man by a young one, and cajoled, assisted at the canvass of Cæsar[275]
and got the Senate in his favour, for which he was blamed by his friends
at the time, and he shortly after saw that he had ruined himself and
betrayed the liberty of the people. For when the youth was strengthened
and had got the consulship, he gave himself no concern about Cicero, but
making friends with Antonius and Lepidus[276] and uniting his forces
with theirs, he divided the chief power with them, just as if it were a
piece of property. And a list of above two hundred men was made out, who
were doomed to die. The proscription of Cicero caused most dispute among
them in their discussions, for Antonius was not inclined to come to any
terms unless Cicero was the first to be doomed to death, and Lepidus
sided with Antonius, but Cæsar held out against both. They held their
meeting by themselves in secret near the city Bononia[277] for three
days, and they met in a place at some distance from the camps which was
surrounded by a river. It is said that during the first two days Cæsar
struggled in behalf of Cicero, but that he yielded on the third and gave
up the man. And the matter of their mutual surrender was thus. Cæsar was
to give up Cicero, and Lepidus his brother Paulus,[278] and Antonius was
to give up Lucius Cæsar, who was his uncle on the mother's side. So far
did they through resentment and rage throw away all human feeling, or
rather they showed that no animal is more savage than man when he has
gotten power added to passion.
XLVII.[279] While this was going on, Cicero was on his lands at
Tusculum, and his brother with him; and on hearing of the proscriptions
they determined to remove to Astura,[280] a place belonging to Cicero on
the sea-coast, and thence to sail to Macedonia to Brutus, for there was
already a rumour about him that he had a force. They were conveyed in
litters, being worn out by grief; and halting by the way and placing
their litters side by side they lamented to one another. Quintus[281]
was the more desponding, and he began to reflect on his needy condition,
for he said that he had brought nothing from home; and indeed Cicero was
but scantily provided for his journey; it was better then, he said, for
Cicero to hurry on in his flight, and for him to hasten back and to
provide himself from home with what he wanted. This was agreed, and
embracing one another with tears they separated. Now Quintus, not many
days after, was betrayed by his slaves to those who were in search of
him and put to death with his son. Cicero arrived at Astura, and finding
a vessel he immediately embarked, and sailed along the coast to
Circæum,[282] the wind in his favour. When the sailors were wishing to
set sail immediately from thence, whether it was that he feared the sea,
or had not quite despaired of all trust in Cæsar, he landed, and went on
foot about a hundred stadia on the road to Rome. But again perplexed and
changing his mind he went down to the sea of Astura; and there he spent
the night in dreadful and desperate reflections, so that he even formed
a design to get secretly into Cæsar's house, and by killing himself on
the hearth to fasten on him an avenging dæmon. But the fear of tortures
drove him from this measure also; and after perplexing himself with
other schemes and shifting from one to another, he put himself in the
hands of his slaves to convey him by sea to Capitæ,[283] for he had
lands there and a place of retreat which was very agreeable in summer,
when the Etesian winds blow most softly. The place has also a temple of
Apollo, a little above the sea. A flock of crows winging their flight
from thence with loud cawing approached the vessel of Cicero as it was
rowing to land, and settling at each end of the sail-yard some made a
noise, and others gnawed the end of the ropes, and all were of opinion
that the omen was bad. Cicero landed, and going to the villa he lay down
to rest. But most of the crows perched themselves on different parts of
the window, cawing clamorously; and one of them, going down to the couch
where Cicero lay wrapped up, by degrees removed with its beak the
covering from his face. The slaves seeing this, and considering it a
reproach to them if they should wait to be spectators of their master's
murder, while even brute beasts came to his aid and cared for him in
his unmerited misfortune, but they themselves were giving no help,
partly by entreaty, partly using force, took him up and carried him in a
litter towards the sea.
