of voice what ought to be accomplished by other means. It is simply
ridiculous, and misses the mark that it aims at. "If you mouth it," says
Hamlet to the players, "as many of your players do, I had as lief the
town crier had spoke my lines."--"Let your discretion be your tutor: suit
the action to the word, and the word to the action; with this special
observance, that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature."
[156] Cicero was elected quæstor B.C. 76, when he was thirty years of
age. He discharged the duties of his office during B.C. 75. He speaks
well of his own quæstorship in his oration for Cn. Plancius (c. 26).
[157] Cicero tells the story himself in his oration for Cn. Plancius (c.
26). The place of the adventure was Puteoli (Pozzuoli), B.C. 74, a place
to which the Romans used to resort to enjoy the natural hot springs and
the agreeable neighbourhood.
[158] Verres during his prætorship in Sicily, B.C. 73-71, had greatly
misconducted himself. He was prosecuted in B.C. 70, in which year
Pompeius Magnus and M. Licinius Crassus were consuls (Life of Crassus,
c. 12). Hortensius, the orator, defended Verres. The object of
Hortensius and of these prætors was to prolong or defer the trial to
the next year, for which Hortensius was elected consul.
There are extant seven orations of Cicero on the matter of Verres, of
which two only were delivered; that against Cæcilius (_De Divinatione_),
who claimed to conduct the prosecution, his object being to get Verres
off, and the Actio Prima, which is an opening of the whole case. Before
the other speeches were delivered, Verres gave up his defence and went
into exile. Cicero, however, published the speeches, or probably even
wrote them entire after the affair was over.
This Cæcilius was Q. Cæcilius Metellus, a Sicilian by birth, and
probably the descendant of a freedman of one of the Metelli. It seems
that he was suspected of being of Jewish origin. Cicero's allusion to
the hog, and many other passages in the Roman writers, show that the
Jews were well known in Rome at this time.
[159] [Greek: entos thyrôn], "within doors." Kaltwasser has translated
the passage: "So solltest du hinter der thür mit deinen söhnen
schmälen." The repartee does not admit or need explanation.
[160] The story of the monster sphinx and her ænigma which OEdipus solved
is well known. This work of art was of metal, according to Pliny (_Hist.
Nat._ 34. c. 18).
[161] There is probably some error in Plutarch as to the amount. In the
Divinatio (c. 5) the peculations of Verres were estimated at "millies
HS.," or one hundred millions of sesterces; but in the Actio Prima (c.
18), which was spoken after Cicero had been in Sicily to collect
evidence, he put the amount at forty millions of sesterces, or
two-fifths of the first sum. If Plutarch's drachmæ are Roman denarii,
his 750,000 drachmæ will make only three millions of sesterces.
Verres continued in exile, and he remained quiet during the civil wars.
Though an unprincipled scoundrel, he showed his taste in stealing: he
had kept many valuable objects of art, and he would not part with them.
The story is that M. Antonius put his name in the proscription list,
B.C. 43, because he would not give up his Corinthian vessels. He was put
to death, but he died, it is said, with great resolution; and he had the
satisfaction of hearing that his old enemy Cicero had gone before him
(Drumann, _Tullii_, p. 328). But all this story is very improbable.
[162] Cicero was Curule Ædile in B.C. 69, with M. Cæsonius for his
colleague.
[163] This is evidently a mistake in Plutarch's text. Arpinum is meant.
[164] This is what Cicero calls his Pompeianum. Middleton, in his Life
of Cicero, has mentioned all Cicero's country residences in Italy, which
were very numerous.
[165] See the Life of Cato, c. 19. The time of Cicero's marriage is
uncertain. Drumann conjectures that he married her about B.C. 80 or 79,
before his journey to Asia.
[166] Cicero was Prætor in the year B.C. 66, and it fell to his lot to
preside at the trials for Repetundæ. This Macer was C. Licinius Macer.
