  habitant!  mihi  prodesset,  transeunti 
non  est  necessarium.  Quod  si  auderem,  Athenas  peterem  :  sana 
ita,  radebat  ut  vellem.  Nunc  et  nostri  hostes  ibi  sunt,  et  te  noi> 
bubemus. — Ad  Att.  3.  7. 


Sect.  V.  CICERO.  395 

A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49.    Coss. — L.  Calpurnius  Piso.    A.  Gabinius. 

"  nument  ;  telling  him,  that  there  he  should  find 
"  safety  :  upon  this,  the  company  presently  cried  out, 
"  that  he  would  have  a  quick  and  glorious  return  *." 
All  which  was  exactly  fulfilled  ;  for  his  restoration 
was  decreed  in  a  certain  temple  built  by  Marius,  and, 
for  that  reason,  called  Marius's  monument ;  where  the 
senate  happened  to  be  assembled  on  that  occasion  f . 

This  dream  was  much  talked  of  in  the  family,  and 
Cicero  himself,  in  that  season  of  his  dejection,  seemed 
to  be  pleased  with  it :  and,  on  the  first  news  of  the  de- 
crees passing  in  Marius's  monument,  declared,  that 
nothing  could  be  more  divine  ;  yet,  in  disputing  after- 
wards on  the  nature  of  dreams,  he  asserts  them  all  to 
be  "  vain  and  fantastical,  and  nothing  else  but  the 
"  imperfect  traces,  and  confused  impressions,  which 
"  our  waking  thoughts  leave  upon  the  mind ;  that  in 
"  his  flight,  therefore,  as  it  was  natural  for  him  to 
"  think  much  upon  his  countryman  Marius,  who  had 
"  suffered  the  same  calamity ;  so  that  was  the  cause 
"  of  his  dreaming  of  him  ;  and  that  no  old  woman 
"•  could  be  so  silly  as  to  give  any  credit  to  dreams,  if, 
"  in  the  infinite  number  and  variety  of  them,  they  did 
**  not  sometimes  happen  to  hit  right  *." 


*  De  Divin.  i.  28.     Val.  Max.  i.  7. 

f  Valerius  Maximus  calls  this  monument  of  Marius,  tbe  temple 
of 'Jupiter  ;  but  it  appears,  from  Cicero's  account,  to  have  been  the 
temple  of  honour  and  virtue, 

*  Maximeque  reliquiae  earum  rerum  moventur  in  animis,  et  agi- 
tantur,  de  quibus  vigilantes  aut  cogitavimus  aut  egimus.  Ut  mihi 
temporibus  illis  multum  in  animo  Marius  versabatur,  recordanti, 
(juam  ille  gravem  suum  causam  magno  animo,  quam  constant!  tu- 

lisset. 


J96  The  LIFE  of  Sect.  V. 

A.  Urb.  695.     Cic,  49.     Cos£.— L.  Calpurnhis  Piso.     A.  Gabinius 

When  he  came  to  Dyrrhachium,  he  found  confirm- 
ed what  he  had  heard  before  m  Italy,  that  Achaia  and 
the   neighbouring  parts  of  Greece  were  possessed  by 
those  rebels  who  had  been  driven  from  Rome  on  Ca- 
tiline's account.     This  determined  him  to  go  into  Ma- 
cedonia, before  they  could  be  informed  of  his  arrival, 
where  his  friend  Cn.  Plancius  was  then  quaestor,  who 
no  sooner  heard  of  his  landing,  than  he  came  to  find 
3iim  at  Dyrrachium,  where,  out  of  regard  to  his  pre- 
sent circumstances,  and  the  privacy  which  he  affect- 
ed, dismissing  his  officers,  and  laying  aside  all  tlie 
pomp  of  magistracy,  he  conducted  him,  with  the  ob- 
servance of  a  private  companion,  to  his  head-quarters 
at  Thessalonica,   about  the  twenty-first  of  May.     L* 
Appuleius  was  the  praetor  or  chief  governor  of  the 
province ;  but  though  he  was  an  honest  man,  and  Ci- 
cero's friend,  yet  he  durst  not  Venture  to  grant  him 
his  protection,  or  shew  him  any  public  civility,  but 
contented  himself  with  conniving  only  at  what  his 
quaestor  Plancius  did  *. 

lisset.     Hanc  credo  causam  de   illo  somniandi  fuisse.     De  Divin. 

2.  67. 

An  tu  censes  ullam  anum  tarn  deliram  futuram  fuisse,  ut  som- 
niis  crederet,  nisi  ista  casu  nonnunquam  forte  temere  concurrerent  ? 
lb.  68. 

*  Quo  cum  venissem  cognovi,  id  quod  audieram,  refertaifi  esse 
Graeciam  sceleratissimorum  hominum  ac  nefariorum. — Qui  ante- 
quam  de  meo  adventu  audire  potuissent,  in  Macedonian!  ad  Plan- 
ciumque  perrexi — nam  simulac  me  Dyrrhachium  attigisse  audivit, 
statim  ad  me  lictoribus  dimissis,  insignibus  adjectis,  veste  mutata 
profectus  est. — Thessalonicam  me  in  quastoriumque  perduxit.  Pro 
Plancio.  41.     Post  red.  in  Sen.  14. 

Hie  ego  nunc  de  prictore  Macedoniaj  nihil  dicam  amplius,  nisi 
eum  et  civem  optimum  semper  et  mihi  amicum  fuisse,  sed  eadem 
timuisso  quae  cceteros.     Pro  Plan.  ib« 


Sect.V.  CICERO.  397 

A.  Urb.  695.    Ck.  49.    Coss.— L,  Calpurnius  Piso.    A.  Gabinius- 

Whik  Cicero  staid  at  Dyrrhachium,  he  received 
two  expresses  from  his  brother  Quintiis,  who  was  now 
coming  home  from  Asia,  to  inform  him  of  his  intend- 
ed rout,  and  to  settle  the  place  of  their  meeting : 
Qnintus's  design  was  to  pass  from  Ephesus  to  Athens, 
and  thence  by  land  through  Macedonia^  and  to  have 
an  interview  with  his  brother  at  Thessalonica ;  but 
the  news  which  he  met  with  at  Athens  obHged  him 
to  hasten  his  journey  towards  Rome,  where  the  fac- 
tion were  preparing  to  receive  him  with  an  impeach- 
ment, for  the  maladministration  of  his  province  :  nor 
had  Cicero  at  last  resolution  enough  to  see  him,  being 
unable  to  bear  the  tenderness  of  such  a  meeting,  and 
much  more  the  misery  of  parting ;  and  he  was  appre- 
hensive, besides,  that  if  they  once  met,  they  should 
not  be  able  to  part  at  all,  whilst  Quintus's  presence  at 
home  was  necessary  to  their  common  interest :  so  that, 
to  avoid  one  affliction,  he  was  forced,  he  says,  to  en- 
dure another  most  cruel  one,  that  of  shunning  the  em- 
braces of  a  brother  f . 

L.  Tubero,  however,  his  kinsman,  and  one  of  his^ 
brother's  lieutenants,  paid  him  a  visit  on  his  return  to- 
wards Italy,  and  acquainted  him  with  what  he  had 


f  Quintus  frater  cum  ex  Asia  discessisset  ante  Kalend.  Mai.  et  A- 
tlienas  venlsset  Idib.  valde  fult  ei  properandum,  ne  quid  absens  ac- 
ciperet  calamltatis,  si  quis  forte  fuisset,  qui  contentus  nostris  mails 
non  esset.  Itaque  eum  malul  properare  Romam,  quam  ad  me  ve- 
nire :   et  slmul,  dicam   enim  quod  verum  est, auimum  inducere 

non  potui,  ut  aut  ilium  amantlssimum  mei,  moUissImo  animo  tanto 
m  mcErore  aspicerem — atque  etiam  illud  timebam,  quod  profecto 
accldlsset,  ne  a  me  digredi  non  posset. — Hujus  acerbitatis  eventum 
altera  acerbltate  non  videndi  fratrls  vitavl.  Ad  Att.  3.  9.  Ad 
Quin,  Fra.  i.  3, 


39S  Th£   life  Of  Sect.  V* 

A.  Urb.  695.     Cic.  49.     Coss.— L.  Calpurnius  Piso.     A.  Gabinius. 

learnt  in  passing  through  Greece,  that  the  banished 
conspirators  who  had  resided  there  were  actually  form- 
ing a  plot  to  seize  and  murder  him ;  for  which  reason 
he  advised  him  to  go  into  Asia,  where  the  zeal  and 
affection  of  the  province  would  afford  him  the  safest 
retreat,  both  on  his  own  and  his  brother's  account  J. 
Cicero  was  disposed  to  follow  his  advice,  and  leave 
Macedonia ;  for  the  praetor  Appuleius,  though  a  friend, 
gave  him  no  encouragement  to  stay ;  and  the  consul 
Piso,  his  enemy,  was  coming  to  the  command  of  it 
next  winter :  but  all  his  friends  at  Rome  dissuaded 
his  removal  to  any  place  more  distant  from  them ;  and 
Plancius  treated  him  so  affectionately,  and  contrived 
to  make  all  things  so  easy  to  him,  that  he  dropt  the 
thoughts  of  changing  his  quarters.  Plancius  was  in 
hopes  that  Cjcero  would  be  recalled  with  the  expira- 
tion of  his  quaestorship,  and  that  he  should  have  the 
honour  of  returning  with  him  to  Rome,  to  reap  the 
fruit  of  his  fidelity,  not  only  from  Cicero's  gratitude, 
but  the  favour  of  the  senate  and  people  *.  The  only 
inconvenience  that  Cicero  found  in  his  present  situa- 


%  Cum  ad  me  L.  Tubero,  meus  necessarlus,  qui  fratri  meo  le- 
gatus  fuissct,  decedens  ex  Asia  venisset,  easque  insidias,  quas  mihi 
paratas  ab  exulibus  conjuratis  audierat,  animo  amicissimo  detulis- 
set.  In  Asiam  me  ire,  propter  ejus  provincise  mecum  et  cum  fra- 
tre  meo  necessitudinem. — Pro  Plane.  41. 

*  Plancius,  homo  officioslssimus,  me  cupit  esse  secum  et  adhuc 
rctinet — sperat  posse   fieri,  ut  mecum  in  Italiam  deced'at.  Ep. 

Fam.  14.  I. 

Longius,  quum  ita  vobis  placet,  non  discedam. lb.  2. 

Me  adhuc  Plancius  liberalitate  sua  retinet. — spes  homini  est  in- 
jecta,  non  eadem  quce  mihi,  posse  nos  una  decedere  :  quam  rem  sibi 
magno  honori  sperat  fore.     Ad  Att.  3.  22. 


Sect.  V,  CICERO.  399 

A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49.     Coss. — L.  Calpurnius  Piso.    A.  Gabinius. 

tion,  was  the  number  of  soldiers,  and  concourse  of 
people,  who  frequented  the  place,  on  account  of  busi- 
ness with  the  qusstor.  For  he  was  so  shocked  and 
dejected  by  his  misfortune,  that  though  the  cities  of 
Greece  were  offering  their  services  and  compliments, 
and  striving  to  do  him  all  imaginable  honours  f ,  yet 
he  refused  to  see  all  company,  and  was  so  shy  of  the 
public,  that  he  could  hardly  endure  the  hght  t. 

For  it  cannot  be  denied,  that,  in  this  calamity  of  his 
exile,  he  did  not  behave  himself  with  that  firmness 
which  might  reasonably  be  expected  from  one  who 
had  borne  so  glorious  a  part  in  the  republic,  conscious 
of  his  integrity,  and  suffering  in  the  cause  of  his  coun- 
try ;  for  his  letters  are  generally  filled  with  such  la-> 
mentable  expressions  of  grief  and  despair,  that  his  best 
friends,  and  even  his  wife,  were  forced  to  admonish  him 
sometimes  to  rouse  his  courage  *,  and  remember  his 
former  character.  Atticus  was  constantly  putting  him 
in  mind  of  it,  and  sent  him  word  of  a  report  that  was 
brought  to  Rome  by  one  of  Crassus's  freed  men,  that 
his  affliction  had  disordered  his  senses ;  to  which  he 
answered,  "  That  his  mind  was  still  sound,  and  wish- 
"  ed  only  that  it  had  been  always  so,  when  he  placed 
"  his  confidence  on  those  who  perfidiously  abused  it 
"  to  his  ruin  f ." 

j-  Plut.  in  Cicer. 

X  Odl  enim  celebiitatem,  fuglo  homines,  lucem  aspicere  vix  pos- 
sum.    Ad  Att.  3.  7. 

*  Tu  quod   me  hortaris,  ut  auimo  sim  magno,  &c.     Ep.  Fam, 

^4-  4- 

-|-  Nam  quod  scribis  te  audire,  me  etiam  mentis  errore  ex  dolore 

attici : 

Vol.  I.  G  c  . 


400  The  LIFE  of  Sect.  V. 

A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49.    Coss. — L.  Calpurnius  Piso.    A.  Gabinius. 

But  these  remonstrances  did  not  please  him  :  he 
thought  them  unkind  and  unseasonable,  as  he  inti- 
mates in  several  of  his  letters,  where  he  expresses  him- 
self very  movingly  on  this  subject.  "  As  to  your 
"  chiding  me,"  says  he,  "  so  often  and  so  severely, 
"  for  being  too  much  dejected,  what  misery  is  there, 
"  I  pray  you,  so  grievous,  which  I  do  not  feel  in  my 
"  present  calamity  ?  Bid  any  man  ever  fall  from  such 
"  a  height  of  dignity,  in  so  good  a  cause,  with  the  ad- 
"  vantage  of  such  talents,  experience,  interest ;  such 
*'  support  of  all  honest  men  ?  Is  it  possible  for  me  to 
"  forget  what  I  was  ?  or  not  to  feel  what  I  am  ?  From 
"  what  honour,  what  glory,  I  am  driven  ?  From  what 
"  children  ?  what  fortunes  ?  what  a  brother  ?  whom^ 
"  though  I  love,  and  have  ever  loved  better  than  my- 
"  self,  yet  (that  you  may  perceive  what  a  new  sort  of 
"  affliction  I  suffer)  I  refused  to  see,  that  I  might  nei- 
"  ther  augment  my  own  grief,  by  the  sight  of  his,  nor 
"  offer  myself  to  him  thus  ruined,  whom  he  had  left 
"  so  flourishing  :  I  omit  many  other  things  intolerable 
"  to  me,  for  I  am  hindered  by  my  tears :  tell  me, 
*'  then,  whether  am  I  still  to  be  reproached  for  griev- 
"  ing,  or  for  suffering  myself  rather  to  be  deprived  of 
*'  what  I  ought  never  to  have  parted  with,  but  my 
"  hfe,  which  I  might  easily  have  prevented,  if  some 
*'  perfidious  friends  had  not  urged  me  to  my  ruin  with- 


affici :  mihi  vero  mens  Integra  est,  atque  utinam  tarn  in  perlculo 
fuisset,  cum  ego  iis,  quibus  salutem  meam  carlssimam  esse  arbitra- 
bar,  inimlcissimis,  crudelissimisque  usus  sum.     Ad  Att.  3.  13. 

Accepi  quatuor  epistolas  a  te  missas  j  unam,  qua  me  objurgas,  ut 
slm  firmior  j  alteram,  qua  Crassi  libertum  ais  tibi  de  mea  solicitudiue 
■macieque  uarrasse.     lb.  15. 


Sect.  V.  CICERO.  401 


A.  Urb.  695.     Cic.  49.     Coss.— L.  Calpurnius  Piso.     A.  Gabinius. 


"  in  my  own  walls,  &c.  J"  In  another  letter:  "  Con- 
"  tinue,"  says  he,  "  to  assist  me,  as  you  do,  with  yom' 
"  endeavours,  your  advice,  and  your  interest ;  but 
"  spare  yourself  the  pains  of  comforting,  and  much 
"  more  of  chiding  me ;  for,  when  you  do  this,  I  can- 
"  not  help  charging  it  to  your  want  of  love  and  con- 
"  cern  for  me,  whom  I  imagine  to  be  so  afflicted  with 
"  my  misfortune,  as  to  be  inconsolable  even  your- 
"self*." 

He  was  now  indeed  attacked  in  his  weakest  part, 
the  only  place  in  which  he  was  vulnerable  :  to  have 
been  as  great  in  affliction  as  he  was  in  prosperity, 
would  have  been  a  perfection  not  given  to  man ;  yet 
this  very  weakness  flowed  from  a  source  which  ren- 
dered him  the  more  amiable  in  all  the  other  parts  of 
his  life,  and  the  sam.e  tenderness  of  dispostion  which 
made  him  love  his  friends,  his  children,  his  country, 
more  passionately  than  other  men,  made  him  feel  the 
loss  of  them  more  sensibly :  "  I  have  twice,"  says  he, 
"  saved  the  repubhc  ;  once  with  glory ;  a  second  time 
"  with  misery  :  for  I  will  never  deny  myself  to  be  a 
*'  man,  or  brag  of  bearing  the  loss  of  a  brother,  chil- 
*'  dren,  wife,  country,  without  sorrow.— For  what 
*'  thanks  had  been  due  to  me  for  quitting  what  I  did  not 
"  value  f  ?  In  another  speech :  "  I  own  my  grief  toliave 


X  Ad  Att.  3. 10. 

*  Tu  me,,  ut  facis,  opera,  consilio,  gratia  juva  :  consolarl  jam 
desine  :  objugare  vero  noli :  quod  cum  facis,  ego  tuum  amorem  et 
dolorem  desidero  •,  quern  ita  affectum  mea  cerumna  esse  arbitror^  ut 
te  ipsum  nemo  consolari  potest.     lb.  XI. 

f  Unus  bis  rempub.  servavi,  semel  gloria,  iterum  aerumna  mea. 
C  c  2  Neque 


402 


The   life   of  Sect.  V. 


