_CICERO'S RELIGION._
I should hardly have thought it necessary to devote a chapter of my book
to the religion of a pagan, had I not, while studying Cicero's life,
found that I was not dealing with a pagan's mind. The mind of the Roman
who so lived as to cause his life to be written in after-times was at
this period, in most instances, nearly a blank as to any ideas of a God.
Horace is one who in his writing speaks much of himself. Ovid does so
still more constantly. They are both full of allusions to "the gods."
They are both aware that it is a good thing to speak with respect of the
national worship, and that the orders of the Emperor will be best
obeyed by believers. "Dis te minorem quod geris, imperas," says Horace,
when, in obedience probably to Augustus, he tells his fellow-citizens
that they are forgetting their duties in their unwillingness to pay for
the repairs of the temples. "Superi, quorum sumus omnia," says Ovid,
thinking it well to show in one of his writings, which he sent home from
his banishment, that he still entertained the fashionable creed. But
they did not believe. It was at that time the fashion to pretend a light
belief, in order that those below might live as though they believed,
and might induce an absolute belief in the women and the children. It
was not well that the temple of the gods should fall into ruins. It was
not well that the augurs, who were gentlemen of high family, should go
for nothing. Caesar himself was the high-priest, and thought much of the
position, but he certainly was bound by no priestcraft. A religious
belief was not expected from a gentleman. Religious ceremonies had
gradually sunk so low in the world's esteem that the Roman nobility had
come to think of their gods as things to swear by, or things to amuse
them, or things from which, if times were bad with them, some doubtful
assistance might perchance come. In dealing with ordinary pagans of
those days religion may be laid altogether on one side. I remember no
passage in Livy or Tacitus indicating a religious belief.
But with Cicero my mind is full of such; and they are of a nature to
make me feel that had he lived a hundred years later I should have
suspected him of some hidden knowledge of Christ's teachings. M. Renan
has reminded us of Cicero's dislike to the Jews. He could not learn from
the Jews--though the Jew, indeed, had much that he could teach him. The
religion which he required was far from the selfishness of either Jew or
Roman. He believed in eternity, in the immortality of the soul, in
virtue for the sake of its reward hereafter, in the omnipotence of God,
the performance of his duty to his neighbors, in conscience, and in
honesty. "Certum esse in caelo definitum locum, ubi beati aevo sempiterno
fruantur."[330] "There is certainly a place in heaven where the blessed
shall enjoy eternal life." Can St. Paul have expressed with more
clearness his belief as to a heaven? Earlier in his career he expresses
in language less definite, but still sufficiently clear, his ideas as to
another world: "An vero tam parvi animi videamur esse omnes, qui in
republica, atque in his vitae periculis laboribusque versamur, ut, quum,
usque ad extremum spatium, nullum tranquillum atque otiosum spiritum
duxerimus, vobiscum simul moritura omnia arbitremur?"[331] "Are we all
of us so poor in spirit as to think that after toiling for our country
and ourselves--though we have not had one moment of ease here upon
earth--when we die all things shall die with us?" And when he did go it
should be to that glory for which virtue shall have trained him. "Neque
te sermonibus vulgi dederis, nec in praemis humanis spem posueris rerum
tuarum; suis te oportet illecebris ipsa virtus trahat ad verum
decus."[332] "You shall put your hope neither in man's opinion nor in
human rewards; but Virtue itself by her own charms shall lead you the
way to true glory." He thus tells us his idea of God's omnipotence:
"Quam vim animum esse dicunt mundi, eamdemque esse mentem sapientiamque
perfectam; quem Deum appellant."[333] "This force they call the soul of
the world, and, looking on it as perfect in intelligence and wisdom,
they name it their God." And again he says, speaking of God's care,
"Quis enim potest--quam existimet a deo se curari--non et dies, et
noctes divinum numen horrere?"[334] "Who is there, when he thinks that a
God is taking care of him, shall not live day and night in awe of his
divine majesty?" As to man's duty to his neighbor, a subject as to which
Pagans before and even after the time of Cicero seem to have had but
vague ideas, the treatise De Officiis is full of it, as indeed is the
whole course of his life. "Omne officium, quod ad conjunctionem hominum
et ad societatem tuendam valet, anteponendum est illi officio, quod
cognitione et scientia continetur."[335] "All duty which tends to
protect the society of man with men is to be preferred to that of which
science is the simple object." His belief in a conscience is shown in
the law he lays down against suicide: "Vetat enim dominans ille in nobis
deus, injussu hinc nos suo demigrare."[336] "That God within us forbids
us to depart hence without his permission." As to justice, I need give
no quotation from his works as proof of that virtue which all his works
have been written to uphold.
This pagan had his ideas of God's governance of men, and of man's
required obedience to his God, so specially implanted in his heart, that
he who undertakes to write his life should not pass it by unnoticed. To
us our religion has come as a thing to believe, though taking too often
the form of a stern duty. We have had it from our fathers and our
mothers; and though it has been given to us by perhaps indifferent
hands, still it has been given. It has been there with all its written
laws, a thing to live by--if we choose. Rich and poor, the majority of
us know at any rate the Lord's Prayer, and most of us have repeated it
regularly during our lives. There are not many of us who have not
learned that they are deterred by something beyond the law from
stealing, from murder, from committing adultery. All Rome and all Romans
knew nothing of any such obligation, unless it might be that some few,
like Cicero, found it out from the recesses of their own souls. He found
it out, certainly. "Suis te oportet illecebris ipsa virtus trahat ad
verum decus." "Virtue itself by its own charms shall lead you the way to
true glory." The words to us seem to be quite commonplace. There is not
a curate who might not put them into a sermon. But in Cicero's time they
were new, and hitherto untaught. There was the old Greek philosopher's
idea that the [Greek: to kalon]--the thing of beauty--was to be found in
virtue, and that it would make a man altogether happy if he got a hold
of it. But there was no God connected with it, no future life, no
prospect sufficient to redeem a man from the fear of death. It was
leather and prunella, that, from first to last. The man had to die and
go, melancholy, across the Styx. But Cicero was the first to tell his
brother Romans of an intelligible heaven. "Certum esse in caelo
definitum locum ubi beati aevo sempiterno fruantur." "There is certainly
a place in heaven where the blessed shall enjoy eternal life." And then
how nearly he had realized that doctrine which tells us that we should
do unto others as we would they should do unto us--the very pith and
marrow and inside meaning of Christ's teaching, by adapting which we
have become human, by neglecting which we revert to paganism. When we
look back upon the world without this law, we see nothing good in it, in
spite of individual greatness and national honor. But Cicero had found
it.--"That brotherhood between men, that agreement as to what may be
useful to all, and that general love for the human race!"[337] It is all
contained in these few words, but if anything be wanted to explain at
length our duty to our neighbors it will be found there on reference to
this passage. How different has been the world before that law was given
to us and since! Even the existence of that law, though it be not
obeyed, has softened the hearts of men.
If, as some think, it be the purport of Christ's religion to teach men
to live after a godlike fashion rather than to worship God after a
peculiar form, then may we be allowed to say that Cicero was almost a
Christian, even before the coming of Christ. If, as some think, an
eternity of improved existence for all is to be looked for by the
disciples of Christ, rather than a heaven of glory for the few and for
the many, a hell that never shall be mitigated, then had Cicero
anticipated much of Christ's doctrine. That he should have approached
the mystical portion of our religion it would of course be absurd to
suppose. But a belief in that mystical part is not essential for forming
the conduct of men. The divine birth, and the doctrine of the Trinity,
and the Lord's Supper, are not necessary to teach a man to live with his
brother men on terms of forbearance and brotherly love. You shall live
with a man from year's end to year's end, and shall not know his creed
unless he tell you, or that you see him performing the acts of his
worship; but you cannot live with him, and not know whether he live in
accordance with Christ's teaching. And so it was with Cicero. Read his
works through from the beginning to the end, and you shall feel
that you are living with a man whom you might accompany across the
village green to church, should he be kind enough to stay with you over
the Sunday. The urbanity, the softness, the humanity, the sweetness are
all there. But you shall not find it to be so with Caesar, or Lucretius,
or with Virgil. When you read his philosophical treatises it is as
though you were discussing with some latter-day scholar the theories of
Plato or of Epicurus. He does not talk of them as though he believed in
them for his soul's guidance, nor do you expect it. All the interest
that you have in the conversation would be lost were you to find such
faith as that. You would avoid the man, as a pagan. The Stoic doctrine
would so shock you, when brought out for real wear, as to make you feel
yourself in the company of some mad Atheist--with a man for whose
welfare, early or late in life, church bells had never been rung. But
with a man who has his Plato simply by heart you can spend the long
summer day in sweet conversation. So it is with Cicero. You lie down
with him looking out upon the sea at Comae, or sit with him beneath the
plane-tree of Crassus, and listen while he tells you of this doctrine
and the other. So Arcesilas may be supposed to have said, and so
Carneades laid down the law. It was that and no more. But when he tells
you of the place assigned to you in heaven, and how you are to win it,
then he is in earnest.
We care in general but little for any teacher of religion who has not
struggled to live up to his own teaching. Cicero has told us of his
ideas of the Godhead, and has given us his theory as to those deeds by
which a man may hope to achieve the heaven in which that God will reward
with everlasting life those who have deserved such bliss. Love of
country comes first with him. It behooves, at any rate, a man to be
true to his country from first to last. And honesty and honor come
next--that "honestum" which carries him to something beyond the mere
integrity of the well-conducted tradesmen. Then family affection; then
friendship; and then that constant love for our fellow-creatures
which teaches us to do unto others as we would they should
do unto us. Running through these there are a dozen smaller virtues, but
each so mingled with the other as to have failed in obtaining a separate
place--dignity, manliness, truth, mercy, long-suffering, forgiveness,
and humanity.
Try him by these all round and see how he will come out of the fire. He
so loved his country that we may say that he lived for it entirely; that
from the first moment in which he began to study as a boy in Rome the
great profession of an advocate, to the last in which he gave his throat
to his murderers, there was not a moment in which his heart did not
throb for it.
In the defence of Amerinus and in the prosecution of Verres, his object
was to stop the proscriptions, to shame the bench, and to punish the
plunderers of the provinces. In driving out Catiline the same strong
feeling governed him. It was the same in Cilicia. The same patriotism
drove him to follow Pompey to the seat of war. The same filled him with
almost youthful energy when the final battle for the Republic came. It
has been said of him that he began life as a Liberal in attacking Sulla,
and that afterward he became a Conservative when he gained the
Consulship; that he opposed Caesar, and then flattered him, and then
rejoiced at his death. I think that they who have so accused him have
hardly striven to read his character amidst the changes of the time. A
Conservative he was always; but he wished to see that the things around
him were worth conserving. He was always opposed to Caesar, whose genius
and whose spirit were opposed to his own. But in order that something of
the Republic might be preserved, it became necessary to bear with Caesar.
For himself he would take nothing from Caesar, except permission to
breathe Italian air. He flattered him, as was the Roman custom. He had
to do that, or his presence would have been impossible--and he could
always do something by his presence. As far as love of country went,
which among virtues stood the first with him, he was pure and great.
There was not a moment in his career in which the feeling was not in his
heart--mixed indeed with personal ambition, as must be necessary, for
how shall a man show his love for his country except by his desire to
stand high in its counsels? To be called "Pater Patriae" by Cato was to
his ears the sweetest music he had ever heard.
Let us compare his honesty with that of the times in which he lived. All
the high rewards of the State were at his command, and he might so have
taken them as to have been safer, firmer, more powerful, by taking them;
but he took nothing. No gorgeous wealth from a Roman province stuck to
his hands. We think of our Cavendishes, our Howards, and our Stanleys,
and feel that there is nothing in such honesty as this. But the
Cavendishes, the Howards, and the Stanleys of those days robbed with
unblushing pertinacity. Caesar robbed so much that he put himself above
all question of honesty. Where did he, who had been so greatly in debt
before he went to Spain, get the million with which he bribed his
adherents? Cicero neither bought nor sold. Twenty little stories have
been told of him, not one with a grain of enduring truth to justify one
of them. He borrowed, and he always paid; he lent, but was not always
repaid. With such a voice to sell as his, a voice which carried with it
the verdict of either guilt or innocence, what payments would it not
have been worth the while of a Roman nobleman to make to him? No such
payments, as far as we can tell, were ever made. He took a present of
books from his friend Poetus, and asked another friend what "Cincius"
would say to it? Men struggling to find him out, and not understanding
his little joke, have said, "Lo! he has been paid for his work. He
defended Poetus, and Poetus gave him books." "Did he defend
Poetus?" you ask. "We surmise so, because he gave him books," they
reply. I say that at any rate the fault should be brought home against
him before it is implied from chance passages in his own letters.