After he had been prætor he had a province, and during his
administration he was guilty of illegal practices, for which he was
tried and convicted (Cic. _Ad Attic._ i. 4). Crassus, who also belonged
to the Licinia Gens, felt some sympathy for a man whose crime was
getting money by unlawful means. Macer was an orator and a writer. A few
fragments of his Annals (Krause, _Vitæ et Fragm. Vet. Histor. Rom._) are
preserved.
[167] P. Vatinius was afterwards consul B.C. 47. There is extant a
speech of Cicero against him, in which of course he has a very bad
character given to him. Kaltwasser says that a thick neck was considered
by the Romans as a sign of a shameless man, and he refers to the Life of
Marius, c. 29, where a like expression is used. Cicero's neck, according
to his own account, was very thin, and he thought it no good sign of his
strength. However this may be as to the thickness of the neck of
Vatinius, it was clearly not a thing that he could alter.
[168] C. Manilius, a Tribunus Plebis, had in this same year proposed and
carried the law which gave Pompeius the command in the Mithridatic war,
and Cicero had supported the measure in a speech which is extant (Life
of Pompeius, c. 30). This story of the accusation and defence of
Manilius is unintelligible. C. Orchinius presided at the trials for
peculatus, and Manilius should have been brought before him (Cic. _Pro
Cluentio_, c. 53). See Dion Cassius, 36, c. 27; and Drumann's remarks,
_Tullii_, p. 375.
[169] Cicero was consul in B.C. 63 with C. Antonius. As to the affair of
Catiline, see the Lives of Cæsar and Cato, and the notes; and Drumann,
_Tullii_, p. 385, &c.
[170] See the Life of Sulla, c. 32.
[171] Sallust (_Bell. Catilin._ c. 22) tells a story somewhat to the
same effect, of the conspirators drinking of human blood, but he does
not believe the story, and perhaps few people will.
[172] The measure to which Plutarch alludes was the Agrarian Law of the
tribune P. Servilius Rullus. Cicero made three speeches against the
proposal, which are extant, and he defeated the scheme.
[173] C. Antonius went as governor to Macedonia in B.C. 62, where he
took the opportunity of getting all the money that he could. He gave it
out that Cicero was to have a share of it. The evidence of such an
unprincipled man is not worth much; but one of Cicero's letters to
Atticus (i. 12), which he never expected would be read by anybody else,
shows that he knew there was such a rumour; and the manner in which he
treats it is perfectly incomprehensible. A certain Hilarus, a freedman
of Cicero, was then with Antonius in Macedonia, as Cicero was informed,
and Cicero was also informed that Antonius declared that Cicero was to
have some of the money that he was getting, and that Hilarus had been
sent by Cicero to look after his share. Cicero was a good deal troubled,
as he says, though he did not believe the report; yet, he adds, there
was certainly some talk. Cn. Plancius was named to Cicero as the
authority for the report. Atticus is requested to examine into the
matter, and--not to apply to Antonius or to Plancius--but to get the
rascal (Hilarus) out of those parts, if in any way he can. This is a
mode of proceeding that is quite inconsistent with perfect innocence on
the part of Cicero. There was something between him and Antonius. Cicero
says that if Antonius should be recalled, as was expected, he could not
for his character's sake defend the man; and what is more, he says, he
felt no inclination; and then he proceeds to tell Atticus about this
awkward report. Yet Cicero did defend Antonius (B.C. 59) and Antonius
was convicted.
[174] It appears from Cicero's oration for Murena, c. 19, that his name
was Lucius Roscius Otho, and he was not Prætor, but Tribunus Plebis.