A.  Urb.  695.     Cic.  49.     Coss.— L.  CaJpurnius  Piso.    A  Gabinius, 


*'  been  extremely  great ;  nor  do  I  pretend  to  that  wis- 
*•  dom  which  those  expected  from  me,  who  gave  out 
*'  that  I  was  too  much  broken  by  my  affliction ;  for 
*'  such  a  hardness  of  mind,  as  of  body,  which  does  not 
"  feel  pain,  is  a  stupidity,  rather  than  a  virtue. — I  am 
**  not  one  of  those  to  whom  all  things  are  indifferent, 
"  but  love  myself  and  my  friends,  as  our  common  hu- 
"  manity  requires ;  and  he  who,  for  the  public  good, 
"  parts  with  what  he  holds  the  dearest,  gives  the  high- 
"  est  proof  of  love  to  his  country  J." 

There  was  another  consideration,  which  added  no 
small  sting  to  his  affliction  ;  to  reflect,  as  he  often 
does,  not  only  on  what  he  had  lost,  but  how  he  had 
lost  it,  by  his  own  fault ;  in  suffering  himself  to  be 
imposed  upon  and  deluded  by  false  and  envious  friends. 
This  he  frequently  touches  upon,  in  a  strain  which 
shews  that  it  galled  him  very  severely  :  "  Though  my 
**  grief,"  says  he,  "  is  incredible,  yet  I  am  not  disturb- 
"  ed  so  much  by  the  misery  of  w^liat  I  feel,  as  the  re- 
*•  collection  of  my  fault— Wherefore  when  you  hear 
*'  how  much  I  am  afflicted,  imagine  that  I  am  sufFer- 

Neque  enim  in  hoc  me  homlnem  esse  inficiabor  unquam  j  ut  me  Op- 
timo fratre,  carissimis  liberis,  fidelissima  conjuge,  vestro  conspectu, 
patria,  hoc  honoris  gradu  sine  dolore  caruisse  glorier.  Quod  si  fe- 
cissera,  quod  a  me  beneficium  haberetis,  cum  pro  vobis  ea,  quae 
mihi  essent  vilia,  reliquissem.     Pro  Sext.  22. 

X  Accepi  magnum  atque  incredibilem  dolorem  :  non  nego  :  ne- 
que  istam  mihi  ascisco  sapientiam,  quam  nonnulli  in  me  require- 
bant,  qui  me  animo  nimis  fracto  et  afflicto  esse  loquebantur — eam- 
que  animi  duritiam,  sicut  corporis,  quod  cum  uritur  non  sentit, 
stuporem  potius,  quam  virtutem  putarem — non  tarn  sapiens  quam 
ii,  qui  nihil  curant,  sed  tarn  amans  tuorum  ac  tui,  quam  communis 
humanitas  postulat — qui  autem  ea  relinquit  reipub.  viausa,  a  quibus 
summo  cum  dolore  divellitur,  ei  patria  cara  est.    Pro  Dcm.  ^6,  37. 


Sect.V.  CICERO.  4-^3 


A.Urb695.     Cic.  49.     Coss.-L.  Calpumius  Pisn      A.  Gabinius. 


-  ing  the  punishment  of  my  folly,  not  of  the  event ; 
"  for  having  trusted  too  much  to  one  whom  I  did  not 
*^  take  to  be  a  rascal  ^\"     It  -must  needs  be  cruelly 
mortifying  to  one  of  his  temper  ;   nicely  tender  of  his 
reputation,  and  passionately  fond  of  glory  ;  to  impute 
his  calamity  to  his  own  blunders,  and  fency  himself 
the  dupe  of  men  not  so  wise  as  himself:   yet  after  all, 
it  may  reasonably  be  questioned,  whether  his  inquie- 
tude of  this  sort,  was  not  owing  rather  to  the  jealous 
and  querulous  nature  of  affliction  itself,  than  to  any 
real  foundation  of  truth  :  for  Atticus  would  never  al- 
low his  suspicions  to  be  just,  not  even  against  Horten- 
sius,  where  they  seem  to  lie  the  heaviest  \.     This  is 
the  substance  of  what  Cicero  himself  says,  to  excuse 
the  excess  of  his   grief,  and  the  only  excuse  indeed 
which  can  be  made  for  him. ;  that  he  did  not  pretend 
to  be  a  Stoic,  nor  aspire  to  the  character  of  a  Hero  : 
yet  we  see  some  writers  labouring  to  defend  him  even 
against  himself;   and  endeavouring  to  persuade  us, 
that  all  this  air  of  dejection  and  despair  was  wholly 
feigned  and  assumed,  for  the  sake  of  moving  compas- 
sion, and  engaging  his  friends  to  exert  themselves  the 
more  warmly,  in  soliciting  his  restoration  ;  lest  his  at- 


*  Et  si  incredibili  calaraitate  afflictus  sum,  taraen  non  tam  est 
ex  miseria,  quam  ex  culpoe  nostrie  recordatione— quare  C7.im  me  af- 
llictum  et  coniectum  iuctu  audies,  existimato  me  stultitii^  mefe  pcr- 
nam  ferre  gravius,  quam  eventi ;  quod  ei  crediderim,  quern  netarmm 
esse  non  putaiim— Ad  Att.  3.  8.  vid.  9.  14,  ]5\\9i  ,^^.^* 

-f-  Nam  quod  purgas  eos,  quos  ego  mini  scripsi  invidisse,  et  in  eis 
Catonem  :  ego  veio  tantum  ilium  puto  a  scelere  isto  abfuise^,  ut 
niaxime  doleam  plus  apud  me  simuiationem  al^orum,  quam  istius 
fidem  valuisse.  Cseteri  quos  purgas,  debeut  mihi  purgy.ti  esse,  tibi 
si  sunt.— lb.  15. 

C  c  3 


404  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  V. 

A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49.    Coss. — L.  Calpurnius  Piso.    A.  Gabinius. 

fiiction  should  destroy  him,  before  they  could  effect 
it* 

When  he  had  been  gone  a  little  more  than  two  months, 
his  friend  Ninnius,  the  tribune,  made  a  motion  in  the 
senate  to  recal  him,  and  repeal  the  law  of  Clodius  : 
to  which  the  whole  house  readily  agreed,  with  eight 
of  the  tribunes,  till  one  of  the  other  two,  ^hus  Ligus, 
interposed  his  negative  :  they  proceeded  however  to 
a  resolution,  that  no  other  business  should  be  transact- 
ed till  the  consuls  had  actually  prepared  a  new  law 
for  that  purpose  f .  About  the  same  time,  Quintus 
Cicero,  who  left  Asia  on  the  first  of  May,  arrived  at 
Rome ;  and  was  received  with  great  demonstrations 
of  respect,  by  persons  of  all  ranks,  who  flocked  out  to 
meet  him  J.  Cicero  suffered  an  additional  anxiety  on 
his  account,  lest  the  Clodian  cabal,  by  means  of  the 
impeachment  which  they  threatened,  should  be  able 
to  expel  him  too  :  especially,  since  Clodius's  brother, 
Appius,  was  the  prastor,  whose  lot  it  was  to  sit  on  those 
trials  §.     But  Clodius  was  now  losing  ground  apace  ; 


*  Absens  potius  se  dolere  simulavit,  ut  suos,  quod  diximus,  ma- 
gis  commoveret :  et  praesens  item  se  doluisse  simulavit,  ut  vir  pru- 
dentissimus,  scenoe  quod  dunt  serviret — Corradi  Questura.  p.  291. 

f  Decrevit  seuatus  frequens  de  de  meo  reditu  Kal.  Jun.  dissen- 
ticnte  nuUo,  referente  L.  Ninnio — intercessit  Ligus  iste  nescio  qui, 
iidditamentum  inlmicovum  meoium. — Omnia  senatus  rejiciebat,  nisi 
de  me  primum  consules  retulisscnt.     Pro  Sext.  31. 

Non  multo  post  discessum  meum  me  universi  revocavistis  refer- 
ente L.  Ninnio.     Post  red.  in  Sen.  2. 

X  Huic  ad  urbem  venienti  tota  obviam  civitas  cum  lacrymis, 
gcmituque  processerat.     Pro  Sext.  31. 

§  Mihi  etiam  unum  de  malis  in  metu  est,  fratris  miseri  nego- 
tium.     At  Att.  3.  8. 

De  Quinto  Fratre  nuncii  nobis  tristes — sane  sum  in  meo  infmito. 
xnoeroie  solicilus.  et  eo  magis,  quod  Appii  qunestio  est.     lb.  17^ 


Sect.  V.  CICERO.  4^5 

A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49.    Coss.....L.  Calpurnius  Piso.    A  Gabinius. 

being  grown  so  insolent,  on  his  late  success,  that  even 
his  friends  could  not  bear  him  any  longer  :  for  having 
banished  Cicero,  and  sent  Cato  out  of  his  way,  he  be- 
gan to  fancy  himself  a  match  for  Pompey  ;  by  whose 
help,  or  connivance  at  least,  he  had  acquired  all  his 
power  ;  and,  in  open  defiance  of  him,  seized  by  stra- 
tagem into  his  hands  the  son  of  king  Tigranes,  v/hom 
Pompey  had  brought  with  him  from  the  east,  and  kept 
a  prisoner  at  Rome  in  the  custody  of  Flavins  the  prae- 
tor ;  and,  instead  of  delivering  him  up,  when  Pompey 
demanded  him,  undertook,  for  a  large  sum  of  money, 
to  give  him  his-  liberty  and  send  him  home.     This 
however  did  not  pass  without  a  sharp  engagement  be- 
tween him  and  Flavius,  "  who  marched  out  of  Rome, 
"  with  a  body  of  men  well  armed,  to  recover  Tigranes 
"  by  force  :  but  Clodius  proved  too  strong  for  him  ; 
"  and  killed  a  great  part  of  his  company,  and  among 
"  them  Papirius,  a  Roman  knight  of  Pompey's  inti- 
*'  mate  acquaintance,  while  Flavius  also  himself  had 
^'  some  difficulty  to  escape  with  life  "^.^ 

This  affront  roused  Pompey  to  think  of  recalling  Ci- 
cero ;  as  well  to  correct  the  arrogance  of  Clodius,  as 

Me  expulso,  Catone  amendato,  in  eum  ipsum  se  convertit,  quo 
auctore,  quo  adjutore,  in  concionibus  ea,  quis  gcrcbat,  omnia,  quse- 
que  gesserat,  se  fecisse  et  facere  dicebat.  Cn.  Pompelum— diutius 
furori  suo  veniam  daturura  non  arbitrabatur.  Qui  ex  ejus  custo- 
dia  per  insidias  regis  amici  filium,  hostem  captivum  surripuisset  j  et 
€a  injuria  virurn  fortissimum  lacessisset.  Speravit  iisdem  se  copiis 
cum  lilo  posse  confligere,  quibuscum  ego  noluisseiu  bonorurn  peri- 
culo  dimicare.     Pro  Dom.  25. 

Ad  quartum  ab  urbe  lapidem  pugna  facta  est  :  in  qua  multi  ex 
utraque  parte  ceciderunt  -,  plures  tamen  ex  Flavii,  inter  quos  M, 
Papirius,  Eques  Romanus,  publicanus,  familiaris  Pompeio.  Fla- 
vius  sine  comltc  Romain  vix  perfugit.     Ascon.  in  Milon,  14. 


4o6  The  LIFE  of  Sect.  V. 

A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49.    Coss L.  Calpurnius  Piso.    A.  Gnbinius. 

to  retrieve  his  credit,  and  ingratiate  himself  with  the 
senate  and  the  people  :  he  dropt  some  hints  of  his  in- 
clination to  Cicero's  friends,  and  particularly  to  Atticus, 
who  presently  gave  him  part  of  the  agreeable  news  : 
upon  which  Cicero,  though  he  had  no  opinion  of  Pom- 
pey's  sincerity,  was  encouraged  to  write  to  him ;  and 
sent  a  copy  of  his  letter  to  Atticus,  telhng  him,  at  the 
same  time,  "  that  if  Pompey  could  digest  the  affront, 
'*  which  he  had  received  in  the  case  of  Tigranes,  he 
"  should  despair  of  his  being  moved  by  any  thing  f  .'* 
Varro  likewise,  who  had  a  particular  intimacy  with 
Pompey,  desired  Atticus  to  let  Cicero  know,  that  Pom- 
pey would  certainly  enter  into  his  cause,  as  soon  as  he 
heard  from  Cassar,  which  he  expected  to  do  every  day. 
This  intelligence  from  so  good  an  author,  raised  Cice- 
ro's hopes,  till,  finding  no  effects  of  it  for  a  considera- 
ble time,  he  began  to  apprehend  that  there  was  either 
nothing  at  all  in  it,  or  that  Caesar's  answer  was  averse, 
and  had  put  an  end  to  it  *.  The  fact  however  shev/s, 
what  an  extraordinary  deference  Pompey  paid  to  Cas- 


-f-  Sermonem  tuum  et  Pomptii  cognovi  ex  tuis  Uteris.  Motum 
in  repub.  iion  tantura  impendere  video,  quantum  tu  aut  vides,  aut  ad 
me  consolandum  afters. — Tigrane  enim  neglecto  sublata  sunt  om- 
nia— literarum  exemplum,  quas  ad  Pompeium  scripsi,  misi  tibi. 
Ad  Att.  5.  8. 

Pompeium  etiam  simulatorem  puto.      Ad  Quint.  Fra.  i.  3. 

Ex  literis  tuis  plenus  sum  expectatione  de  Pompeio,  quid  nam 
dc  nobis  velit,  aut  ostendat. — Si  tibi  stultus  esse  videor,  qui  sperem, 
facio  tuo  jussu.     Ad  Att.  3.  14. 

*  Expectationem  nobis  non  paryam  attuleras,  cum  scripseras 
Varronem  tibi  pro  amicitia  confivmasse,  causam  nostram  Pompeium 
ceite  suscepturum  •,  et  slmul  a  Ca^sare  litera?,  quas  expectaret,  re- 
^missae  essent,  auctorem  etiam  daturum.  Utrum  id  nihil  fuit,  an  ad- 
Versatai  sunt  Ciesaris  litcrae  ?     lb.  18. 


Sect.  V.  CICERO.  407 

A.  Urb.  695.     Cic.  49.     Coss. — -L.  Calpurnius  Piso.     A.  Gabinius. 

sar,  that  he  would  not  take  a  step  in  this  affair  at 
Rome,  without  sending  first  to  Gaul,  to  consult  him 
about  it. 

The  city  was  alarmed  at  the  same  time,  by  the  ru- 
mour of  a  second  plot  against  Pompey's  life,  said  to  be 
contrived  by  Clodius  ;  one  of  whose  slaves  was  seized 
at  the  door  of  the  senate,  with  a  dagger  which  his 
master  had  given  him,  as  he  confessed,  to  stab  Pom- 
pey  :  which,  being  accompanied  with  many  daring 
attacks  on  Pompey's  person  by  Clodius's  mob,  made 
him  resolve  to  retire  from  the  senate  and  the  forum, 
till  Clodius  was  out  of  his  tribunate  ;  and  shut  himself 
up  in  his  own  house,  w^hither  he  was  still  pursued  and 
actually  besieged  by  one  of  Clodius's  freedom,  Damio. 
An  outrage  so  audacious  could  not  be  overlooked  by 
the  magistrates,  who  came  out  with  all  their  forces,  to 
seize  or  drive  away  Damio  ;  upon  which  a  general  en- 
gagement ensued,  "  where  Gabinius,"  as  Cicero  says, 
"  was  forced  to  break  his  league  with  Clodius,  and 
*'  fight  for  Pompey  ;  at  first,  faintly  and  unwillingly, 
"  but  at  last  heartily  ;  while  Piso,  more  religious,  stood 
"  firm  to  his  contract,  and  fought  on  Clodius's  side, 
"  till  his  fasces  were  broken,  and  he  himself  wounded, 
*'  and  forced  to  run  away  *." 


*  Cum  haec  non  possent  diutius  jam  sustinere,  inltur  consilium  de 
interitu  Cn.  Pompeii :  quo  patefacto,  ferroque  depreiienso,  ille  in  • 
clusus  domi  tamdiu  fuit,  quaradiu  inimicus  meus  in  tribunatu.  Pro 
Sext.  32. 

Deprehensus  denique  cum  ferro  ad  senatum  is,  quern  ad  Cn. 
Pompeium  interimendum  collocatum  fuisse  constabat.     In  Pison.  12. 

Cum  tamen — Gabinius  collegit  ipse  se  vix  :  et  contra  suum  Clo- 
dium,  primum  simulate  j  deinde  non  libenter  •,  ad  extremum  tamen 

pro 


4o8  The  LIFE  of  Sect.  V 


A.  Urb.  695.     Cic.  49.    Coss  — L.  Calpurnius  Piso.     A.  Gabinius. 


Whether  any  design  was  really  formed  against  Pom- 
pey's  life,  or  the  story  was  contrived  to  serve  his  pre- 
sent views,  it  seems  probable  at  least,  that  his  fears 
were  feigned,  and  the  danger  too  contemptible,  to 
give  him  any  just  apprehension  ;  but  the  shutting  him- 
self up  at  home  made  an  impression  upon  the  vulgar, 
and  furnished  a  better  pretence  for  turning  so  quick 
upon  Clodius,  and  quelling  that  insolence  which  he 
himself  had  raised  :  for  this  was  the  constant  tenor  of 
his  politics,  to  give  a  free  course  to  the  public  disor- 
ders, for  the  sake  of  displaying  his  own  importance  to 
more  advantage  ;  that  when  the  storm  was  at  the 
height,  he  might  appear  at  last  in  the  scene,  like  a 
deity  of  the  theatre,  and  redute  all  again  to  order ; 
expecting  still  that  the  people,  tired  and  harrassed  by 
these  perpetual  tumults,  would  be  forced  to  create 
him  dictator,  for  settling  the  quiet  of  the  city. 