XLVIII. In the meantime the murderers with their helpers came on,
Herennius[284] a centurion, and Popilius a tribune, who had once been
prosecuted for parricide and Cicero was his advocate. Finding the doors
closed they broke them open, and as Cicero was not seen and those who
were within denied that they knew where he was, it is said that a youth
who had been brought up by Cicero in liberal studies and learning, and
was a freedman of Cicero's brother Quintus, Philologus by name, told the
tribune that the litter was being conveyed through the wooded and shady
paths to the sea. Accordingly the tribune, taking a few men with him,
ran round to the outlet. And as Herennius was running along the paths,
Cicero saw him and bade the slaves place down the litter there; and, as
his wont was, holding his chin with his left hand he looked steadily on
the murderers, being all squalid and unshorn, and his countenance wasted
by care, so that most of them covered their faces while Herennius was
killing him. He stretched his neck[285] out of the litter and was
killed, being then in his sixty-fourth year. Herennius cut off his head
and the hands, pursuant to the command of Antonius, with which he wrote
the Philippics. For Cicero himself entitled Philippics the speeches
which he wrote against Antonius, and to the present day they are called
Philippics.
XLIX. When the head and hands[286] were brought to Rome, Antonius
happened to be holding an election of magistrates, and when he heard the
news and saw what had been done, he called out that the proscriptions
were now at an end. He ordered the head and hands to be placed above the
Rostra on the place whence the orators spoke, a sight that made the
Romans shudder, who thought that they saw, not the face of Cicero, but
an image of the soul of Antonius. Still he showed herein one sentiment
of just dealing, for he delivered up Philologus to Pomponia the wife of
Quintus, who having got him into her power, inflicted terrible vengeance
upon him, and among other things compelled him to cut off his flesh bit
by bit, and to roast and eat it. Thus some of the historians have told
the story, but Tiro, who was Cicero's freedman, makes no mention at all
of the treachery of Philologus.[287] I have heard that Cæsar a long time
after once went to see one of his daughter's sons,[288] and as the youth
had in his hands one of Cicero's writings, he was afraid and hid it in
his vest; the which Cæsar observing took the book and read a good part
of it while he was standing, and then returning the book to the boy
said, "A wise man, my boy, a wise man and a lover of his country." As
soon as Cæsar had finally defeated Antonius, he took Cicero's son[289]
to be his colleague in the consulship, in whose magistracy the Senate
threw down the statues of Antonius and destroyed all other testimonials
in honour of him, and further decreed that no Antonius should bear the
name of Marcus. That the dæmon reserved for the family of Cicero the
final vengeance on Antonius.
COMPARISON OF DEMOSTHENES AND CICERO.
I. The above is all I have been able to find out that is worth being
recorded about Demosthenes and Cicero. Without attempting to compare
their different styles of oratory, I think it necessary to remark that
Demosthenes devoted all his powers, natural and acquired, to the study
of eloquence alone, so that he surpassed all his rivals in the law
courts and public assembly in perspicuity and ability, all the writers
of declamations in splendour and pomp of diction, and all the
professional sophists in accuracy and scientific method. Cicero, on the
other hand, was a man of great learning and various literary
accomplishments. He wrote a considerable number of philosophic treatises
modelled on the works of the Academic school, and in all his forensic
and political speeches we can detect a desire to let his audience know
that he was a man of letters. In their speeches, too, we can discern the
impress of their respective characters. The eloquence of Demosthenes
never stoops to jest, and is utterly without ornament, but has a
terrible concentrated earnestness, which does not smell of the lamp, as
Pytheas sneeringly said, but which reminds us of the ungenial,
painstaking, acrimonious nature of the man: while Cicero often is
carried by his love of jesting to the verge of buffoonery, and in his
pleadings treats serious matters in a tone of most unbecoming levity and
flippancy, as in the oration for Cæcilius he argues that in an age of
such luxury and extravagance there can be nothing to wonder at if a man
takes his pleasure; for not to help oneself to the pleasures which are
within one's reach is the part of a madman, seeing that the most eminent
philosophers have declared the chief felicity of man to consist in
pleasure. It is related that when Cato prosecuted Murena, Cicero, who
was consul at the time, defended him, and cracked many jokes on Cato as
an adherent of the Stoic philosophy, and on the absurdity of the
paradoxes which it maintains. The audience, and even the judges, laughed
heartily; but Cato merely remarked to those near him, with a quiet
smile, "Gentlemen, what a witty consul we have." Cicero, indeed, seems
to have been fond of laughter and mirth, and his countenance was calm
and smiling; while that of Demosthenes always bore the marks of gloomy,
anxious thought, which caused his enemies, as he himself tells us, to
call him disagreeable and ill-natured.