This Lex Roscia was enacted B.C. 67, in the consulship of M. Acilius
Glabrio and C. Calpurnius Piso (Dion Cassius, 36. c. 25). His law gave to
the equites and those who had the equestrian census a select place of
fourteen rows at the public spectacles, which were next to the seats of
the senators. This unpopular measure was that which Cicero now spoke in
favour of (_Ad. Attic._ ii. 1). Cicero's oration is lost, but a passage
is preserved, says Kaltwasser, by Macrobius (_Saturnalia_ ii. 10). Some
also suppose, as Kaltwasser says, that Virgil alludes to it in the
passage in the Æneid (i. 152). There is no extract from this oration in
Macrobius, who appears to suppose that Cicero made an oration to rebuke
the people for making a disturbance while Roscius, the player, was
acting.
[175] As to the conspiracy, see the Lives of Cæsar and Cato, and the
notes.
[176] His name was C. Manlius Acidinus. There is no reason for saying
that his true name was Mallius: that was merely a Greek form of Manlius.
He fell in the battle in which Catiline's troops were defeated.
[177] Cicero has recorded this answer of Catiline in his oration for
Murena, c. 25: "duo corpora esse in republica, unum debile, _infirmo_
capite, alterum firmum, sine capite: huic, cum ita de se meritum esset,
caput se vivo non defuturum." Cicero makes Catiline say that the weak
body had a weak head. Cicero's version of what he said is obviously the
true one.
[178] Decimus Junius Silanus and L. Licinius Murena were consuls for the
year B.C. 62. As to the trial of Murena for bribery at the elections
(ambitus), see the Life of Cato, c. 21.
[179] This affair is not mentioned by Sallustius in his history of the
conspiracy of Catiline. The usual form in which the Senate gave this
extraordinary power is mentioned by Sallustius (c. 29): "dent operam
consules nequid Res Publica detrimenti capiat."
[180] The assassins, according to Sallustius, were C. Cornelius and L.
Vargunteius. See the note of Drumann, _Tullii_, p. 457: "Plutarch hunted
in his authorities only after anecdotes and traits of character in order
to paint his heroes: the names of the subordinate persons were
indifferent to him; with such frivolous and one-sided views he could not
fail to confound persons." "Frivolous," is perhaps hardly the
translation of Drumann's "leichtsinnig," but it comes pretty near to it.
And yet the fact of the design to assassinate is the main feature in the
history: the actors in the intended assassination are subordinate to the
design. A painstaking compiler is entitled to grumble at such a blunder,
but Plutarch does not merit reproach in these terms.
[181] She was a mistress or something of the kind of one Q. Curius.
Whether Curius sent her to Cicero or she went of her own accord is
doubtful. Perhaps she expected to get something for her information.
Sallustius, c. 23. 28, speaks of this affair; and Cicero, _Catilin._ i.
c. 9.
[182] Plutarch, as Kaltwasser observes, appears to refer to the words of
Cicero (_Catilin._ i. c. 5): "magno me metu liberabis, dum modo inter me
atque te murus intersit." Catiline left Rome on the night of the 8th of
November.
[183] L. Cornelius Lentulus Sura was consul B.C. 71. He had been put out
of the Senate by the censors for his irregular life. His restoration to
his rank and the matter of the prætorship are mentioned by Dion Cassius
(37, c. 30, and the note of Reimarus). The meaning of the story about
the ball is obvious enough; but Lentulus was not the first who had the
name Sura, and Plutarch's story is so far untrue. See Drumann's note on
the name Sura, _Cornelii_, p. 530.
[184] See the Lives of Marius and Sulla.
[185] It was a period of festivity, and considered suitable for the
purpose of the conspirators. See the Life of Pompeius, c. 34, notes.
[186] The narrative of Sallustius, as to the proposed burning of the
city, is somewhat different (_Bell. Catil._ c. 43).
[187] The Allobroges were a Celtic tribe of Gallia, on the Rhone. They
belonged to the division of Gallia which under Augustus was called
Gallia Narbonensis. Their chief town was Vienna, now Vienne. According
to Cæsar's description (_Bell. Gall._ i. 6.) the Rhodanus in the upper
part of its course separated the Helvetii from the Allobroges. The
remotest town of the Allobroges, on the side of the Helvetii, was
Geneva. Cæsar describes the Allobroges as recently (B.C. 58) brought to
friendly terms with the Romans.