The  consuls-elect  were,  P.  Cornelius  Lentulus,  and 
(^  Metellus  Nepos :  the  first  was  Cicero's  warm  friend, 
the  second  his  old  enemy  ;  the  same  who  put  that 
affront  upon  him  on  laying  down  his  consulship ;  his 
promotion,  therefore,  was  a  great  discouragement  to 
Cicero,  who  took  it  for  granted,  that  he  would  employ 
all  his  power  to  obstruct  his  return  ;  and  reflected,  as 
he  tells  us,  "  that  though  it  was  a  great  thing  to  drive 
"  him  out,  yet  as  there  were  many  who  hated,  and 
*'  more  who  envied  him,  it  would  nut  be  difFicult  to 


pro  Cn  Pompeio  vere,  vehementerque  pugnavit.  Tu  tain  en  homo 
reljgiosus  et  H?.nctus,  foedus  frangere  noluisti — itaque  in  iMo  tumul- 
tu  tracti  fasce*-,  ictus  i.p'ie,  quotidie  tela,  lapides,  fugte.     Ibid. 


Sect.  IV.  CICERO. 


409 


A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49.    Coss.— L.  Calpurnius  Piso.    A.  Gabinius. 

^'  keep  him  out  *."     But  Metellus,  perceiving  which 
way  Pompey's  inchnation,  and  Caesar's  also,  was  turn- 
ing, found  reason  to  chiange  his  mind,  or  at  least  to 
dissemble  it ;  and  promised,  not  only  to  give  his  con- 
sent, but  his  assistance,  to  Cicero's  restoration.     His 
colleague,  Lentulus,  in  the  mean  while,  was  no  soon- 
er elected,  than  he  revived  the  late  motion  of  Ninnius, 
and  proposed  a  vote  to  recal  Cicero  ;  and  w^hen  Clo- 
dius  interrupted  him,  and  recited  that  part  of  his  law, 
which  made  it  criminal  to  move  any  thing  about  it ; 
Lentulus  declared  it  to  be  no  law,  but  a  mere  pro- 
scription, and  act  of  violence  f .     This  alarmed  Clo- 
dius,  and  obliged  him  to  exert  all  his  arts,  to  support 
the  validity  of  his  law  ;  he   threatened  ruin   and  de- 
struction to  all  who  should  dare  to  oppose  it ;  and,  to 
imprint  the  greater  terror,  fixed  on  the  doors  of  the 
senate-house,  that  clause  which  prohibited  all  men  to 
speak  or  act  in  any  manner  for  Cicero's  return,  on  pain 
of  being  treated  as  enemies.     This  gave  a  farther  dis- 
quiet to  Cicero,  lest  it  should  dishearten  his  active 
friends,  and  furnish  an  excuse  to  the  indolent,  for  do- 
ing nothing  :  He  insinuates,  therefore,  to  Atticus,  what 
might  be  said  to  obviate  it ;  "  that  all  such  clauses 
"  were  only  bugbears,  without   any  real  force  ;  or  o- 
**  therwise,  no  law  could  ever  be  abrogated  ;  and  what- 

*  Inimici  sunt  multi,  invldi  psene  omnes.  Ejicere  nos  magnum 
fuit,  excludere  facile  est.     Ep.  fam.  14.  3. 

f  Cum  a  tribuno  pleb.  vetaretur,  cum  praeclarum  caput  recita-. 
retur,  ne  quid  ad  vos  referret — tot  am  ill  am,  ut  ante  dixi,  proscrip- 
tionem,  non  legem  putavit.     Post  red.  in  Sen.  4. 


4IC 


The    life   of  Sect.  V, 


A.  Urb.  695.    Cic  49.     Coss. — L.  Caipurnius  Piso.    A.  Gabinius. 

"  ever  effect  this  was  intended  to  have,  that  it  must 
"  needs  fall  of  course  with  the  law  itself  "*." 

In  this  anxious  state  of  his  mind,  jealous  of  every 
thing  that  could  hurt,  and  catching  at  every  thing  that 
could  help  him,  another  little  incident  happened, 
"vvhich  gave  him  a  fresh  cause  of  uneasiness :  for  some 
of  his  enemies  had  published  an  invective  oration, 
drawn  up  by  him  for  the  entertainment  only  of  his 
intimate  friends  against  some  eminent  senator,  not 
named,  but  generally  supposed  to  be  Curio,  the  fa- 
ther, who  was  now  disposed  and  engaged  to  serve  him : 
he  was  surprized  and  concerned,  that  the  oration  was 
public  ;  and  his  instructions  upon  it  to  Atticus  are 
somewhat  curious ;  and  shew  how  much  he  was  struck 
with  the  apprehension,  of  losing  so  powerful  a  friend. 
"  You  have  stunned  me,"  says  he,  "  with  the  news  of 
"  the  oration's  being  published  :  heal  the  wound,  as 
*'  you  promise,  if  you  possibly  can  :  I  wrote  it  long  a- 
"  go  in  anger,  after  he  had  first  written  against  me  ; 
*•  but  had  suppressed  it  so  carefully,  that  I  never 
*'  dreamt  of  its  getting  abroad,  nor  can  imagine  how 
"  it  sHpt  out :  but  since,  as  fortune  would  have  it,  I 
"  never  had  a  word  with  him  in  person,  and  it  is  writ- 
"  ten  more  negligently  than  my  other  orations  usual- 
"  ly  are,  I  cannot  but  think  that  you  may  disown  it, 
*'  and  prove  it  not  to  be  mme  :  pray  take  care  of  this^ 


*  Tute  scripsisti,  quoddam  caput  legis  Clodlum  in  curiae  poste 
fixisse,  ne  referri,  neve  dici  liceret, — Ad  Att.  3.  15. 

Sed  vides  nunquam  esse  observatas  sanctiones  earum  legum,  quae 
abrogarentur.  Nam  si  id  esset,  nulla  fere  abrogari  posset  : — sed 
cum  lex  abrogatur,  illud  ipsum  abrogatur,  quo  non  earn  abrogari 
oporteat.     lb.  23. 


Sect.  V.  CICERO.  4ir 

A.  Urb.  69J.     Cic.  49.    Coss. — L.  Calpurnius  Piso.    A.  Gabinius. 

"  if  you  see  any  hopes  for  me  ;  if  not,  there  is  the  less 
"  reason  to  trouble  myself  about  it  *.'/ 

His  principal  agents  and  solicitors  at  Rome  were 
his  brother  Quintus,  his  wife  Terentia,  his  son-in-law 
Piso,  Atticus,  and  Sextius.  But  the  brother  and  the 
wife,  being  both  of  them  naturally  peevish,  seem  to 
have  given  him  some  additional  disquiet,  by  their  mu- 
tual complaints  against  each  other;  which  obliged  him 
to  admonish  them  gently  in  his  letters,  that  since  their 
friends  were  so  few,  they  ought  to  live  more  amicably 
among  themselves  f . 

Terentia,  however,  bore  a  very  considerable  part  of 
the  whole  affair  ;  and,  instead  of  being  daunted  by  the 
depression  of  the  family,  and  the  ruin  of  their  fortunes, 
seems  to  have  been  animated  rather  the  more  to  with- 
stand the  violences  of  their  enemies,  and  procure  her 
husband's  restoration.  But  one  of  Cicero's  letters  to 
her,  in  these  unhappy  circumstances,  will  give  the  clear- 
est view  of  her  character,  and  the  spirit  with  which 
she  acted. 

.    **  Cicero  to  Terentia. 
"  Do  not  imagine  that  I  write  longer  letters  to  any 

*  Percussisti  autem  me"  de  oratione  prolata  :  cui  vulneri,  ut  scri- 
bis,  mecjere,  si  quid  potes.  Scripsi  equidem  olim  ei  iratus,  quod  ille 
prior  scripserat  :  sed  ita  compresseram,  ut  nunquam  manaturam  pu> 
tarem.  Quo  modo  exciderit  nescio.  Sed  quia  nunquam  accidit, 
ut  cum  eo  verbo  uno  concertarem  j  &.  quia  scripta  mihi  videtur  ne- 
gligentius,  quam  cseterse,  puto  posse  probari  non  esse  meam.  Id, 
si  putas  me  posse  sanari,  cures  velim  :  sin  plane  perii,  minus  laboro. 
Ad  Att.  3.  XXL 

f  De  Quinto  fratre  nihil  ego  te  accusavi,  sed^vos, '5um  prassertim 
tam  pauci  estis,  volui  esse  qunm  conjunctissiraos.     Ep.  Fam.  14.  i^ 


412  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  V, 

A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49.    Coss.— L.  Calpurnius  Piso.    A  Gabinius. 

"  one  than  to  you,  unless  it  be  when  I  receive  a  long 
"  one  from  somebody  else,  which  I  find  myself  obliged 
"  to  answer.     For  I  have  nothing  either  to  write,  nor 
"  in  my  present  situation  employ  myself  on  any  thing 
*'  that  is  more  troublesome  to  me  ;  and  when  it  is  to 
"  you  and  our  dear  TuUiola,  I  cannot  write  without  a 
"  flood  of  tears.     For  I  see  you  the  most  wretched  of 
"  women,  whom  I  wished  always  to  see  the  happiest, 
"  and  ought  to  have  made  so ;   as  I  should  have  done, 
**  if  I  had  not  been  so  great  a  coward.     I  am  extreme- 
*'  ly  sensible  of  Piso's  services  to  us ;  have  exhorted 
"  him,  as  well  as  I  could,  and  thanked  him  as  I  ought. 
'*  Your  hopes,  I  perceive,  are  in  the  new  tribunes  : 
"  that  will  be  effectual,  if  Pompey  concur  with  them  : 
*'  but  I  am  afraid  still  of  Crassus.     You  do  every  thing 
*'  for  me,  I  see,  with  the  utmost  courage  and  affection  : 
"  nor  do  I  wonder  at  it ;  but  lament  our  unhappy  fate", 
*'  that  my  miseries  can  only  be  relieved  by  your  siif- 
*'  fering  still  greater  :  for  our  good  friend,  P.  Valerius 
"  wrote  me  word,  what  I  could  not  read   without 
"  bursting  into  tears,  how  you  were  dragged  from  the 
"  temple  of  Vesta  to  the  Valerian  bank.     Alas,  my 
"  light,  my  darling,  to  whom  all  the  world  used  to  sue 
"  for  help  !  that  you,  my  dear  Terentia,  should  be  thus 
"  insulted  ;  thus  oppressed  with  grief  and  distress !  and 
"  that  I  should  be  the  cause  of  it ;  I,  who  have  pre- 
"  served  so  many  others,  that  we  ourselves  should  be 
*'  undone  !  As  to  what  you  write  about  the  house,  that 
"  is,  about  the  area,  I  shall  then  take  myself  to  be 
"  restored,  when  that  shall  be  restored  to  us.     But 
*'  those  things  are  not  in  our  power.     What  affects  me 


Sect.  V.  CICERO. 


A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49-     Coss.— L.  Calpurnius  Piso.    A.  Gabinius. 


"  more  nearly  is,  that  when  so  great  an.expence  is  ne- 
"  cessarj,  it  should  all  lie  upon  you,  who  are  so  mi- 
'*  serably  stript  and  plundered  already.  If  we  live 
"  to  see  an  end  of  these  troubles,  we  shall  repair 
"  all  the  rest.  But  if  the  same  fortune  must  ever 
"  depress  us,  will  you  throw  away  the  poor  remains 
"  that  are  left  for  your  subsistence  ?  For  God's  sake, 
"  my  dear  life,  let  others  supply  the  money,  who  are 
"  able,  if  they  are  willing :  and  if  you  love  me,  do 
"  nothing  that  can  hurt  your  health,  which  is  already 
"  so  impaired.  For  you  are  perpetually  in  my  thoughts 
"  both  day  and  night.  I  see  that  you  decline  no  sort 
"  of  trouble  ;  but  am  afraid  how  you  will  sustain  it : 
'*  yet  the  whole  affair  depends  on  you.  Pay  the  first 
"  regard  therefore  to  your  health,  that  we  may  attain 
"  the  end  of  all  your  wishes,  and  your  labours.  I 
"  know  not  whom  to  write'  to,  except  to  those  who 
*'  WTite  to  me,  or  of  whom  you  send  me  some  good 
"  account.  I  will  not  remove  to  a  greater  distance, 
"  since  you  are  against  it ;  but  would  have  you  write 
"  to  me  as  often  as  possible,  especially  if  you  have  a- 
'■  ny  hopes  that  are  well  grounded.  Adieu,  my  dear 
"  love,  adieu.  The  5th  of  October  from  Thessalonica." 
Terentia  had  a  particular  estate  of  her  own,  not  ol:)- 
noxious  to  Clodius's  law,  which  she  was  now^  ofTering 
to  sale,  for  a  supply  of  their  present  necessities  :  this 
is  what  Cicero  refers  to,  where  he  entreats  her  not  to 
throw  away  the  small  remains  of  her  fortunes ;  which 
he  presses  still  more  warmly  in  another  letter,  putting 
her  in  mind,  "  that  if  their  friends  did  not  fail  in  their 
*'  duty,  she  should  not  want  money  ;  and  if  they  did, 


414 


The   life    of  Sect.  V, 


A.  Urb.  695.     Cic.  49,     Coss. — L.  Calpurnius  Piso.     A-  Gabinius. 

"  that  her  own  would  do  but  little  towards  making 
*'  them  easy  :  he  implores  her  therefore  not  to  ruin  the 
"  boy ;  who,  if  there  was  any  thing  left  to  keep  him 
"  from  want,  would,  with  a  moderate  share  of  virtue 
*'  and  good  fortune,  easily  recover  the  rest  *."  The 
son-in-law,  Piso,  was  extremely  affectionate  and  duti- 
ful in  performing  all  good  offices,  both  to  his  banished 
father  and  the  family  ;  and  resigned  the  quaestorship 
of  Pontus  and  Bithynia,  on  purpose  to  serve  them  the 
more  effectually  by  his  presence  in  Rome  :  Cicero 
makes  frequent  acknowledgement  of  his  kindness  and 
generosity ;  "  Piso's  humanity,  virtue  and  love  for  us 
*'  all  is  so  great,  "  says  he,"  that  nothing  can  exceed  it; 
*'  the  gods  grant  that  it  may  one  day  be  a  pleasure, 
"  I  am  sure  it  will  always  be  an  honour  to  him  f ," 

Atticus  likewise  supplied  them  liberally  with  mo- 
ney :  he  had  already  furnished  Cicero,  for  the  exigen- 
cies of  his  flight,  with  above  2000  pounds  ;  and,  upon 
succeding  to  the  great  estate  of  his  uncle  Caecihus, 
whose  name  he  now  assumed,  made  him  a  fresh  offer 
of  his  purse  X  yet  his  conduct  did  not  wholly  satis- 


*  Tantum  scribo,  si  erunt  in  officio  amici,  pecunia  non  deerit-, 
si  non  erunt,  tu  efficere  tua  pecunia  non  poteris.  Per  fortunas  mi- 
seras  nostras,  vide  ne  puerum  perditum  perdamus  :  cui  si  aliquid  e- 
rit,  ne  egeat,  mediocri  virtute  opus  est,  et  mediocri  fortuna,  ut  cse- 
tera  consequatur.     Ibid. 

f  Qui  Pontum  et  Bithyniam  qucestor  pro  mea  salute  neglexit. 
Post  red.  in  Sen.  15. 

Pisonis  humanitas,  virtus,  amor  in  nos  omnes  tantus  est,  ut  nihil 
supra  esse  possit.  Utinam  ea  res  ei  voluptati  sit,  gloriai  quidem 
video  fore.     Ep.  fam.  14.  i. 

*  Ciceroni,  ex  patria  fugienti  H.  S.  ducenta  et  quinquaginta 
millia  donaviL.     Corn.  Nep.  Vit.  Att.  4. 

Quod  to  in  tanta  hereditate  ab  cmini  occupatione  expedisti,  val- 


Sect.  V.  CICERO.  ^15 

A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49.    Coss. — L.  Calpurnius  Piso.    A.  Gabinius. 

fy  Cicero ;  who  thought  him  too  cold  and  remiss  in 
his  service ;  and  fancied  that  it  flowed  from  some  se- 
cret resentment,  for  having  never  received  from  him, 
in  his  flourishing  condition,  any  beneficial  proofs  of 
his  friendship  :  in  order  therefore  to  rouse  his  zeal,  he 
took  occasion  to  promise  him,  in  one  of  his  letters, 
that  whatever  reason  he  had  to  complain  on  that  score, 
it  would  all  be  made  up  to  him,  if  he  lived  to  return  : 
*•  If  fortune,  says  he,  ever  restore  me  to  my  country  ; 
"  it  shall  be  my  special  care,  that  you,  above  all  my 
"  friends,  have  cause  to  rejoice  at  it :  and  though  hi- 
"  therto,  I  confess,  you  have  reaped  but  httle  benefit 
"  from  my  kindness  ;  I  will  manage  so  for  the  future, 
"  that  whenever  I  am  restored,  you  shall  find  your- 
"  self  as  dear  to  me  as  my  brother  and  my  children  : 
"  If  I  have  been  wanting  therefore  in  my  duty  to  you, 
"  or  rather,  since  I  have  been  wanting,  pray  pardon 
"  me  ;  for  I  have  been  much  more  wanting  to  my- 


de  mihi  gratum  est.  Quod  facultates  tuas  ad  meam  salutem  polli- 
ceris,  ut  omnibus  rebus  a  te  praeter  cseteros  juvet,  Id  quantum  sit 
preesidium  video — Ad  Att.  3.  20. 

