Fuseli, in the introduction to the second part of his Lectures, has
touched on the character of Cicero, respecting his knowledge and feeling
of Art, in a manner which excites our curiosity. "Though Cicero seems to
have had as little _native taste_ for painting and sculpture, and even
less than he had taste for poetry, he had a conception of Nature, and
with his usual acumen frequently scattered useful hints and pertinent
observations. For many of these he might probably be indebted to
Hortensius, with whom, though his rival in eloquence, he lived on terms
of familiarity, and who was a man of declared taste, and one of the
first collectors of the time." We may trace the progress of _Cicero's
taste for the works of art_. It was probably a late, though an ardent
pursuit; and their actual enjoyment seems with this celebrated man
rather to have been connected with some future plan of life.
Cicero, when about forty-three years of age, seems to have projected the
formation of a library and a collection of antiquities, with the remote
intention of secession, and one day stealing away from the noisy honours
of the republic. Although that great man remained too long a victim to
his political ambition, yet at all times his natural dispositions would
break out, and amidst his public avocations he often anticipated a time
when life would be unvalued without uninterrupted repose; but repose,
destitute of the ample furniture, and even of the luxuries of a mind
occupying itself in literature and art, would only for him have opened
the repose of a desert! It was rather his provident wisdom than their
actual enjoyment, which induced him, at a busied period of his life, to
accumulate from all parts books, and statues, and curiosities without
number; in a word, to become, according to the term, too often
misapplied and misconceived among us, for it is not always understood
in an honourable sense, a COLLECTOR!
Like other late collectors, Cicero often appears ardent to possess what
he was not able to command; sometimes he entreats, or circuitously
negotiates, or is planning the future means to secure the acquisitions
which he thirsted after. He is repeatedly soliciting his literary friend
Atticus to keep his books for him, and not to dispose of his collections
on any terms, however earnestly the bidders may crowd; and, to keep his
patience in good hope (for Atticus imagined his collection would exceed
the price which Cicero could afford), he desires Atticus not to despair
of his being able to make them his, for that he was saving all his rents
to purchase these books for the relief of his old age.
This projected library and collection of antiquities it was the
intention of Cicero to have placed in his favourite villa in the
neighbourhood of Rome, whose name, consecrated by time, now proverbially
describes the retirement of a man of elegant taste. To adorn his villa
at Tusculum formed the day-dreams of this man of genius; and his passion
broke out in all the enthusiasm and impatience which so frequently
characterise the modern collector. Not only Atticus, on whose fine taste
he could depend, but every one likely to increase his acquisitions was
Cicero persecuting with entreaties on entreaties, with the seduction of
large prices, and with the expectation, that if the orator and consul
would submit to accept any bribe, it would hardly be refused in the
shape of a manuscript or a statue. "In the name of our friendship," says
Cicero, addressing Atticus, "suffer nothing to escape you of whatever
you find curious or rare." When Atticus informed him that he should send
him a fine statue, in which the heads of Mercury and Minerva were united
together, Cicero, with the enthusiasm of a maniacal lover of the present
day, finds every object which is uncommon the very thing for which he
has a proper place. "Your discovery is admirable, and the statue you
mention seems to have been made purposely for my cabinet." Then follows
an explanation of the mystery of this allegorical statue, which
expressed the happy union of exercise and study. "Continue," he adds,
"to collect for me as you have promised, _in as great a quantity as
possible_, morsels of this kind." Cicero, like other collectors, may be
suspected not to have been very difficult in his choice, and for him the
curious was not less valued than the beautiful. The mind and temper of
Cicero were of a robust and philosophical cast, not too subject to the
tortures of those whose morbid imagination and delicacy of taste touch
on infirmity. It is, however, amusing to observe this great man,
actuated by all the fervour and joy of collecting. "I have paid your
agent, as you ordered, for the Megaric statues; send me as _many_ of
them as you can, _and as soon as possible_, with any others which you
think proper for the place, and to my taste, and good enough to please
yours. You cannot imagine how greatly my _passion increases_ for this
sort of things; it is such that it may appear _ridiculous_ in the eyes
of many; but you are my friend, and will only think of satisfying my
wishes." Again--"Purchase for me, without thinking farther, all that you
discover of rarity. My friend, do not spare my purse." And, indeed, in
another place he loves Atticus both for his promptitude and cheap
purchases: _Te multum amamus, quod ea abs te diligenter, parvoque curata
sunt_.
Our collectors may not be displeased to discover at their head so
venerable a personage as Cicero; nor to sanction their own feverish
thirst and panting impatience with all the raptures on the day of
possession, and the "saving of rents" to afford commanding prices--by
the authority of the greatest philosopher of antiquity.
A fact is noticed in this article which requires elucidation. In the
life of a true collector, the selling of his books is a singular
incident. The truth is, that the elegant friend of Cicero, residing in
the literary city of Athens, appears to have enjoyed but a moderate
income, and may be said to have traded not only in books, but in
gladiators, whom he let out, and also charged interest for the use of
his money; circumstances which Cornelius Nepos, who gives an account of
his landed property, has omitted, as, perhaps, not well adapted to
heighten the interesting picture which he gives of Atticus, but which
the Abbé Mongault has detected in his curious notes on Cicero's letters
to Atticus. It is certain that he employed his slaves, who, "to the
foot-boy," as Middleton expresses himself, were all literary and skilful
scribes, in copying the works of the best authors for his own use: but
the duplicates were sold, to the common profit of the master and the
slave. The state of literature among the ancients may be paralleled with
that of the age of our first restorers of learning, when printing was
not yet established; then Boccaccio and Petrarch, and such men, were
collectors, and zealously occupied in the manual labour of
transcription; immeasurable was the delight of that avariciousness of
manuscript, by which, in a certain given time, the possessor, with an
unwearied pen, could enrich himself by his copy: and this copy an estate
would not always purchase! Besides that a manuscript selected by
Atticus, or copied by the hand of Boccaccio and Petrarch, must have
risen in value, associating it with the known taste and judgment of the
COLLECTOR.