II. In their speeches we may observe that Demosthenes praises himself
with great moderation, in a manner which can offend no one, and only
when he has some more important object in view, while he is usually
modest and cautious in his language; whereas Cicero's show a ridiculous
amount of egotism and craving for applause, when, he demands that "arms
shall yield to the toga, and the triumphal laurel[290] give place to his
tongue." At last he took to praising not only his own deeds, but even
his spoken and written[291] orations, as though he were engaged in some
contest with professional rhetoricians like Isokrates or Anaximenes,
rather than endeavouring to lead and reform the Roman people--
"Savage and rude, whose sole delight
Was with their foes to strive in fight."
A politician must of necessity be a powerful speaker, but it is a
contemptible thing for him to be too greedy and covetous of applause for
his fine speeches. Wherefore, in this respect Demosthenes appears far
graver, and of a nobler nature; for he himself declared that his
eloquence came only by practice, and depended on the favour of his
audience, and that he regarded those who boasted of their oratorical
powers as vulgar and despicable characters.
III. They were both alike in their power and influence with the people,
which caused even the commanders of armies in the field to look to them
for support; for Demosthenes was courted by Chares, Diopeithes, and
Leosthenes, as was Cicero by Pompeius and the younger Cæsar,[292] as
Cæsar himself admits in his memoirs addressed to Mæcenas and Agrippa. We
cannot judge of Demosthenes by that which is said to afford the most
certain test of a man's true character--his conduct when in power--for he
has not afforded us any opportunity of doing so, as he would not even
take the command of the confederacy which he himself organised to oppose
Philip. Now Cicero was sent to Sicily as quæstor, and to Cilicia and
Cappadocia as proconsul, at a period when the love of wealth was at its
height, and when the Roman generals and governors, thinking it beneath
them to steal money, used to resort to open robbery. It was not thought
discreditable to plunder a province, but he who did so with moderation
was esteemed as an excellent governor. Cicero on these occasions gained
great credit by the many proofs which he gave of indifference to money,
and of goodness and kindness of heart. At Rome itself also, he was
elected nominally consul, but really dictator with unlimited powers to
deal with Catilina's conspiracy, and he then proved the truth of Plato's
aphorism, that a state finds rest from its misfortunes when by good luck
a powerful and able man is found to rule it with justice. Demosthenes
again is said to have made money dishonourably by writing speeches for
other men, as in the case of the speeches with which he secretly
furnished Phormio and Apollodorus, when they were opposed to one
another. He also was suspected of receiving bribes from the King of
Persia, and was caught in the act of taking a bribe from Harpalus. Even
if we suppose these charges, supported as they are by the testimony of
so many writers, to be false, yet it is impossible to deny that
Demosthenes, who trafficked in that peculiarly discreditable form of
usury, marine insurances,[293] would not have been able to refuse a
present offered in all honour by a king, while we have already related
how Cicero refused to take money from the Sicilians when he was
quæstor,[294] and from the Cappadocians when he was proconsul, and even
from his friends, who pressed him to accept large sums when he was
exiled from Rome.
IV. Moreover, Demosthenes was exiled in great disgrace, after he had
been convicted of having received a bribe, while Cicero's banishment was
the consequence of the noblest action of his life, the ridding his
country of wicked men. Wherefore, no one could plead for Demosthenes
when he left the country, but the Senate publicly put on mourning for
Cicero, grieved for his absence, and refused to transact any business
before voting that he should be restored to Rome. Yet Cicero spent his
exile idly in Macedonia, while Demosthenes carried out an important part
of his policy while in exile; for, as has been related, he accompanied
the Athenian embassy to the various states of Greece, discomfited the
Macedonian ambassadors, and proved himself a far better citizen than
Themistokles or Alkibiades under similar circumstances: moreover, after
his restoration to Athens, he continued to pursue the same policy of
unceasing opposition to Antipater and the Macedonians, while Lælius
reproached Cicero for sitting silent in the senate-house when young
Octavius Cæsar, before his beard was grown, petitioned to be allowed to
sue for the consulship in spite of the law. Brutus also blamed him for
having fostered a greater and harsher tyranny than that which he put
down.