This  Caecilius,  Atticus's  uncle,  was  a  famous  churl  and  usurer, 
sometimes  mentioned  in  Cicero's  letters,  who  adopted  Attlcus  by 
his  will,  and  left  him  three  fourths  of  his  estate,  which  amounted 
to  above  80,000 1.  Sterling.  He  had  raised  this  great  fortune  by 
the  favour  chiefly  of  LucuUus,  whom  he  Mattered  to  the  last  with  a 
promise  of  making  him  his  heir,  yet  left  the  bulk  of  his  estate  to 
Atticus,  who  had  been  very  observant  of  his  humour :  for  which 
fraud,  added  to  his  notorious  avarice  and  extortion,  the  rtiob  seized 
his  dead  body,  and  dragged  it  infamously  about  the  streets. —  Val. 
Max.  7.  8.  Cicero,  congratulating  Atticus  upon  his  adoption,  ad- 
dresses his  letter  to  Q;_^ Caecilius,  Q:^F.  Pomponianus  Atticus.  For, 
in  assuming  the  name  of  the  adopter,  it  was  usual  to  add  also  their 

Vol.  I.  D  d 


4i6  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  V, 

A.  Urb.  695.     Cic.  49,     Coss. — L,  Calpurnius  Piso.     A»  Gabinius, 

"  self*."  But  Atticus  begged  of  him  to  lay  aside  all 
such  fancies,  and  assured  him,  that  there  was  not  the 
least  ground  for  them  ;  and  that  he  had  never  been 
disgusted  by  any  thing  which  he  had  either  done,  or 
neglected  to  do  for  him  ;  entreating  him  to  be  per- 
fectly easy  on  that  head,  and  to  depend  always  oh  his 
best  services,  without  giving  himself  the  trouble,  e- 
ven  of  reminding  him  *.  Yet  after  all,  the  suspicion 
itself,  as  it  comes  from  one  who  knew  Atticus  so  per- 
fectly, seems  to  leave  some  little  blot  upon  his  charac- 
ter :  but  whatever  cause  there  might  be  for  it,  it  is 
certain,  that  Cicero  at  least  was  as  good  as  his  word, 
and  by  the  care  which  he  took  after  his  return,  to  ce- 
lebrate Atticus's  name  in  all  his  writings,  has  left 
the  most  illustrious  testimony  to  posterity  of  his  sin- 
cere esteem  and  affection  for  him. 

Sextius  was  one  of  the  tribunes  elect ;  and,  being 
entirely  devoted  to  Cicero,  took  the  trouble  of  a  jour- 
ney into  Gaul,  to  solicit  Caesar's  consent  to  his  restora- 

own  family  name,  though  changed  in  its  termination  from  Pompo- 
nius  to  Pomponianus,  to  preserve  the  memory  of  their  real  extrac- 
tion :  to  which  some  added  also  the  surname,  as  Cicero  does  in  the 
present  case.     Ad  Att.  3.  20. 

*  Ego,  si  me  aliquando  vestri  et  patriae  compotem  fortuna  fece- 
rit,  certe  efficiam,  ut  maxime  laitere  unus  ex  omnibus  amicis  :  mea- 
que  officia  ac  studia,  quce  parum  antea  luxerunt  (fatendum  est  enim) 
sic  exequar,  ut  me  a;que  tibi  ac  fratri  et  liberis  nostris  restitutum 
putes.  Si  quid  in  te  peccavi,  ac  potius  quoniam  peccavi,  ignosce  :  in 
me  enim  ipsum  peccavi  vehementius.      Ad.  Att.  3.  15. 

X  Quod  me  vetas  quicquam  suspicari  accidisse  ad  animum  tuum, 
quod  secus  a  me  erga  te  commissum,  aut  prtetermissum  videretur, 
geram  tibi  morcm  et  liberabor  ista  cura.  Tibi  tamen  eo  plus  de- 
bebo,  quo  tua  in  me  humanitas  fuerit  excelsior,  quam  in  te  mea, 
lb.  20. 


Sect,  V.  CICERO.  417 

A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49.    Coss. — L.  Calpurnius  Piso.    A.  Gabinius. 

tion  ;  which  though  he  obtained,  as  well  by  his  own 
intercession,  as  by  Pompey's  letters,  yet  it  seems  to 
have  been  with  certain  limitations,  not  agreeable  to 
Cicero  :  for,  on  Sextius's  return  to  Rome,  when  he 
drew  up  the  copy  of  a  law,  which  he  intended  to  pro- 
pose, upon  his  entrance  into  office  ;  conformable,  as 
we  imagine,  to  the  conditions  stipulated  with  Caesar ; 
"  Cicero  greatly  disliked  it ;  as  being  too  general,  and 
"  without  the  mention  even  of  his  name,  nor  providing 
"  sufficiently  either  for  his  dignity,  or  the  restitution 
"  of  his  estate  ;  so  that  he  desires  Atticus  to  take  care 
"  to  get  it  amended  by  Sextius  *." 

The  old  tribunes,  in  the  mean  while,  eight  of  whonl 
were  Cicero's  friends,  resolved  to  make  one  effi)rt  more 
to  obtain  a  law  in  his  favour,  which  they  jointly  of- 
fered to  the  people  on  the  twenty-eigth  of  October  : 
but  Cicero  was  much  more  displeased  with  this,  than 
with  Sextius's  :  it  consisted  of  three  articles ;  the  first 
of  which  restored  him  only  to  his  former  rank,  but 
hot  to  his  estate  :  the  second  was  only  matter  of  form, 
to  indemnify  the  proposers  of  it :  the  third  enacted, 
"  that  if  there  was  any  thing  in  it,  which  was  prohibi- 
'"  ted  to  be  promulgated  by  any  former  law,  particu- 
"  larly  by  that  of  Clodius,  or  which  involved  the  au- 
''  thor  of  such  promulgation  in  any  fine  or  penalty, 


*  Hoc  interim  tempore,  P.  Sextius  deslgnatus,  iter  ad  C.  Cse- 
sarem  pro  mea  salute  suscepit.  Quid  egerit,  quantum  profecerit, 
nihil  ad  causam.     Pro  Sext.  32. 

Rogatio  Sextii  neque  dignitatis  satis  habet  nee  cautionis.  Nam. 
et  nominatim  ferre  oportet,  et  dc  bonis  diligentius  scribi :  ct  id  ani- 
madvertas  velim.     Ad  Att.  3.  20. 

Dd  2 


4iS  The  LIFE   of  Sect.  V, 

A.  Urb.  695.     Cie.  49.     Coss.— L.  Calpurnius  PIso.    A.  Gabinius. 

*'  that  in  such  case  it  should  have  no  effect.  Cicero 
"  was  surprized,  that  his  friends  could  be  induced  to 
"  propose  such  an  act,  which  seemed  to  be  against 
"  him,  and  to  confirm  that  clause  of  the  Clodian  law, 
"  which  made  it  penal  to  move  any  thing  for  him  :" 
whereas  no  clauses  of  that  kind  had  ever  been  regard- 
ed, or  thought  to  have  any  special  force,  but  fell  of 
course,  when  the  laws  themselves  were  repealed  :  he 
observes,  "  that  it  was  an  ugly  precedent  for  the  sue- 
*'  eeeding  tribunes,  if  they  should  happen  to  have  any 
"  scruples ;  and  that  Clodius  had  already  taken  the 
"  advantage  of  it,  when,  in  a  speech  to  the  people,  on 
"  the  third  of  November,  he  declared,  that  this  act  of 
**  the  tribunes  was  a  proper  lesson  to  their  successors, 
"  to  let  them  see  how  far  their  power  extended.  He 
"  desires  Atticus  therefore  to  find  out  who  was  the 
*'  contriver  of  it,  and  how  Ninnius  and  the  rest  came 
*'  to  be  so  much  overseen,  as  not  to  be  aw^are  of  the 
"  consequences  of  it  f ." 

The  most  probable  solution  of  it  is,  that  the?e  tri- 
bunes hoped  to  carry  their  point  with  less  difficulty, 
by  paying  this  deference  to  Clodius's  law,  the  validity 
of  which  was  acknowledged  by  Cato,  and  several  o- 
thers  of  the  principal  citizens  J ;  and  they  were  i»- 

-f-  Quo  major  est  suspicio  malltla;  alicujus,  cum  id,  quod  ad  ipsos 
nihil  pertinebat,  erat  autem  contra  me,  scripserunt.  Ut  novi  tri- 
buni  Pleb.  si  esseut  timidiores,  multo  magis  sibi  eo  capite  utendum 
putarent.  Neque  id  a  Clodio  pnetermissum  est,  dixit  enim  in  con- 
cione  ad  diem  III.  Non.  Novemb.  hoc  capite  designatis  tribunis 
pleb.  prsescriptum  esse  quid  liceret.  Ut  Ninnium  et  ca:teros  fugerit 
mvestiges  velim,  et  quis  attulerit,  &c.  lb.  23. 

X  Video  enim  quosdam  clarissimos  viros,  aliquot  locis  judicasse, 
te  cum  plebe  jure  agere  potui^-se.     Pro  Dom.  16. 


Sect.  V.  CICERO.  419 

A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49.    Coss. — L.  Calpurnius  Piso.    A.  Gabinius. 

duced  to  make  this  push  for  it,  before  they  quitted 
their  office,  from  a  persuasion,  that  if  Cicero  was  once 
restored,  on  any  terms,  or  with  what  restrictions  soe- 
ver, the  rest  would  follow  of  course  :  and  that  the  re- 
covery of  his  dignity  would  necessarily  draw  after  it 
every  thing  else,  that  was  wanted :  Cicero  seems  to 
have  been  sensible  of  it  himself  on  second  thoughts, 
as  he  intimates,  in  the  conclusion  of  his  letter ;  "  I 
*'  should  be  sorry,"  says  he,  "  to  have  the  new  tribunes 
*'  insert  such  a  clause  in  their  lav/  ;  yet  let  them  in^ 
•*  sert  what  they  please,  ifit  will  but  pass  and  call  me 
"  home,  I  shall  be  content  with  it  |{."  But  the  only 
project  of  a  law  which  he  approved,  was  drawn  by  his 
cousin  C.  Visellius  Aculeo,  an  eminent  lawyer  of  that 
age,  for  another  of  the  new  tribunes,  T.  Fadius,  who 
had  been  his  quaestor,  when  he  was  consul :  he  advised 
his  friends,  therefore,  if  there  was  any  prospect  of  suc- 
cess, to  push  forwards  that  law,  which  entirely  pleased 
iiim  §. 

In  this  suspense  of  his  affairs  at  Rome,  the  troops, 
which  Piso  had  provided  for  his  government  of  Ma- 
cedonia, began  to  arrive  in  great  numbers  in  Thessa- 
lonica  * :  This  greatly  alarmed  him,  and  made  him 
resolve  to  quit  the  place  without  delay  :  and  as  it  was 


II  Id  caput  sane  nolim  novos  tribunes  pleb.  ferre  :  sed  perferant 
modo  quidlibet :  uno  capite  quo  revocabor,  modo  res  conficiatur, 
tro  contentus.     Ad.  Alt.  3.  23. 

§  Sed  si  est  aliquid  in  spe,  vide  legem,  quara  T.  Fadio  scripsit 
Visellius  :    ea  mihi  perplacet. — Ibid. 

*  Me  adhuc  Plancius  etinet.— Sed  jam  cum  adventare  milites 
dkerentur,  faciendiun  nobis  erit,  ut  ab  eo  disccdamus,     lb.  22. 

BJ  3 


420  Tnt  LIFE  of  Sect.  V, 

...igiiMi   ri     II    .1^     .  ii>    n  iniai.i    I  ...  ,    I  II.  1.1    -T    -       1.  I.. 

A.  Urb.  695.    Cic,  49.     Coss.— -L.  Calpurnius  Piso.     A.  Gabinlus. 

jiot  advisable  to  move  farther  from  Italy,  he  ventured 
to  come  still  nearer,  and  turned  back  again  to  Dyr- 
rhachium :  for  though  this  was  within  the  distance 
forbidden  to  him  by  law,  yet  he  had  no  reason  to  ap- 
prehend any  danger,  in  a  town  particularly  devoted 
to  him,  and  which  had  always  been  under  his  special 
patronage  and  protection.  He  came  thither  on  the 
twenty-fifth  of  November,  and  gave  notice  of  his  re- 
moval to  his  friends  at  Rome,  by  letters  of  the  same 
date,  begun  at  Thessalonica,  and  finished  at  Dyrrha- 
chium  * :  which  shews  the  great  haste,  which  he 
thought  necessary,  in  making  this  sudden  change  of 
his  quarters.  Here  he  received  another  piece  of  news, 
which  displeased  him ;  "  that,  with  the  consent  and 
"  assistance  of  his  managers  at  Rome,  the  provinces 
"  of  the  consuls  elect  had  been  furnished  with  money 
"  and  troops  by  a  decree  of  the  senate  :"  but  in  what 
manner  it  affected  him,  and  what  reason  he  had  to  be 
uneasy  at  it,  will  be  explained  by  his  own  letter  up- 
on it  to  Atticus. 

"  When  you  first  sent  me  word,"  says  he,  "  that 
"  the  consular  provinces  had  been  settled  and  provid- 
"  ed  for  by  your  consent,  though  I  was  afraid  lest  it 
"  might  be  attended  with  some  ill  consequence,  yet  I 
"  hoped  that  you  had  some  special  reason  for  it,  which 

*  Dyirhachium  veni  quod  et  libera  civitas  est,  et  in  me  officiosa. 
Kp.  Fam.  14.  I. 

Nam  ego  eo  nomine  sum  Dyrrhachii,  ut  quam  celerrime  quid 
agatur,  audiam,  et  sum  tuto.  Civitas  enim  haec  semper  a  me  de- 
fensa  est.  lb.  3. 

(^od  mei  studiosos  habeo  Dyrrhachinos,  ad  eos  perrexi,  cum  ilia 
superiora  Thessalonicae  scripsissem.     Ad  Att.  3.  22.  Fam.  14.  i. 


Sect.  V.  CICERO.  421 

A.  Urb.  695.  Cic.  49.     Coss. — Ij.  Calpurnius  Piso.    A.  Gabinius. 

"  I  could  not  penetrate :  but  having  since  been  in-  . 
"  formed,  both  by  friends  and  letters,  that  your  con- 
"  duct  is  universally  condemned,  I  am  extremely  dis- 
"  turbed  at  it,  because  the  little  hopes  that  were  left 
"  seem  now  to  be  destroyed ;  for  should  the  new  tri- 
"  bunes   quarrel  with  us  upon  it,  what  farther  hopes 
"  can  there  be  ?  and  they  have  reason  to  do  so,  since 
"  they  were  not  consulted  in  it,  though  they  had  un- 
"  dertaken  my  cause,  and  have  lost  by  our  concession 
"  all  that  influence  which  they  would  otherwise  have 
"■  had  over  it,  especially  when  they  declare,  that  it 
"  was  for  my  sake  only  that  they  desired  the  power 
"  of  furnishing  out  the  consuls,  not  with  design  to . 
"  hinder  them,  but  to  secure  them  to  my  interest ; . 
"  whereas  if  the  consuls  have  a  mind  to  be  perverse,. 
*'  they  may  now  be  so  without  any  risk ;  yet,  let  them^ 
"  be  never  so  well  disposed,  they  can  do  nothing  without 
"  the  consent  of  the  tribunes.    As  to  what  you  say,  that> 
"  if  you  had  not  agreed  to  it,  the  consuls  would  have 
"  carried  their  point  with  the  people,  that  could  never 
"  have  been  done  against  the  will  of  the  tribunes :  I 
"  am  afraid,  therefore,  that  we  have  lost  by  it  the  af- 
"  fection  of  the  tribunes ;  or,  if  that  still  remains,  have 
"  lost  at  least  our  hold  on  the  consuls.     There  is  an- 
"  other  inconvenience  still,  not  less  considerable ;  for 
**  that  important  declaration,  as  it  was  represented  to 
'•  me  that  the  senate  would  enter  into  nothing  till  my 
"  affair  was  settled,  is  now  at  an  end,  and  in  a  case 
"  not  only  unnecessary,  but  new  and  unprecedented ; 
^'  for  I  do  not  believe  that  the  provinces  of  the  con- 

Dd4 


422 


The    life  of  Sect.  V. 


A.  Urb.  695.     Cic.  49.     Cosc. — L.  Calpunilus  Piso.     A.  Gabinius. 

"  suls  had  ever  before  been  provided  for,  until  their 
"  entrance  into  office  :  but  having  now  broken  through 
"  that  resolution  wliich  they  had  taken  in  my  cause, 
"  they  are  at  liberty  to  proceed  to  any  other  business 
"  as  they  please.  It  is  not,  however,  to  be  v/ondered 
*'  at,  that  my  friends,  who  were  applied  to,  should 
"  consent  to  it ;  for  it  was  hard  for  any  one  to  declare 
"  openly  against  a  motion  so  beneficial  to  the  two 
*'  consuls ;  it  was  hard,  I  say,  to  refuse  any  thing  to 
"  Lentulus,  who  has  always  been  my  true  friend,  or 
*'  to  Metellus,  who  has  given  up  his  resentments  with 
*'  so  much  humanity ;  yet  I  am  apprehensive  that  we 
"  have  alienated  the  tribunes,  and  cannot  hold  the 
*'  consuls :  write  me  word,  I  desire  you,  what  turn 
"  this  has  taken,  and  how  the  whole  affair  stands ; 
"  and  write  with  your  usual  frankness,  for  I  love  to 
"  know  the  truth,  though  it  should  happen  to  be  dis- 
*'  agreeable."     The  tenth  of  December  *. 

But  Atticus,  instead  of  answering  this  letter,  or  ra- 
ther indeed  before  he  received  it,  having  occasion  to 
visit  his  estate  in  Epirus,  took  his  way  thither  through 
Dyrrachium,  on  purpose  to  see  Cicero,  and  explain  to 
him  in  person  the  motives  of  their  conduct.  Their 
interview  was  but  short,  and  after  they  parted,  Cicero, 
upon  some  new  intelligence,  which  gave  him  fresh  un- 
easiness, sent  another  letter  after  him  into  Epirus,  to 
call  him  back  again  :  "  After  you  left  me,"  says  he, 
"  I  received  letters  from  Rome,  for  which,  I  perceive, 
"  that  I  must  end  my  days  in  this  calamity ;  and,  to 

*  Ad  Att.  3.  24. 