[188] This Titus of Croton is named Titus Volturcius by Sallustius.
[189] The Senate met on the third of December of the unreformed calendar
in the temple of Concord, on the Capitoline Hill.
[190] See the Life of Cæsar, c. 9, and the notes.
[191] Compare Dion Cassius, 37, c. 35. Fabia, the sister of Terentia,
was one of the Vestals, and Drumann supposes that this fact confirms his
supposition that Cicero had arranged all this affair with his wife, in
order to work on the popular opinion. Middleton made the same
supposition a long time ago. It requires no great penetration to make
such a conjecture; but it may not be true.
[192] It is said that this does not appear in any of Cicero's extant
writings.
[193] The Senate assembled on the fourth of December in the temple of
Concord; and again on the fifth to pass judgment on the conspirators. As
to the speeches delivered on the occasion, see the Lives of Cæsar and
Cato, and the notes. The whole matter of the conspiracy is treated with
great minuteness and tedious prolixity by Drumann (_Tullii_, under the
year B.C. 63).
[194] I believe that I have translated this correctly. I suppose that
Plutarch means to say, that if Cæsar had been accused as a member of the
conspiracy, he would have been acquitted, and the conspirators would
have had a chance of escaping also. There was no chance of securing the
condemnation of the conspirators and involving Cæsar in their fate. On
the contrary, if Cæsar was accused, all might escape. It was better,
therefore, not to touch him. Kaltwasser has made the passage
unintelligible. The explanation of Coraës, as corrected by Schäfer, is
right.
[195] Sallustius (_Bell. Cat._ c. 51, &c.) states Cæsar's proposal to
have been the confiscation of the property of the conspirators and their
perpetual confinement in the chief municipia of Italy, and that the
Senate should make a declaration that any man who proposed to set them
at liberty, or to mitigate their punishment, should be considered an
enemy of the State. Cicero (_In Catilin._ iv. 5) states the opinion of
Cæsar to the same effect. Cæsar had urged the illegality of condemning
Roman citizens to death without a trial, and this was provided by a Lex
Sempronia of C. Gracchus. But Cicero replies that Cææar's measure was as
severe.
[196] The speech which he delivered on the occasion is the fourth
oration against Catiline. Some critics maintain that it is not genuine.
Drumann, who maintains that it is, has a long note on the subject
(_Tullii_, p. 512).
[197] Plutarch likens the feelings of the youth at the sight of the
prisoners being led to execution to the solemn ceremonies of initiation
in some mysterious rites. The conspirators were taken to the only prison
that Rome then had, the Tullianum, where they were strangled. Five men
were put to death. Nine had been condemned to death, but four had
escaped being seized. Appian (_Civil Wars_, ii. 6) seems to say that
Cicero saw the men put to death. If he did not see the execution, we may
safely assume that he took care to see that the men really were dead.
Their bodies were delivered to their kinsfolk for interment.
[198] Antonius did not command in the battle. He was ill, or pretended
to be ill. His legatus, Petreius, an able officer, commanded the troops.
The battle was fought early in B.C. 62, probably near Pistoria (Pistoia)
in Etruria. It was a bloody struggle, hand to hand, and the loss on the
victorious side was great. Dion says that Antonius sent the head of
Catilina to Rome. According to Roman usage, he was entitled to the
honour of the victory, because Petreius was his inferior officer.
[199] Metellus Nepos and the other tribunes began to exercise their
functions on the tenth of December. The consuls began to exercise their
functions on the first of January. The oath that Cicero had to swear
was, that he had obeyed the laws. He alludes to the oath that he did
swear on the last day of December on giving up his office, in a letter
to Q. Metellus Celer, the brother of Nepos (_Ad Diversos_, v. 2), and in
his oration against Piso, c. 3. Manutius (_Comment. in_ Cic. Ep. _Ad
Divers._ v. 2) shows that Bestia was a tribune during Cicero's
consulship, and as he had gone out of office on the ninth of December he
could not have acted with Metellus on the thirty-first of December.