Cicero's affection for his family gives us an entirely unfamiliar
insight into Roman manners. There is a softness, a tenderness, an
eagerness about it, such as would give a grace to the life of some
English nobleman who had his heart garnered up for him at home, though
his spirit was at work for his country. But we do not expect this from
the Pompeys and Caesars and Catos of Rome, perhaps because we do not know
them as we know Cicero. It is odd, however, that we should have no word
of love for his boys, as to Pompey; no word of love for his daughter, as
to Caesar. But Cicero's love for his wife, his brother, his son, his
nephew, especially for his daughter, was unbounded. All offences on
their part he could forgive, till there came his wife's supposed
dishonesty, which was not to be forgiven. The ribaldry of Dio Cassius
has polluted the story of his regard for Tullia; but in truth we know
nothing sweeter in the records of great men, nothing which touches us
more, than the profundity of his grief. His readiness to forgive his
brother and to forgive his nephew, his anxiety to take them back to his
affections, his inability to live without them, tell of his tenderness.
His friendship for Atticus was of the same calibre. It was of that
nature that it could not only bear hard words but could occasionally
give them without fear of a breach. Can any man read the records of this
long affection without wishing that he might be blessed with such a
friendship? As to that love of our fellow-creatures which comes not from
personal liking for them, but from that kindness of heart toward all
mankind which has been the fruit to us of Christ's teaching, that desire
to do unto others as they should do unto us, his whole life is an
example. When Quaestor in Sicily, his chief duty was to send home corn.
He did send it home, but so that he hurt none of those in Sicily by whom
it was supplied. In his letter to his brother as to his government of
Asia Minor, the lessons which he teaches are to the same effect. When he
was in Cilicia, it was the same from first to last. He would not take a
penny from the poor provincials--not even what he might have taken by
law. "Non modo non faenum, sed ne ligna quidem!" Where did he get the
idea that it was a good thing not to torment the poor wretches that were
subjected to his power? Why was it that he took such an un-Roman
pleasure in making the people happy?
Cicero, no doubt, was a pagan, and in accordance with the rules
prevailing in such matters it would be necessary to describe him of that
religion, if his religion be brought under discussion. But he has not
written as pagans wrote, nor did he act as they acted. The educated
intelligence of the Roman world had come to repudiate their gods, and to
create for itself a belief--in nothing. It was easier for a thoughtful
man, and pleasanter for a thoughtless, to believe in nothing, than in
Jupiter and Juno, in Venus and in Mars. But when there came a man of
intellect so excellent as to find, when rejecting the gods of his
country, that there existed for him the necessity of a real God, and to
recognize it as a fact that the intercourse of man with man demanded it,
we must not, in recording the facts of his life, pass over his religion
as though it were simple chance. Christ came to us, and we do not need
another teacher. Christ came to us so perfected in manhood as to be free
from blemish. Cicero did not come at all as a teacher. He never
recognized the possibility of teaching men a religion, or probably the
necessity. But he did see the way to so much of the truth as to perceive
that there was a heaven; that the way to it must be found in good deeds
here on earth; and that the good deeds required of him would be kindness
to others. Therefore I have written this final chapter on his religion.
APPENDIX TO VOLUME II.
APPENDIX.
(_See_ page 308, Vol. II.)
_SCIPIO'S DREAM._
Scipio the younger had gone, when in Africa, to meet Massinissa, and had
there discussed with the African king the character of his nominal
grandfather, for he was in fact the son of Paulus AEmilius and had been
adopted by the son of the great conqueror at Zama. He had then retired
to rest, and had dreamed a dream, and is thus made to tell it. Africanus
the elder had shown himself to him greater than life, and had spoken to
him in the following words: "Approach," said the ghost; "approach in
spirit, and cease to fear, and write down on the tablets of your memory
this that I shall tell you.
"Look down upon that city. I compelled it to obey Rome. It now seeks to
renew its former strife, and you, but yet new to arms, have come to
conquer it." Then from his starry heights he points to the once
illustrious Carthage. "In twice twelve months that city you shall
conquer, and shall have earned for yourself that name which by descent
has become yours. Destroyer of Carthage, triumphant Censor, ambassador
from Rome to Egypt, Syria, Asia, and Greece, you shall be chosen Consul
a second time, though absent and, having besieged Numantia, shall bring
a great war to an end. Then will the whole State turn to you and to your
name. The Senate, the citizens, the allies will expect you. In one word,
it will be to you as Dictator that the Republic will look to be saved
from the crimes of your relatives.
"But that you may be always alive to protect the Republic, know this.
There is in heaven a special place of bliss for those who have served
their country. To that God who looks down upon the earth there is
nothing dearer than men bound to each other by reverence for the laws."
"Then, frightened, I asked him whether he were still living, and my
father Paulus, and others whom we believed to have departed. 'In truth,'
he said, 'they live who have escaped from the bondage of the flesh. This
which you call life is death. But behold Paulus your father.' Beholding
him, I poured forth a world of tears, but he, embracing me, forbade me
to weep.
"'Since this of yours is life, as my grandsire tells me,' I said, as
soon as my tears allowed me to speak, 'why, O father most revered, do I
delay here on earth, rather than haste to meet you?' 'It cannot be so,'
he answered. 'Unless that God whose temple is around you everywhere
shall have liberated you from the chains of the body, you cannot come to
us. Men are begotten subject to his law, and inhabit the globe which is
called the earth; and to them is given a soul from among the stars,
perfect in their form and alive with heavenly instincts, which complete
with wondrous speed their rapid courses. Wherefore, my son, by you and
by all just men that soul must be retained within its body's confines,
nor can it be allowed to flit without command of him by whom it has been
given to you. You may not escape the duty which God has trusted to you.
Live, my Scipio, and shine with piety and justice, as your grandfather
did and I have done. It is your duty to your parents and to your
relatives, but especially your duty to your country. There lies the road
to heaven. By following that course shall you find your way to those who
crowd with disembodied spirits the realm beneath your eyes.'
"Then did I behold that splendid circle of fire which you, after the
Greeks, call the Milky-way, and looking out from thence could see that
all things were beautiful and all wonderful. There were stars which we
cannot see from hence, and others of tremendous, unsuspected size; and
then those smaller ones nearest to us, which shine with a reflected
light. But every star among them all loomed larger than our earth. That
seemed so mean, that I was sorry to belong to so small an empire.
* * * * *
"As I gazed a sound struck my ears. 'What music is that,' said I,
'swelling so loudly and yet so sweet?'
"'It is that harmony of the stars,' he said, 'which the world creates by
its own movement. Low and loud, base and treble, they clang together
with unequal intervals, but each in time and tune. They could not work
in silence, and nature demands that from one end of heaven to the other
they shall be sonorous with a deep diapason. The far off give a loud
treble twang. Those nearest to the moon sound low and base. The earth,
the ninth in order, immovable upon its lowest seat, occupies the centre
of the system. From the eight there come seven sounds, distinct among
themselves, Venus and Mercury joining in one effort. In that number is
the secret of all human affairs. Learned men have made their way to
heaven by imitating this music; as have others also by the excellence of
their studies. Filled with this sound the sense of hearing has failed
among men. What sense is duller? It is as when the Nile falls down to
her cataracts, and the nations around, astonished by the tumult, become
deaf.'
* * * * *
"'Then,' said Africanus, 'look and see how small are the habitations of
men, how grand are those of the angels of light. What fame can you
expect from men, or what glory? You see how they live in mean places--in
small spots, lonely amid vast solitudes, and that they who inhabit them
dwell so isolated that nothing can pass between them. Can you expect
glory from them?
"'You behold this earth surrounded by zones. You see two of them, frozen
from their poles, have been made solid with everlasting ice; and how the
centre realm between them has been scorched by the sun's rays. Two,
however, are fit for life. They who inhabit the southern, whose
footsteps are opposed to ours, are a race of whom we know nothing. But
see how small a part of this little earth is inhabited by us who are
turned toward the north. For all the earth which you inhabit, wide and
narrow, is but a small island surrounded by that sea which you call the
great Atlantic Ocean--which, however large as you deem it, how small it
is! Has your name or has mine been able, over this small morsel of the
earth's surface, to ascend Mount Caucasus or to cross the Ganges? Who in
the regions of the rising or setting sun has heard of our fame? Cut off
these regions, distant but a hand's breadth, and see within what narrow
borders will your reputation be spread! They who speak of you--for how
short a time will their voices be heard?
"'Grant that man, unenvious, shall wish to hand down your fame to future
ages, still there will come those storms of nature. The earth will be
immersed in water and scorched with fire; a doom which in the course of
ages must happen, and will deny to you any lasting glory. Will you be
content that they who are to come only shall hear of you, when to those
crowds of better men who have passed away your name shall be as nothing?
"'And remember too that no man's renown shall reach the duration of a
year. Men call that space a year which they measure by the return of a
single star to its old place. But when all the stars shall have come
back, and shall have made their course across the heavens, then, then
shall that truly be called a year. In this year how many are there of
our ages contained. For as when Romulus died, and made his way here to
these temples of the gods, the sun was seen by man to fade away, so will
the sun again depart from the heavens, when the stars, having
accomplished their spaces, shall have returned to their old abodes. Of
this, the true year, not a twentieth part has been as yet consumed. If,
then, you despair of reaching this abode, which all of true excellence
strive to approach, what glory is there to be gained? When gained, it
will not last the space of one year. Look then aloft, my son, and fix
your eyes upon this eternal home. Despise all vulgar fame, nor place
your hopes on human rewards. Let Virtue by her own charms lead you on to
true glory. Let men talk of you--for talk they will. Man's talk of man
is small in its space, and short-lived in its time. It dies with a
generation and is forgotten by posterity.'
"When he had spoken I thus answered him: 'Africanus,' I said, 'I indeed
have hitherto endeavored to find a road to heaven, following your
example and my father's; but now, for so great a reward, will I struggle
on more bravely.' 'Struggle on,' he replied, 'and know this--not that
thou art mortal but only this thy body. This frail form is not thyself.
It is the mind, invisible, and not a shape at which a man may point with
his fingers. Know thyself to be a god. To be strong in purpose and in
mind; to remember to provide and to rule; to restrain and to move the
body it is placed over, as the great God does the world--that is to be a
god. And as the God who moves this mortal world is eternal, so does an
eternal soul govern this frail body.'"
FOOTNOTES:
[1] As I shall explain a few pages farther on, four of these
speeches are supposed by late critics to be spurious.
[2] See Mr. Long's introduction to these orations. "All this
I admit," says Mr. Long, speaking of some possible
disputant; "but he will never convince any man of sense that
the first of Roman writers, a man of good understanding, and
a master of eloquence, put together such tasteless, feeble,
and extravagant compositions."
[3] Pro Cn. Plancio, ca. xxx.: "Nonne etiam illa testis est
oratio quae est a me prima habita in Senatu. * * * Recitetur
oratio, quae propter rei magnitudinem dicta de scripto est."
[4] Quintilian, lib. xi., ca. 1, who as a critic worshipped
Cicero, has nevertheless told us very plainly what had been
up to his time the feeling of the Roman world as to Cicero's
self-praise: "Reprehensus est in hac parte non mediocriter
Cicero."
[5] Ad Att., lib. iv., 2. He recommends that the speech
should be put into the hands of all young men, and thus
gives further proof that we still here have his own words.
When so much has come to us, we cannot but think that an
oration so prepared would remain extant.
[6] I had better, perhaps, refer my readers to book v.,
chap. viii., of Mommsen's History.
[7] "Politique des Romains dans la religion;" a treatise
which was read by its author to certain students at
Bordeaux. It was intended as a preface to a longer work.
[8] Ad Div., lib. i., 2.
[9] Ad Div., lib. i., 5: "Nosti hominis tarditatem, et
taciturnitatem."
[10] Ad Quintum Fratrem, lib. ii., 3.
[11] Ibid., lib. ii., 6.
[12] Ad Att., lib. iv., 5.
[13] Ad Div., lib. v., 12.
[14] Very early in the history of Rome it was found
expedient to steal an Etruscan soothsayer for the reading of
these riddles, which was gallantly done by a young soldier,
who ran off with an old prophet in his arms (Livy, v., 15).
We are naively told by the historian that the more the
prodigies came the more they were believed. On a certain
occasion a crowd of them was brought together: Crows built
in the temple of Juno. A green tree took fire. The waters of
Mantua became bloody. In one place it rained chalk in
another fire. Lightning was very destructive, sinking the
temple of a god or a nut-tree by the roadside indifferently.