Sect.  V.  CICERO.  443 

A.  Urb,  6^S'     Cic.  49.     Coss.— L.  Calpurnius  Piso.    A.  Ga'^niur; 

"  speak  the  truth,  (which  you  will  take  in  good  part) 
"  if  there  had  been  any  hopes  of  my  return,  you,  who 
"  love  me  so  well,  would  never  have  left  the  city  at 
"  such  a  conjunctiure :  but  I  say  no  more,  lest  I  be 
*'  thought  either  ungrateful,  or  desirous  to  involve  my 
**  friends  too  in  my  ruin  :  one  thing  I  beg,  that  you 
"  would  not  fail,  as  you  have  given  your  word,  to 
"  come  to  me,  wherever  I  shall  happen  to  be,,  before 
"  the  first  of  January  f ." 

While  he  was  thus  perplexing  himself  with  perpe- 
tual fears  and  suspicions,  his  cause  was  proceeding  very 
prosperously  at  Rome,  and  seemed  to  be  in  such  a 
train  that  it  could  not  be  obstructed  much  longer : 
for  the  new  magistrates,  who  were  coming  on  with 
the  new  y^r,  were  all,  except  the  prastor  Appius, 
supposed  to  be  his  friends,  while  his  enemy  Clodius 
was  soon  to  resign  his  office,  on  which  the  greatest 
part  of  his  power  depended  :  Clodius  himself  was  sen- 
sible of  the  daily  decay  of  his  credit,  through  the  su- 
perior influence  of  Pompey,  who  had  drawn  Caesar  a- 
way  from  him,  and  even  forced  Gabinius  to  desert 
him ;  so  that,  out  of  rage  and  despair,  and  the  desire 
of  revenging  himself  on  these  new  and  more  power- 
ful enemies,  he  would  willingly  have  dropt  the  pur- 
suit of  Cicero,  or  consented  even  to  recal  him,  if  he 
could  have  persuaded  Cicero's  friends,  and  the  senate, 
to  join  their  forces  with  him  against  the  Triumvirate. 
For  this  end,  "  he  produced  Bibulus,  and  the  other 
*'  augurs,  in  an  assembly  of  the  people,  and  demanded 

^    I  Ad  Att.  3.  25. 


424 


The  life   of  Sect.  V. 


A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49.   Coss. — L.  Calpurnius  Piso-    A.  Gabinius. 

*'  of  them,  whether  it  was  not  unlawful  to  transact 
"  any  pubHc  business,  when  any  of  them  were  taking 
"  the  auspices  ?"  To  which  they  all  answered  in  the 
affirmative.  **  Then  he  asked  Bibulus,  whether  he 
**  was  not  actually  observing  the  heavens  as  oft  as  any 
"  of  Caesar's  laws  were  proposed  to  the  people  ?  To 
"  which  he  answered  in  the  affirmative :  but  being 
"  produced  a  second  time  by  the  praetor  Appius,  he 
"  added,  that  he  took  the  auspices  also,  in  the  same 
"  manner,  at  the  time  when  Clodius's  act  of  adoption 
*'  was  confirmed  by  the  people  :"  but  Clodius,  while 
he  gratified  his  present  revenge,  little  regarded  how 
much  it  turned  against  himself;  but  insisted,  "  that 
"  all  Caesar's  acts  ought  to  be  annulled  by  the  senate, 
"  as  being  contrary  to  the  auspices,  and  on  that  con- 
"  dition  declared  pubUcly,  that  he  himself  would  bring 
*'  back  Cicero,  the  guardian  of  the  city,  on  his  own 
"  shoulders  *." 

In  the  same  fit  of  revenge  he  fell  upon  the  consul 
Gabinius,  and  in  an  assembly  of  the  people,  which  he 
called  for  that  purpose,  with  his  head  veiled,  and  a 
little  altar  and  fire  before  him,  consecrated  his  whole 
estate.  This  had  been  sometimes  done  against  trai- 
terous  citizens,  and  when  legally  performed,  had  the 


*  Tu  tuo  praecipitante  jam  et  debilitate  tribunatii,  auspiciorum 
patronus  subito  extitisti.  Tu  M.  Bibulum  in  concione,  tu  augures 
produxisti.  Te  interrogante  augures  responderunt,  cum  de  coelo 
servatum  sit,  cum  populo  agi  non  posse — tua  denique  omnis  actio 
posterioribus  mensibus  fuit,  omnia,  quae  C.  Caesar  egisset,  quae  con- 
tra auspicia  essent  acta,  per  senatum  rescindi  oportere.  Quod  si 
fieret,  dicebas,  te  tuis  bumeris  me,  custodem  urbis,  in  urbem  rela- 
turum.     Pro  Dom,  15. 


Sect,  V,  CICERO.  425 


A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49.    Coss. — L.  Calpurniu'^  Piso,     A.  Gabinius. 


effect  of  a  confiscation,  by  making  the  place  and  ef- 
fects ever  after  sacred  and  public  ,  but,  in  the  present 
case,  it  was  considered  only  as  an  act  of  madness,  and 
the  tribune  Ninnius,  in  ridicule  of  it,  consecrated  Glo- 
dius's  estate  in  the  same  form  and  manner.,  that  what- 
ever efficacy  was  ascribed  to  the  one,  the  other  might 
justly  challenge  the  same  f , 

But  the  expected  hour  was  now  come,  which  put 
an  end  to  his  detestable  tribunate  :  it  had  been  uni- 
form and  of  a  piece  from  the  first  to  the  last ;  the  most 
infamous  and  corrupt  that  Rome  had  ever  seen  :  there 
was  scarce  an  office  bestowed  at  home,  or  any  favour 
granted  to  a  prince,  state,  or  city  abroad,  but  what  he 
openly  sold  to  the  best  bidder  :  "  The  poets,"  says  Ci- 
cero, "  could  not  feign  a  Charybdis  so  voracious  as  his 
"  rapine  :  he  conferred  the  title  of  king  on  those  who 
"  had  it  not,  and  took  it  away  from  those  who  had 
"  it  * ;"  and  sold  the  rich  priesthoods  of  Asia,  as  the 
Turks  are  said  to  sell  the  Grecian  bishopricks,  with- 
out regarding  whether  they  were  full  or  vacant ;  of 
which  Cicero  gives  us  a  remarkable  instance  :  "  There 
was  a  celebrated  temple  of  Cybele,  at  Pessinuns  in 
t*  Phrygia,  where  that   goddess  was  worshipped  with 


f  Tu,  tu,  inquam,  capite  velato,  concione  advocata,  foculo  po- 
sito  bona  tui  Gabinii  consecrasti  in — quid  ^  exemplo  tuo  bona  tua 
nonne  L.  Ninnius — consecravit  ?  quod  si,  quia  ad  te  pertinet,  ra- 
tum  esse  negas  oportere  j  ea  jura  constituisti  in  prseciaro  tribunatu 
tuo,  quibus  in  te  conversis,  recusares,    alios  eVerteres.  —Pro  Dom. 

47»  48.  ^ 

*  Reges  qui  erant,  vendidit  *,  qui  non  erant,  appellavit — quarn 
denique  tarn  immanem  Charybdim  poetae  fingendo  exprimere  potu- 
erunt,  quae  tantos  exhaurire  gurgites  posset,  quantas  iste  pryedtis— i 
cxsorbuit  ?     De  Harus.  resp.  27. 


4^6  The  LIFE  of  Sect.  V. 


A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49.    Coss — L.  Calpurnius  Piso.    A  Gabinius. 

*'  singular  devotion,  not  only  by  all  Asia,  but  Europe 
"  too ;  and  where  the  Roman  generals  themselves  of- 
"  ten  used  to  pay  their  vows  and  make  their  offerings." 
Her  priest  was  in  quiet  possession,  without  any  rival 
pretender,  or  any  complaint  against  him ;  yet  Clodius, 
by  a  law  of  the  people,  granted  this  priesthood  to  one 
Brogitarus,  a  petty  sovereign  in  those  parts,  to  whom 
he  had  before  given  the  title  of  of  king  :  "  and  I  shall 
"  think  him  a  king  indeed,"  says  Cicero,  "  if  ever  he 
"  be  able  to  pay  the  purchase-money  :"  but  the  spoils 
of  the  temple  were  destined  to  that  use  ;  if  Deiotarus, 
king  of  Galatia,  a  prince  of  noble  character,  and  a  true 
friend  to  Rome,  had  not  defeated  the  impious  bargain, 
by  taking  the  temple  into  his  protection,  and  main- 
taining the  lawful  priest  against  the  intruder ;  not  suf- 
fering Brogitarus,  though  his  son-in-law,  to  pollute  or 
touch  any  thing  belonging  to  it  *. 

All  the  ten  new  tribunes  had  solemnly  promised  to 
serve  Cicero  ;  yet  Clodius  found  means  to  corrupt  two 

*  Qui  accepta  pecunia  Pessinuntem  ipsum,  sedeci  domicilium- 
que  Matris  Deorum  vastaris,  et  Brogitaro,  Gallograeco,  impuro 
homini  ac  nelario — totum  ilium  locum  fanumque  vendideris.  Sa- 
cerdotem  ab  ipsis  aris,  pulvinaribusque  detraxeris.  Quae  reges  om- 
nes,  qui  Asiam  Europamque  tenuerunt,  semper  summa  religione  co- 
luerunt.  Qute  majores  nostri  tam  sancta  duxerunt,  ut — nostri  im- 
peratores  maximis  et  periculosissimis  bellis  huic  Deae  vota  facerent, 
eaque  in  ipso  Pessinunte  ad  illam  ipsam  principem  aram  et  in  illo 
loco  fanoque  persolverent.  Putabo  regcm,  si  habueiit  unde  tibi 
solvat.  Nam  cum  multa  regia  sunt  in  Deiotaro,  tum  ilia  niaxime, 
quod  tibi  nummum  nullum  dedit.  Quod  Pessinuntem  per  scelus  a 
te  violatum,  et  sacerdote,  sacrisque  spoliatum  recuperavit.  Quod 
c*remonias  ab  omni  vetustatc  acceptas  a  Brogitaro  poUuI  non  si- 
nlt,  mavultque  generum  suum  munere  tuo,  quam  illud  fanura  anti- 
quitate  religioni^.  carere.     Ibid.  13.     Pro  Scxt.  26. 


Sect.  V.  CICERO. 


427 


A.  Urb.  695.    Cic.  49.    Coss. — L.  Calpurnius  Piso.    A.  Gabinius. 

of  them,  S.  Atilius  Serranus,  and  Numerius  Quinctius 
Gracchus ;  by  whose  help  he  was  enabled  still  to 
make  head  against  Cicero's  party,  and  retard  his  re- 
storation some  time  longer :  but  Piso  and  Gabinius, 
perceiving  the  scene  to  be  opening  apace  in  his  fa- 
vour, and  his  return  to  be  unavoidable,  thought  it 
time  to  get  out  of  his  way,  and  retire  to  their  several 
governments,  to  enjoy  the  reward  of  their  perfidy ; 
so  that  they  both  left  Rome,  with  the  expiration  of 
this  year,  and  Piso  set  out  for  Macedonia,  Gabinius 
for  Syria. 


A,  Urb.  696.  Cic.  50.  Co£s.--P.  Cornel.  Lentul.  Spinther.  Q^Caecil.  Metcl.  Nepos, 

On  the  first  of  January,  the  new  consul  Lentulus, 
after  the  ceremony  of  his  inauguration,  and  his  first 
duty  paid,  as  usual,  to  religion,  entered  directly  into 
Cicero's  affair,  and  moved  the  senate  for  his  restora- 
tion * ;  while  his  collegue  Metellus  declared,  with 
much  seeming  candour,  "  that  though  Cicero  and  he 
"  had  been  enemies,  on  account  of  their  different  sen- 
"  timents  in  politics,  yet  he  would  give  up  his  resent- 
"  ments  to  the  authority  of  the  fathers,  and  the  inter- 
"*'  ests  of  the  republic  f ."  Upon  which  L.  Cotta,  a 
person  of  consular  and  censorian  rank,  being  asked  his 


*  Kalendis  Januariis. — P.  Lentulus  consul — simul  ac  de  solem- 
ni  religione  retulit,  nihil  humanarnm  rerum  sibi  prius,  quam  de  me 
agendum  judicavit.     Post  red.  ad  Quir.  5. 

X  Quae  etiam  coUeg-je  ejus  nioderatio  de  me  ?  Qui  cum  inimiciti- 
as  sibi  mecum  ex  reipub.  dissensione  susceptas  esse  dixisset,  eas  se 
patribus  conscriptis  dixit  et  temporibus  reipub.  permissurum — pro 
Sext.  32. 


428  The    LtFE   OF  Sect.  V. 


A.  Urb.  696.  Cic  50.  Coss.— P.  Corn.  Lentul.  Spinther.  Q_Cxc.  Metel.  Nepos. 


opinion,  the  first  saiid,  "  that  nothing  had  been  done  a- 
"  gainst  Cicero  agreeably  to  right  or  law,  or  the  cus- 
"  torn  of  their  ancestors  :  that  no  citizen  could  be  driv- 
*'  en  out  of  the  city  without  a  trial ;  and  that  the  peo- 
"  pie  would  not  condemn,  nor  even  try  a  man  capi- 
*'  tally,  but  in  an  assembly  of  their  centuries  :  that 
"  the  whole  was  the  eiTect  of  violence  turbulent  times, 
*'  and  an  oppressed  republic ;  that  in  so  strange  a  re- 
"  volution  and  confusion  of  all  things,  Cicero  had  on- 
"  ly  stept  aside,  to  provide  for  his  future  tranquillity, 
"  by  declining  the  impending  storm  :  and  since  he  had 
"  freed  the  republic  from  no  less  danger  by  his  ab- 
"  sence,  than  he  had  done  before  by  his  presence,  that 
*^  he  ought  not  only  to  be  restored,  but  to  be  adorned 
."  with  new  honours  :  that  what  his  mad  enemy  had 
*'  published  against  him,  was  drawn  so  absurdly,  both 
"  in  words  and  sentiments,  that,  if  it  had  been  enac- 
*'  ted  in  proper  form,  it  could  never  obtain  the  force 
''  of  a  law  :  that  since  Cicero  therefore  was  expelled 
'*  by  no  law,  he  could  not  want  a  law  to  restore  him, 
*'  but  ought  not  to  be  recalled  by  a  vote  of  the  se- 
"  nate." — Pompey,  who  spoke   next,  having  highly 
applauded  what  Cotta  said,  added,  "  that,  for  the  sake 
"  of  Cicero's  future  quiet,  and  to  prevent  all  farther 
*'  trouble  from  the  same  quarrer,  it  was  his  opinion, 
*'  that  the  people  should  have  a  share  in  conferring 
"  that  grace,  and  their  consent  be  joined  also  to  the 
"  authority  of  the  senate."     After  many  others  had 
spoken  likewise  with  great  warmth,  in  the  defence  and 
praise  of  Cicero,  they  all  came  unanimously  into  Pom- 
pey's  opinion,  and  were  proceeding  to  make  a  decree 
upon  it,  when  Serranus,  the  tribune,  rose  up  and  put 


Sect.  V.  CICERO.  4^9 

A.  Urb.  696.  Cic.50.   Coss. — P.  Corn.Lentul.  Spinther.  Q^Caee.  Merel.  Nepos. 

a  stop  to  it ;  not  flatly  interposing  his  negative,  for  he 
had  not  the  assurance  to  do  that,  against  such  a  spi- 
rit and  unanimity  of  the  senate,  but  desiring  only  a 
night's  time  to  consider  of  it.  This  unexpected  inter- 
ruption incensed  the  whole  assembly  ;  some  reproach- 
ed, others  entreated  him  ;  and  his  father-in-law,  Opi- 
us,  threw  himself  at  his  feet  to  move  him  to  desist : 
but  all  that  they  could  get  from  him,  was  a  promise  to 
give  way  to  the  decree  the  next  morning  ;  upon  which 
they  broke  up.  "  But  the  tribune,  "  says  Cicero,"  em- 
"  ployed  the  night,  not  as  people  fancied  he  would, 
"  in  giving  back  the  money  which  he  had  taken,  but 
"  in  making  a  better  bargain,  and  doubling  his  price  ; 
"  for  the  next  morning,  being  grown  more  hardy,  he 
"  absolutely  prohibited  the  senate  from  proceding  to 
"  any  act  *."  This  conduct  of  Serranus  surprized  Ci- 
cero's friends,  being  not  only  perfidious  and  contrary 


*.Tum  princeps  rogatus  sententiam  L.  Cotta,  dixit — Nihil  dc 
me  actum  esse  jure,  nihil  more  majorum,  nihil  legibus,  &c.  Quare 
me,  qui  nulla  lege  abessem,  non  restitui  lege,  sed  senatus  auctorita- 
te  oportere. — 

Post  eum  rogatus  sententiam  Cn.  Pompeius,  approbata,  laudata- 
que  Cottae  sententia,  dixit,  sese  otii  mei  causa,  ut  omni  populari  con- 
certatione  defungerer,  censere  j  ut  ad  senatus  auctoritatem  populi 
quoque  Romani  beneficium  adjungeretnr.  Cum  omnes  certatim,  a- 
liusque  alio  gravius  de  mea  salute  dixisset,  fieretque  sine  uUa  varie- 
tate  discessio  :  surrexit  Atilius  :  nee  ausus  est,  cum  esset  emptus, 
intercedere  *,  noctem  sibi  ad  deliberandum  postulavit.  Clamor  se- 
natus, querelas,  preces,  socer  ad  pedes  abjectus.  Ille,  se  affirmare 
postero  die  moram  nullam  esse  facturum.  Creditum  est :  discessum 
est :  illi  interea  deliberatori  merces,  interposita  nocte,  duplicata  est. 
Pro  Sext.  34. 

