general so high. But there is a spirit which can content itself with
no achievements; there is but one feeling of shame--that of not
conquering; a man determined, not to be controlled, taking his arms
wherever lust of conquest or anger may call him; a man never sparing
the sword, creating all things from his own good-fortune trusting
always the favors of the gods."
[1] Froude's Cæsar, p. 444.
[2] Ibid., p. 428.
[3] Ad Att., lib. xiii., 28.
[4] Ad Att., lib. ix., 10.
[5] Froude, p. 365.
[6] Ad Att., lib. ii., 5: "Quo quidem uno ego ab istis
capi possum."
[7] The Cincian law, of which I shall have to speak
again, forbade Roman advocates to take any payment for
their services. Cicero expressly declares that he has
always obeyed that law. He accused others of disobeying
it, as, for instance, Hortensius. But no contemporary
has accused him. Mr. Collins refers to some books which
had been given to Cicero by his friend P[oe]tus. They are
mentioned in a letter to Atticus, lib. i., 20; and
Cicero, joking, says that he has consulted
Cincius--perhaps some descendant of him who made the law
145 years before--as to the legality of accepting the
present. But we have no reason for supposing that he had
ever acted as an advocate for P[oe]tus.
[8] Virgil, Æneid, i., 150:
"Ac, veluti magno in populo quum sæpe coorta est
Seditio, sævitque animis ignobile vulgus;
Jamque faces, et saxa volant; furor arma ministrat:
Tum, pietate gravem ac meritis si forte virum quem
Conspexere, silent, arrectisque auribus adstant;
Iste regit dictis animos, et pectora mulcet."
[9] The author is saying that a history from Cicero
would have been invaluable, and the words are "interitu
ejus utrum respublica an historia magis doleat."
[10] Quintilian tells us this, lib. ii., c. 5. The
passage of Livy is not extant. The commentators suppose
it to have been taken from a letter to his son.
[11] Velleius Paterculus, lib. ii., c. 34.
[12] Valerius Maximus, lib. iv., c. 2; 4.
[13] Pliny, Hist. Nat., lib. vii., xxxi., 30.
[14] Martial, lib. xiv., 188.
[15] Lucan, lib. vii., 62:
"Cunctorum voces Romani maximus auctor
Tullius eloquii, cujus sub jure togaque
Pacificas sævus tremuit Catilina secures,
Pertulit iratus bellis, cum rostra forumque
Optaret passus tam longa silentia miles
Addidit invalidæ robur facundia causæ."
[16] Tacitus, De Oratoribus, xxx.
[17] Juvenal, viii., 243.
[18] Demosthenes and Cicero compared.
[19] Quintilian, xii., 1.
[20] "Repudiatus vigintiviratus." He refused a position
of official value rendered vacant by the death of one
Cosconius. See Letters to Atticus, 2,19.
[21] Florus, lib. iv., 1. In a letter from Essex to Foulke
Greville, the writing of which has been attributed to
Bacon by Mr. Spedding, Florus is said simply to have
epitomized Livy (Life, vol. ii., p. 23). In this I think
that Bacon has shorn him of his honors.
[22] Florus, lib. iv., 1.
[23] Sallust, Catilinaria, xxiii.
[24] I will add the concluding passage from the pseudo
declamation, in order that the reader may see the nature
of the words which were put into Sallust's mouth: "Quos
tyrannos appellabas, eorum nunc potentiæ faves; qui
tibi ante optumates videbantur, eosdem nunc dementes ac
furiosos vocas; Vatinii caussam agis, de Sextio male
existumas; Bibulum petulantissumis verbis lædis, laudas
Cæsarem; quem maxume odisti, ei maxume obsequeris.
Aliud stans, aliud sedens, de republica sentis; his
maledicis, illos odisti; levissume transfuga, neque in
hac, neque illa parte fidem habes." Hence Dio Cassius
declared that Cicero had been called a turncoat. [Greek:
kai automalos ônomazeto.]
[25] Dio Cassius, lib. xlvi., 18: [Greek: pros hên
kai autên toiautas epistolas grapheis hoias an grapseien
anêr skôptolês athuroglôrros ... kai proseti kai to
stoma autou diaballein epecheirêse tosautê aselgeia
kai akatharsia para panta ton bion chrômenos hôste mêde
tôn sungenestatôn apechesthai, alla tên te gunaika
proagôgeuein kai tên thugatera moicheuein.]
[26] As it happens, De Quincey specially calls Cicero a
man of conscience. "Cicero is one of the very few pagan
statesmen who can be described as a thoroughly
conscientious man," he says. The purport of his
illogical essay on Cicero is no doubt thoroughly hostile
to the man. It is chiefly worth reading on account of
the amusing virulence with which Middleton, the
biographer, is attacked.
[27] Quintilian, lib. ii., c. 5.
[28] De Finibus, lib. v., ca. xxii.: "Nemo est igitur, qui
non hanc affectionem animi probet atque laudet."
[29] De Rep., lib. vi., ca. vii.: "Nihil est enim illi
principi deo, qui omnem hunc mundum regit, quod quidem
in terris fiat acceptius." Tusc. Quest., lib. i., ca. xxx.:
"Vetat enim dominans ille in nobis deus."
[30] De Rep., lib. vi., ca. vii.: "Certum esse in c[oe]lo
definitum locum, ubi beati ævo sempiterno fruantur."
[31] Hor., lib. i., Ode xxii.,
"Non rura quæ; Liris quieta
Mordet aqua taciturnus amnis."
[32] Such was the presumed condition of things at Rome.
By the passing of a special law a plebeian might, and
occasionally did, become patrician. The patricians had
so nearly died out in the time of Julius Cæsar that he
introduced fifty new families by the Lex Cassia.
[33] De Orat., lib. ii., ca. 1.
[34] Brutus, ca. lxxxix.
[35] It should be remembered that in Latin literature it
was the recognized practice of authors to borrow
wholesale from the Greek, and that no charge of
plagiarism attended such borrowing. Virgil, in taking
thoughts and language from Homer, was simply supposed to
have shown his judgment in accommodating Greek delights
to Roman ears and Roman intellects.
The idea as to literary larceny is of later date, and
has grown up with personal claims for originality and
with copyright. Shakspeare did not acknowledge whence he
took his plots, because it was unnecessary. Now, if a
writer borrow a tale from the French, it is held that he
ought at least to owe the obligation, or perhaps even
pay for it.
[36] Juvenal, Sat. x., 122,
"O fortunatam natam me Consule Romam!
Antoni gladios potuit contemnere, si sic
Omnia dixisset."
[37] De Leg., lib. i., ca. 1.
[38] Life and Times of Henry Lord Brougham, written by
himself, vol. i., p. 58.
[39] I give the nine versions to which I allude in an
Appendix A, at the end of this volume, so that those
curious in such matters may compare the words in which
the same picture has been drawn by various hands.
[40] Pro Archia, ca. vii.
[41] Brutus, ca. xc.
[42] Tacitus, De Oratoribus, xxx.
[43] Quintilian, lib. xii., c. vi., who wrote about the
same time as this essayist, tells us of these three
instances of early oratory, not, however, specifying the
exact age in either case. He also reminds us that
Demosthenes pleaded when he was a boy, and that Augustus
at the age of twelve made a public harangue in honor of
his grandmother.