An ox spoke in Sicily. A precocious baby cried out "Io
triumphe" before it was born. At Spoletum a woman became a
man. An altar was seen in the heavens. A ghostly band of
armed men appeared in the Janiculum (Livy, xxiv., 10). On
such occasions the "aruspices" always ordered a vast
slaughter of victims, and no doubt feasted as did the wicked
sons of Eli.
Even Horace wrote as though he believed in the anger of the
gods--certainly as though he thought that public morals
would be improved by renewed attention to them:
Delicta majorum immeritus lues,
Romane, donec templa refeceris.--Od., lib. iii., 6.
[15] See the Preface by M. Guerault to his translation of
this oration, De Aruspium Responsis.
[16] Ca. ix.: "Who is there so mad that when he looks up to
the heavens he does not acknowledge that there are gods, or
dares to think that the things which he sees have sprung
from chance--things so wonderful that the most intelligent
among us do not understand their motions?"
[17] Ca. xxviii.: "Quae in tempestate saeva quieta est, et
lucet in tenebris, et pulsa loco manet tamen, atque haeret in
patria, splendetque per se semper, neque alienis unquam
sordibus obsolescit." I regard this as a perfect allocution
of words in regard to the arrangement both for the ear and
for the intellect.
[18] Ca. xliv.: "There have always been two kinds of men who
have busied themselves in the State, and have struggled to
be each the most prominent. Of these, one set have
endeavored to be regarded as 'populares,' friends of the
people; the other to be and to be considered as 'optimates,'
the most trustworthy. They who did and said what could
please the people were 'populares,' but they who so carried
themselves as to satisfy every best citizen, they were
'optimates.'" Cicero, in his definition, no doubt begs the
question; but to do so was his object.
[19] Mommsen, lib. v., chap. viii., in one of his notes,
says that this oration as to the provinces was the very
"palinodia" respecting which Cicero wrote to Atticus. The
subject discussed was no doubt the same. What authority the
historian has found for his statement I do not know; but no
writer is generally more correct.
[20] De Prov. Cons., ca. viii.
[21] Ca. xiii.
[22] Ca. xiv.
[23] Ca. xviii.
[24] Pro C. Balbo, ca. vii.
[25] Ibid., ca. xiii.
[26] Gibbon, Decline and Fall, ca. vii.
[27] There was no covenant, no bond of service, no master's
authority, probably no discipline; but the eager pupil was
taught to look upon the anxious tutor with love, respect,
and faith.
[28] In Pisonem, xxvii. Even in Cicero's words as used here
there is a touch of irony, though we cannot but imagine that
at this time he was anxious to stand well with Pompey.
"There are coming on the games, the most costly and the most
magnificent ever known in the memory of man; such as there
never were before, and, as far as I can see, never will be
again." "Show yourself there if you dare!"--he goes on to
say, addressing the wretched Piso.
[29] Plutarch's Life of Pompey: "Crassus upon the expiration
of his Consulship repaired to his province. Pompey,
remaining in Rome, opened his theatre." But Plutarch, no
doubt, was wrong.
[30] We may imagine what was the standing of the family from
the address which Horace made to certain members of it in
the time of Augustus. "Credite Pisones," De Arte Poetica.
The Pisones so addressed were the grandsons of Cicero's
victim.
[31] Quin., ix., 4: "Pro dii immortales, quis hic illuxit
dies!" The critic quotes it as being vicious in sound, and
running into metre, which was considered a great fault in
Roman prose, as it is also in English. Our ears, however,
are hardly fine enough to catch the iambic twang of which
Quintilian complains.
[32] Ca. xviii., xx., xxii.
[33] "Quae potest homini esse polito delectatio," Ad Div.,
vii., 1. These words have in subsequent years been employed
as an argument against all out-of-door sports, with
disregard of the fact that they were used by Cicero as to an
amusement in which the spectators were merely looking on,
taking no active part in deeds either of danger or of
skill.--_Fortnightly Review_, October, 1869, The Morality of
Field Sports.
[34] Ad Att., lib. iv., 16.
[35] Ad Div., ii., 8.
[36] See the letter, Ad Quin. Frat., lib. iii., 2: "Homo
undique actus, et quam a me maxime vulneraretur, non tulit,
et me trementi voce exulem appellavit." The whole scene is
described.
[37] Ad Fam., v., 8.
[38] Ad Quin. Frat., ii., 12.
[39] Ad Att., iv., 15.
[40] Val. Max., lib. iv., ca. ii., 4.
[41] Horace, Sat., lib. ii., 1:
HOR. "Trebati,
Quid faciam praescribe."--TREB. "Quiescas."--HOR.
"Ne faciam, inquis, Omnino versus?"--TREB. "Aio."--HOR.
"Peream male si non Optimum erat."
Trebatius became a noted jurisconsult in the time of
Augustus, and wrote treatises.
[42] Ca. iv.: "Male judicavit populus. At judicavit. Non
debuit, at potuit."
[43] Ca. vi.: "Servare necesse est gradus. Cedat consulari
generi praetorium, nec contendat cum praetorio equester
locus."
[44] Ca. xix.
[45] Ad Fam., i., 9.
[46] Ca. xi.
[47] Ad Fam., lib. ii., 6: "Dux nobis et auctor opus est et
eorum ventorum quos proposui moderator quidem et quasi
gubernator."
[48] Mommsen, book v., chap. viii. According to the
historian, Clodius was the Achilles, and Milo the Hector. In
this quarrel Hector killed Achilles.
[49] Ad Att., lib. iv., 16.
[50] Ad Fam., lib. vii., 7.
[51] Vell. Pat., ii., 47.
[52] We remember the scorn with which Horace has treated the
Roman soldier whom he supposes to have consented to accept
both his life and a spouse from the Parthian conqueror:
Milesne Crassi conjuge barbara
Turpis maritus vixit?--Ode iii., 5.
It has been calculated that of 40,000 legionaries half were
killed, 10,000 returned to Syria, and that 10,000 settled
themselves in the country we now know as Merv.
[53] Ad Quin. Frat., lib. ii., 4, and Ad Att., lib. iv., 5.
[54] "Interrogatio de aere alieno Milonis."
[55] Livy, Epitome, 107: "Absens et solus quod nulli alii
umquam contigit."
[56] The Curia Hostilia, in which the Senate sat frequently,
though by no means always.
[57] Ca. ii.
[58] Ca. v.
[59] Ca. xx., xxi.
[60] Ca. xxix.
[61] Ca. xxxvii.: "O me miserum! O me infelicem! revocare tu
me in patriam, Milo, potuisti per hos. Ego te in patria per
eosdem retinere non potero!" "By the aid of such citizens as
these," he says, pointing to the judges' bench, "you were
able to restore me to my country. Shall I not by the same
aid restore you to yours?"
[62] Ad Fam., lib. xiii., 75.
[63] Ad Fam., lib. vii., 2: "In primisque me delectavit
tantum studium bonorum in me exstitisse contra incredibilem
contentionem clarissimi et potentissimi viri."
[64] Caesar, a Sketch, p. 336.
[65] Ibid., p. 341.
[66] He reached Laodicea, an inland town, on July 31st, B.C.
51, and embarked, as far as we can tell, at Sida on August
3d, B.C. 50. It may be doubted whether any Roman governor
got to the end of his year's government with greater
despatch.
[67] No exemption was made for Caesar in Pompey's law as it
originally stood; and after the law had been inscribed as
usual on a bronze tablet it was altered at Pompey's order,
so as to give Caesar the privilege. Pompey pleaded
forgetfulness, but the change was probably forced upon him
by Caesar's influence.--Suetonius, J. Caesar, xxviii.
[68] Ad Div., lib. iii., 2.
[69] Ad Att., lib. v., 1.
[70] Abeken points out to us, in dealing with the year in
which Cicero's government came to an end, B.C. 50, that
Cato's letters to Cicero (Ad Fam., lib. xv., 5) bear
irrefutable testimony as to the real greatness of Cicero.
See the translation edited by Merivale, p. 235. This applies
to his conduct in Cilicia, and may thus be taken as evidence
outside his own, though addressed to himself.
[71] The Roman Triumvirate, p. 107.
[72] Caesar, a Sketch, pp. 170, 341.
[73] Professor Mommsen says no word of Cicero's government
in Cilicia.
[74] I cannot but refer to Mommsen's account of this
transaction, book v., chap. viii.: "Golden fetters were also
laid upon him," Cicero. "Amid the serious embarrassments of
his finances the loans of Caesar free of interest * * * were in
a high degree welcome to him; and many an immortal oration
for the Senate was nipped in the bud by the thought that the
agent of Caesar might present a bill to him after the close
of the sitting." There are many assertions here for which I
have looked in vain for the authority. I do not know that
Cicero's finances were seriously embarrassed at the time.
The evidence goes rather to show that they were not so. Had
he ever taken more than one loan from Caesar? I find nothing
as to any question of interest; but I imagine that Caesar
treated Cicero as Cicero afterward treated Pompey when he
lent him money. We do not know whether even Crassus charged
Caesar interest. We may presume that a loan is always made
welcome, or the money would not be borrowed, but the "high
degree of welcome," as applied to this especial loan, ought
to have some special justification. As to Cicero's anxiety
in borrowing the money I know nothing, but he was very
anxious to pay it. The borrowing and the lending of money
between Roman noblemen was very common. No one had ever
borrowed so freely as Caesar had done. Cicero was a lender
and a borrower, but I think that he was never seriously
embarrassed. What oration was nipped in the bud by fear of
his creditor? He had lately spoken twice for Saufeius, once
against S. Clodius, and against Plancus--in each case
opposing the view of Caesar, as far as Caesar had views on the
matter. The sum borrowed on this occasion was 800,000
sesterces--between L6000 and L7000. A small additional sum
of L100 is mentioned in one of the letters to Atticus, lib.
v., 5., which is, however, spoken of by Cicero as forming
one whole with the other. I can hardly think that Mommsen
had this in view when he spoke of loans in the plural
number.
[75] M. C. Marcellus was Consul B.C. 51; his brother, C.
Claudius Marcellus, was Consul B.C. 50, another C. Claudius
Marcellus, a cousin, in B.C. 49.
[76] Mommsen calls him a "respected Senator." M. De Guerle,
in his preface to the oration Pro Marcello, claims for him
the position of a delegate. He was probably both--though we
may doubt whether he was "respected" after his flogging.
[77] Ad Att., lib. v., 11: "Marcellus foede in Comensi;" and
he goes on to say that even if the man had been no
magistrate, and therefore not entitled to full Roman
treatment, yet he was a Transalpine, and therefore not
subject to the scourge. See Mr. Watson's note in his Select
Letters.
[78] Ad Div., lib. ii., 8.
[79] Ad Att., lib. v., 13.
[80] Ibid.: "Quaeso ut simus annui; ne intercaletur quidem."
It might be that an intercalary month should be added, and
cause delay.
[81] Ad Div., lib. viii., 2: "Ut tibi curae sit quod ad
pantheras attinet."
[82] Ad Att., lib. v., 14.
[83] Ad Div., lib. iii., 5.
[84] Ad Att., lib. v., 15.
[85] Ibid., 16.
[86] Ad Att., lib. v., 17.
[87] Ad Div., lib. iii., 6.
[88] Ad Div., lib. xv., 1.
[89] Ibid., iii., 8.
[90] Ad Div., lib. viii., 8.
[91] Ad Div., lib. viii., 10.
[92] Ibid., ii., 10.
[93] This mode of greeting a victorious general had no doubt
become absurd in the time of Cicero, when any body of
soldiers would be only too willing to curry favor with the
officer over them by this acclamation. Cicero ridicules
this; but is at the same time open to the seduction--as a
man with us will laugh at the Sir Johns and Sir Thomases who
are seated around him, but still, when his time comes, will
be pleased that his wife shall be called "My Lady" like the
rest of them.
[94] Ad Div., lib. ii., 7.
[95] Ad Att., lib. v., 2.
[96] Ad Div., lib. xv., 4.
[97] Ibid., xv., 10, and lib. xv., 13: "Ut quam
honorificentissimum senatus consultum de meis rebus gestis
faciendum cures."
[98] Ad Div., lib. viii., 6.
[99] Ibid., 7.
[100] Ibid., iii., 7.
[101] Ibid., 9.
[102] The amount seems so incredible that I cannot but
suspect an error in the MS. The sum named is two hundred
Attic talents. The Attic talent, according to Smith's
dictionary, was worth L243 13_s._ It may be that this large
amount had been collected over a series of years.