As to Metellus Nepos, see the Life of Cato, c. 20.
[200] It is said that this does not occur in the extant letters of
Cicero.
[201] In the beginning of his treatise De Officiis, which is addressed
to his son, then at Athens (B.C. 44), Cicero speaks of the youth having
then been a year under the instruction of Kratippus. Kratippus was a
native of Mitylene, and he was living there when Pompeius touched at the
island after the battle of Pharsalia (Life of Pompeius, c. 75). Cicero's
son was attached to his master, and in an extant letter to Tiro (Cic.
_Ad Diversos_, xvii. 21) he expresses his affection for him. Kratippus
was more than a philosopher: he was a pleasant companion, and perhaps
young Cicero liked his table-talk as much as his philosophy.
[202] He is mentioned by Cicero in his Letters to Atticus (xiv. 16, 18,
and xv. 16).
[203] Cicero, in the letter to Tiro (xvi. 21) above referred to, says
that Gorgias was useful to him in his declamatory exercises, but he had
dismissed him in obedience to his father's positive command.
[204] It does not appear which of the Munatii this was.
[205] Crassus could not well misunderstand the Stoical doctrine, but he
appears to have purposely expressed himself as if the Stoics considered
"rich" and "good" as convertible terms. Cicero's repartee implies that
"good" is the more comprehensive term: Crassus therefore was not "good,"
because he was "rich."
[206] This is a frigid joke. Axius in Greek ([Greek: axios]) signifies
"worthy;" and Cicero's words literally translated are, he is "worthy of
Crassus," if we take Axius as a Greek word. They can also mean, he is
"Axius son of Crassus." The wit lay in associating the name of Axius and
Crassus; but the joke is only made duller by the explanation.
A Roman Senator named Axius is mentioned by Cicero (_Ad Attic._ iii. 15,
and elsewhere).
[207] See the Life of Crassus, c. 16.
[208] L. Gellius Publicola was consul with Cn. Cornelius Lentulus, B.C.
72.
[209] It is uncertain who this man was. The allusion to the hole in his
ear signifies that his ears were bored to carry pendants or earrings
after the fashion of some nations at that time. Cicero meant to imply
that he was not of genuine Italian stock. Juvenal alludes to a man's
foreign origin being shown by his ears being bored, in the following
terms:--
"----quamvis
Natus ad Euphratem, molles quod in aure fenestræ
Arguerint, licet ipse neges."
_Sat._ i. 103, and the note of Heinrichs.
[210] Publius Sextius or Sestius was the name of a tribunus plebis who
exerted himself to accomplish the recall of Cicero. There is extant an
oration of Cicero entitled Pro P. Sestio, in defence of Publius, who was
tried in the year after Cicero's return on a charge of raising a tumult
(de vi) at the popular meeting in which Cicero's recall was proposed.
Cicero speaks of the acquittal of Publius in a letter to his brother
Quintus (ii. 4).
[211] This obscure man's name is also incorrectly written.
[212] See the Life of Cato, c. 29.
[213] Kaltwasser conjectures that the name should be Manius Aquilius,
who acted as Proconsul in the Servile war in Sicily B.C. 100. In B.C. 88
he conducted the war against Mithridates in Asia. He fell into the hands
of Mithridates, who put him to death.
But this cannot be the person meant by Plutarch, who evidently means a
person who may be called a contemporary of Cicero. A certain M. Aquinius
is mentioned in the Book on the African War (_De Bell. Afric._ 57).
[214] Adrastus, king of Argos, gave his two daughters in marriage to
Tydeus and Polynices, both of whom were exiles from their native
country.