[44] Brutus, ca. xc.
[45] Brutus, xci.
[46] Quintilian, lib. xii., vi.: "Quum jam clarum
meruisset inter patronos, qui tum erant, nomen, in Asiam
navigavit, seque et aliis sine dubio eloquentiæ ac
sapientiæ magistris, sed præcipue tamen Apollonio
Moloni, quem Romæ quoque audierat, Rhodi rursus
formandum ac velut recognendum dedit."
[47] Brutus, xci.
[48] The total correspondence contains 817 letters, of
which 52 were written to Cicero, 396 were written by
Cicero to Atticus, and 369 by Cicero to his friends in
general. We have no letters from Atticus to Cicero.
[49] Quintilian, lib. x., ca. 1.
[50] Clemens of Alexandria, in his exhortation to the
Gentiles, is very severe upon the iniquities of these
rites. "All evil be to him," he says, "who brought them
into fashion, whether it was Dardanus, or Eetion the
Thracian, or Midas the Phrygian." The old story which he
repeats as to Ceres and Proserpine may have been true,
but he was altogether ignorant of the changes which the
common-sense of centuries had produced.
[51] De Legibus, lib. ii., c. xiv.
[52] It was then that the foreign empire commenced, in
ruling which the simplicity and truth of purpose and
patriotism of the Republic were lost.
[53] The reverses of fortune to which Marius was
subjected, how he was buried up to his neck in the mud,
hiding in the marshes of Minturnæ, how he would have
been killed by the traitorous magistrates of that city
but that he quelled the executioners by the fire of his
eyes; how he sat and glowered, a houseless exile, among
the ruins of Carthage--all which things happened to him
while he was running from the partisans of Sulla--are
among the picturesque episodes of history. There is a
tragedy called the _Wounds of Civil War_, written by
Lodge, who was born some eight years before Shakspeare,
in which the story of Marius is told with some exquisite
poetry, but also with some ludicrous additions. The Gaul
who is hired to kill Marius, but is frightened by his
eyes, talks bad French mingled with bad English, and
calls on Jesus in his horror!
[54] Brutus, ca. xc.
[55] Florus tells us that there were 2000 Senators and
Knights, but that any one was allowed to kill just whom
he would. "Quis autem illos potest computare quos in
urbe passim quisquis voluit occidit" (lib. iii., ca.
21).
[56] About £487 10_s._ In Smith's Dictionary of Greek and
Roman Antiquities the Attic talent is given as being
worth £243 15_s._ Mommsen quotes the price as 12,000
denarii, which would amount to about the same sum.
[57] Suetonius speaks of his death. Florus mentions the
proscriptions and abdication. Velleius Paterculus is
eloquent in describing the horrors of the massacres and
confiscation. Dio Cassius refers again and again to the
Sullan cruelty. But none of them give a reason for the
abdication of Sulla.
[58] Vol. iii., p. 386. I quote from Mr. Dickson's
translation, as I do not read German.
[59] In defending Roscius Amerinus, while Sulla was
still in power, he speaks of the Sullan massacres as
"pugna Cannensis," a slaughter as foul, as disgraceful,
as bloody as had been the defeat at Cannæ.
[60] Mommsen, vol. iii., p. 385.
[61] Pro Sexto Roscio, ca. xxi.: "Quod antea causam
publicam nullam dixerim." He says also in the Brutus,
ca. xc., "Itaque prima causa publica, pro Sex. Roscio
dicta." By "publica causa" he means a criminal
accusation in distinction from a civil action.
[62] Pro Publio Quintio, ca. i.: "Quod mihi consuevit in
ceteris causis esse adjumento, id quoque in hac causa
deficit."
[63] Pro Publio Quintio, ca. xxi.: "Nolo eam rem
commemorando renovare, cujus omnino rei memoriam omnem
tolli funditus ac deleri arbitror oportere."
[64] Pro Roscio, ca. xlix. Cicero says of him that he
would be sure to suppose that anything would have been
done according to law of which he should be told that it
was done by Sulla's order. "Putat homo imperitus morum,
agricola et rusticus, ista omnia, quæ vos per Sullam
gesta esse dicitis, more, lege, jure gentium facta."
[65] Pro Sexto Roscio, ca. 1.
[66] Pro Sexto Roscio, ca. xxix.: "Ejusmodi tempus erat,
inquit, ut homines vulgo impune occiderentur."
[67] Pro T. A. Milone, ca. xxi.: "Cur igitur cos
manumisit? Metuebat scilicit ne indicarent; ne dolorem
perferre non possent."
[68] Pro T. A. Milone, ca. xxii.: "Heus tu, Ruscio, verbi
gratia, cave sis mentiaris. Clodius insidias fecit
Miloni? Fecit. Certa crux. Nullas fecit. Sperata
libertas."
[69] Pro Sexto Roscio, ca. xxviii.
[70] Ibid.
[71] Ibid., ca. xxxi.
[72] Pro Sexto Roscio, ca. xlv.
[73] Pro Sexto Roscio, ca. xlvi. The whole picture of
Chrysogonus, of his house, of his luxuries, and his
vanity, is too long for quotation, but is worth
referring to by those who wish to see how bold and how
brilliant Cicero could be.
[74] They put in tablets of wax, on which they recorded
their judgment by inscribing letter, C, A, or
NL--Condemno, Absolvo, or Non liquet--intending to show
that the means of coming to a decision did not seem to
be sufficient.
[75] Quintilian tells us, lib. x., ca. vii., that Cicero's
speeches as they had come to his day had been
abridged--by which he probably means only arranged--by
Tiro, his slave and secretary and friend. "Nam Ciceronis
ad præsens modo tempus aptatos libertus Tiro
contraxit."
[76] Quintilian, lib. xi., ca. iii.: "Nam et toga, et
calecus, et capillus, tam nimia cura, quam negligentia,
sunt reprehendenda." * * * "Sinistrum brachium eo usque
allevandum est, ut quasi normalem illum angulum faciat."
Quint., lib. xii., ca. x., "ne hirta toga sit;" don't let
the toga be rumpled; "non serica:" the silk here
interdicted was the silk of effeminacy, not that silk of
authority of which our barristers are proud. "Ne
intonsum caput; non in gradus atque annulos comptum." It
would take too much space were I to give here all the
lessons taught by this professor of deportment as to the
wearing of the toga.
[77] A doubt has been raised whether he was not married
when he went to Greece, as otherwise his daughter would
seem to have become a wife earlier than is probable. The
date, however, has been generally given as it is stated
here.
[78] Tacitus, Annal., xi., 5, says, "Qua cavetur
antiquitus, ne quis, ob causam orandam, pecuniam donumve
accipiat."
[79] De Off., lib. i., ca. xlii.: "Sordidi etiam putandi,
qui mercantur a mercatoribus, quod statim vendant. Nihil
enim proficiunt, nisi admodum mentiantur."
[80] De Off., lib. i., ca. xlii.: "Primum improbantur ii
quæstus, qui in odia hominum incurrunt: ut portitorum
ut f[oe]neratorum." The Portitores were inferior
collectors of certain dues, stationed at seaports, who
are supposed to have been extremely vexatious in their
dealings with the public.
[81] Philipp., 11-16.