[103] Ad Att., lib. v., 21.
[104] Ibid., vi., 1. This is the second letter to Atticus on
the transaction, and in this he asserts, as though
apologizing for his conduct to Brutus, that he had not
before known that the money belonged to Brutus himself:
"Nunquam enim ex illo audivi illam pecuniam esse suam."
[105] In the letter last quoted, "Flens mihi meam famam
commendasti." "Believe," he says, "that I cling to the
doctrines which you yourself have taught me. They are fixed
in my very heartstrings."
[106] See the former of the two letters, Ad. Att., lib. v.,
21: "Quod enim praetori dare consuessent, quoniam ego non
acceperam, se a me quodam modo dare."
[107] Ad Att., vi., 1: "Tricesimo quoque die talenta Attica
xxxiii., et hoc ex tributis." On every thirteenth day he
gets thirty three talents from the taxes, the talent being
about L243. Of the poverty of Ariobarzanes we have heard
much, and of the number of slaves which reached Rome from
his country. It was thus, probably, that the king paid
Pompey his interest.
Mancipiis locuples eget aeris Cappadonum rex.--Hor. Epis.,
lib. i., vi.
Persius tells us how the Roman slave-dealer was wont to slap
the fat Cappadocian on the thigh to show how sound he was as
he was selling him, Sat. vi., 77. "Cappadocis eques
catastis" is a phrase used by Martial, lib. x., 76, to
describe from how low an origin a Roman knight might
descend, telling us also that there were platforms erected
for the express purpose of selling slaves from Cappadocia.
Juvenal speaks also of "Equites Cappadoces" in the same
strain, Sat. vii., 15. The descendant even of a slave from
Cappadocia might rise to be a knight. From all this we may
learn what was the source of the L8000 a month which Pompey
condescended to take, and which Cicero describes as being
"ex tributis."
[108] Ad Att., lib. vi., 2.
[109] Ad Att., lib. vi., 3.
[110] Ad Div., lib. viii., 11.
[111] Ad Att., lib. vi., 4, 5.
[112] Ad Div., lib. ii., 15: "Scito me sperare ea quae
sequuntur."
[113] Ibid.
[114] Ad Att., lib. vii., 1.
[115] Ad Att., lib. vi., 8.
[116] Ad Att., lib. xi., 1.
[117] Appius and Piso were the last two Censors elected by
the Republic.
[118] Ad Div., lib. ii., 15.
[119] Appian, De Bell. Civ., lib. ii., 26. The historian
tells us that the Consul built a temple with the money, but
that Curio had paid his debts.
[120] Mommsen, book v., ca. ix.
[121] Ad Att., lib. vii., 1: "Video cum altero vinci satius
esse quam cum altero vincere."
[122] Ad Att., lib. vii., 2: "Adolescentem, ut nosti, et
adde, si quid vis, probum."
[123] Ad Att., lib. vii., 20-23.
[124] Ibid., lib. viii., 4.
[125] Ibid., lib. viii., 7.
[126] Copy of letter D, enclosed in letter to Atticus, lib.
viii., 11.
[127] Ad Att., lib. ix., 10.
[128] Ibid., lib. ix., 12.
[129] Ad Att., lib. x., 4.
[130] Ad Att., lib. xi., 5.
[131] Horace, Sat., lib. i., sat. 5.
[132] Ad Att., lib. xi., 7.
[133] Ad Div., xiv., 16.
[134] Ad Att., lib. xi., 24.
[135] Ad Att., lib. xi., 24.
[136] Ibid., lib. xi., 20-22.
[137] Ad Div., xiv., 22, 20. The numbers going the wrong way
is only an indication that the letters were wrongly placed
by Graevius.
[138] Ad Att., lib. xi., 22.
[139] Oratoriae Partitiones, xvii., xxiii.
[140] De Officiis, lib. i., ca. xxxi.: "Catoni cum
incredibilem tribuisset natura gravitatem, eamque ipse
perpetua constantia roborasset, semperque in proposito
susceptoque consilio permansisset, moriendum potius quam
tyranni vultum aspiciendum fuit."
[141] This was Lucius Volcatius Tullus.
[142] But it is now, I believe, the opinion of scholars that
Wolf has been proved to be wrong, and the words to have been
the very words of Cicero, by the publication of certain
fragments of ancient scholia on the Pro Marcello which have
been discovered by Cardinal Mai since the time of the
dispute.
[143] Ad Div., iv., 11.
[144] Pro Marcello, ii.
[145] Pro Ligario, i.
[146] Pro Ligario, iii.
[147] Ad Fam., lib. iv., 14.
[148] Ad Div., lib. ix., 16.
[149] Ad Att., lib. xii., 7.
[150] Ibid., 32.
[151] Ad Div., lib. xvi., 21.
[152] Pliny, Hist. Nat., lib. xiv., 28.
[153] Ad Div., lib. vi., 18.
[154] Ad Att., lib. xii., 12.
[155] Ibid., 18, 28.
[156] Ad Att., lib. xii., 14.
[157] Ibid., 18, 28.
[158] Ad Att., lib. xiii., 28.
[159] Suetonius, Julius Caesar, ca. xxxvii.
[160] Ad Att., lib. xiii., 44.
[161] Ad Att., lib xiii., 42.
[162] Pro Rege Deiotaro, ii.
[163] Ibid., ca. xii.: "Solus, inquam, es, C. Caesar, cujus
in victoria cecide it nemo nisi armatus."
[164] Caesar, De Bello Gallico, lib. iii., 16: "Itaque, omni
Senatu necato, reliquos sub corona vendidit," he says, and
passes on in his serene, majestic manner.
[165] Quint., lib. x., vii.: "Nam Ciceronis ad praesens modo
tempus aptatos libertus Tiro contraxit."
[166] Horace, Epis., lib. i., 1: "Nullus in orbe sinus Baiis
praelucet amaenis."
[167] Ad Att., lib. xiii., 52.
[168] Ad Div., lib. vii., 30.
[169] Mommsen, book v., xi.
[170] He left Brundisium on the last day of the year.
[171] Shakspeare, Julius Caesar, act i., sc. 2.
[172] Ad Att., lib. xiv., 9, 15.
[173] Quintilian, lib. vii., 4.
[174] These words will be found in M. Du Rozoir's summary to
the Philippics.
[175] Ad Att., lib. xiv., 1.
[176] Ibid., 14: "Quam oculis cepi justo interitu tyranni."
[177] Morabin, liv. vi., chap. iii., sec. 6.
[178] Velleius Paterculus, lib. ii., ca. lviii.
[179] Mommsen, book v., xi.
[180] Ad Att., lib. xiv., 4.
[181] Ibid., lib. xiv., 6.
[182] Ibid., lib. xiv., 7.
[183] Ad Att., lib. xiv., 9.
[184] Ibid., lib. xiv., 11.
[185] Ad Att., lib. xiv., 13.
[186] Ad Div., lib. xvi., 23.
[187] Ad Div., lib. ix., 11.
[188] Ad Att., lib. xiv., 21.
[189] Ad Att., lib. xv., 21.
[190] Ibid., lib. xv., 26.
[191] Ad Att., lib. xv., 27.
[192] Ibid., lib. xvi., 1.
[193] Ibid., lib. xvi., 5.
[194] Ibid., lib. xvi., 2.
[195] Ad Att., lib. xvi., 7.
[196] Phil., i., 5: "Nimis iracunde hoc quidem, et valde
intemperanter." "Who," he goes on to say, "has sinned so
heavily against the Republic that here, in the Senate, they
shall dare to threaten his house by sending the State
workmen?"
[197] Brutus, Ciceroni, lib. ii., 5: "Jam concedo ut vel
Philippici vocentur quod tu quadam epistola jocans
scripsisti." I fear, however, that we must acknowledge that
this letter cannot be taken as an authority for the early
use of the name.
[198] Phil., i., ca. vii.
[199] Ibid., i., ca. viii.
[200] Ibid., i., ca. x.
[201] The year of his birth is uncertain. He had been Consul
three years back, and must have spoken often.
[202] Ad Div., lib. xii., 2.
[203] It may here be worth our while to quote the
impassioned language which Velleius Paterculus uses when he
chronicles the death of Cicero, lib. ii., 66: "Nihil tamen
egisti, M. Antoni (cogit enim excedere propositi formam
operis, erumpens animo ac pectore indignatio), nihil,
inquam, egisti, mercedem caelestissimi oris et clarissimi
capitis abscissi numerando, auctoramentoque funebri ad
conservatoris quondam reipublicae tantique consulis irritando
necem. Rapuisti tu M. Ciceroni lucem solicitam, et aetatem
senilem, et vitam miseriorem, te principe, quam sub te
triumviro mortem. Famam vero gloriamque factorum atque
dictorum adeo non abstulisti, ut auxeris. Vivit, vivetque
per omnium saeculorum memoriam; dumque hoc vel forte, vel
providentia, vel utcumque constitutum, rerum naturae corpus,
quod ille paene solus Romanorum animo vidit, ingenio
complexus est, eloquentia illuminavit, manebit incolume,
comitem aevi sui laudem Ciceronis trahet, omnisque posteritas
illius in te scripta mirabitur, tuum in eum factum
execrabitur; citiusque in mundo genus hominum, quam ea,
cadet." This was the popular idea of Cicero in the time of
Tiberius.
[204] Ad Div., lib. xii., 23.
[205] Ad Att., lib. xvi., 11.
[206] On referring to the Milo, ca. xv., the reader will see
the very different tone in which Cicero spoke of this
incident when Antony was in favor with him.
[207] It was a sign of an excellent character in Rome to
have been chosen often as heir in part to a man's property.
[208] Horace, Odes, lib. iii., 30.
[209] Ad Att., lib. xvi., 14.
[210] Philippics, lib. vi., 1.
[211] "Populum Romanum servire fas non est, quem dii
immortales omnibus gentibus imperare voluerunt."
[212] Ad Div., lib. xi., 8.
[213] Ad Div., lib. x., 3.
[214] Ad Brutum, lib. ii., 6.
[215] Appian. De Bell. Civ., lib. iii., ca. 26.
[216] Vell. Pat., lib. ii., 62: "Quae omnia senatus decretis
comprensa et comprobata sunt."
[217] Ad Div., lib. xii., 7. This is in a letter to Cassius,
in which he says, "Promisi enim et prope confirmavi, te non
expectasse nec expectaturum decreta nostra, sed te ipsum tuo
more rempublicam defensurum."
[218] Appian, lib. iii., ca. 50. The historian of the civil
wars declares that Piso spoke up for Antony, saying that he
should not be damnified by loose statements, but should be
openly accused. Feelings ran very high, but Cicero seems to
have held his own.
[219] Ad Div., lib. x., 27.
[220] Suetonius, Augustus, lib. xi.
[221] Tacitus, Ann., lib. i., x.: "Caesis Hirtio et Pansa,
sive hostis illos, seu Pansam venenum vulneri affusum, sui
milites Hirtium et, machinator doli, Caesar abstulerat."
[222] Philip., xiv., 3: "Omnibus, quanquam ruit ipse suis
cladibus, pestem, vastitatem, cruciatum, tormenta
denuntiat."
[223] Philip., xiv., 12: "O fortunata mors, quae naturae
debita, pro patria est potissimum reddita."
[224] Ad Div., lib. xi., 9.
[225] Ibid., lib. xi., 10.
[226] Ibid., lib. xi., 11.
[227] Ibid., lib. xi., 18.
[228] Ad Div., lib. x., 34.
[229] Ad Brutum, lib. i., 4.
[230] Ad Div., lib. xi., 20: "Ipsum Caesarem nihil sane de te
questum, nisi quod diceret, te dixisse, laudandum
adolescentem, ornandum, tollendum."
[231] Ad Div., lib. xii., 10.
[232] Appian, lib. iii., 92.
[233] Dio Cassius, lib. xlvi., 46.
[234] Vell. Paterculus, lib. ii., 65.
[235] Vell. Paterculus, lib. ii., 66: "Repugnante Caesare, sed
frustra adversus duos, instauratum Sullani exempli malum,
proscriptio."
[236] Vell. Paterculus, lib. ii., 66: "Nihil tam indignum
illo tempore fuit, quam quod aut Caesar aliquem proscribere
coactus est, aut ab ullo Cicero proscriptus est."
[237] Suetonius, Augustus, 27: "In quo restitit quidem
aliquamdiu collegis, ne qua fieret proscriptio, sed inceptam
utroque acerbius exercuit."
[238] Phil., iv., ca. xviii.
[239] In the following list I have divided the latter,
making the Moral Essays separate from the Philosophy.