[215] L. Aurelius Cotta was consul B.C. 65, and censor B.C. 64, the year
in which Cicero was elected consul. In his prætorship, B.C. 70, he
proposed the Lex Aurelia, which determined that the judices for public
trials should be chosen from the Senators, Equites and Tribuni Ærarii.
Notwithstanding this joke, Cotta was a friend of Cicero, and Cicero
often speaks in high terms of praise of him.
[216] It is uncertain who this Voconius was. The verse, which is
apparently from some Greek tragedian, is conjectured to allude to Laius,
who begat OEdipus contrary to the advice of the oracle of Apollo.
[217] Cicero means that he had acted as a public crier (præco). Such
persons were often of servile descent.
[218] See the life of Sulla, c. 34. The Roman word "Proscriptio" means
putting up a public notice, as a sale and the like. The term was also
applied to the public notices, now commonly called proscriptions, by
which Sulla and the Triumviri declared the heads of their enemies and
their property to be forfeited. (See the Life of Sulla, c. 81, and the
notes.) This saying of Cicero had both truth and point.
[219] This story of the intrigue of Clodius is told in the Life of
Cæsar, c. 9.
[220] There is something wanting in the Greek text; but the meaning is
not obscure. See the note of Sintenis.
[221] Of course on the day on which Clodius pretended that he was not at
Rome. Kaltwasser has inserted the words "on that day;" but they are not
in the original.
[222] So it is in the MSS., though it should probably be Tertia. A
confusion may easily have arisen between the name Terentia, which has
already been mentioned in this chapter, and the name Tertia (third),
though the wife of Q. Marcius Rex is said to have been the oldest of the
three sisters. Quadranteria is a misprint for Quadrantaria. This lady
was the wife of Q. Metellus Celer, and was suspected of poisoning him.
Cicero vents unbounded abuse upon her; and he also preserved the name
Quadrantaria (_Or. Pro Cælio_, c. 26). The Roman word Quadrans, a
fourth, signified a fourth part of a Roman as, and was a small copper
coin. The way in which one of her lovers is reported to have paid her in
copper coin seems to have circulated in Rome as a good practical joke.
[223] See the Life of Cæsar, c. 10, and the notes.
[224] The number twenty-five agrees with the common text in Cicero's
Letter to Atticus (i. 16): the other number in the common text of Cicero
is thirty-one. See the note in the Variorum edition.
[225] Clodius was tribunus plebis in B.C. 58. The consuls of the year
were L. Calpurnius Piso, the father of Calpurnia, Cæsar's wife, and
Aulus Gabinius, a tool of Pompeius.
[226] Dion Cassius (38, c. 15) says that Cæsar proposed to Cicero to go
to Gaul with him; and Cicero, in a letter to Atticus (i. 19), speaks of
Cæsar's proposal to him to go as his legatus. It is difficult to imagine
that Cæsar made such a proposal, or at least that he seriously intended
to take Cicero with him. He would have been merely an incumbrance.
[227] Read "as in a public calamity." Cicero speaks of this affair in
his oration for Cn. Plancius, c. 35; in the latter part of which oration
he speaks at some length of the circumstances that attended his going
into exile.
[228] This was C. Calpurnius Piso Frugi, the first husband of Tullia.
She was his wife at least as early as B.C. 63, and she was his widow
before the end of B.C. 57.
[229] Cicero, in the oration which he subsequently spoke against this
Piso, gives (c. 6) a strange account of his reception by Piso.
Cato and Hortensius advised Cicero to go (Dion Cassius, 38, c. 17).
[230] Compare Cicero _De Legibus_, ii. 17, ed. Bakius; and _Ad Attic._
vii. 3. Cicero left Rome in the month of March, B.C. 58.
[231] Cicero, in a letter to Atticus (iii. 4) says that he was required
to move four hundred Roman miles from the city. Compare Dion Cassius,
38, c. 17.