[82] Let any who doubt this statement refer to the fate
of the inhabitants of Alesia and Uxellodunum. Cæsar did
not slay or torture for the sake of cruelty, but was
never deterred by humanity when expediency seemed to him
to require victims. Men and women, old and young, many
or few, they were sacrificed without remorse if his
purpose required it.
[83] Pro Pub. Quintio, ca. xxv.
[84] See Appendix B, Brutus, ca. xcii., xciii.
[85] Brutus, ca. xciii.: "Animos hominum ad me dicendi
novitate converteram."
[86] It must be remembered that this advice was actually
given when Cicero subsequently became a candidate for
the Consulship, but it is mentioned here as showing the
manner in which were sought the great offices of State.
[87] Cicero speaks of Sicily as divided into two
provinces, "Quæstores utriusque provinciæ." There was,
however, but one Prætor or Proconsul. But the island
had been taken by the Romans at two different times.
Lilybæum and the west was obtained from the
Carthaginians at the end of the first Punic war,
whereas, Syracuse was conquered by Marcellus and
occupied during the second Punic war.
[88] Tacitus, Ann., lib. xi., ca. xxii.: "Post, lege
Sullæ, viginti creati supplendo senatui, cui judicia
tradiderat."
[89] De Legibus, iii., xii.
[90] Pro P. Sexto, lxv.
[91] Pro Cluentio, lvi.
[92] Contra Verrem, Act. iv., ca. xi.: "Ecquæ civitas
est, non modo in provinciis nostris, verum etiam in
ultimis nationibus, aut tam potens, aut tam libera, aut
etiam am immanis ac barbara; rex denique ecquis est, qui
senatorem populi Romani tecto ac domo non invitet?"
[93] Contra Verrem, Act. i., ca. xiii.: "Omnia non modo
commemorabuntur, sed etiam, expositis certis rebus,
agentur, quæ inter decem annos, posteaquam judicia ad
senatum translata sunt, in rebus judicandis nefarie
flagitioseque facta sunt."
Pro Cluentio, lvi.: "Locus, auctoritas, domi splendor,
apud exteras nationes nomen et gratia, toga prætexta,
sella curulis, insignia, fasces, exercitus, imperia,
provincia."
[94] Contra Verrem, Act. i., ca. xviii.: "Quadringenties
sestertium ex Sicilia contra leges abstulisse." In
Smith's Dictionary of Grecian and Roman Antiquities we
are told that a thousand sesterces is equal in our money
to £8 17_s._ 1_d._ Of the estimated amount of this plunder
we shall have to speak again.
[95] Pro Plancio, xxvi.
[96] Pro Plancio, xxvi.
[97] M. du Rozoir was a French critic, and was joined
with M. Guéroult and M. de Guerle in translating and
annotating the Orations of Cicero for M. Panckoucke's
edition of the Latin classics.
[98] In Verrem Actio Secunda, lib. i., vii.
[99] Plutarch says that Cæcilius was an emancipated
slave, and a Jew, which could not have been true, as he
was a Roman Senator.
[100] De Oratore, lib. ii., c. xlix. The feeling is
beautifully expressed in the words put into the mouth of
Antony in the discussion on the charms and attributes of
eloquence: "Qui mihi in liberum loco more majorum esse
deberet."
[101] In Q. Cæc. Divinatio, ca. ii.
[102] Divinatio, ca. iii.
[103] Ibid., ca. vi.
[104] Ibid., ca. viii.
[105] Divinatio, ca. ix.
[106] Ibid., ca. xi.
[107] Ibid.
[108] Ibid., ca. xii.
[109] Actio Secunda, lib. ii., xl. He is speaking of
Sthenius, and the illegality of certain proceedings on
the part of Verres against him. "If an accused man could
be condemned in the absence of the accuser, do you think
that I would have gone in a little boat from Vibo to
Velia, among all the dangers prepared for me by your
fugitive slaves and pirates, when I had to hurry at the
peril of my life, knowing that you would escape if I
were not present to the day?"
[110] Actio Secunda, l. xxi.
[111] In Verrem, Actio Prima, xvi.
[112] In Verrem, Actio Prima, xvi.
[113] We are to understand that the purchaser at the
auction having named the sum for which he would do the
work, the estate of the minor, who was responsible for
the condition of the temple, was saddled with that
amount.
[114] In Verrem, Actio Secunda, lib. ii., vii.
[115] Ibid., ix.
[116] Ibid., lib. ii., xiv.
[117] See Appendix C.
[118] In Verrem, Actio Secunda, lib. ii., ca. xxxvi.
[119] Ibid. "Una nox intercesserat, quam iste Dorotheum
sic diligebat, ut diceres, omnia inter eos esse
communia."--wife and all. "Iste" always means Verres in
these narratives.
[120] These were burning political questions of the
moment. It was as though an advocate of our days should
desire some disgraced member of Parliament to go down to
the House and assist the Government in protecting Turkey
in Asia and invading Zululand.
[121] "Sit in ejus exercitu signifer." The "ejus" was
Hortensius, the coming Consul, too whom Cicero intended
to be considered as pointing. For the passage, see In
Verrem, Actio Secunda, lib. ii., xxxi.
[122] In Verrem, Actio Secunda, lib. iii., 11.
[123] "Exegi monumentum ære perennius," said Horace,
gloriously. "Sum pius Æneas" is Virgil's expression,
put into the mouth of his hero. "Ipse Menaleas," said
Virgil himself. Homer and Sophocles introduce their
heroes with self-sounded trumpetings:
[Greek: Eim' Odysseus Daertiadês hos pasi doloisi
Anthrôpoisi melô, kai meu kleos ouranon ikei.]
Odyssey, book ix., 19 and 20.
[Greek: Ho pasi kleinos Oidipous kaloumenos.]
[OE]dipus Tyrannus, 8.
[124] Pro Plancio, xxvi.: "Frumenti in summa caritate
maximum numerum miseram; negotiatoribus comis,
mercatoribus justus, municipibus liberalis, sociis
abstinens, omnibus eram visus in omni officio
diligentissimus."
[125] In Verrem, Actio Secunda, lib. iii., ix.: "Is erit
Apronius ille; qui, ut ipse non solum vita, sed etiam
corpore atque ore significat, immensa aliqua vorago est
ac gurges vitiorum turpitudinumque omnium. Hunc in
omnibus stupris, hunc in fanorum expilationibus, hunc in
impuris conviviis principem adhibebat; tantamque
habebat morum similitudo conjunctionem atque concordiam,
ut Apronius, qui aliis inhumanus ac barbarus, isti uni
commodus ac disertus videretur; ut quem omnes odissent
neque videre vellent sine eo iste esse non posset; ut
quum alii ne conviviis quidem iisdem quibus Apronius,
hic iisdem etiam poculis uteretur, postremo, ut, odor
Apronii teterrimus oris et corporis, quem, ut aiunt, ne
bestiæ quidem ferre possent, uni isti suavis et
jucundus videretur. Ille erat in tribunali proximus; in
cubiculo socius; in convivio dominus, ac tum maxime,
quum, accubante prætextato prætoris filio, in convivio
saltare nudus c[oe]perat."
[126] A great deal is said of the _Cybea_ in this and
the last speech. The money expended on it was passed
through the accounts as though the ship had been built
for the defence of the island from pirates, but it was
intended solely for the depository of the governor's
plunder.
[127] In Verrem, Actio Secunda, lib. iv., vii.