[240] I have given here those treatises which are always
printed among the works of Cicero.
[241] De Inventione, lib. ii., 4.
[242] Quintilian, in his Proaemium or Preface: "Oratorem
autem instituimus illum perfectum, qui esse nisi vir bonus
non potest." It seems as though there had almost been the
question whether the perfect orator could exist, although
there was no question he had never done so as yet.
[243] Quint., lib. iii., 1: "Praecipuum vero lumen sicut
eloquentiae, ita praeceptis quoque ejus, dedit unicum apud nos
specimen orandi, docendique oratorias artes, M. Tullius."
And in Tacitus, De Oratoribus, xxx.: "Ita ex multa
eruditione, ex pluribus artibus," he says, speaking of
Cicero, "et omnium rerum scientia exundat, et exuberat illa
admirabilis eloquentia; neque oratoris vis et facultas,
sicut ceterarum rerum, angustis et brevibus terminis
cluditur; sed is est orator, qui de omni quaestione pulchre,
et ornate, et ad persuadendum apte dicere, pro dignitate
rerum, ad utilitatem temporum, cum voluptate audientium
possit." This has not the ring of Tacitus, but it shows
equally well the opinion of the day.
[244] De Oratore, lib. i., ca. xi.
[245] Ibid., lib. i., ca. xxv.
[246] Ibid., lib. i., ca. xliv.
[247] Ibid., lib. i., ca. lii.
[248] Ibid., lib. i., ca. lx.
[249] De Oratore, lib. ii., ca. i.
[250] Ibid., lib. ii., ca. vii.
[251] Ibid., lib. ii., ca. xv.
[252] Ibid., lib. ii., ca. xxiv.
[253] De Oratore, lib. ii., ca. xxvii.: "Ut probemus vera
esse ea, quae defendimus; ut conciliemus nobis eos, qui
audiunt; ut animos eorum, ad quemcumque causa postulabit
motum, vocemus."
[254] Ibid., lib. ii., ca. xliv.
[255] De Oratore, lib. ii., ca. lxviii.
[256] De Oratore, lib. iii., ca. liv.
[257] Ibid., lib. iii., ca. lv.
[258] Brutus, ca. xii.
[259] Ibid., ca. xvii.
[260] Ibid., ca. xxxviii.
[261] Ibid., ca. l.
[262] Ibid., ca. lvii.
[263] Ibid., ca. lxxv.
[264] Brutus, ca. xciii.
[265] De Divinatione, lib. ii., 1.
[266] Orator, ca. ii.
[267] Orator, ca. xxvi.
[268] Ibid., ca. xxviii.
[269] Ibid., ca. xxxvi. Here his language becomes very fine.
[270] Ad. Att., lib. xiv., 20.
[271] Topica, ca. 1: "Itaque haec quum mecum libros non
haberem, memoria repetita, in ipsa navigatione conscripsi,
tibique ex itinere misi."
[272] Quint., lib. xi., 3. The translations of these
epithets are "open, obscure, full, thin, light, rough,
shortened, lengthened, harsh, pliable, clear, clouded."
[273] Brutus, ca. xxxviii.
[274] De Oratore, lib. i., ca. liii.
[275] Academica, ii., lib. i., ca. iii.
[276] Ibid., i., lib. ii., ca. vii.
[277] Ibid., lib. ii., ca. xii.
[278] Ibid., lib. ii., ca. xxix.
[279] Academica, i., lib. ii., ca. xxxvii.
[280] Ibid., lib. ii., ca. xxxix.
[281] Pro Murena, ca. xxix.
[282] De Finibus, lib. i., ca. iii.
[283] Ibid., lib. i., ca. v.
[284] De Finibus, lib. ii., ca. xxx.
[285] De Finibus, lib. iii., ca. xxii.
[286] De Finibus, lib. iv., ca. 1.
[287] De Finibus, lib. v., ca. ii.
[288] Ibid., lib. v., ca. xix.
[289] Ibid., lib. v., ca. xxiii.
[290] Epis., lib. i., 1, 14.
[291] Tus. Disp., lib. v., ca. xi.
[292] Tus. Disp., lib. i., ca. xxx.
[293] De Natura Deo., lib. i., ca. iv.
[294] Ibid., lib. i., ca. ix.
[295] Ibid., lib. i., ca. xiv.
[296] Ibid., lib. ii., ca. xxix.
[297] De Nat. Deo., lib. ii., ca. liv., lv.
[298] De Nat. Deo., lib. iii., ca. xxvii.
[299] De Divinatione, lib. ii., ca. xxxiii.
[300] De Divinatione, lib. i., ca. xviii.
[301] Ibid., lib. i., ca. xlvii.
[302] De Divinatione, lib. ii., ca. i.
[303] Horace, Ep., lib. ii., ca. i.:
"Greece, conquered Greece, her conqueror subdued.
And Rome grew polished who till then was rude."
CONINGTON'S Translation.
[304] De Divinatione, lib. ii., ca. ii.
[305] Ibid., lib. ii., ca. li.
[306] The story of Simon Du Bos and his MS. has been first
told to me by Mr. Tyrell in his first volume of the
Correspondence of Cicero, p. 88. That a man should have been
such a scholar, and yet such a liar, and should have gone to
his long account content with the feeling that he had
cheated the world by a fictitious MS., when his erudition,
if declared, would have given him a scholar's fame, is
marvellous. Perhaps he intended to be discovered. I, for
one, should not have heard of Bosius but for his lie.
[307] De Republica, lib. iii. It is useless to give the
references here. It is all fragmentary, and has been divided
differently as new information has been obtained.
[308] De Legibus, lib. i., ca. vii.
[309] De Legibus, lib. i., ca. x.
[310] Ibid., lib. ii., ca. xviii.
[311] De Legibus, lib. iii., ca. ix., x.
[312] Ibid., lib. iii., xvii.
[313] De Senectute, ca. ix.
[314] Ibid., ca. x.
[315] Ibid., ca. xi.
[316] Ibid., ca. xviii.
[317] Ibid., ca. xxi.
[318] De Amicitia, ca. xix.
[319] De Officiis, lib. ii., ca. v.
[320] Ibid., lib. i., ca. xvii.
[321] De Officiis, lib. i., ca. xxix: "Suppeditant autem et
campus noster et studia venandi, honesta exempla ludendi."
The passage is quoted here as an antidote to that extracted
some time since from one of his letters, which has been used
to show that hunting was no occupation for a "polite
man"--as he, Cicero, had disapproved of Pompey's slaughter
of animals on his new stage.
[322] Ibid., lib. i., ca. xxxi.
[323] De Officiis, lib. i., ca. xxxvi. It is impossible not
to be reminded by this passage of Lord Chesterfield's
letters to his son, written with the same object; but we can
see at once that the Roman desired in his son a much higher
type of bearing than the Englishman. The following is the
advice given by the Englishman: "A thousand little things,
not separately to be defined, conspire to form these
graces--this 'je ne sais quoi' that always pleases. A pretty
person; genteel motions; a proper degree of dress; an
harmonious voice, something open and cheerful in the
countenance, but without laughing; a distinct and properly
raised manner of speaking--all these things and many others
are necessary ingredients in the composition of the pleasing
'je ne sais quoi' which everybody feels, though nobody can
describe. Observe carefully, then, what displeases or
pleases you in others, and be persuaded that, in general,
the same thing will please or displease them in you. Having
mentioned laughing, I must particularly warn you against it;
and I could wish that you may often be seen to smile, but
never heard to laugh, while you live." I feel sure that
Cicero would laugh, and was heard to laugh, and yet that he
was always true to the manners of a gentleman.
[324] De Officiis, lib. i., ca. xlii.
[325] De Officiis, lib. ii., l.
[326] Ibid., lib. ii., ca. xiii.
[327] Ibid., lib. ii., ca. xiv.
[328] De Officiis, lib. ii., ca. xxiv.
[329] Ibid., lib. iii., ca. i.
[330] De Republica, lib. vi. It is useless to give the
chapters, as the treatise, being fragmentary, is differently
divided in different editions.
[331] Ad Archiam, ca. xii.
[332] De Republica, lib. vi.
[333] Academica, 2, lib. i., ca. vii.
[334] Academica, 1, lib. ii., ca. xxxviii.
[335] De Officiis, lib. i., ca. xliv.
[336] Tusc. Disputationes, lib. i., ca. xxx.
[337] De Finibus, lib. v., ca. xxiii.
INDEX.
A.
Abeken, German, biographer of Cicero, ii., 39.
"Abiit, excessit, evasit, erupit," i., 228.
Academica, The, i., 33; ii., 251, 281.
Actio Prima, contra Verrem, i., 139.
Actio Secunda, contra Verrem, i., 138.
Aculeo, Cicero's uncle, i., 42.
Adjournments, on account of games in the trial of Verres, i., 138.
Advocate, duty in Rome, i., 85, 165;
his duties, ii., 319.
AEdile, Cicero as, i., 162.
"AEstimatum," tax on corn in Sicily, i., 152.
Agrarian law, two speeches, i., 190;
two supplementary speeches, 191.
[Greek:Aideomai Troas], i., 288.
Allobroges, their ambassadors, i., 230;
alluded to by Horace, 231;
rewarded, 233.
AEmilius, the Consul, bribed by Caesar, ii., 116.
Amanus, Cicero's campaign at the mountain range, ii., 90.
Amicitia, De, ii., 252;
Laelius tells its praises, 313.
Amnesty, granted after Caesar's death, ii., 181;
Cicero's opinion respecting it, 214.
Anatomical researches, ii., 296.
Antiochus of Comagene, Cicero pleads against, ii., 48.
Antiphon, an actor, criticism on, ii., 48.
Antonius Caius, Cicero's colleague in the Consulship, i., 185;
not trusted, 186;
was worth nothing, 229;
Cicero expects money from, 251.
Antonius Marcus, the orator, i., 43.
Antony, abuse of, i., 151;
silenced by Cicero, 204;
Cassius had desired his death, ii., 178;
forges Caesar's writing, 181;
writes to Cicero, 184;
Cicero desires to make him leave Italy, 190;
desires Cicero to assist in the Senate, 191;
desires that Cicero's house shall be attacked, 192;
determines to answer the first Philippic, 195;
left no friend to speak for him, 196;
his character by Paterculus, 197;
the same from Virgil, _ibid._;
how he sought favor with Caesar, 201;
how he quarrelled with Dolabella, 202;
his letter to Hirtius, 222;
wages war against four Consuls, 224;
one of the Triumvirate, 238.
Appius Claudius, letter to, ii., 79;
runs away from Cicero, 87;
takes away three cohorts, 87;
sends ambassadors to Rome to praise him, 88;
his dishonesty, 113;
twice tried, _ibid._;
Censor, 114.
Apronius, who he was, and his character, i., 153.
Arabarches, nickname for Pompey, i., 291.
Aratus, the Phaenomena translated, i., 46;
the Prognostics translated, 277; ii., 296.
Arbuscula, the actress, ii., 48.
Archias, Cicero's tutor, i., 47;
Cicero's speech, 252.
Ariobarzanes, in debt to Pompey and Brutus, ii., 100.
Army, Cicero joins it, i., 48.
Arpinum, Cicero's birthplace, i., 40.
Asconius Pedianus, commentator of Cicero, i., 180;
declares that Cicero had accused Crassus of joining Catiline, 218;
tells the story of Milo's trial, ii., 61.
Asia, Cicero travels in, i., 56.
Asians, the character given them by Cicero, i., 296.
"Assectatores," who they were, i., 112.
Athens, Cicero is afraid to live there, i., 322;
Cicero's description of, ii., 289.
Atticus, letters, private, i., 10, 12, 13, 16;
Cicero's faith in, 19;
general letters, 58;
his character, 58, 166, 182;
Cicero informs him as to Clodius, 255;
and of his speech in Pompey's favor, 258;
did not quarrel with Cicero, 302;
Cicero complains of his conduct, and then apologizes, 318;
leads money to Cicero, 323;
no letter of his extant, ii., 139;
receives a commission to see Cicero's debts paid, 188;
Cicero's last letter to, 206.
Augurs, College of, ii., 58.
Augustine has produced a fragment of the De Republica, ii., 307.
Augustus, devoid of scruple, i., 77;
born in the Consulship of Cicero, i., 239.
Aulus Gellius, tells a story of Cicero's house, i., 249.
Aurelia, Via, Catiline had left the city by that route, i., 228.
Autronius, selected Consul, i., 214, 252.
B.
Bacon, compared to Cicero, ii., 100.