V. In conclusion, we must regard the death of Cicero as most pitiable,
that an old man, through cowardice, should be carried hither and thither
by his slaves, seeking to escape death, and hiding himself from his
foes, although he could in any case have but a short time to live, and
then be murdered after all; while Demosthenes, though he did beg
somewhat for his life, must be admired for his forethought in providing
himself with the poison, and also for the use which he made of it, to
escape from the cruelty of Antipater even when surrounded by his
soldiers, and to betake himself to a greater sanctuary, as that of the
god was unable to protect him.
LIFE OF DEMETRIUS.
I. He who first compared the arts to our senses seems to me to have
especially alluded to the power which they both exhibit of dealing with
objects of completely contrary qualities. In this respect they coincide;
but they differ in respect of the use and purpose of the object of which
they take cognisance. Our senses are influenced indifferently by things
white or black, sweet or bitter, soft or hard, for the proper function
of each sense is merely to receive all these impressions and to convey
them to the mind. But the arts, which have been invented in order to
cultivate the qualities proper to their own nature and to eschew those
which are foreign to it, view some with especial favour, as partaking of
their own essence, and avoid others as mere untoward accidents. Thus the
art of medicine deals with diseases and the art of music deals with
discord merely with a view to produce their respective opposites; while
self-control, justice and wisdom, which are the most perfect of all
arts, because they decide not only what is honourable, righteous and
useful but likewise what is hurtful, shameful, and unjust, do not praise
innocency which prides itself upon inexperience of evil, but think it to
be folly and ignorance of what all who intend to live as becomes them
ought to know. The ancient Spartans at their feasts used to compel their
helots to drink a large quantity of wine, and then brought them into the
banqueting-hall, in order to show the young Spartans what drunkenness
was like. I think that to instruct one class of men by the ruin of
another is neither humane nor politic, yet I conceive that it may be
useful to insert among my Parallel Lives some examples of men who have
been careless of their own reputation, and who have used their great
place and power only to make themselves notorious for evil. The
description of such men's lives is not indeed an agreeable task, or a
pleasant mode of employing my leisure, still, as Ismenias the Theban,
when instructing his scholars how to play the flute, used to say, "Thus
you should play;" and again, "Thus you should not play," while
Antigenides even thought that the young would take more pleasure in
listening to good flute-players, if they had first heard bad ones, so I
think that we shall be more inclined both to admire and to imitate the
lives of good men, if we are well acquainted with those of bad ones.
This book, then, will contain the lives of Demetrius, surnamed the
City-taker, and of Antonius the Triumvir, men who bear signal witness to
the truth of Plato's remark, that great men have great vices as well as
great virtues. Both alike loved passionately, drank deep, and fought
bravely; both were freehanded, extravagant and arrogant. Fortune served
them both alike, not only in their lives, for each of them had great
successes and great disasters, each won great empire and lost it again,
each unexpectedly fell and rose again; but also in their deaths, as the
one was captured by his enemies, and the same fate all but befell the
other.
II. Antigonus[295] had two sons by Stratonike the daughter of Korragus,
one of whom he named Demetrius after his brother, and the other Philip
after his father. This is the account given by most historians, though
some say that Demetrius was not the son, but the nephew, of Antigonus;
but that, as his father died while he was still an infant and his mother
at once married Antigonus, he was commonly regarded as his son. His
brother Philip, who was a few years younger than himself, died soon, but
Demetrius grew up to be a tall man, though not so tall as his father.