[128] In Verrem, Actio Secunda, lib. iv., lvii.
[129] In Verrem, Actio Secunda, lib. v., lxvi.: "Facinus
est vinciri civem Romanum; scelus verberari; prope
parricidium necari; quid dicam in crucem tollere!"
[130] In Verrem, Actio Secunda, lib. v., lxv.
[131] In Verrem, Actio Secunda, lib. v., xx.: "Onere suo
plane captam atque depressam."
[132] In Verrem, Actio Secunda, lib. v., xxvi.
[133] Ibid., xxviii.
[134] Pro Fonteio, xiii.
[135] De Oratore, lib. ii., lix.: "Perspicitis, hoc genus
quam sit facetum, quam elegans, quam oratorium, sive
habeas vere, quod narrare possis, quod tamen, est
mendaciunculis aspergendum, sive fingas." Either invent
a story, or if you have an old one, add on something so
as to make it really funny. Is there a parson, a bishop,
an archbishop, who, if he have any sense of humor about
him, does not do the same?
[136] Cicero, Pro Cluentio, l., explains very clearly
his own idea as to his own speeches as an advocate, and
may be accepted, perhaps, as explaining the ideas of
barristers of to-day. "He errs," he says, "who thinks
that he gets my own opinions in speeches made in law
courts; such speeches are what the special cases
require, and are not to be taken as coming from the
advocate as his own."
[137] When the question is discussed, we are forced
rather to wonder how many of the great historical doings
of the time are not mentioned, or are mentioned very
slightly, in Cicero's letters. Of Pompey's treatment of
the pirates, and of his battling in the East, little or
nothing is said, nothing of Cæsar's doings in Spain.
Mention is made of Cæsar's great operations in Gaul
only in reference to the lieutenancy of Cicero's brother
Quintus, and to the employment of his young friend
Trebatius. Nothing is said of the manner of Cæsar's
coming into Rome after passing the Rubicon; nothing of
the manner of fighting at Dyrrachium and Pharsalia; very
little of the death of Pompey; nothing of Cæsar's delay
in Egypt. The letters deal with Cicero's personal doings
and thoughts, and with the politics of Rome as a city.
The passage to which allusion is made occurs in the life
of Atticus, ca. xvi: "Quæ qui legat non multum
desideret historiam contextam illorum temporum."
[138] Jean George Greefe was a German, who spent his
life as a professor at Leyden, and, among other
classical labors, arranged and edited the letters of
Cicero. He died in 1703.
[139] It must be explained, however, that continued
research and increased knowledge have caused the order
of the letters, and the dates assigned to them, to be
altered from time to time; and, though much has been
done to achieve accuracy, more remains to be done. In my
references to the letters I at first gave them, both to
the arrangement made by Grævius and to the numbers
assigned in the edition I am using; but I have found
that the numbers would only mislead, as no numbering has
been yet adopted as fixed. Arbitrary and even fantastic
as is the arrangement of Grævius, it is better to
confine myself to that because it has been acknowledged,
and will enable my readers to find the letters if they
wish to do so. Should Mr. Tyrrell continue and complete
his edition of the correspondence, he will go far to
achieve the desired accuracy. A second volume has
appeared since this work of mine has been in the press.
[140] The peculiarities of Cicero's character are
nowhere so clearly legible as in his dealings with and
words about his daughter. There is an effusion of love,
and then of sorrow when she dies, which is un-Roman,
almost feminine, but very touching.
[141] I annex a passage from our well known English
translation: "The power of the pirates had its
foundation in Cilicia. Their progress was the more
dangerous, because at first it had been but little
noticed. In the Mithridatic war they assumed new
confidence and courage, on account of some services
which they had rendered the king. After this, the Romans
being engaged in civil war at the very gates of their
capital, the sea was left unguarded, and the pirates by
degrees attempted higher things--not only attacking
ships, but islands and maritime towns. Many persons
distinguished for their wealth, birth and capacity
embarked with them, and assisted in their depredations,
as if their employment had been worthy the ambition of
men of honor. They had in various places arsenals,
ports, and watch-towers, all strongly fortified. Their
fleets were not only extremely well manned, supplied
with skilful pilots, and fitted for their business by
their lightness and celerity, but there was a parade of
vanity about them, more mortifying than their strength,
in gilded sterns, purple canopies, and plated oars, as
if they took a pride and triumphed in their villany.
Music resounded, and drunken revels were exhibited on
every coast. Here generals were made prisoners; and
there the cities which the pirates had seized upon were
paying their ransom, to the great disgrace of the Roman
power. The number of their galleys amounted to a
thousand, and the cities taken to four hundred." The
passage is taken from the life of Pompey.
[142] Florus, lib. iii., 6: "An felicitatem, quod ne una
cuidam navis amissa est; an vero perpetuitatem, quod
amplius piratæ non fuerunt."
[143] Of the singular trust placed in Pompey there are
very many proofs in the history of Rome at this period,
but none, perhaps, clearer than the exception made in
this favor in the wording of laws. In the agrarian law
proposed by the Tribune Rullus, and opposed by Cicero
when he was Consul, there is a clause commanding all
Generals under the Republic to account for the spoils
taken by them in war. But there is a special exemption
in favor of Pompey. "Pompeius exceptus esto." It is as
though no Tribune dared to propose a law affecting
Pompey.
[144] See Appendix D.
[145] Asconius Pedianus was a grammarian who lived in
the reign of Tiberius, and whose commentaries on
Cicero's speeches, as far as they go, are very useful in
explaining to us the meaning of the orator. We have his
notes on these two Cornelian orations and some others,
especially on that of Pro Milone. There are also
commentaries on some of the Verrine orations--not by
Asconius, but from the pen of some writer now called
Pseudo-Asconius, having been long supposed to have come
from Asconius. They, too, go far to elucidate much which
would otherwise be dark to us.
[146] Quint., lib. viii., 3. The critic is explaining the
effect of ornament in oratory--of that beauty of
language which with the people has more effect than
argument--and he breaks forth himself into perhaps the
most eloquent passage in the whole Institute: "Cicero,
in pleading for Cornelius, fought with arms which were
as splendid as they were strong. It was not simply by
putting the facts before the judges, by talking
usefully, in good language and clearly, that he
succeeded in forcing the Roman people to acknowledge by
their voices and by their hands their admiration; it was
the grandeur of his words, their magnificence, their
beauty, their dignity, which produced that outburst."
[147] Orator., lxvii. and lxx.
[148] De Lege Agraria, ii., 2: "Meis comitiis non
tabellam, vindicem tacitæ libertatis, sed vocem vivam
præ vobis, indicem vestrarum erga me voluntatum ac
studiorum tulistis. Itaque me * * * una voce universus
populus Romanus consulem declaravit."
[149] Sall., Conj. Catilinaria, xxi.: "Petere consulatum
C. Antonium, quem sibi collegam fore speraret, hominem
et familiarem, et omnibus necessitudinibus
circumventum." Sallust would no doubt have put anything
into Catiline's mouth which would suit his own purpose;
but it was necessary for his purpose that he should
confine himself to credibilities.
[150] Cicero himself tells us that many short-hand
writers were sent by him--"Plures librarii," as he calls
them--to take down the words of the Agrarian law which
Rullus proposed. De Lege Agra., ii., 5. Pliny,
Quintilian, and Martial speak of these men as Notarii.