Balbus, messenger from Caesar to Cicero, i., 270;
his citizenship defended, ii., 34;
his descendant Emperor, 34.
Battle of the eagle and the serpent, i., 46.
Beesley, Mr., as to Catiline, i., 205.
Bibulus as Consul, i., 282.
Birria stabs Clodius, ii., 62.
Boasting, habit of the Romans, i., 151.
Boissier, Gaston, his book on Cicero, ii., 34.
Bona Dea, her mysteries violated, i., 255.
Bovilla, at, Milo meets Clodius, ii., 62.
Brennus, when at Rome, i., 75.
Brougham, Lord, as to "Memnon," a tale, i., 46.
Brundisium, Cicero lands at on his return from exile, ii., 129;
Cicero's misery at, 142.
Brutus, proposes to make a speech in behalf of Milo, ii., 66;
his usury, 96;
the story of his debt in Cilicia, 97;
Cicero's opinion, 103;
letters from, 140;
how he should be judged for the murder of Caesar, 174;
his character, 180;
no aptitude for ruling, _ibid._;
Cicero meets him at Velia, 189;
his manners to Cicero, 190;
praised, 216;
correspondence with, doubted, 216;
an honest patriot, 227;
will not assist Cicero, 235;
Cicero's respect for, 267.
Brutus, The, ii., 251;
Brutus, or De Claris Oratoribus, 265.
Brutus, Decimus, letters from, ii., 140;
preparing to fight, 206;
deficient as a general, 228;
is slain, 235.
Buthrotum, Atticus, writes to Cicero respecting, ii., 185.
C.
Caecilia Metella, her tomb, ii., 160.
Caecilius, put up to plead against Verres, i., 132;
ridiculed as to his insufficiency, 136.
Caecina, Cicero's speech for, i., 163.
Caelius, one of the young bloods of Rome, i., 36;
his character, ii., 35;
one of Clodia's lovers, _ibid._;
defended by Cicero, 36;
harangues the people for Milo, 64;
scolded for the folly of his letters, 84;
asks for panthers, 85;
style of his letters, 89;
attached to Cicero, 90;
letters from, 140.
Caelius, C., left in charge of Cilicia, ii., 106.
Caeparius, one of Catiline's conspirators, i., 232.
Caerellia, her name mentioned, ii., 186.
Caesar, devoid of scruple, i., 77;
his debts, 103;
his cruelty, 104;
Cicero's treatment of, 152;
passing the Rubicon, 176;
did he join the conspiracy of Catiline, 215;
in debt, 216;
his prospects, _ibid._;
no ground for accusing him as second conspiracy, 219;
his opinion of Cicero, _ibid._;
attempt to murder as he left the Senate, _ibid._;
present at the first Catiline oration, 225;
speech as to Catiline, 236;
his career commenced, 241;
did not think of overthrowing the Republic, 242;
had not thought of ruling Rome, 260;
money nothing to him, 266;
his general character, _ibid._;
his first Consulship, 282;
illegality of his actions, 283;
has the two Gauls allotted to him, 284;
endeavors to screen Cicero, 292;
naturally a conspirator, ii., 20;
defence of his Proconsular power, 29, 30, 31;
his doings in Gaul, 31;
Cicero's conduct in reference to, 32;
why Cicero flattered him, 33;
intends to rule the Empire, 39;
crosses into Britain, 56;
money due to him by Cicero, 82;
returns the two legions, 116;
sits down at the Rubicon, 117;
tramples on all the laws, 118;
Cicero excuses his letter to, 122;
his clemency to Romans, 137;
absence of revenge, _ibid._;
does not allow Cicero to sell his property, 138;
is magnificent, 139;
sits as judge, 153;
returns to Spain, 156;
returns from Spain, 161;
is likened to Romulus, 162;
his five triumphs, _ibid._;
is flattered by Cicero, 165;
sups with Cicero, 168;
his death, 172;
his assassination esteemed a glorious deed, 175;
Cicero present, 177;
an altar put up to, 185;
his laws to be sanctioned, 193.
Calenus, talks of peace, ii., 214;
attacked by Cicero, 215.
Caninius, Consul for a few hours, ii., 272.
Capitol, description of, ii., 179;
Brutus returns to, _ibid._
Cappadocian slaves, ii., 101.
Cassius, Cicero says that he would not obey the Senate, ii., 219;
will not assist Cicero, 235.
Castor, the temple of, in the trial of Verres, i., 143.
Castor, accuses his grandfather, Deiotarus, ii., 164.
Catiline, one of Sulla's murderers, i., 78;
Cicero opposed to for Consulship, 110, 183;
Cicero does not defend him, 183;
the Catiline speeches described by Cicero, 191;
a popular hero, 205;
a step between the Gracchi and Caesar, 207;
Mr. Beesley's opinion as to his high birth, 211;
and courage, _ibid._;
his real character, 212;
not elected Consul, 214;
second conspiracy, 218;
accused by Lepidus, 222;
he leaves the city, 228;
third speech against, 230;
fourth speech against, 235;
he dies, 239.
Cato, accuses Murena, i., 193;
his stoicism laughed at, _ibid._;
speech as to Catiline, 238;
opposed Clodius, 256;
keeping gladiators, ii., 23;
opposes Cicero's request for a "supplication," 105;
his death, 147;
Cicero praises him, 148;
a glutton with books, 287;
his suicide defended, 317.
Cato the elder, praise of, ii., 307.
Catullus, his epigram on Caesar and Mamurra, ii., 169.
Caudine Forks, i., 76.
"Cedant arma togae," an impotent scream, i., 65.
Cethegus, one of Catiline's conspirators, i., 232.
Chesterfield, Lord, his advice to his son, ii., 318.
Christian, Cicero almost one, ii., 325.
Christina, Queen, on Cicero, i., 19.
Chrysogonus, creature of Sulla's, i., 85, 86, 91, 92.
Churches, rules complied with for the sake of example, ii., 298.
Cicero, young Marcus, wishes to serve under Caesar, ii., 156;
money allowed for living at Athens, 157;
does not do well, 158.
Cilicia, governed for a year, ii., 8;
Cicero's mode of government, 77;
why undertaken, _ibid._;
Cicero's government had cost no man a shilling, 85.
"Cincia Lex De Muneribus," i., 100.
Cispius, defended, ii., 46.
"Civis Romanus," his privileges, i., 158.
Claterna, taken by Hirtius, ii., 214.
Claudian family, desecrated by Clodius, i., 275.
Clodia, her character, i., 317.
Clodius, Cicero's language to, i., 186;
accuses Catiline, 213;
intrudes on the mysteries of the Bona Dea, 255;
acquitted, 257;
quarrels with Cicero, _ibid._;
Cicero's speech against, 262;
his Tribunate, 272;
favored by Caesar and Pompey, _ibid._;
is made a Plebeian, 273;
prepares to attack Cicero, 311;
had put up a statue of a Greek prostitute
as a figure of liberty, ii., 21;
slaughtered, 62;
his mode of travelling about, 72.
Cluentius Aulus, speech on his behalf, i., 179;
work in defending immense, 189.
Cluvius, leaves Cicero a property, ii., 182.
"Cohors," Cicero, in anger, so calls his suite, ii., 107.
College of priests, oration spoken before, ii., 20.
Commentarium of Caelius, ii., 105.
Conduct, Cicero's, as governor, ii., 22.
Conservative, Cicero was one, i., 308.
Consolation, Cicero complains that nothing is of use, ii., 160.
Consular speeches, twelve, i., 190.
Consulatu de suo, Cicero quotes his own poem, i., 271.
Consulatus de Petitione, i., 108.
Consuls and other officers reconformed by Sulla, i., 78;
the manner in which they were selected, 184;
their duties, 187;
never two bad Consuls together, ii., 14;
Cicero asks them to praise him, 92;
are they to be sent out of Italy? 218.
Cornelius, a Knight employed to kill Cicero, i., 223.
Cornelius Caius, speech on his behalf, i., 180.
Cornelius Nepos, on Cicero, i., 14;
his sayings as to Cicero's letters, 166.
Cotta, Lucius Aurelius, elected Consul, i., 214.
Cotta, the orator, Cicero knew him in his youth, i., 43.
Courage, as to the nature of, i., 299;
shown in the Philippics, ii., 199.
Cowardice, Cicero accused of, ii., 220;
the charge repelled, 246.
Crassus, noted for usury, i., 102;
did he join Catiline? 215;
like M. Pourier, 217;
present at first Catiline oration, 225;
belauds Cicero in the Senate, 258;
one of the Triumvirate, 267;
says a man cannot be rich unless he can keep an army in his pay, 315;
destroyed in Parthia, ii., 57.
Crassus, Lucius, the orator, i., 43;
his death, ii., 263.
Curio the elder, Cicero's lampoon, i., 328.
Curio and Claudius, speech against, i., 262.
Curio bribed by Caesar, ii., 116;
intimate with Antony, 201.
Curius, betrays Catiline's conspiracy, i., 222.
_Cybea_, the ship built for Verres by the Mamertines, i., 155.
D.
Dates, as to those to be used, i., 39.
Death, endured bravely by Cicero, i., 298.
Decemviri, to be appointed under the law of Rullus, i., 198.
"Decumanum," tithe on corn in Sicily, i., 152.
"Deductores," who they were, i., 115.
Deiotarus, Cicero pleads for, ii., 163.
Democrat, Cicero wrongly called, i., 304.
De Quincey, his opinion of Cicero, i., 20;
his anger against Middleton, ii., 107.
Deserter, in politics Cicero defended from the accusation, i., 305.
Despotism, personal, ill effects of, i., 309.
Dio persecuted in the trial of Verres, i., 145.
Dio Cassius, as to Cicero, i., 18;
as to Cicero's oath, 241.
Diodotus, Cicero studies with, i., 50.
Dionysius, the Greek tutor, ii., 121.
Dishonesty, the charge repelled as to Cicero, ii., 245.
Diversos, Ad, letters to, i., 166.
"Divinatio, in Quintum Caecilium," i., 132.
Divinatione, De, ii., 252, 297.
Divorces, common with Romans, ii., 144.
Doctrine, Cicero does not live according to his own, ii., 291.
Dolabella, Cicero's pupil in oratory, ii., 155;
his cruelty, 186.
Dorotheus, an enemy of Sthenius, i., 147;
trial of Verres, _ibid._
Drusus, his gardens to be bought, ii., 161.
Du Bos, Simon, ii., 304.
Duty to the state, ii., 316.
Dyrrachium, Cicero's protection of, i., 101;
sojourned there during his exile, 325.
E.
Education, expense of, i., 61.
Egypt, Cicero asked by Caesar to go there, i., 288.
Eleusinian mysteries, i., 59.
Elizabeth, Queen, glory of her reign, i., 77.
"Emptum," tax on corn, i., 152.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, character of Cicero, i., 11.
Ephesus, how Cicero was received there, ii., 85.
Epicureans, i., 58.
Epicurus, dying, ii., 286;
Cicero's peculiar dislike to, 295.
Epistles, number written by and to Cicero, i., 58;
the first we have, 166;
do not deal with history, 167;
their truth, _ibid._;
Tiro had collected, 70; ii., 188;
his last official and military, 231.
Eques, or knight, Cicero one, i., 40.
Equites, i., 128;
their duties as tax-gatherers, 280.
Equity, Cicero accused of trifling with, ii., 100.
Erasmus, his opinion of Cicero, i., 123.
Erucius, accuses Sextus Roscius, i., 84, 87.
Eryx, Mount, temple of Venus, i., 145.
Exile, Cicero's, i., 125, 297;
sentence against Cicero, 322;
attempt to bring him back, 329;
did not write during, 330.
F.
Famine, in Rome, ii., 18.
Fato, De, i., 252, 297, 303.
Finibus, De, i., 33; ii., 251, 284.
Fish-ponders, who they were, ii., 180.
Flaccus, speech on behalf of, i., 295.
Flavius, his goodness to Cicero when exiled, i., 323.
Florus, as to Cicero, i., 16;
as to Catiline, 209.
Fonteius, Cicero's speech for, i., 163;
purchase of a house, 170.
Formiae, Cicero killed at, ii., 243.
Formanum, purchases for the villa, i., 171.
Forsyth, Mr., i., 7, 9;
passage quoted, 20;
defends the English bar, 214;
as to Cicero's exile, 298;
as to the story of Brutus, ii., 99;
quoted as to the Philippics, 226.
Fortitude, Roman, i., 326.
Froude, Mr., accuses Cicero of a desire for Caesar's death, i., 9, 10;
his sketch of Caesar, 63;
hard things said of Cicero, 123;
as to Cicero's exile, 298;
gives his reason for Cicero's going to Cilicia, ii., 77.
