of the first and last, is very different, and accommodated with a great
deal of judgment to the occasion, and to the circumstances under which
they were delivered. Through the whole series of the Catilinarian
orations, the language of Cicero is well calculated to overawe the wicked,
to confirm the good, and encourage the timid. It is of that description
which renders the mind of one man the mind of a whole assembly, or a whole
people(323).
_Pro Muræna_.—The Comitia being now held in order to choose Consuls for
the ensuing year, Junius Silanus and Muræna were elected. The latter
candidate had for his competitor the celebrated jurisconsult Sulpicius
Rufus; who, being assisted by Cato, charged Muræna with having prevailed
by bribery and corruption. This impeachment was founded on the Calpurnian
law, which had lately been rendered more strict, on the suggestion of
Sulpicius, by a _Senatusconsultum_. Along with this accusation, the
profligacy of Muræna’s character was objected to, and also the meanness of
his rank, as he was but a knight and soldier, whereas Sulpicius was a
patrician and lawyer. Cicero therefore shows, in the first place, that he
amply merited the consulship, from his services in the war with
Mithridates, which introduces a comparison between a military and forensic
life. While he pays his usual tribute of applause to cultivated eloquence,
he derides the forms and phraseology of the jurisconsults, by whom the
civil law was studied and practised. As to the proper subject of the
accusation, bribery in his election, it seems probable that Muræna had
been guilty of some practices which, strictly speaking, were illegal, yet
were warranted by custom. They seem to have consisted in encouraging a
crowd to attend him on the streets, and in providing shows for the
entertainment of the multitude; which, though expected by the people, and
usually overlooked by the magistrates, appeared heinous offences in the
eye of the rigid and stoical Cato. Aware of the weight added to the
accusation by his authority, Cicero, in order to obviate this influence,
treats his stoical principles in the same tone which he had already used
concerning the profession of Sulpicius. In concluding, he avails himself
of the difficulties of the times, and the yet unsuppressed conspiracy of
Catiline, which rendered it unwise to deprive the city of a Consul well
qualified to defend it in so dangerous a crisis.
This case was one of great expectation, from the dignity of the
prosecutors, and eloquence of the advocates for the accused. Before Cicero
spoke, it had been pleaded by Hortensius, and Crassus the triumvir; and
Cicero, in engaging in the cause, felt the utmost desire to surpass these
rivals of his eloquence. Such was his anxiety, that he slept none during
the whole night which preceded the hearing of the cause; and being thus
exhausted with care, his eloquence on this occasion fell short of that of
Hortensius(324). He shows, however, much delicacy and art in the manner in
which he manages the attack on the philosophy of Cato, and profession of
Sulpicius, both of whom were his particular friends, and high in the
estimation of the judges he addressed(325).
_Pro Valerio Flacco_.—Flaccus had aided Cicero in his discovery of the
conspiracy of Catiline, and, in return, was defended by him against a
charge of extortion and peculation, brought by various states of Asia
Minor, which he had governed as Pro-prætor.
_Pro Cornelio Sylla_.—Sylla, who was afterwards a great partizan of
Cæsar’s, was prosecuted for having been engaged in Catiline’s conspiracy;
but his accuser, Torquatus, digressing from the charge against Sylla,
turned his raillery on Cicero; alleging, that he had usurped the authority
of a king; and asserting, that he was the third foreign sovereign who had
reigned at Rome after Numa and Tarquin. Cicero, therefore, in his reply,
had not only to defend his client, but to answer the petulant raillery by
which his antagonist attempted to excite envy and odium against himself.
He admits that he was a foreigner in one sense of the word, having been
born in a municipal town of Italy, in common with many others who had
rendered the highest services to the city; but he repels the insinuation
that he usurped any kingly authority; and being instigated by this
unmerited attack, he is led on to the eulogy of his own conduct and
consulship,—a favourite subject, from which he cannot altogether depart,
even when he enters more closely into the grounds of the prosecution.
For this defence of Cornelius Sylla, Cicero privately received from his
client the sum of 20,000 sesterces, which chiefly enabled him to purchase
his magnificent house on the Palatine Hill.