Martial explains the nature of their business:
"Currant verba licet, manus est velocior illis;
Nondum lingua suum, dextra peregit opus."--xiv., 208.
[151]Ad Att., ii., 1. "Oratiunculas," he calls them. It
would seem here that he pretends to have preserved these
speeches only at the request of some admiring young
friends. Demosthenes, of course, was the
"fellow-citizen," so called in badinage, because
Atticus, deserting Rome, lived much at Athens.
[152] This speech, which has been lost, was addressed to
the people with the view of reconciling them to a law in
accordance with which the Equites were entitled to
special seats in the theatre. It was altogether
successful.
[153] This, which is extant, was spoken in defence of an
old man who was accused of a political homicide
thirty-seven years before--of having killed, that is,
Saturninus the Tribune. Cicero was unsuccessful, but
Rabirius was saved by the common subterfuge of an
interposition of omens. There are some very fine
passages in this oration.
[154] This has been lost. Cicero, though he acknowledged
the iniquity of Sulla's proscriptions, showed that their
effects could not now be reversed without further
revolutions. He gained his point on this occasion.
[155] This has been lost. Cicero, in accordance with the
practice of the time, was entitled to the government of
a province when ceasing to be Consul. The rich province
of Macedonia fell to him by lot, but he made it over to
his colleague Antony, thus purchasing, if not Antony's
co-operation, at any rate his quiescence, in regard to
Catiline. He also made over the province of Gaul, which
then fell to his lot, to Metellus, not wishing to leave
the city. All this had to be explained to the people.
[156] It will be seen that he also defended Rabirius in
his consular year, but had thought fit to include that
among his consular speeches. Some doubt has been thrown,
especially by Mr. Tyrrell, on the genuineness of
Cicero's letter giving the list of his "oratiunculas
consulares," because the speeches Pro Murena and Pro
Pisone are omitted, and as containing some "rather
un-Ciceronian expressions." My respect for Mr. Tyrrell's
scholarship and judgment is so great that I hardly dare
to express an opinion contrary to his; but I should be
sorry to exclude a letter so Ciceronian in its feeling.
And if we are to have liberty to exclude without
evidence, where are we to stop?
[157] Corn. Nepo., Epaminondas, I.: "We know that with
us" (Romans) "music is foreign to the employments of a
great man. To dance would amount to a vice. But these
things among the Greeks are not only pleasant but
praiseworthy."
[158] Conj. Catilinaria, xxv.
[159] Horace, Epis. i., xvii.:
"Si sciret regibus uti
Fastidiret olus qui me notat."
[160] Pro Murena, xxix.
[161] Pro Murena, x. This Sulpicius was afterward Consul
with M. Marcellus, and in the days of the Philippics was
sent as one of a deputation to Antony. He died while on
the journey. He is said to have been a man of excellent
character, and a thorough-going conservative.
[162] Pro Murena, xi.
[163] Ibid., xi.
[164] Ibid., xii.
[165] Ibid., xiii.
[166] Ibid., xi.
[167] Pro Cluentio, 1.
[168] De Lege Agraria, ii., 5.
[169] He alludes here to his own colleague Antony, whom
through his whole year of office he had to watch lest
the second Consul should join the enemies whom he
fears--should support Rullus or go over to Catiline.
With this view, choosing the lesser of the two evils, he
bribes Antony with the government of Macedonia.
[170] De Lege Agraria, i., 7 and 8.
[171] The "jus imaginis" belonged to those whose
ancestors was counted an Ædile, a Prætor, or a Consul.
The descendants of such officers were entitled to have
these images, whether in bronze, or marble, or wax,
carried at the funerals of their friends.
[172] Forty years since, Marius who was also "novus
homo," and also, singularly enough, from Arpinum, had
been made Consul, but not with the glorious
circumstances as now detailed by Cicero.
[173] De Lege Agraria, ii., 1, 2, and 3.
[174] See Introduction.
[175] Pliny the elder, Hist. Nat., lib. vii., ca. xxxi.
[176] The word is "proscripsisti," "you proscribed him."
For the proper understanding of this, the bearing of
Cicero toward Antony during the whole period of the
Philippics must be considered.
[177] Catiline, by Mr. Beesly. Fortnightly Review, 1865.
[178] Pro Murena, xxv.: "Quem omnino vivum illinc exire
non oportuerat." I think we must conclude from this that
Cicero had almost expected that his attack upon the
conspirators, in his first Catiline oration, would have
the effect of causing him to be killed.
[179] Æneid, viii., 668:
"Te, Catilina, minaci
Pendentem scopulo."
[180] Velleius Paterculus, lib. ii., xxxiv.
[181] Juvenal, Sat. ii., 27: "Catilina Cethegum!" Could
such a one as Catiline answer such a one as Cethegus?
Sat. viii., 232: "Arma tamen vos Nocturna et flammas
domibus templisque parastis." Catiline, in spite of his
noble blood, had endeavored to burn the city. Sat. xiv.,
41: "Catilinam quocunque in populo videas." It is hard
to find a good man, but it is easy enough to put your
hand anywhere on a Catiline.
[182] Val Maximus, lib. v., viii., 5; lib. ix., 1, 9;
lib. ix., xi., 3.
[183] Florus, lib. iv.
[184] Mommsen's History of Rome, book v., chap v.
[185] I feel myself constrained here to allude to the
treatment given to Catiline by Dean Merivale in his
little work on the two Roman Triumvirates. The Dean's
sympathies are very near akin to those of Mr. Beesly,
but he values too highly his own historical judgment to
allow it to run on all fours with Mr. Beesly's
sympathies. "The real designs," he says, "of the
infamous Catiline and his associates must indeed always
remain shrouded in mystery. * * * Nevertheless, it is
impossible to deny, and on the whole it would be
unreasonable to doubt, that such a conspiracy there
really was, and that the very existence of the
commonwealth was for a moment seriously imperilled." It
would certainly be unreasonable to doubt it. But the
Dean, though he calls Catiline infamous, and
acknowledges the conspiracy, nevertheless give us ample
proof of his sympathy with the conspirators, or rather
of his strong feeling against Cicero. Speaking of
Catiline at a certain moment, he says that he "was not
yet hunted down." He speaks of the "upstart Cicero," and
plainly shows us that his heart is with the side which
had been Cæsar's. Whether conspiracy or no conspiracy,
whether with or without wholesale murder and rapine, a
single master with a strong hand was the one remedy
needed for Rome! The reader must understand that
Cicero's one object in public life was to resist that
lesson.
[186] Asconius, "In toga candida," reports that
Fenestella, a writer of the time of Augustus, had
declared that Cicero had defended Catiline; but Asconius
gives his reasons for disbelieving the story.
[187] Cicero, however, declares that he has made a
difference between traitors to their country and other
criminals. Pro P. Sulla, ca. iii.: "Verum etiam quædam
contagio sceleris, si defendas eum, quem obstrictum esse
patriæ parricidio suspicere." Further on in the same
oration, ca. vi., he explains that he had refused to
defend Autronius because he had known Autronius to be a
conspirator against his country. I cannot admit the
truth of the argument in which Mr. Forsyth defends the
practice of the English bar in this respect, and in
doing so presses hard upon Cicero. "At Rome," he says,
"it was different. The advocate there was conceived to
have a much wider discretion than we allow." Neither in
Rome nor in England has the advocate been held to be
disgraced by undertaking the defence of bad men who have
been notoriously guilty. What an English barrister may
do, there was no reason that a Roman advocate should not
do, in regard to simple criminality. Cicero himself has
explained in the passage I have quoted how the Roman
practice did differ from ours in regard to treason. He
has stated also that he knew nothing of the first
conspiracy when he offered to defend Catiline on the
score of provincial peculations. No writer has been
heavy on Hortensius for defending Verres, but only
because he took bribes from Verres.