Frumentaria, De Re, third speech on the Actio Secunda in Verrem,
i., 141.
Fulvia betrays Catiline's conspiracy, i., 222.
Fulvia, widow of Clodius, exposes the body of Clodius, ii., 63.
G.
Gabinius, A., abuse of, i., 151;
proposes law in favor of Pompey, 172;
Consul when Cicero was banished, 312;
takes his shrubs, 325;
whether he shall be punished, ii., 9;
comes back to Rome and is defended by Cicero, 47.
Gabinius, P., one of Catiline's conspirators, i., 232.
Gain, the source of mean or noble, ii., 318.
Gallus, Caninius, defended by Cicero, ii., 46.
Gavius, Cicero's treatment of, ii., 102.
Gavius, P., a Roman citizen, i., 158.
Geography, Cicero thinks of writing about, i., 289.
Getae, shall he bring them down on Rome, ii., 123.
Glabrio, Praetor at the trial of Verres, i., 138.
Gloria, De, translated, ii., 188.
Godhead, Cicero's belief in, ii., 26;
Cicero's ideas of, 295, 326.
Gracchi, the two, i., 76;
latest disciple of, 203;
what they attempted, 215.
Graevius, arranged Cicero's letters, i., 168.
Greece, Cicero travels in, i., 56.
Gueroult, M., his enthusiasm for Cicero, i., 252.
H.
Heaven, Cicero's idea of, ii., 324.
Hierosolymarius, nickname of Pompey, i., 289.
Heius, Marcus, his story in the trial of Verres, i., 155.
Helvia, Cicero's mother's story respecting, i., 42.
Heraclius, the story of, on the trial of Verres, i., 145.
Herennius, killed Cicero, ii., 243.
Hirtius, on Cicero's side, ii., 209;
killed, 223.
Historians, what they would say of Cicero, i., 301.
Homer's verses of the Eagle and the Serpent, i., 46.
Honest man, how he ought to live, ii., 319.
"Honestum," what it means, ii., 315.
Horace, his boasting, i., 151;
his treatment of women, 317.
Hortensius, on the trial of Verres, i., 130, 138, 161;
comes to see Cicero as he leaves Rome, ii., 82.
House, purchased on the Palatine Hill, i., 250;
the spot consecrated by Clodius, ii., 16.
Human race, Cicero's love for, ii., 290.
Hypsaeus, candidate for the Consulship, ii., 61.
I.
"Imperator," Cicero is named, ii., 91.
Income, Cicero's amount of, i., 61, 99.
Insincerity of Cicero, ii., 112;
almost necessary, _ibid._;
Cicero's defended, 247.
Invective, bitterness of Cicero's, i., 32.
Inventione, De, i., 51;
four books remaining, ii., 251, 253.
J.
"Jews," gold of their temple saved, i., 296.
Jonson, Ben, his description of Catiline, i., 208, 222.
Journey into Greece, Cicero intends a, ii., 184.
Judges, how they sat with a Praetor, i., 93.
Julia, Caesar's wife, dies, ii., 57.
Jupiter Stator, Cicero's first speech against Catiline
in the temple of, i., 224;
Cicero returns thanks for, in the temple, ii., 12.
Jurisdictione Siciliensi, De, i., 141.
Juvenal, as to Cicero, i., 16;
as to Catiline, 209.
K.
Killing Roman citizens, Cicero to be charged with, i., 295.
Kings, odious to Cicero as to all Romans, ii., 175.
L.
Labienus, an optimate, i., 293.
La Harpe, his opinion of the Pro Marcello, ii., 151.
Laelius in the dialogue De Republica, ii., 307.
Lanuvium, Milo returning from, ii., 62.
Laodicea, Cicero is governor, i., 86.
Lawyers, Cicero ridicules them, i., 194.
Legacies, a source of income, i., 103.
Legions, the, are Caesarian, ii., 229.
Legibus, De, ii., 251;
taken from Plato, 309.
Legation offered to Cicero, i., 292.
Lentulus, letters to, ii., 22;
explaining his conduct, 51.
Lentulus, Publius Cornelius, one of Catiline's conspirators, i., 232;
killed, 238;
Cicero broke the law in regard to, 313.
Lepidus, his character, ii., 210;
recommended peace, 221;
one of the Triumvirate, 240.
Leucopetra, Cicero landed at, ii., 189.
Lex Porcia forbidden death of Roman, i., 236.
Liberty, Roman idea of, i., 26.
"Librarii," short-hand writers, i., 189.
Ligarius, Cicero speaks for, ii., 152.
Lilybaeum, Cicero Quaestor at, i., 114.
Literature, Cicero's reason for devoting himself to, ii., 256.
Livy, as to Cicero, i., 15;
his evidence as to Catiline's conspiracy, 217;
his political tendencies, ii., 306.
Long, Mr., his opinion of the Pro Marcello, ii., 151.
Lucan, as to Cicero, i., 15;
would have extolled him had he killed himself, 303.
Lucceius, Cicero applies to him for praise, ii., 24.
Lucretius, the period at which he wrote, i., 24.
Lucullus, absent in the East seven years, i., 176.
Lucullus, The, ii., 282
M.
Macaulay, Mr., his verdict as to Cicero's character, i., 8.
Mai, Cardinal, his opinion of the Pro Marcello, ii., 151.
Mallius, lieutenant of Catiline, i., 222;
declared a public enemy, 230.
Mamertines, people of Messina, favorites of Verres, i., 155.
Manilia Pro Lege, i., 177, Appendix D.
Manilius, his law in favor of Pompey, i., 177.
Marcellus, had conquered Syracuse, i., 156.
Marcellus, M. C., is Consul, ii., 83;
flogs a citizen of Novocomum, _ibid._;
his enmity to Caesar, 148;
Cicero speaks for him, 150;
is murdered, 151.
Marcellus Caius, Cicero congratulates him on his Consulship, ii., 88.
Marius, born at Arpinum, i., 40;
origin of his quarrel with Sulla, 49.
Marius, a poem by Cicero, i., 47.
Martia, Legio, character of, ii., 207.
Martial, as to Cicero, i., 15.
Mendaciuncula, Cicero's use of, i., 164.
Merivale, Dean, as to Cicero, i., 9;
History of Rome, 63;
as to Catiline, 210;
as to Cicero's exile, 297.
Metellus, Quintus on the side of Verres, i., 129, 138;
the history of the family, 248;
Celer, his complaint against Cicero, 246;
Nepos, forbids Cicero to speak on vacating the Consulship, 240.
Middleton, his biography a by word for eulogy, i., 123;
quoted as to Clodius, 274;
as to Cicero's exile, 297;
censures Cicero for going into, 318;
nature of his biography, ii., 107.
Milo, gives public games, ii., 48;
Cicero wishes him to be Consul, 56;
his trial, 59;
accused of bringing a dagger into the Senate, 64;
demands protection, 65;
condemned, 67;
his mode of travelling, 72.
Milone, Pro, Cicero's oration, i., 53;
specially admired, ii., 60;
not heard, 67.
Mithridates, Sulla sent against, i., 50;
Pompey has command against, 176.
Molo, Cicero studies with, i., 50, 56.
Mommsen, his history, i., 63;
opinion of Rome, 72, 74;
as to Caesar and Crassus, 218;
as to Cicero's exile, 297;
description of Rome during Cicero's exile, 328;
deals hardly with Cicero, ii., 33;
as to Cicero owing money to Caesar, 82;
his interpretation of Caesar's names, 172;
tells us nothing of Caesar's death, 178;
his verdict as to Rome, 306.
Money, restored to Cicero for rebuilding his house, ii., 21.
Montesquieu, as to Roman religion, ii., 20.
Morabin, as to Cicero's exile, i., 297;
doubts Cicero's presence at Caesar's death, ii., 177.
Moral Essays, ii., 304.
Mourning, Cicero assumes prior to his exile, i., 316.
Munda, final battle of, ii., 156.
Murena, Cicero defended, i., 191;
accused of bribery, 192;
and of dancing, 193;
a soldier, 195.
Musical charm of Cicero's language, ii., 28.
Mutina, ambassadors sent to Antony before, ii., 209;
the battle, 223;
badly managed, 228.
N.
Names, Roman, as to forms to be used, i., 38;
usual with Romans to have three, 41.
Nasica, his joke, ii., 262.
Natura Deorum, De, ii., 252, 266, 294.
"Nomenclatio," the meaning, i., 113.
Nonis Juliis, ii., 188.
"Novus ante me nemo," i., 202.
O.
Octavius, comes to Rome, ii., 181;
meets Cicero, _ibid._;
quarrels with Antony, 204;
feared by Cicero, 205;
would he be Consul, 232;
marches into Rome, _ibid._;
his enmity to Cicero, 233;
his insolence, 237;
is reconciled to Antony, _ibid._;
the meeting in the island at Bologna, 238;
his conduct, _ibid._;
letter to him, supposed from Cicero, but a forgery, 240.
Officiis, De, ii., 205, 252;
perfect treatise on morals, 314.
"O fortunatam natam," i., 277.
"Old Mortality," torture as there described, i., 88.
Oppianicus, his life, i., 179.
Oppius Publius, his trial, i., 126.
Optimates, Pompey their leader, i., 175.
Optimo Genere Oratorum, De, ii., 251, 264.
Orations, how Cicero treated his own, ii., 167.
Oratiuncula, twelve consular speeches so called, i., 190.
Orator, The, ii., 251;
graced by the name of Brutus, 266.
Oratore, De, Cicero's dialogues, ii., 38;
sent to Lentulus, 46, 251, 256, 270.
Oratoriae Partitiones, ii., 145, 265.
Oratory, Cicero's three modes of speaking, i., 94;
his charms, 137;
purposes of, ii., 274.
Ornament, Greek taste for, i., 154.
Otho's law, speech concerning, i., 190, 204.
P.
Pagan, Cicero one, ii., 330.
Palinodia, or recantation, by Cicero, ii., 23.
Palatine Hill, Cicero's house destroyed, i., 325.
Pansa, the Consul on Cicero's side, ii., 209;
slain, 223.
Paradoxes, the six, ii., 146.
Partitiones, Oratoriae, ii., 251.
Peel, Sir Robert, i., 303.
Perfection, required in an orator, ii., 257;
Cicero fails in describing it, 257, 258, 261.
Perfect orator, not desirable, ii., 275.
Philippics, origin of the name, ii., 192;
the first, 193;
the second not intended to be spoken or published, 198;
commences with satire against Antony, 199;
the third and fourth, 206;
the fifth, 210;
the sixth, 211;
the seventh, 212;
the eighth, 215;
the ninth, _ibid._;
the tenth, _ibid._;
the eleventh, 217;
the twelfth, 220;
the thirteenth, 222;
the fourteenth, _ibid._
Philo, the academician, i., 43;
Cicero studies with, 50, 51.
Philodamus, and his daughter in the trial of Verres, i., 142.
Philology, discussed with Caesar, ii., 170.
Philosophy, Cicero's nature of, i., 33, 58, 59;
rumor that Cicero will devote himself to it, 97;
Cicero did not believe in it, 194;
devotes himself to it, ii., 163;
the nature of Cicero's treatises, 277;
the nature of his feeling, 278;
Greek laughed at by Cicero, _ibid._;
not real with him, 280;
apologizes for, 319.
Philotomus, freedman of Terentia, ii., 105.
Phaenomena, The, by Aratus, i., 46.
Pindenissum, Cicero besieges, ii., 91;
his letter to Cato respecting, 92.
Pirates, picked up by officers of Verres, i., 160;
commission given to Pompey against, 171;
their power, 172.
Piso, abuse of, i., 151;
Consul when Cicero was banished, 312;
Cicero appeals to him, 320;
robs Cicero, 324;
Cicero's speech against, ii., 41;
of high family, _ibid._;
becomes Censor, 42;
speaks for Antony in the Senate, 220.
Piso, Calpurnius, Cicero defended, i., 191.
Plancius, very kind to Cicero, i., 325;
Cicero pleads for, ii., 49.
Plancus, Lucius, letters from, ii., 140;
Cicero writes to him, 211;
may have been true, 228, 230, 234.
Plancus, Munatius, Cicero's joy at his condemnation, ii., 74.
Pliny, the elder, as to Cicero, i., 204.
Plato, Cicero describes himself as a lover of, ii., 288.
Plutarch, is to Cicero, i., 16;
accuses him of running from Sulla's wrath, 57.
Poetry, Cicero as a poet, i., 47.