Deliberatio  non  in  redenda,  quemadmodum  nonnulli  arbitraban- 
tur,  sed,  ut  patefactum  est,  in  augenda  mercede  consumpta  est.  Post 
red.  ad  Quir  5. 


430  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  V. 

A.  Urb.  696.    Cic.  50.  Coss. — P.  Corn.  Lentul.  Spintlier.    Q^Caec.  Metel.  Nepos. 

to  his  engagements,  but  highly  ungrateful  to  Cicero ; 
who,  in  his  consulship,  had  been  his  special  encoura- 
ger  and  benefactor  J. 

The  senate,  however,  though  hindered  at  present 
from  passing  their  decree,  were  too  well  united,  and 
too  strongly  supported,  to  be  baffled  much  longer  by 
the  artifices  of  a  faction  :  they  resolved,  therefore, 
without  farther  delay,  to  propound  a  law  to  the  people 
for  Cicero's  restoration  ;  and  the  twenty-second  of  the 
month  was  appointed  for  the  promulgation  of  it. 
When  the  day  came,  Fabricius,  one  of  Cicero's  tri- 
bunes, marched  out  with  a  strong  guard,  before  it  was 
light,  to  get  possession  of  the  rostra  :  but  Clodius  was 
too  early  for  him  :  and  having  seized  all  the  posts  and 
avenues  of  the  forum,  was  prepared  to  give  him  a 
warm  reception  :  he  had  purchased  gladiators,  for  the 
shews  of  his  aedileship,  to  which  he  was  now  pretend- 
ing, and  borrowed  another  band  of  his  brother  Appius ; 
and  v/ith  these  well  armed,  at  the  head  of  his  slaves 
and  dependents,  he  attacked  Fabricius,  killed  several 
of  his  followers,  wounded  many  more,  and  drove  them 
quite  out  of  the  place ;  and  happening  to  fall  in  at 
the  same  tim.e  with  Cispius,  another  tribune,  who 
was  coming  to  the  aid  of  his  colleague,  he  repulsed 
him  also  with  great  slaughter.  The  gladiators,  heat- 
ed with  this  taste  of  blood,  "  opened  their  way  on  all 
"  sides  with  their  swords,  in  quest  of  Quintus  Cicero  ; 
"  whom  they  met  with  at  last,  and  would  certainly 

:j;  Is  tribunus  pleb.  quern  ego  maxmiis  beneficiis  quGcstorem  con- 
"^ul  ornaveram.     Ibid. 


Sect.  V.  CICERO,  43^ 

A.  Urb.  696.  Cic.  50.  Co3s.— P.  Corn.  Lent.  Spinther.  Q^Csc.  Mctel.  Nepos. 

*'  have  murdered,  if,  by  the  advantage  of  the  confu- 
*'  sion  and  darkness,  he  had  not  hid  himself  under  the 
"  bodies  of  his  slaves  and  freedmen,  who  were  killed 
*'  around  him ;  where  he  lay  concealed,  till  the  fray 
"  was  over."*  The  tribune  Sextius  was  treated  still 
more  roughly  ;;  "  for,  being  particularly  pursued  and 
"  marked  out  for  destruction,  he  was  so  desperately 
"  wounded,  as  to  be  left  for  dead  upon  the  spot ;  and 
"  escaped  death,  only  by  feigning  it :"  but  while  he 
lay  in  that  condition,  supposed  to  be  killed,  Clodius, 
reflecting  that  the  murder  of  a  tribune,  whose  person 
was  sacred,  would  raise  such  a  storm,  as  might  occa- 
sion his  ruin,  "  took  a  sudden  resolution  to  kill  one  of 
"  his  own  tribunes,  in  order  to  charge  it  upon  his  ad- 
"  versaries,  and  so  balance  the  account  by  making 
*'  both  sides  ^equally  obnoxious  :"  the  victim  doomed 
to  this  sacrifice  was,  Numerius  Quinctius,  an  obscure 
fellow,  raised  to  this  dignity  by  the  caprice  of  the  mul- 
titude, who,  to  make  himself  the  more  popular,  had 
assumed  the  surname  of  Gracchus :  "  but  the  crafty 
'*  clown,"  says  Cicero,  "  having  got  some  hint  of  the 
"  design,  and  finding  that  his  blood  was  to  wipe  off 
*'  the  envy  of  Sextius's,  disguised  himself  presently  in 
"  the  habit  of  a  muleteer,  the  same  in  Vv'hich  he  first 
^*  came  to  Rome,  and  with  a  basket  upon  his  head, 
**  while  some  were  calling  out  for  Numerius,  others  for 
**  Quinctius,  passed  undiscovered  by  the  confusion  of 
*•  the  two  names  :  but  he  continued  in  this  danger  till 
**  Sextius  was  known  to  be  alive  ;  and  if  that  discove- 
**  ry  had  not  been  made  sooner  than  one  would  have 
*'  wished,  though  they  could  not  have  fixed  the  odium 
Vol.  L  E  e 


43^ 


The   life   oy  Sect.  V. 


A.  Urb.  696.  Cic.  JO.  Coss.— P.  Corn.  Lent.  Fpinther.  C^Ca;c.  Metel.  Nepos. 


"  of  killing  their  mercenary  where  they  designed  it, 
*«  yet  they  would  have  lessened  the  infamy  of  cne 
*'  villainy,  by  committing  another,  v/hich  all  people 
*'  would  have  been  pleased  v/ith."  According  to  the 
account  of  this  day's  tragedy,  '*  the  Tiber,  and  all  the 
*'  common  sev/ers,  were  filled  with  dead  bodies,  and 
"  the  blood  wiped  up  with  sponges  in  the  forum,  where 
"  such  heaps  of  slain  had  never  before  been  seen,  but 
"  in  the  civil  dissensions  of  Cinna  and  Octavius  *." 

Clodius,  flashed  with  this  victory,  "  set  fire  with 
*'  his  own  hands  to  the  temple  of  the  nymphs  ;  where 


*  Prlnceps  rogatlonis,  vir  milii  amicissimus,  Q^Fabricius  tem- 

plum  aliquanto  ante  lucem  occupavit. Cum   forum,   comitium, 

curiam  multa  de  nocte  armatis  hominibus,  ac  servis  occupavissent, 
impetum  faciunt  in  Fabricium,  manus  afferunt,  occidunt  nonnullos, 
vulnerant  multos  :   venientem  in  forum,   virum   optimum  M.  Cispi- 

um vi  depellunt  :   ctedem  in  foro  maximam  faciimt.      Universi 

districtis  gladiis  in  omnibus  fori  partibus  fratrem  meum  oculis  quce- 
rebant,  voce  poscebant.— -Pulsus  e  rostris  in  comitio  jacuit,  seque 
bervorum  et  libertorum  corporibus  obtexit. 

Multis  vulneribus  acceptis,  ac  debilitato  corpore  contrucidato, 
Sextius,  se  abjecit  exanimatus  *,  neque  ulla  alia  re  ab  se  mortem, 
nisi  mortis  opinione,  depulit — At  vero  illi  ipsi  parricidoe. — Aded 
vim  facinori  sui  perhorruerant,  ut  si  paulo  longior  opinio  mortis 
Sextii  fuisset,  Gracchum  ilium  suum  transferendi  in  nos  criminis 
causa,  occiderecogitarint. —  Sensit  rusticulus,  non  incautus  v — muli- 
onicum  penulam  arripuit,  cum  qua  primum  Romam  ad  comitia  ve- 
nerit  :  messoria  se  corbe  contexit  y  cum  qua;rerent  alii  Numerium, 
alii  Quinctium,  gemini  nominis  errore  servatus  est,  atque  hoc  scitis 
onmes  ;  usque  adeo  hominem  in  periculo  fuisse,  quoad  scitum  sit, 
Sextium  vivere.  Quod  nisi  esset  patefactum  paulo  citius,  queni 
vellem,  &c.  Meministis  turn,  judices,  corporibus  civium  Tiberim 
compleri,  cloacas  referciri,  e  foro  spongiis  effingi  sanguinem. — La- 
pidationes  persoepe  vidimus  •,  non  ita  ssepe,  sed  nimium  tamen  saepe 
gladios  ;  csedem  vero  tantam,  tantos  acervos  corporum  extructos, 
nisi  forte  illo  Cinnano  atque  Octaviano  die,  quis  unquam  in  foro 
vidit  ?     Pro  Sext.  S5>  3^'  37»  3'^- 


Sect.  V.  CICERO. 


A.  Urb.  696.    Cic.  50.    Cos?.— P.  Corn.  Lent,  Spinther.   Q^  Csec  Metel.  Nepoa. 

*'  the  books  of  the  censors  and  the  public  registers  of 
"  the  city  v»'ei^  kept,  Vv^hich  were  all  consumed  with 
"  the  fabric  itself*."  He  then  attacked  the  houses 
of  Milo  the  tribune,  and  Cascihus  the  praetor,  with 
fife  and  sword ;  but  was  repulsed  in  both  attempts 
with  loss :  Milo  took  several  of  Appius's  gladiators 
"  prisoners,  who,  being  brought  before  the  senate, 
"  made  a  confession  of  what  they  knew,  and  were 
"  sent  to  jail :  biit  were  presently  released  by  Serra- 
*'  nus  f  .•'  Upon  these  outrages  Milo  impeached  Glo- 
dius  in  form,  for  the  violation  of  the  public  peace  : 
but  the  consul  Metellus,  who  had  not  yet  abandoned 
him.  wit!i  the  praetor  Appius,  and  the  tribune  Serra- 
iius,  resolved  to  prevent  any  process  upon  it ;  "  and  by 
"  their  edicts  prohibited,  either  the  criminal  himself 
"  to  appear,  or  any  one  to  cite  him  J."  Their  pre- 
tence was,  "  that  the  quaestors  were  not  yet  chosen, 
"  whose  office  it  w^as  to  make  the  allotment  of  the 
*'  judges  ;  while  they  themselves  .kept  back  the  elec- 
"  tion,"  and  were  pushing  Clodius  at  the  same  time 
into  the  aedileship ;  which  would  skreen  him  of 
course  for  one  year  from  any  prosecution.  Milo  there- 
fore, finding  it  impracticable  to  bring  him  to  justice 
in  the  legal  method,  resolved  to  deal  with  him  in  his 
own  way,  by  opposing  force  to  force ;  and  for  this 


*  Eum  qui  fedem  Nympliarum  Incendit,  ut  memoriam  publicam 
recensionis,  tabulis  publicis  impressam,  extingueret. — Pro  Mil.  27. 
Parad.  4.  de  Haruspic.  resp.  27. 

f  Gladiatores — compreliensi,  in  senatum  introducti,  confessi,  in 
vincula  conjecti  a  Milone,  emissi  a  Serrano — Pro  Sext.  39. 

X  Ecce  tibi  consul,  praetor,  tribunus  pleb.  nova  novi  generis  edic- 
ta  proponunt ;   ne  reus  adsit,  ne  citetur.— Pro  Sext.  41. 

E  e    2 


434 


The  life   of  Sect.  V. 


A.  Urb.  696.    Ck.  50.    Coss.— P.  Corn.  Lent.  Spinther.    Q^Caec.  MeteL  Nepos. 

end  purchased  a  band  of  gladiators,  with  which  h& 
had  daily  skirmishes  with  him  in  the  sheets ;  and  ac- 
quired a  great  reputation  of  courage  and  generosi- 
ty, for  being  the  first  of  all  the  Romans  who  had  e- 
ver  bought  gladiators  for  the  defence  of  the  repub- 
lie  ||. 

This  obstruction  given  to  Cicero's  return  by  an  ob- 
stinate and  desperate  faction,  made  the  senate  only  the 
more  resolute  to  effect  it :  they  passed  a  second  vote, 
therefore,  that  no  other  business  should  be  done,  till 
it  was  carried ;  and,  to  prevent  all  further  tumults 
and  insults  upon  the  magistrates,  ordered  the  consuls 
to  summon  all  the  people  of  Italy,  who  wished  well 
to  the  state,  to  come  to  the  assistance  and  defence  of 
Cicero  §.  This  gave  new  spirits  to  the  honest  citizens, 
and  drew  a  vast  concourse  to  Rome  from  all  parts  of 
Italy,  where  there  was  not  a  corporate  town  of  any 
note,  which  did  not  testify  its  respect  to  Cicero  by 
some  public  act  or  monument.  *'  Pompey  was  at 
"  Capua,  acting  as  chief  magistrate  of  his  new  colony ; 
"  where  he  presided  in  person  at  their  making  a  de- 
"  cree  to  Cicero's  honour,  and  took  the  trouble  like- 


II  Sed  honor!  summo  Miloni  nostro  nuper  fuit,  quod  gladiatori- 
bui  emptis  reipub.  causa,  quce  salute  ^lostra  continebatur  omnes  P. 
Ciodii  conatus  furoresque  compresslt.     De  Offic.  2.  17. 

j  Itaque  postea  nihil  vos  civibus,  nihil  sociis,  nihil  regibus 
respondistis.     Post  red.  in  Sen.  3. 

Quid  mihi  pra;clarius  accidere  potuit,  quam  quod  illo  referente 
vos  decrevistis,  yit  cuncti  ex  omni  Italia,  qui  remp.  salvam  vellcnt, 
ai  me  unum"-restituendum  et  defendendum  venirent  ?   lb.  9. 

In  una  mea  causa  factum  est,  ut  Uteris  consul aribus  ex  S.  C. 
cuncta  ex  Italia,  oranes,  qui  rcmp.  salvam  vellent,  convocarentur^ 
Pro  Sext.  60. 


Sect.  V.  CICERO.  435 

A.  Urb.  696.    Cic.  50.    Coss. — P.  Corn.  Lent.  Spinther.    Q^Cxc.  Metel.  Nepos. 

"  wise  of  visiting  all  the  other  colonies  and  chief  towns 
"  in  those  parts,"  to  appoint  them  a  day  of  general 
rendezvous  at  Rome,  to  assist  at  the  promulgation  of 
the  law  *. 

Lentulus,  at  the  same,  was  entertaining  the  city 
with  shews  and  stage  plays,  in. order  to  keep  the  peo- 
ple in  good  humour,  whom  he  had  called  from  their 
private  affairs  in  the  country,  to  attend  the  public 
business.  The  shews  were  exhibited  in  Pompey's 
theatre,  while  the  senate,  for  the  convenience  of  be- 
ing near  them,  was  held  in  the  adjoining  temple  of 
honour  and  virtue,  built  by  Marius  out  of  the  Cym- 
brie  spoils,  and  called  for  that  reason,  Marius's  monu- 
ment :  here,  according  to  Cicero's  dream,  a  decree 
now  passed  in  proper  form  for  his  restoration  ;  when, 
under  the  joint  influence  of  those  deities,  "  honour," 
he  says,  "  was  done  to  virtue  ;  and  the  monument  of 
"  Marius,  the  preserver  of  the  empire,  gave  safety  to 
"  his  countryman,  the  defender  of  it  f , 

The  news  of  this  decree  no  sooner  reached  the 
neighbouring  theatre,  than  tlie  whole  assembly  ex- 
pressed their  satisfaction  by  claps  and  applauses,  which 
they  renewed  upon  the  entrance  of  every  senator  ;  but 


*  Qui  in  colonia  nuper  constituta,  cum  ipsa  gereret  iiiagistratum, 
vim  et  crudelitatem  privilegii  auctoritate  honestissimorum  hominum, 
■et  publicis  Uteris  consignavit :  princepsque  Italian  totius  prit;sidium 
ad  meam  salutem  implorandum  putavlt.     Post  red.  in  Sen.  ii. 

Hie  muncipia,  coloniasque  audiit :  hie  Italian  totius  auxiliurn  ini- 
ploravit.     Pro  Dom.  I2. 

f  Cum  in  temple  honoris  et  virtutis,  honos  habitus  esset  virtuti  ; 
Caiique  Marii,  conservatoris  hujus  imperii,  monumentum,  munic^pi 
ejus  et  reipub.  defensor!  sedem  ad  Salutem  prsebuisset.  Pro  Sext. 
54.  it.  50. 

Ee  3 


436  The   life   of  Sect.  V- 

A.  Urb.  696.   Cic/50.  Coss.— r.  Corn.  Lent.  Spinther.   Q^Cxc.  Metel.  Nepos. 


when  the  consul  Lentukis  took  his  place,  they  all  rose 
up  and  with  acclamations,  stretched  out  hands,  and 
tears  of  joy,  publicly  testified  their  thanks  to  him.  But 
when  Glodias  ventured  to  shew  himself,  they  were 
hardly  restrained  from  doing  him  violence  ;  throwing 
out  reproaches,  threats  and  curses  upon  him  :  so  that, 
in  the  shews  of  gladiators,  which  he  could  not  bear  to 
be  deprived  of,  he  durst  not  go  to  his  seat  in  the  com- 
mon and  open  manner,  but  used  to  start  up  into  it  at 
once,  from  somxC  obscure  passage  under  the  benches, 
w^hich  on  that  account  was  jocosely  called,  the  Appian 
w^ay  ;  where  he  was  no  sooner  espied,  than  so  **  gene- 
"  ral  a  hiss  ensued,  that  it  disturbed  the  gladiators, 
*'  and  frightened  their  very  horses.  From  these  sig- 
"  significations,  says  Cicero,  he  might  learn  the  diffe- 
"  rence  betv/een  the  genuine  citizens  of  Rome,  and 
"  those  packed  assemblies  of  the  people,  where  he  u- 
"  sed  to  domineer ;  and  that  the  men,  who  lord  it  in 
"  such  assemblies,  are  the  real  aversion  of  the  city  ; 
"  while  those  who  dare  not  show  their  heads  in  them, 
"  are  received  with  all  demonstration  of  honour  by  the 
"  whole  people*." 