[188] Publius Cornelius Sulla, and Publius Autronius
P[oe]tus.
[189] Pro P. Sulla, iv. He declares that he had known
nothing of the first conspiracy and gives the reason:
"Quod nondum penitus in republica versabar, quod nondum
ad propositum mihi finem honoris perveneram, quod mea me
ambitio et forensis labor ab omni illa cogitatione
abstrahebat."
[190] Sallust, Catilinaria, xviii.
[191] Livy, Epitome, lib. ci.
[192] Suetonius, J. Cæsar, ix.
[193] Mommsen, book v., ca. v., says of Cæsar and
Crassus as to this period, "that this notorious action
corresponds with striking exactness to the secret action
which this report ascribes to them." By which he means
to imply that they probably were concerned in the plot.
[194] Sallust tells us, Catilinaria, xlix., that Cicero
was instigated by special enemies of Cæsar to include
Cæsar in the accusation, but refused to mix himself up
in so great a crime. Crassus also was accused, but
probably wrongfully. Sallust declares that an attempt
was made to murder Cæsar as he left the Senate. There
was probably some quarrel and hustling, but no more.
[195] Sallust, Catilinaria, xxxvii.: "Omnino cuncta
plebes, novarum rerum studio, Catilinæ incepta
probabat." By the words "novarum rerum studio"--by a love
of revolution--we can understand the kind of popularity
which Sallust intended to express.
[196] Pro Murena, xxv.
[197] "Darent operam consules ne quid detrimenti
respublica capiat."
[198] Catilinaria, xxxi.
[199] Quintilian, lib. xii., 10: "Quem tamen et suorum
homines temporum incessere audebant, ut tumidiorem, et
asianum, et redundantem."
[200] Orator., xxxvii.: "A nobis homo audacissimus
Catilina in senatu accusatus obmutuit."
[201] 2 Catilinaria, xxxi.
[202] In the first of them to the Senate, chap. ix., he
declares this to Catiline himself: "Si mea voce
perterritus ire in exsilium animum induxeris, quanta
tempestas invidiæ nobis, si minus in præsens tempus,
recenti memoria scelerum tuorum, at in posteritatem
impendeat." He goes on to declare that he will endure
all that, if by so doing he can save the Republic. "Sed
est mihi tanti; dummodo ista privata sit calamitas, et a
reipublicæ periculis sejungatur."
[203] Sallust, Catilinaria, xli.: "Itaque Q. Fabio
Sangæ cujus patrocinio civitas plurimum utebatur rem
omnem uti cognoverant aperiunt."
[204] Horace, Epo. xvi., 6: "Novisque rebus infidelis
Allobrox." The unhappy Savoyard has from this line been
known through ages as a conspirator, false even to his
fellow-conspirators.
Juvenal, vii., 214: "Rufum qui toties Ciceronem
Allobroga dixit." Some Rufus, acting as advocate, had
thought to put down Cicero by calling him an
Allobrogian.
[205] The words in which this honor was conferred he
himself repeats: "Quod urbem incendiis, cæde cives,
Italiam bello liberassem"--"because I had rescued the
city from fire, the citizens from slaughter, and Italy
from war."
[206] It is necessary in all oratory to read something
between the lines. It is allowed to the speaker to
produce effect by diminishing and exaggerating. I think
we should detract something from the praises bestowed on
Catiline's military virtues. The bigger Catiline could
be made to appear, the greater would be the honor of
having driven him out of the city.
[207] In Catilinam, iii., xi.
[208] In Catilinam, ibid., xii.: "Ne mihi noceant
vestrum est providere."
[209] "Prince of the Senate" was an honorary title,
conferred on some man of mark as a dignity--at this
period on some ex-Consul; it conferred no power. Cicero,
the Consul who had convened the Senate, called on the
speakers as he thought fit.
[210] Cæsar, according to Sallust, had referred to the
Lex Porcia. Cicero alludes, and makes Cæsar allude, to
the Lex Sempronia. The Porcian law, as we are told by
Livy, was passed B.C. 299, and forbade that a Roman
should be scourged or put to death. The Lex Sempronia
was introduced by C. Gracchus, and enacted that the life
of a citizen should not be taken without the voice of
the citizens.
[211] Velleius Paterculus, xxxvi.: "Consulatui Ciceronis
non mediocre adjecit decus natus eo anno Divus
Augustus."
[212] In Pisonem, iii.: "Sine ulla dubitatione juravi
rempublicam atque hanc urbem mea unius opera esse
salvam."
[213] Dio Cassius tells the same story, lib. xxxvii.,
ca. 38, but he adds that Cicero was more hated than ever
because of the oath he took: [Greek: kai ho men kai ek
toutou poly mallon emisêthê.]
[214] It is the only letter given in the collection as
having been addressed direct to Pompey. In two letters
written some years later to Atticus, B.C. 49, lib.
viii., 11, and lib. viii., 12, he sends copies of a
correspondence between himself and Pompey and two of the
Pompeian generals.
[215] Lib. v., 7. It is hardly necessary to explain that
the younger Scipio and Lælius were as famous for their
friendship as Pylades and Orestes. The "Virtus Scipiadæ
et mitis sapientia Læli" have been made famous to us
all by Horace.
[216] These two brothers, neither of whom was remarkable
for great qualities, though they were both to be
Consuls, were the last known of the great family of the
Metelli, a branch of the "Gens Cæcilia." Among them had
been many who had achieved great names for themselves in
Roman history, on account of the territories added to
the springing Roman Empire by their victories. There had
been a Macedonicus, a Numidicus, a Balearicus, and a
Creticus. It is of the first that Velleius Paterculus
sings the glory--lib. i., ca. xi., and the elder Pliny
repeats the story, Hist. Nat., vii., 44--that of his
having been carried to the grave by four sons, of whom
at the time of his death three had been Consuls, one had
been a Prætor, two had enjoyed triumphal honors, and
one had been Censor. In looking through the consular
list of Cicero's lifetime, I find that there were no
less than seven taken from the family of the Metelli.
These two brothers, Metellus Nepos and Celer, again
became friends to Cicero; Nepos, who had stopped his
speech and assisted in forcing him into exile, having
assisted as Consul in obtaining his recall from exile.
It is very difficult to follow the twistings and
turnings of Roman friendships at this period.
[217] Velleius Paterculus, lib. ii., ca. xiv. Paterculus
tells us how, when the architect offered to build the
house so as to hide its interior from the gaze of the
world, Drusus desired the man so to construct it that
all the world might see what he was doing.