His face and figure were of extraordinary beauty, which baffled all the
attempts of painters and sculptors to do it justice. His expression was
at once sweet, commanding and terrible; and his countenance showed all
the eagerness and fire of youth combined with the calm dignity of a hero
and a king. In like manner his disposition was one which was equally
capable of inspiring terror or love. He was the pleasantest of
companions, more given to wine-drinking and the enjoyment of luxurious
idleness than any other king of his age, and yet he displayed remarkable
energy and persistence in action; so that he emulated the fame of the
god Dionysus,[296] being like him a famous warrior, and when the war was
over most capable of thoroughly enjoying the arts of peace.
III. He was remarkably fond of his father; and the love and respect
which he paid to his father and mother seem to have been prompted by
true affection, not by a wish to stand well with those in power. Once
when Antigonus was receiving an embassy from some foreign state,
Demetrius, who had been out hunting, came up to his father, kissed him,
and sat down beside him just as he was, with his javelins still in his
hand. When the ambassadors had transacted their business and were about
to leave his presence, Antigonus said to them in a loud voice, "And,
gentlemen, you may carry home this news about me and my son, that these
are the terms on which we live," thinking that so great a proof of his
trust in his son's loyalty would add considerable strength to his
throne. So much mistrust and suspicion is bred by absolute power, and so
hard a thing is it for a king to have a companion, that the eldest and
greatest of the successors of Alexander publicly boasted that he was not
afraid to have his own son sitting by his side with a spear in his hand.
Indeed, this was the only royal family which through many generations
remained unpolluted by this species of crime, for of all the successors
of Antigonus only one, Philip, assassinated his son. All the records of
other dynasties are full of murders of sons, mothers and wives; for the
murder of brothers had grown to be considered, like an axiom in
mathematics, as a necessary precaution to be taken by all kings on
ascending to the throne.
IV. The following anecdote seems to prove that Demetrius when young was
of a kind and loving nature.
Mithridates, the son of Ariobarzanes, was his friend and companion, and
was a good subject of Antigonus, of thorough and unsuspected loyalty,
but at length incurred the suspicion of Antigonus in consequence of a
dream. Antigonus dreamed that he walked over a large and fair plain,
sowing it with gold dust; and that shortly afterwards, returning that
way again, he found nothing but stubble left. While grieving over this
he heard some men say that Mithridates had gone away to Pontus on the
Euxine, after having gathered the golden harvest. Antigonus was much
disturbed at this vision, and after having compelled his son to swear
that he would keep silence about it, told him of the vision, and added
that he had made up his mind to make away with the man. Demetrius was
greatly grieved at hearing this, and when the young man, as he was wont
to do, again joined him, and spent the day with him, Demetrius dared not
tell him by word of mouth what danger he was in, because of the oath;
but he drew him aside into a quiet place, and there, as soon as they
were alone together, he wrote on the ground with the but-end of his
spear, in sight of the other, the words "Fly, Mithridates!" Mithridates
understood his meaning, and ran away that very night to Cappadocia. Not
long afterwards, he showed Antigonus what was the real meaning of his
dream; for he made himself master of an extensive territory, and became
the founder of the dynasty of the kings of Pontus, which was overthrown
by the Romans in about the eighth generation after him. By this example
we may perceive the noble and loyal nature of Demetrius.
V. As the elements, because of their mutual attraction and repulsion,
are, according to Empedokles, always at variance with one another, and
especially with those with which they happen to be in contact, so, while
all the successors of Alexander were always at war, circumstances from
time to time caused hostilities between two or more of them to take an
especially active form. At this time Antigonus was at war with Ptolemy,
and, hearing that Ptolemy had left the island of Cyprus, had landed in
Syria and was ravaging that country, he himself remained in Phrygia, but
sent his son Demetrius to oppose him. Demetrius was now two and twenty
years of age, and was now for the first time entrusted with the sole
management of an important campaign. As might be expected of so young
and untried a commander, when pitted against a man trained to war under
Alexander, and who had since his death waged many wars with success,
Demetrius was defeated near the city of Gaza with a loss of fifteen
thousand killed and eight thousand prisoners. He also lost his own tent,
his property, and all his personal attendants. These, however, were
restored to him, with all his captured friends, by Ptolemy, who sent him
a kindly-worded message to the effect that they ought not to fight as
mortal foes, but only for honour and empire.