*  Audito  S.  C.  ore  ipsi,  atquc  absent!  senatui  plausus  est  ab  imi  • 
versis  datus  :  deinde,  cum  senatoribus  singulis  spectatum  e  senatu 
redeuntibus  :  cum  vero  ipse,  qui  ludos  faciebat,  consul  assedit :  stan- 
tes,  &.  manibus  passis  gvatias  agentes,  &  lacrymantes  gaudio,  suam 
crga  me  benevolentiam  ac  misericordiam  dcclaranmt  ;  at  cum  ille 
furibuiidus  venisset,  vix  se  populus  Romanus  tenuit. — Pro  Sext.  5  <;. 
Is,  cum  quotidie  gladiatores  spectaret,  nunquam  est  conspectus, 
cum  veniret :  emergebat  subito,  cum  sub  tabulas  subrepserat — ita- 
que  ilia  via  latebrosa,  qua  ille,.spectatum  venicbat,  Appia  jam  vo- 
cabatur,  qui  tamen  quo  tempore^conspectus  erat,  non  modo  gladia- 
tores, sed  equi  ipsi  gladiatorum  repentinis  sibilise.xtimescebant.- Vi- 

detisne 


Sect.  V.  CICERO. 


437 


A.  Urb.  696.  Cic.  50.  Coss.— P.  Corn.  Lent.  Spintbcr.    Q^  Cccc.  Metcl.  Nepos. 

When  the  decree  passed,  the  famed  tragedian,  ^- 
sopus,  who  acted,  as  Cicero  says,  the  same  good  part 
in  the  republic  that  he  did  upon  the  stage,  was  per- 
^forming  the  part  of  Telamon,  banished  from  his  coun- 
try, in  one  of  Accius's  plays  ;  where,  by  the  emphasis 
of  his  voice,  and  the  change  of  a  word  or  two  in  some 
of  the  lines,  he  contrived  to  turn  the  thoughts  of  the 
audience  on  Cicero.  '*  What  he  !  who  ahvays  stood 
^-  up  for  the  republic  I  vAio  in  doubtful  times  spared 
"  neither  life  nor  fortunes — the  greatest  friend  in  the 
^'  greatest  danger — of  such  parts  and  talents — O  Fa- 
*'  ther— I  saw  his  houses  and  rich  furniture  all  in 
'*  flames — O  ungrateful  Greeks,  inconstant  people ; 
"  forgetful  of  sendees  I — to  see  such  a  man  banished ; 
^*  driven  from  his  country  ;  and  suffer  him  to  continue 
"  so  ?" — At  each  of  which  sentences  there  was  no  end 
of  clapping. — In  another  tragedy  of  the  same  poet, 
called  Brutus,  he  pronounced  Tullius,  who  estabhsh- 
ed  the  liberty  of  his  citizens ;  the  people  were  so  af- 
fected, that  they  called  for  it  again  a  thousand  times. 
This  was  the  constant  practice  through  the  vv^hole  time 
of  his  exile,  there  Vv'^as  not  a  passage  in  any  play,  which 
could  possibly  be  applied  to  his  case,  but  the  whole 
a^udience  presently  catched  it  up,  and  by  their  claps 
and  applauses  loudly  signified  their  zeal  and  good  wish- 
es for  him  f . 


detisne  igitur,  quantum  inter  populum  Romanum,  &.  concionem 
inteisit  ?  Dorainos  concionum  omni  odio  populi  notaii  ?  Quibus  au- 
tem  conslstere  in  operarum  concionibus  non  liceat,  ecs  omni  populi 
Romani  significatione  decoraii  ? — lb.  59. 

f   Recenti  nuncio  de  iilo  S.  C.  ad  ludos,  sc^naraque  perlato  sum- 
mus  artifex,  &  me  meliercule  semper  partium  in  repub.  tanquamiii 

E  e  4 


438  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  Y. 

A.  Urb.  696.  Cic.  50.  Cos?.— P.  Corn.  Lent.  Spinther.  Q^Cxc.  Metel.  Nepos. 

Though  a  decree  was  regularly  obtained  for  Cice- 
ro's return,  Clodius  had  the  courage  and  address  still 
to  hinder  its  passing  into  a  law  :  he  took  all  occasions 
of  haranguing  the  people  against  it ;  and  when  he  had 
filled  the  forum  with  his  mercenaries,  "   used  to  de- 
"  mand  of  them  aloud,  contrary  to  the  custom  of  Rome, 
*'  whether  they  would  have   Cicero  restored  or  not ; 
"  upon  which  his  emissaries  raising   a  sort  of  a  dead 
"  cry  in  the  negative,  he  laid  hold  of  it,  as  the  voice 
"  of  the  Roman  people,  and  declared  the  proposal  to 
"be  rejected:!:."      But  the  senate,  ashamed  to  see 
their  authority  thus  insulted,  when  the  whole  city  was 
on  their  side,  resolved  to  take  such  measures  in  the 
support  of  their  decrees,  that  it  should  not  be  possible 
to  defeat  them.     Lentulus  therefore  summoned  them 
into  the  Capitol,  on  the  twentyfifth  of  May ;  where 
Pompey  began  the  debate,  and  renewed  the  motion 
for  recalling  Cicero ;  and,  in  a  grave  and  elaborate 
speech  which  he  had  prepared  in  writing,  and  deliver- 


bcena,  optirnatium,  flens  &  recenti  la-titia  &.  misto  dolore  ac  deside- 
rio  mei — summi  eiiim  poetae  ingenium  non  solum  arte  sua  sed  etlam 
dolore  exprimebat.  "  Quid  enim  ?  qui  remp.  certo  animo  adjuve- 
"  rit,  statuerit,  steterit  cum  Achivis — re  dubia  nee  dubitarit  vitam 

"  ofFerre,  iiec  caplti  perpercerit,- summum  amicum  summo  in 

*'  belio,  summo  ingenio  praiditum — O  Pater — hsec  omnia  vidi  In- 
**  flammari — O  ingratifici  Argivi,  Inanes  Graii,  immemores  benefi- 
*'  cii !  -exulari  senitis,  sistis  pelli  pulsum  patimini" — quae  signiiicatio 
fuerit  omnium, qu'ce  declaratio  voluntatis  abuniverso  populo  Romano? 
Nominatim  sum  appeilatus  in  Eruto,  Tullius,  qui  libertatem  ci- 
vibus  stabiliverat.     Millies  revocatum  est.     Pro  Sext.  ^6,  7,  8. 

%  lUe  tribunus  pleb.  qui  de  me  ■  non  majorum  sucrum,  sed 
Graeculorum  instituto  fonscionem  intcrrogare  solebat,  velletne  me 
redire  :  &.  cum  erat  reclamatum  seraivivis  mercenariorum  vccibus:  ^ 
populurn  Rcmanum  negare  dicebat.     lb.  59. 


Sect.V.  CICERO,  439 

A.  Urb.  696.  Cic.  50.  Coss. — P.  Corn.  Lent.  Spinther.  Q^Caec.  Metel.  Nepos. 

ed  from  his  notes,  which  gave  him  the  honour  of  hav- 
ing saved  his  country  "*,     All  the  leading  men  of  the 
.senate  spoke  after  him  to  the  same  effect ;  but  the 
consul  Metellus,  notwithstanding  his  promises,  had 
been  acting  hitherto  a  double  part ;  and  was  all  along 
the  chief  encourager  and  supporter  of  Clodius  :   Vv^hen 
Servilius  therefore  rose  up,  a  person  of  the  first  digni- 
ty, who  had  been  honoured  with  a  triumph  and  the 
censorship,  he  addressed  himself  to  his  kinsman,  Me- 
tellus ;  and,  "  calling  up  from  the  dead  all  the  family 
"  of  the  Metelli,  laid  before  him  the  glorious  acts  of 
"  his  ancestors,  with  the  conduct  and  unhappy  fate  of 
"  his  brother,  in  a  manner  so  moving,  that  Metellus 
"  could  not  hold  out  any  longer,  against  the  force  of 
"  the  speech,  nor  the  authority  of  the  speaker,  but, 
"  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  gave  himself  up  to  Servilius, 
"  and  professed  all  future  services  to  Cicero  :"  in  v/hich 
he  proved  very  sincere,  and  from  this  moment  as- 
sisted his  colleague  in  promoting  Cicero's  restoration  : 
"  to  that  in  a  very  full  house,  of  four  hundred  and 
"  seventeen  senators ;  when  all  the  magistrates  were 
"  present,  the  decree  passed  without  one  dissenting 
**  voice,  but  Clodius's  f  :"  which  gave  occasion  to  Ci- 


*  Idem  ille  consul  cum  ilia  Incredibilis  multltudo  Romam,  &. 
paene  Italia  ipsa  venisset,  vos  frequentissimos  in  Capitolium  convo- 
cavit.  (Post  red.  in  Sen.  10.)  Cum  vir  is,  qui  tripaititas  orbis  ter- 
rarum  oras  atque  regiones  tribus  triumphis  huic  imperio  adjunctas 
notavit,  de  scripto  sententia  dicta,  mihi  uni  testimonium  patrise  con- 
servatKi  dedit — Pro  Sext.  61. 

f  Qii*  Metellus,  &  inimicus  &  frater  inimici  perspecta  vestra. 
voluntate,  omnia  privata  odia  deposuit :  quem  P.  Servilius — &.  auc  . 
toritatis  &.  orationis  suae  divina  quadam  gravitate  ad  sui  generis, 
communisquc  sanguinis  facta,  virtutesque  revocavit,  ut  baberet  in. 


44^  The   LIFE   of  Sect.  V. 


A.  Urb.  696.  Cic.  50.  Coss.— P.  Corn.  Lent.  Spinther.    Q^Cxc.  Metel.  Nepc 


cero  to  write  a  particular  letter  of  thanks  to  Metellus, 
as  he  had  done  once  before,  upon  his  first  declaratioq 
for  him  J. 

Some  may  be  apt  to  wonder  why  the  two  tribunes, 
who  were  Cicero's  enemies  still  as  much  as.  ever,  did 
not  persevere  to  inhibit  the  decree  ;  since  the  nega- 
tive of  a  single  tribune  had  an  indisputable  force  to 
stop  proceedings ;  but  when  that  negative  was  whoL 
ly  arbitrary  and  factious :  contrary  to  the  apparent 
interest  and  general  inclination  of  the  citizens ;  if  the 
tribune  could  not  be  prevailed  with  by  gentle  means 
to  recal  it,  the  senate  used  to  enter  into  a  debate  up- 
on the  merit  of  it,  and  proceed  to  some  extraordinary 
resolution,  of  declaring  the  author  of  such  an  opposi- 
tion, an  enemy  to  his  country ;  and  answerable  for 
all  the  mischief  that  was  likeky  to  ensue ;  or  of  or.- 
dering  the   consuls  to  take  care  that  the  republic  re- 
ceived no  detriment ;  which  votes  were  thought  to 
justify  any  methods,  how  violent  soever,  of  removing 
either  the  obstruction  or  the  author  of  it ;  who  seldom 
cared  to  expose  himself  to  the  rage  of  an  inflamed  ci- 
ty, headed  by  the  consuls  and  the  senate,  and  to  as- 
sert his  prerogative  at  the  peril  of  his  life. 


consilio  &  fratrem  ab  inferis — &  omnes  Metellos,  prasstantissimos 
cives— itaque  extitit  non  modo  salutis  defensor, — verum  etiam  ad- 
scrlptor  dignitatis  meae.  Quo  quidem  die,  cum  vos  CDXIX,  ex 
senatu  essetis,  magistr^tus  autem  hi  omnes  adessent,  dissensit  unus 
— Post  red.  in  Sen.  10. 

Collacrymavit  vir  egregius  ac  vere  Metellus,  totumque  se  P. 
Servilio  dicenti  etiam  tum  tradldit.  Nee  illam  divinam  gravitatem, 
plenam  antlquitatis,  diutius  potuit  sustinere.     Pro  Sext.  62. 

:|:  Epist.  fam.  c,  ^. 


Sect.  V.  CICERO.  441. 


A.  Ur'o.  696.    Cic,  50.    Coss.— P.  Corn.  Lent.  Spinther,    Q^Caec.  Metel.  Ncpos. 

This  in  effect  was  the  case  at  present ;  when  the 
consul  Lentukis  assembled  the  senate  again  the  next 
day,  to  concert  some  effectual  method  for- preventing 
all  farther  opposition,  and  getting  the  decree  enacted 
into  a  law  :  but  before  they  met,  he  called  the  people 
likewise  to  the  rostra  ;  where  he,  and  all  the  princi- 
pal senators  in-  their  turns,  repeated  to  them  the  sub- 
stance of  what  they  had  said  before  in  the  senate,  in 
order  to  prepare  them  for  the  reception  of  the  law : 
Pompey  particularly  exerted  himself,  in  extolling  the 
praises  of  Cicero  ;  declaring,  ^'  that  the  republic  o  wed 
"  its  preservation  to  him ;  and  that  their  common  safe- 
*'  ty  was  involved  in  his ;  exhorting  them  to  defend 
"  and  support  the  decree  of  the  senate,  the  quiet  of 
"  the  city,  and  the  fortunes  of  a  man,  w™  had  de- 
*'  served  so  well  of  them  :  that  this  was  the  general 
"  voice  of  the  senate  ;  of  the  knights  of  all  Italy ;  and, 
"  lastly,  that  it  was  his  own  earnest  and  special  request 
*'  to  them,  which  he  not  only  desired,  but  implored 
*'  them  to  grant  *."  When  the  senate  afterwards 
met,  they  proceeded  to  several  new  and  vigorous  votes, 
to  facilitate  the  success  of  the  law  :  First,  "  That  no 
"  magistrate  should  presume  to  take  the  auspices,  so 
"  as  to  disturb  the  assembly  of  the  people,  when  Ci- 


*  Quorum  princeps  ad  rogandos  et  ad  coliortandos  vos  fuit  Cn. 
Pompeius — primum  vcs  docuit,  mels  consiliis  rempub.  esse  serva- 
tam,  causamque  meam  ciim  communi  salute  conjunxit :  hortatusque 
est,  ut  auctoritatem  senatus,  statum  civitatis,  fortunas  civis  bene 
TTieriti  defenderetis  :  turn  in  perorando  posuit,  vos  rcgari  a  senatu, 
rogari  ab  equitibus,  rogari  ab  Italia  cuncta  :  denivque  ipse  ab  extre- 
mum  pro  mea  vos  salute  non  rogavit  solum,  verum  etiam  obsecra- 
vit.     Post  red.  ad  Quir.  7. 


442  The   LIFE   of  Sec^.  V. 

A-  Urb.  696.    Cic.  50.    Coss. — P.  Corn.  Lent.  Spinthcr.    C^Csec.  Metel.  Nepos. 

"  cero's  cause  was  to  come  before  them  :  and  that  if 
*'  any  one  attempted  it,  he  should  be  treated  as  a  pu- 
"  blic  enemy. 

Secondly,  "  That  if,  through  any  violence  or  ob- 
"  struction,  the  law  was  not  suffered  to  pass,  within 
"  the  five  next  legal  days  of  assembly,  Cicero  should 
*'  then  be  at  hberty  to  return,  without  any  farther  au- 
**  thority. 

Thirdly,  "  That  public  thanks  should  be  given  to 
"  all  the  people  of  Italy,  who  came  to  Rome  for  Ci- 
"  cero's  defence  ;  and  that  they  should  be  desired  to 
"  come  again,  on  the  day  when  the  suffrages  of  the 
"  people  were  to  be  taken. 

Fourthly,  ''  That  thanks  should  be  given  Hkewise 
"  to  all  the  states  and  cities,  which  had  received  and 
"  entertained  Cicero  ;  and  that  the  care  of  his  person 
"  should  be  recommended  to  ail  foreign  nations  in  al- 
"  liance  with  them ;  and  that  the  Roman  generals, 
"  and  all  who  had  command  abroad,  should  be  order- 
"  ed  to  protect  his  life  and  safety  *." 


*  Quod  est  postridie  decretum  in  curia — ne  quis  de  coelo  serva- 
ret  •,  ne  quis  moram  uilam  afferret  j  si  quis  aliter  fecisset,  eum  plane 
cversorem  reipub.  fore. 

Addidit,  si  diebus  quinque  quibus  agi  de  me  potuisset,  non  ess^t 
actum,  redirem  in  patriam  omni  auctoritate  recuperata. 

IJt  iis,  qui  ex  tota  Italia  salutis  mese  causa  convenerant,  ageren- 
tur  gratiae  :  atque  iidem  ad  res  redeuntes,  ut  venirent,  rogarentur. 

Quern  enim  unquam  senatus  civem,  nisi  me,  nationibus  exteris 
commendavit  ?  cujus  unquam  propter  salutem  nisi  meam,  senatus 
publice  sociis  populi  Romani  gratlas  egit  ?  De  me  uno  P.  C  de- 
creverunt,  ut  qui  provincias  cum  imperio  obtinerent,  qui  quaestores 
legatique  essent,  salutem  et  vitam  meam  custodirent.  Pro  Sext. 
60,  61. 