[218] It may be worth while to give a translation of the
anecdote as told by Aulus Gellius, and to point out that
the authors intention was to show what a clever fellow
Cicero was. Cicero did defend P. Sulla this year; but
whence came the story of the money borrowed from Sulla
we do not know. "It is a trick of rhetoric craftily to
confess charges made, so as not to come within the reach
of the law. So that, if anything base be alleged which
cannot be denied, you may turn it aside with a joke, and
make it a matter of laughter rather than of disgrace, as
it is written that Cicero did when, with a drolling
word, he made little of a charge which he could not
deny. For when he was anxious to buy a house on the
Palatine Hill, and had not the ready money, he quietly
borrowed from P. Sulla--who was then about to stand his
trial, 'sestertium viciens'--twenty million sesterces.
When that became known, before the purchase was made,
and it was objected to him that he had borrowed the
money from a client, then Cicero, instigated by the
unexpected charge, denied the loan, and denied also that
he was going to buy the house. But when he had bought it
and the fib was thrown in his teeth, he laughed
heartily, and asked whether men had so lost their senses
as not to be aware that a prudent father of a family
would deny an intended purchase rather than raise the
price of the article against himself."--Noctes Atticæ,
xii., 12. Aulus Gellius though he tells us that the
story was written, does not tell us where he read it.
[219] I must say this, "pace" Mr. Tyrrell, who, in his
note on the letter to Atticus, lib. i., 12, attempts to
show that some bargain for such professional fee had
been made. Regarding Mr. Tyrrell as a critic always
fair, and almost always satisfactory, I am sorry to have
to differ from him; but it seems to me that he, too, has
been carried away by the feeling that in defending a
man's character it is best to give up some point.
[220] I have been amused at finding a discourse,
eloquent and most enthusiastic, in praise of Cicero and
especially of this oration, spoken by M. Guéroult at the
College of France in June, 1815. The worst literary
faults laid to the charge of Cicero, if committed by
him--which M. Guéroult thinks to be doubtful--had been
committed even by Voltaire and Racine! The learned
Frenchman, with whom I altogether sympathize, rises to
an ecstasy of violent admiration, and this at the very
moment in which Waterloo was being fought. But in truth
the great doings of the world do not much affect
individual life. We should play our whist at the clubs
though the battle of Dorking were being fought.
[221] Pro P. Sulla, iv.: "Scis me * * * illorum expertem
temporum et sermonum fuisse; credo, quod nondum penitus
in republica versabar, quod nondum ad propositum mihi
finem honoris perveneram. * * * Quis ergo intererat vestris
consiliis? Omnes hi, quos vides huic adesse et in primis
Q. Hortensius."
[222] Ad Att., lib. i., 12.
[223] Ad Att., lib. i., 13.
[224] Ibid., i., 14.
[225]Ibid., i., 16: "Vis scire quomodo minus quam soleam
præliatus sum."
[226] "You have bought a fine house," said Clodius.
"There would be more in what you say if you could accuse
me of buying judges," replied Cicero. "The judges would
not trust you on your oath," said Clodius, referring to
the alibi by which he had escaped in opposition to
Cicero's oath. "Yes," replied Cicero, "twenty-five
trusted me; but not one of the thirty-one would trust
you without having his bribe paid beforehand."
[227] Ad Att., i., 14: "Proxime Pompeium sedebam.
Intellexi hominem moveri."
[228] Ibid.: "Quo modo [Greek: eneperpereusamên], novo
auditori Pompeio."
[229] Mommsen, book v., chap. vi. This probably has been
taken from the statement of Paterculus, lib. ii., 40:
"Quippe plerique non sine exercitu venturum in urbem
adfirmabant, et libertati publicæ statuturum arbitrio
suo modum. Quo magis hoc homines timuerant, eo gratior
civilis tanti imperatoris reditus fuit." No doubt there
was a dread among many of Pompey coming back as Sulla
had come: not from indications to be found in the
character of Pompey, but because Sulla had done so.
[230] Florus, lib. ii., xix. Having described to us the
siege of Numantia, he goes on "Hactenus populus Romanus
pulcher, egregius, pius, sanctus atque magnificus.
Reliqua seculi, ut grandia æque, ita vel magis turbida
et f[oe]da."
[231] We have not Pollio's poem on the conspiracy, but
we have Horace's record of Pollio's poem:
Motum ex Metello consule civicum,
Bellique causas et vitia, et modos,
Ludumque Fortunæ, gravesque
Principum amicitias, et arma
Nondum expiatis uncta cruoribus,
Periculosæ plenum opus aleæ,
Tractas, et incedis per ignes
Suppositos cineri doloso.--Odes, lib. ii., 1.
[232] The German index appeared--very much after the
original work--as late as 1875.
[233] Mommsen, lib. v., chap. vi. I cannot admit that
Mommsen is strictly accurate, as Cæsar had no real
idea of democracy. He desired to be the Head of
the Oligarchs, and, as such, to ingratiate himself
with the people.
[234] For the character of Cæsar generally I would refer
readers to Suetonius, whose life of the great man
is, to my thinking, more graphic than any that has
been written since. For his anecdotes there is
little or no evidence. His facts are not all
historical. His knowledge was very much less
accurate than that of modern writers who have had
the benefit of research and comparison. But there
was enough of history, of biography, and of
tradition to enable him to form a true idea of the
man. He himself as a narrator was neither
specially friendly nor specially hostile. He has
told what was believed at the time, and he has
drawn a character that agrees perfectly with all
that we have learned since.
[235] By no one has the character and object of the
Triumvirate been so well described as by Lucan, who,
bombastic as he is, still manages to bring home to the
reader the ideas as to persons and events which he
wishes to convey. I have ventured to give in an
Appendix, E, the passages referred to, with such a
translation in prose as I have been able to produce. It
will be found at the end of this volume.
[236] Plutarch--Crassus: [Greek: kai synestêsen ek tôn
triôn ischyn amachon.]
[237] Velleius Paterculus, lib. ii., 44: "Hoc igitur
consule, inter eum et Cn. Pompeium et M. Crassum inita
potentiæ societas, quæ urbi orbique terrarum, nec
minus diverso quoque tempore ipsis exitiabilis fuit."
Suetonius, Julius Cæsar, xix., "Societatem cum utroque
iniit." Officers called Triumviri were quite common, as
were Quinqueviri and Decemviri. Livy speaks of a
"Triumviratus"--or rather two such offices exercised by
one man--ix., 46. We remember, too, that wretch whom
Horace gibbeted, Epod. iv.: "Sectus flagellis hic
triumviralibus." But the word, though in common use, was
not applied to this conspiracy.
[238] Ad Att., lib. ii., 3: "Is affirmabat, illum omnibus
in rebus meo et Pompeii consilio usurum, daturumque
operam, ut cum Pompeio Crassum conjungeret. Hic sunt
hæc. Conjunctio mihi summa cum Pompeio; si placet etiam
cum Cæsare; reditus in gratiam cum inimicis, pax cum
multitudine; senectulis otium. Sed me [Greek: katakleis]
mea illa commovet, quæ est in libro iii.
"Interea cursus, quos prima a parte juventæ
Quosque adeo consul virtute, animoque petisti,
Hos retine, atque, auge famam laudesque bonorum."
[239] Homer, Iliad, lib. xii., 243: [Greek: Eis oiônos
aristos amynesthai peri patrês.]
[240] Middleton's Life of Cicero, vol. i., p. 291.
[241] Pro Domo Sua, xvi. This was an oration, as the
reader will soon learn more at length, in which the
orator pleaded for the restoration of his town mansion
after his return from exile. It has, however, been
doubted whether the speech as we have it was ever made
by Cicero.