Poetus, gave some books to Cicero, i., 13;
Cicero's correspondence with, ii., 172;
Cicero took his books, 328.
Political opinions, Cicero's, i., 54, 55;
definition made by Cicero, ii., 28.
Pollio, may have been true, ii., 228, 234.
Pompeia, Caesar's wife divorced, i., 255.
Pompeius, Strabo, father of Pompey the Great, i., 49.
Pompey, the rising man, i., 55;
devoid of scruple, 77;
appointed to put down the pirates, 172;
his character, 173;
how regarded by Caesar, 216;
his intercourse with Caesar, 243;
Cicero's letters to, 244;
chosen by him as his leader, 246;
called home to act against Catiline, 247;
returns from the East, 257;
his jealousy, 259;
Mommsen's opinion, _ibid._;
one of the Triumvirate, 267;
his marriage with Julia, 282;
his ingratitude to Cicero, 287;
his nick-names, 289, 291;
promises to help Cicero against Clodius, 294;
the story of Cicero kneeling to him, 321;
Cicero forgives him, 327;
offended by Cicero's praise of himself, ii., 15;
commissioned to feed Rome, 19;
Cicero to be his lieutenant, _ibid._;
his games, Cicero's description of, 44, 45;
sole Consul, 59;
Dictator, 63;
would be unwilling to bring back Clodius, 73;
claims money from Ariobarzanes, 101;
begins to attack Caesar, 105;
borrowed Cicero's money, 111;
Cicero clings to, 119;
was murdered at the mouth of the Nile, 126.
Pomponia, her treatment of her husband Quintius, ii., 79.
Pontius Glaucus, a poem, i., 44.
Popilius Laenas, killed Cicero, ii., 243, 244.
Populace of Rome, condition of, ii., 11.
Praetor, Cicero elected, i., 171, 176.
Praetura Urbana, De, first speech in the second action In Verrem,
i., 141.
Proconsul, his desire for provincial robbery, i., 99, 100.
Property, redistribution of, i., 196.
Provinces, the struggle for, ii., 206.
Pseudo Asconius, commentaries on the Verrine orations, i., 180.
Publicani, their duties, i., 280.
Publilia, married to Cicero, ii., 155.
Publius Quintius, speech on his behalf, i., 80.
Punic wars, the, i., 76.
Puteoli, at, the story he tells of himself, i., 120.
Q.
Quaestor, Cicero elected, i., 107;
his character in regard to the Proconsul with whom he acted, 133.
Quintilian, as to Cicero, i., 16, 182, 225;
as to Cicero's education, 57;
says that Cicero's speeches were arranged by Tiro, 95;
description of bar oratory, 96;
accuses Cicero of running into iambics, ii., 43;
his opinion of the Pro Milone, 60;
Pro Cluentio, 61;
cases given by him, 255;
his description of an orator's voice, 275, 276.
Quintus Cicero (the elder), i., 42;
service in Gaul, 62;
his character, 169;
sent out as Propraetor, 262;
his brother's letter to him, 277, 278;
affecting letter to, 326;
speaks ill of his brother to Caesar, ii., 139;
and his son, are killed, 243.
Quintus Cicero (the younger) wishes to go to the Parthian war, ii., 163;
declares his repentance, 187;
had been Antony's "right hand," _ibid._;
his fate, _ibid._;
his hypocrisy and the vanity of Cicero, 188.
Quirites, their mode of living, i., 111.
R.
Rabirius, Cicero defends, i., 190.
Rabirius Postumus, Cicero defends, ii., 53.
Raillery, not good at the Roman bar, ii., 262.
Reate, Cicero speaks for the inhabitants, ii., 48.
Religion, Cicero's, ii., 321.
Republic, Cicero swears that he has saved it, i., 241;
Cicero's guiding principle, 309;
held fast by the idea of preserving it, 310;
as conceived by Cicero, ii., 227.
Republica, De, Cicero's treatise, ii., 38, 251;
six books, 305.
Republican form of government, popular, i., 261.
Retail trade, base, i., 102.
Rheticorum, four books addressed to Herennius, i., 51; ii., 251.
"Rhetores," their mode of tuition, i., 52.
Rhythm, Cicero's lessons too fine for our ears, ii., 271.
Roman citizens, their mode of life, i., 315.
Romans, the, had no religion, ii., 321.
Rome, falling into anarchy, i., 50;
how she recovered herself, ii., 204.
Roscius, the actor, Cicero pleads on his behalf, i., 105.
Roscius, Titus Capito, i., 85, 90.
Roscius, Titus Magnus, i., 85, 89.
Rosoir, Du M, his testimony as to Cicero, i., 127;
his accusations against, 178;
as to Cicero's exile, 297;
his accusations, ii., 176;
accuses Cicero of cowardice, 191.
Rubicon, the passage of, i., 125; ii., 120.
Ruined man, Cicero returns from exile as, ii., 16.
Rullus, brings in Agrarian laws, i., 196;
his father-in-law had acquired property under Sulla, 198;
ridiculed for being "sordidatus," 199;
spoken of in the Senate, 203.
S.
"Saga," when worn, ii., 223.
Salaminians agree to be guided by Cicero, ii., 99.
Sallust, as to Cicero, i., 17;
as to Catiline, 187, 209, 219;
his story not conflicting with Cicero's, 220, 227.
"Salutatores," who they were, i., 112.
Sampsiceramus, nickname for Pompey, i., 291.
Sappho, the statue of, by Silanion, i., 157.
Sassia, her life, i., 179.
Saufeius twice acquitted, ii., 67.
Scaevola, Quintus, instructed Cicero, i., 43.
Scaptius, the story of, ii., 93, 102;
agent of Brutus in getting his debts paid, 96, 99.
Scipio the great, gives the idea of Roman power, i., 76.
Scipio the younger, in the dialogue De Republica, ii., 307;
his dream, 308;
translated, 333.
Scipio, Q. Metellus, candidate for the Consulship, ii., 61.
Sempronia, accused by Sallust of dancing too well, i., 193;
Catiline's plot carried on at her house, 230.
Sempronia Lex declares that a Roman should not be put to death, i., 237.
Senate, their honors, i., 116;
their disgrace, 117;
pass a vote that they will go into mourning for Cicero, 319;
Cicero's presence demanded in, ii., 189.
Senate house scene described in a letter to Quintus, ii., 22, 23;
is burnt, 63;
archives destroyed, 70.
Senectute, De, ii., 252;
Cato tells its praises, 312.
Servilius, compliment paid to, at the trial of Verres, i., 140.
Serving his fellow creatures, Cicero's way of doing, ii., 300, 301.
Sextus, letter to, as to borrowing money, i., 249;
defence of, ii., 27;
Cicero's gratitude to, _ibid._
Sextus Roscius Amerinus, i., 80.
Shakespeare, his conception correct as to Caesar's death, ii., 173.
Shelley, version of the Eagle and the Serpent, i., 46.
Short hand writing, the system of, i., 189.
Sicilians invite Cicero to take their part against Verres, i., 118;
their wishes for his assistance, 135.
Sicily divided into two provinces, i., 114.
Signis, De, fourth speech at the second action In Verrem, i., 141.
Slaves, tortured to obtain evidence, i., 88.
Solitude, he had not strength to exercise, ii., 320.
Soothsayers, appeal made to them as to Cicero, ii., 26.
Soothsaying, ii., 300.
"Sordidatus," Cicero's dress before going into exile, i., 301.
Speeches made by Cicero on his return from exile, ii., 9;
question whether they be genuine, 10.
States, Italian, jealousy of, leading to first civil war, i., 49.
Statilius, one of Catiline's conspirators, i., 252.
Statues, purchase of, i., 170.
Stenography, the Roman system, i., 189.
Sthenius, his trial, i., 127, 146.
Suetonius, accuses Caesar of joining Catiline, i., 217;
character of Caesar, 273.
Sulla, Cicero served with, i., 49;
declared Dictator, 54;
Cicero on Sulla's side in politics, 55;
goes to the East, 67;
his massacres, 68;
reorganizes the law, 69;
his resignation, 70;
attacked by Cicero, 92.
Sulla, P., elected Consul, i., 214;
Cicero's speech for, 252.
Sulpicius, Publius, the orator, i., 43.
Sulpicius, Servius, laughed at as an orator, i., 194;
one of the ambassadors dies on his journey ii., 213.
Superstitions of old Rome, ii., 25.
"Supplicatio," decreed to Cicero, i., 282,
nature of, ii., 104;
granted for Mutina for fifty days, 225.
Suppliciis, De, fifth speech in the second action In Verrem, i., 141.
"Symphoniacos homines," i., 160.
Syracuse, robberies of Verres, i., 156.
T.
Tablets of wax used by judges, i., 93.
Tacitus, as to Cicero, i., 16;
De Oratoribus, 51.
Terentia, Cicero's wife, i., 98;
Cicero's affection for, 324;
as to the divorce, ii., 105;
his style to is changed, 115;
Cicero in a sad condition as to, 138;
divorced, 145, 154.
Teucris, nickname for Antony, Cicero's colleague, i., 251.
Thapsus, battle of, ii., 147.
Thessalonica, Cicero's sojourn there during his exile, i., 325.
Tiro, Cicero's slave and secretary, i., 42;
Cicero's affectionate letters to, ii., 119;
Cicero writes to, respecting Antony, 184.
Toga virilis, Cicero assumes it, i., 48.
Topica, The, prepared for Trebatius, ii., 189, 252;
taken from Aristotle, 272, 273.
Torquatus, elected Consul, i., 214.
Torquatus, young, attacks Cicero, i., 253.
Translating, Roman feeling in doing it, ii., 252.
Travels, gives his own reasons for going to Greece and Asia, i., 58.
Trebatius, confided to Caesar, i., 62;
recommends him to Caesar, ii., 48, 49.
Trebonius, massacred by Dolabella, ii., 217.
Tribunate, Cicero's defence of, ii., 311.
"Triennium fere fuit, urbs sine armis," i., 67.
Triumph, Cicero applies for, ii., 103;
nature of, _ibid._;
the cause of trouble to him, 115, 120.
Triumvirate, the first, i., 264;
not mentioned by Mommsen, 265;
description by Horace, _ibid._;
not so known, 269.
Tubero, accuses Ligarius, ii., 153;
Cicero refuses to alter his speech, 154.
Tullia, Cicero's daughter, i., 106, 170;
betrothed to Caius Piso, 171;
meets Cicero at Brundisium, ii., 11;
she is a widow, _ibid._;
divorced from Crassipes, 58;
marries Dolabella for her third husband, 111;
Cicero had desired that she should marry Tiberius Nero, _ibid._;
calls her the light of his life, 115;
dies, 158;
her proposed monument, 160.
Tullius Marcus Decula, defended by Cicero, i., 123.
Tusculanae Disputationes, i., 33; ii., 251, 290;
their five heads, 291.
Tusculum Villa, gives commission for purchase of statues, i., 170.
Tusculum, Dialogue de Oratore held there, ii., 259.
Twenty-six years old when Cicero pleaded his first cause, i., 54.
Tyranny, in the Senate, Cicero charged with, ii., 72.
Tyrrell, Mr., arrangement of Cicero's letters, i., 169;
doubts thrown on a letter to Atticus, 191.
U.
Usury, base, i., 102.
V.
Valerius Maximus, as to Catiline, i., 209.
Valerius, Cicero stays at his villa, ii., 189.
Varenus, his trial, i., 127.
Vargunteius, a knight employed to kill Cicero, i., 223.
Varro, the period at which he wrote, i., 24.
Vatinius, speech against, ii., 28;
Cicero defends, 48.
Velleius Paterculus, as to Cicero, i., 15;
as to Catiline, 209.
Veneti, Caesar's treatment of, ii., 166.
Vercingetorix, conquered at Alesia, ii., 74.
Verres, his trial, i., 125;
Governor for three years, 126;
retires into exile, 141;
standard-bearer to Hortensius, 149;
fined and sent into exile, 161.
Vibo to Velia, Cicero's journey in a small boat from, i., 138.
Vigintiviratus, offered to Cicero, i., 12;
Cicero repudiates, 288.
Vindemiolae, the way Cicero expends them, 177.
Virgil, Cicero intended by, i., 14;
his version of the Eagle and the Serpent, 46;
his boasting, 151;
his allusion to Cicero, 203;
description of Catiline, 209.
Volcatius, does not speak for Marcellus, ii., 150.
Voltaire, version of the Eagle and the Serpent, i., 40;
description of Catiline, 208.
W.
Wolf, his criticism on the Pro Marcello, ii., 151.
Work, the amount of, done by Cicero, ii., 122.
THE END.