Se€t.  V.  CICERO.  443 

A.  Urb.  696.    Cic.  50.    Coss.— P.  Com  Lent.  Spinther.  Q:_  Csec.  Metel.  Nepos. 

One  cannot  help  pausing  a  while,  to  reflect  on  the 
great  idea  which  these  facts  imprint,  of  the  character 
,and  dignity  of  Cicero ;  to  see  so  vast  an  empire  in 
such  a  ferment  on  his  account,  as  to  postpone  all  their 
concerns  and  interests,  for  many  months  successively, 
to  the  safety  of  a  single  senator  f  ;  who  had  no  other 
means  of  exciting  the  zeal,  or  engaging  the  affections, 
of  his  citizens,  but  the  genuine  force  of  his  personal 
virtues,  and  the  merit  of  his  eminent  services :  as  if 
the  repubhc  itself  could  not  stand  without  him,  but 
must  fall  into  ruins,  if  he,  the  main  pillar  of  it,  was 
reihoved ;  whilst  the  greatest  monarchs  on  earth,  who 
had  any  affairs  with  the  people  of  Rome,  were  look- 
ing on,  to  expect  the  event,  unable  to  procure  any 
answer,  or  regard  to  what  they  were  soliciting,  till 
this  affair  was  decided  :  Ptolemy,  the  king  of  Egypt, 
wjs  particularly  affected  by  it ;  who,  being  driven  out 
of  his  kingdom,  came  to  Rome  about  this  time,  to  beg 
help  and  protection  against  his  rebellious  subjects ; 
but,  though  he  was  lodged  in  Pompey's  house,  it  was 
not  possible  for  him  to  get  an  audience  till  Cicero's 
cause  was  at  an  end. 

The  law,  now  prepared  for  his  restoration,  was  to 
be  offered  to  the  suffrage  of  the  centuries ;  this  was 
the  most  solemn  and  honourable  way  of  transacting 
any  public  business,  where  the  best  and  gravest  part 
of  the  city  had  the  chief  influence  ;  and  where  a  de- 


f  Nihil  vos  civibus,  nihil  socils,  nihil  re  gibus  respondistls.  Ni- 
hil judices  sententiis,  nihil  populus  suffragiis,  nihil  hie  ordo  aucto- 
ritate  declaravit :  mutum  foritra,  elinguem  curiam,  tacitara  et  frac- 
tarn  civitatem  videbatis.     Post.  red.  in  Sen.  3. 


444 


TrfE   LIFE   OF  Sect.  V, 


A.  Urb.  696.     Cie.  50.  Cos?, -.p.  Corn,  i.cnt.    finther.  Q^Csc.  Metd  Ncpbs. 


cree  of  the  senate  was  previously  necessary  to  make 
the  act  valid  :  but,  in  the  present  case,  there  seem  to 
have  been  four  or  fiA^e  several  decrees  provided  at 
different  times,  v/hich  had  all  been  frustrated  by  the 
intrigues  of  Clodius  and  his  friends,  till  these  last  votes 
proved  decisive  and  effectual*.  Cicero*s  resolution 
upon  them  vras,  "  to  wait  till  the  law  should  be  pro- 
"  posed  to  the  people ;  and  if,  by  the  artifices  of  his 
"  enemies,  it  should  then  be  obstructed,  to  come  "a- 
"  way  directly,  upon  the  authority  of  the  senate  ;  and 
"  rather  hazard  his  life,  than  bear  the  loss  of  his  coun- 
"  try  any  longer  f  .'*  But  the  vigour  of  the  late  de- 
bates had  so  discouraged  the  chiefs  of  the  faction,  that 
they  left  Clodius  single  in  the  opposition  :  Metellus 
dropt  him,  and  his  brother  Appius  was  desirous  to  be 
quiet  J  ;  yet  it  was  above  two  months  still  from  the 
last  decree,  before  Cicero's  friends  could  bring  the  af- 
fair to  a  general  vote  ;  which  they  effected  at  last  on 
the  4th  of  August. 

There  had  never  been  known  so  numerous  and  so- 
lemn an  assembly  of  the  Roman  people  as  this ;  all 
Italy  was  drawn  together  on  the  occasion  :  "  it  was 
"  reckoned  a  kind  of  sin  to  be  absent ;  and  neither 
"  age  nor  infirmity  was  thought  a  sufficient  excuse  for 
"  not  lending  a  helping  hand  to  the  restoration  of  Ci- 

*  Vid.  Pro  Sext.  60.  et  Notas  Manutii  ad  61. 

f  Mihi  in  animo  est  legum  lationem  expectare,  et  si  obtrectabi- 
tur,  uter  auctoritate  senatus,  et  potius  vita  quam  patrio  carebo. 
Ad  Att.  3.  26. 

X  Redii  cum  maxima  dignitate,  fiatre  tuo  altero  consule  redu- 
cente,  altsro  prcttore  petente.     Pro  Dom.  ^3. 


Sect.  V.  CICERO.  445 

A.  Urb.  696.    Cic.  50.  Coss. — P.  Corn.  Lent.  Spinther.    Q^Csec.  Metel.  Nepos. 

**  cero  :"  all  the  magistrates  exerted  themselves  hi 
recommending  the  law,  excepting  Appius  and  the  two 
tribunes,  who  durst  not  venture,  however,  to  oppose 
it :  the  meeting  was  held  in  the  field  of  Mars,  for  the 
more  convenient  reception  of  so  great  a  multitude  ; 
where  the  senators  divided  among  themselves  the  task 
of  presiding  in  the  several  centuries,  and  seeing  the 
poll  fairly  taken  :  the  result  was,  that  Cicero  was  re- 
called from  exile,  by  the  unanimous  suffrage  of  all 
the  centuries ;  and  to  the  infinite  joy  of  the  whole 
city  ■*. 

Clodius  however  had  the  hardiness,  not  only  to  ap- 
pear, but  to  speak  in  this  assembly  against  the  law ; 
but  no  body  regarded  or  heard  a  word  that  he  said  : 
He  now  found  the  difference  mentioned  above,  be- 
tween a  free  convention  of  the  Roman  people,  and 
those  mercenary  assemblies,  where  a  few  desperate 
citizens,  headed  by  slaves  and  gladiators,  used  to  car- 
ry all  before  them  :  "  where  now,"  says  Cicero,  "  were 
"  those  tyrants  of  the  forum,  those  haranguers  of  the 
"  mob,  those  disposers  of  kingdoms  V — This  Vv-as  one 
of  the  last  genuine  acts  of  free  Rome  ;  one  of  the  last 

*  Quo  die  quis  civis  fuit,  qui^non  nefas  esse  putaret,  quacunque 
aut  aetata  aut  valetudine  esset,  non  se  de  salute  mea  sententiam  fer- 
re  ?      Post.  red.  in  Sen.  xi. 

Nemo  sibi  nee  valetudinis  excusationem  nee  senectutis  satis  jus- 
tam  putavit.     Pro  Sext.  52. 

De  me  cum  omnes  magistratus  promulgassent,  prseter  unum  prae- 
torem,  a  quo  non  erat   postulandum,  fratrem  inimici  mei,  prteter- 

que  duos  de  lapide  emptos  tribunes  plebis riullis  comitiis  unquam 

multitudinem  hominum  tantam,  neque  splendidiorem  fuisse vos 

rogatores,  vos  distributores,  vos  custodes  fuisse  tabularum.  In  Pi- 
son.  15. 


44^  The   LIFE   op  Sect.  V. 

A.  Urb.  696.    Cic.  50.    Coss. — P.  Corn.  Lent.  Spinther.    (^Csec.  Mctel.  Nepos. 

efforts  of  public  liberty,  exerting  itself  to  do  honour 
to  its  patron  and  defender  :  for  the  union  of  the  Tri- 
umvirate had  already  given  it  a  dangerous  wound ; 
and  their  dissension,  which  not  long  after  ensued,  en- 
tirely destroyed  it. 

But  it  gave  some  damp  to  the  joy  of  this  glorious 
day,  that  Cicero's  son-in-law  Piso  happened  to  die  not 
long  before  it,  to  the  extreme  grief  of  the  family ; 
without  reaping  the  fruits  of  his  piety,  and  sharing 
the  pleasure  and  benefit  of  Cicero's  return.  His  praises 
however  will  be  as  immortal  as  Cicero's  writings,  from 
whose  repeated  character  of  him  we  learn,  "  that  for 
"  parts,  probity,  virtue,  modesty  :  and  for  every  ac- 
"  complishment  of  a  fine  gentleman  and  fine  speaker, 
"  he  scarce  left  his  equal  behind  him,  among  all  the 
"  young  nobles  of  that  age  *." 

Cicero  had  resolved  to  come  home,  in  virtue  of  the 
senate's  decree,  whether  the  law  had  passed  or  not ; 
but  perceiving,  from  the  accounts  of  all  his  friends, 
that  it  could  not  be  defeated  any  longer,  he  embark- 
ed for  Italy  on  the  fourth  of  August ;  the  very  day 
on  which  it  was  enacted ;  and  landed  the  next  at 
Brundisium,  where  he  found  liis  daughter  Tulha  al- 
1,, . , 

*  Piso  ille  gener  meus,  cni  pietatis  suae  fructum,  neque  ex  me, 
neque  a  populo  Romano  ferre  licuit.     Pro  Sext.  31. 

Studio  autem  neminem  nee  industria  majore  cognovi  •,  quanquam 
ne  ingenio  quldcm  qui  pra^stiterit,  facile  dixerim,  C.  Pisoni,  genero 
meo.  Nullum  illi  tempus  vacabat,  aut  a  forensi  dictione,  aut  a 
commentatione  domestica,  aut  a  scribcndo  aut  a  cogitando.  Ita- 
que  tantos  processus  faciebat.  ut  evolare  non  excurrere  videbatur, 
&.C. — alia  de  illo  majora  dici  possunt.  Nam  nee  continentia,  nee 
pietate,  nee  ullo  genere  virtutis,  quenquam  ejusdem  setatis  cum  illo 
renferendum  puto.     Brut.  p.  297,  298. 


Sect.  V;  CIGERO.  44^ 

A.  Urb.  696.    Cic.  50.   Coss.— P.  Corn.  Lent.  Spinther.    Q^Cxc.  Metel.  Nepos. 

ready  arrived  to  receive  him.  The  day  happened  to 
be  the  annual  festival  of  the  foundation  of  the  town ; 
as  well  as  of  the  dedication  of  the  temple  of  Safety  at 
Rome ;  and  the  birth-day  likewise  of  Tullia  ;  as  if 
Providence  had  thrown  all  these  circumstances  toge- 
ther, to  enhance  the  joy  and  solemnity  of  his  landing  ; 
which  was  celebrated  by  the  people  with  the  most 
profuse  expressions  of  mirth  and  gaiety.  Cicero  took 
up  his  quarters  again  with  his  old  host  Lenius  FlaccuSj 
who  had  entertained  him  so  honourably  in  his  distress j 
a  person  of  great  learning  as  well  as  generosity  :  Here 
he  received  the  welcome  news  in  four  days  from 
Rome,  that  the  law  was  actually  ratified  by  the  peo- 
ple with  ah  incredible  zeal  and  unanimity  of  all  the 
centuries  f .  This  obhged  him  to  pursue  his  journey 
in  all  haste,  and  take  leave  of  the  Brundisians ;  w^ho, 
by  all  the  offices  of  private  duty,  as  well  as  public  de- 
crees, endeavoured  to  testify  their  sincere  respect  for 
him.  The  fame  of  his  landing  and  progress  towards 
the  city,  drew  infinite  multitudes  from  all  parts,  to 
see  him  as  he  passed,  and  congratulate  him  on  his  re- 


f  Pridie  Non.  Sextll.  Dyrrhachio  sum  profectus,  lUo  ipso  die 
lex  est  lata  de  nobis.  Brundisium  veni  nonis  :  ibi  mihi  TuUiola 
mea  praesto  fuit,  natali  suo  ipso  die,  qui  casu  id^m  natalis  erat  Brun- 
disinae  colonise  :  et  tuge  vicing  Salutis.  Quae  res  animadversa  a 
multitudine,  summa  Brundisinorum  gratulatione  celebrata  est.  Ante 
diem  sextum  Id.  Sextil.  cognovi — Uteris  Quinti  fratris,  mirifico 
studio  omnium  ^tatum  atque  ordihum,  incredibili  concursu  Italiie^ 
legem  comitiis  centuriatis  esse  perlatum.     Ad  Att.  4.  i. 

Cumque  me  domus  eadem  optimorum  et  doctissimorum  virorum^ 
Lenii  Flacci,  et  patris  et  fratris  ejus  laetissima  accepisset,  quee 
proximo  anno  moerens  receperat,  et  suo  periculo  prsesidioque  de^ 
fenderat.     Pro  Sext.  63. 

Vol.  I.  F 


448  The   LIFE   o?  Sect.  V. 

A.  Urb.  696.    Cic.  jo.    Coss. — P.  Corn.  Lent.  Spinther.    Q^Caec.  Metel  Ntpos. 

turn  :  "  so  that  the  whole  road  was  but  otit  continued 
*•  street  from  Brundisium  to  Rome,  lined  on  both  sides 
"  with  crowds  of  men,  women,  and  children  ;  nor  wa§ 
*'  there  a  prasfecture,  town,  or  colony,  through  Italy, 
*'  which  did  not  decree  him  statues  ^or  public  honours, 
^^  and  send  a  deputation  of  their  principal  members  to 
"  pay  him  their  compliments  :  that  it  was  rather  less 
"  than  the  truth,  as  Plutarch  says,  what  Cicero  hiiti- 
*'  self  tells  us,  that  all  Italy  brought  him  back  upon 
"  its  shoulders  *,  But  that  one  day,  says  he,  was 
"  worth  an  immortality  ;  when,  on  my  approach  to- 
"  wards  the  city,  the  senate  came  out  to  receive  me, 
*'  followed  by  the  whole  body  of  the  citizens ;  as  if 
"  Rome  itself  had  left  its  foundations,  and  marched 
"  forward  to  embrace  its  preserver  f." 

As  soon  as  he  entered  the  gates,  he  saw  "  the  steps 
"  of  all  the  temples,  porticos,  and  even  the  tops  of 
*"  houses,  covered  with  people,  w^ho  saluted  him  Avith 
***  an  universal  acclamation,  as  he  marched  forward  to- 
**  wards  the  Capitol,  where  fresh  multitudes  were  ex- 

*  Meus  quidem  redltus  is  fult  ut  a  Brundisio  usque  Romam  ag- 
men  perpetuum  totlus  Italioe  viderejn.  Neque  enim  regio  fuit  ulla, 
neque  praefectura,  neque  municipium  aut  colonia,  ex  qua  non  pub- 
lice  ad  me  venerint  gratulatum.  Quid  dicam  adventus  meos  ? 
Quid  efFusiones  hominum  ex  oppidis  ?  Quid  concursum  ex  agris 
patrum  familijts  cum  conjugibus  ac  liberis  ?  &c.  in  Pison.  22. 

Italia  cuncta  pi5;ne  sui.-j  liumerisreportavit.    Post,  red.  in  Sen.  15. 

itinere  toto  urbes  Itaiin^  festos  dies  2'^ere  adventus  mei  videban- 
tur.  Vice  njultitudine  iegatorum  undique  missorum  cclebrabantur. 
Pro  Sext.  63, 

f  Unus  ille  dies  tnihl  qujd^m  instar  immortalitatis  fuit — cum  Se- 
natum  egressum  vidi,  po|nilumquc  Romanum  universum,  cum  mihi 
ipsa  Roma,  prope  convulsa  sedibus  suis^  ad  cowiplectendutn  cptisexv 
-.htoreni  -wdm  proctd-^re  vi-^;  est.     In  Fli.cn,  22. 


Sect.  V.  CICERO. 


449 


A.  Urb.  696.  Cic.  50.  Coss.— P.  Corn.  Leni.  Spinther.  Q^Caec.  Mctel.  Nepos. 

"  pecting  his  arrival  ;  yet  in  the  midst  of  all  this  joy 
"  he  could  not  help  grieving,  he  says,  within  himself, 
"  to  reflect  that  a  city  so  grateful  to  the  defender  of 
*'  its  liberty,  had  been  so  .miserably  enslaved  and  op- 
"  pressed  *."  The  Capitol  was  the  proper  seat  or 
throne,  as  it  were,  of  the  majesty  of  the  empire  ;  w^here 
stood  the  most  magnificent  fabric  of  Rome,  the  tem- 
ple of  Jupiter^  or  of  that  god  whom  they  stiled  the 
greatest  and  the  best  f  ;  to  whose  shrine  all,  v/ho  en- 
tered the  city  in  pomp  or  triumph,  used  always  to 
make  their  first  visit.  Cicero,  therefore,  before  he  had 
saluted  his  wife  and  family,  was  obliged  to  discharge 
himself  here  of  his  vows  and  thanks  for  his  safe  return  ; 
where,  in  comphance  with  the  popular  superstition,  he 
paid  his  devotion  also  to  that  tutelary  Minerva,  whom, 
at  his  quitting  Rome,  he  had  placed  in  the  temple  of 
her  father.  From  this  office  of  rehgion,  he  was  con- 
ducted by  the  same  company,  and  with  the  same  ac- 
clamations to  his  brother's  house,  where  this  great  pro- 
cession ended  :  Vv^hich,  from  one  end  of  it  to  the  other, 
was  so  splendid  and  triumphant,  "  that  he  had  reason," 
he  says,  "  to  fear,  lest  people  should  imagine  that  he 
"  himself  had  contrived  his  late  flight,  for  the  sake  of 
*'  so  glorious  a  restoration."  || 

*  Iter  a  porta,  in  Capitolium  ascensus,  domum  reditus  erat  ejus- 
modi,  ut  summa  in  laetitia  illud  dolorem,  civitatem  tarn  gratam, 
tarn  miseram  atque  oppressam  fuisse. — Pro  Sext.  63. 

X  Quocirca  te,  Capitollne,  quern  propter  beneficia  populus  Ro- 
manus  optimum,  propter  vim,  maximum,  nominavit.     Pro  dom.  57. 

II  Ut  tua  mihi  conscelerata  ilia  vis  non  modo  non  propulsanda, 
sed  etiun^  emenda  fuisse  videatur.     Pro  dom.  28. 

END     OF   THE    FIRST     VOLUME. 
^dir.l)arghi-^Fr',nied ly  J.  Moir,  PatcrsotCs  Qpurt,