[242] Suetonius, Julius Cæsar, xx.
[243] Ad Att., lib. ii., 1: "Quid quæris?" says Cicero.
"Conturbavi Græcam nationem"--"I have put all Greece
into a flutter."
[244] De Divinatione, lib. i.
[245] Ad Quin. Fratrem, lib. i., 1: "Non itineribus tuis
perterreri homines? non sumptu exhauriri? non adventu
commoveri? Esse, quocumque veneris, et publice et
privatim maximam lætitiam; quum urbs custodem non
tyrannum; domus hospitem non expilatorem, recipisse
videatur? His autem in rebus jam te usus ipse profecto
erudivit nequaquam satis esse, ipsum hasce habere
virtutis, sed esse circumspiciendum diligentur, ut in
hac custodia provinciæ non te unum, sed omnes ministros
imperii tui, sociis, et civibus, et reipublicæ
præstare videare."
[246] Ad Quin. Fratrem, lib. i., 1: "Ac mihi quidem
videntur huc omnia esse referenda iis qui præsunt
aliis; ut ii, qui erunt eorum in imperio sint quam
beatissimi, quod tibi et esse antiquissimum et ab initio
fuisse, ut primum Asiam attigisti, constante fama atque
omnium sermone celebratum est. Est autem non modo ejus,
qui sociis et civibus, sed etiam ejus qui servis, qui
mutis pecudibus præsit, eorum quibus præsit commodis
utilitatique servire."
[247] "Hæc est una in toto imperio tuo difficultas."
[248] Mommsen, book v., ca. 6.
[249] Mommsen, vol. v., ca. vi.
[250] Ad Att., lib. ii., 7: "Atque hæc, sin velim
existimes, non me abs te [Greek: kata to praktikon]
quærere, quod gestiat animus aliquid agere in
republica. Jam pridem gubernare me tædebat, etiam quum
licebat."
[251] Ad Att., lib. ii., 8: "Scito Curionem adolescentem
venisse ad me salutatum. Valde ejus sermo de Publio cum
tuis litteris congruebat, ipse vero mirandum in modum
Reges odisse superbos. Peræque narrabat incensam esse
juventutem, neque ferre hæc posse." The "reges
superbos" were Cæsar and Pompey.
[252] Ad Att., lib. ii., 5: [Greek: Aideomai Trôas kai
Trôadas helkesipeplous].--Il., vi., 442. "I fear what
Mrs. Grundy would say of me," is Mr. Tyrrell's homely
version. Cicero's mind soared, I think, higher when he
brought the words of Hector to his service than does the
ordinary reference to our old familiar critic.
[253] Quint., xii., 1.
[254] Enc. Britannica on Cicero.
[255] Ad Att., lib. ii., 9.
[256] Ibid.: "Festive, mihi crede, et minore sonitu,
quam putaram, orbis hic in republica est conversus."
"Orbis hic," this round body of three is the
Triumvirate.
[257] We cannot but think of the threat Horace made,
Sat., lib. ii., 1:
"At ille
Qui me commorit, melius non tangere! clamo,
Flebit, et insignis tota cantabitur urbe."
[258] Ad Att., lib. ii., 11: "Da ponderosam aliquam
epistolam."
[259] Josephus, lib. xviii., ca. 5.
[260] Ad Att., lib. ii., 16.
[261] Ad Att., lib. ii., 18: "A Cæsare valde liberaliter
invitor in legationem illam, sibi ut sim legatus; atque
etiam libera legatio voti causa datur."
[262] De Legibus, lib. iii., ca. viii.: "Jam illud apertum
prefecto est nihil esse turpius, quam quenquam legari
nisi republica causa."
[263] It may be seen from this how anxious Cæsar was to
secure his silence, and yet how determined not to screen
him unless he could secure his silence.
[264] Ad Quintum, lib. i., 2.
[265] Of this last sentence I have taken a translation
given by Mr. Tyrrell, who has introduced a special
reading of the original which the sense seems to
justify.
[266] Macrobius, Saturnalia, lib. ii., ca. i.: We are told
that Cicero had been called the consular buffoon. "And
I," says Macrobius, "if it would not be too long, could
relate how by his jokes he has brought off the most
guilty criminals." Then he tells the story of Lucius
Flaccus.
[267] See the evidence of Asconius on this point, as to
which Cicero's conduct has been much mistaken. We shall
come to Milo's trial before long.
[268] The statement is made by Mr. Tyrrell in his
biographical introduction to the Epistles.
[269] The 600 years, or anni DC., is used to signify
unlimited futurity.
[270] Mommsen's History, book v., ca. v.
[271] [Greek: Automalos ônomazeto] is the phrase of
Dio Cassius. "Levissume transfuga" is the translation
made by the author of the "Declamatio in Ciceronem." If
I might venture on a slang phrase, I should say that
[Greek: automalos] was a man who "went off on his own
hook." But no man was ever more loyal as a political
adherent than Cicero.
[272] Ad Att., ii., 25.
[273] We do not know when the marriage took place, or
any of the circumstances; but we are aware that when
Tullia came, in the following year, B.C. 57, to meet her
father at Brundisium, she was a widow.
[274] Suetonius, Julius Cæsar, xii.: "Subornavit etiam
qui C. Rabirio perduellionis diem diceret."
[275] "Qui civem Romanum indemnatum perimisset, ei aqua
at igni interdiceretur."
[276] Plutarch tells us of this sobriquet, but gives
another reason for it, equally injurious to the lady's
reputation.
[277] Ad Att., lib. iii., 15.
[278] In Pisonem, vi.
[279] Ad Att., lib. x., 4.
[280] We are told by Cornelius Nepos, in his life of
Atticus, that when Cicero fled from his country Atticus
advanced to him two hundred and fifty sesterces, or
about £2000. I doubt, however, whether the flight here
referred to was not that early visit to Athens which
Cicero was supposed to have made in his fear of Sulla.
[281] Ad Fam., lib. xiv., iv.: "Tullius to his Terentia,
and to his young Tullia, and to his Cicero," meaning his
boy.
[282] Pro Domo Sua, xxiv.
[283] Ad Quin. Fra., 1, 3.
[284] The reader who wishes to understand with what
anarchy the largest city in the world might still exist,
should turn to chapter viii. of book v. of Mommsen's
History.
[285] Ad Att., lib. iii., 12.
[286] Horace, Epis., lib. ii., 1.
[287] Ad Att., lib. i., 8.
[288] Horace, Epis., lib. ii., 11. The translation is
Conington's.
[289] Vell. Pat., lib. i., xiii.
[290] "Civile;" when Sulla, with Pompey under him, was
fighting with young Marius and Cinna.
[291] "Africanum;" when he had fought with Domitius, the
son-in-law of Cinna, and with Hiarbas.
[292] "Transalpinum;" during his march through Gaul into
Spain.
[293] "Hispaniense;" in which he conquered Sertorius.
[294] "Servile;" the war with Spartacus, with the slaves
and gladiators.
[295] "Navale Bellum;" the war with the pirates.
[296] For the full understanding of this oft-quoted line
the reader should make himself acquainted with Cato's
march across Libya after the death of Pompey, as told by
Lucan in his 9th book.
END OF VOLUME I.