_Pro Archia_.—This is one of the orations of Cicero on which he has
succeeded in bestowing the finest polish, and it is perhaps the most
_pleasing_ of all his harangues. Archias had been his preceptor, and,
after having obtained much reputation by his Greek poems, on the triumphs
of Lucullus over Mithridates, and of Marius over the Cimbri, was now
attempting to celebrate the consulship of Cicero; so that the orator, in
pleading his cause, expected to be requited by the praises of his muse.
This poet was a native of Antioch, and, having come to Italy in early
youth, was rewarded for his learning and genius with the friendship of the
first men in the state, and with the citizenship of Heraclea, a
confederate and enfranchised town of Magna Græcia. A few years afterwards,
a law was enacted, conferring the rights of Roman citizens on all who had
been admitted to the freedom of federate states, provided they had a
settlement in Italy at the time when the law was passed, and had asserted
the privilege before the Prætor within sixty days from the period at which
it was promulgated. After Archias had enjoyed the benefit of this law for
more than twenty years, his claims were called in question by one
Gracchus, who now attempted to drive him from the city, under the
enactment expelling all foreigners who usurped, without due title, the
name and attributes of Roman citizens. The loss of records, and some other
circumstances, having thrown doubts on the legal right of his client,
Cicero chiefly enlarged on the dignity of literature and poetry, and the
various accomplishments of Archias, which gave him so just a claim to the
privileges he enjoyed. He beautifully describes the influence which study
and a love of letters had exercised on his own character and conduct. He
had thence imbibed the principle, that glory and virtue should be the
darling objects of life, and that to attain these, all difficulties, or
even dangers, were to be despised. But, of all names dear to literature
and genius, that of poet was the most sacred: hence it would be an extreme
of disgrace and profanation, to reject a bard who had employed the utmost
efforts of his art to make Rome immortal by his muse, and had possessed
such prevailing power as to touch with pleasure even the stubborn and
intractable soul of Marius.
The whole oration is interspersed with beautiful maxims and sentences,
which have been quoted with delight in all ages. There appears in it,
however, perhaps too much, and certainly more than in the other orations,
of what Lord Monboddo calls _concinnity_. “We have in it,” observes he,
speaking of this oration, “strings of antitheses, the figure of like
endings, and a perfect similarity of the structure, both as to the
grammatical form of the words, and even the number of them(326).” The
whole, too, is written in a style of exaggeration and immoderate praise.
The orator talks of the poet Archias, as if the whole glory of Rome, and
salvation of the commonwealth, depended on his poetical productions, and
as if the smallest injury offered to him would render the name of Rome
execrable and infamous in all succeeding generations.
_Pro Cn. Plancio_.—The defence of Plancius was one of the first orations
pronounced by Cicero after his return from banishment. Plancius had been
Quæstor of Macedon when Cicero came to that country during his exile, and
had received him with honours proportioned to his high character, rather
than his fallen fortunes. In return for this kindness, Cicero undertook
his defence against a charge, preferred by a disappointed competitor, of
bribery and corruption in suing for the ædileship.
_Pro Sextio_.—This is another oration produced by the gratitude of Cicero,
and the circumstances of his banishment. Sextius, while Tribune of the
people, had been instrumental in procuring his recall, and Cicero requited
this good office by one of the longest and most elaborate of his
harangues. The accusation, indeed, was a consequence of his interposition
in favour of the illustrious exile; for when about to propose his recall
to the people, he was violently attacked by the Clodian faction, and left
for dead on the street. His enemies, however, though obviously the
aggressors, accused him of violence, and exciting a tumult. This was the
charge against which Cicero defended him. The speech is valuable for the
history of the times; as it enters into all the recent political events in
which Cicero had borne so distinguished a part. The orator inveighs
against his enemies, the Tribune Clodius, and the Consuls Gabinius and
Piso, and details all the circumstances connected with his own banishment
and return, occasionally throwing in a word or two about his client
Sextius.
_Contra Vatinium_.—Vatinius, who belonged to the Clodian faction,
appeared, at the trial of Sextius, as a witness against him. This gave
Cicero an opportunity of interrogating him; and the whole oration being a
continued invective on the conduct of Vatinius, poured forth in a series
of questions, without waiting for an answer to any of them, has been
entitled, _Interrogatio_.
_Pro Cælio_.—Middleton has pronounced this to be the most entertaining of
the orations which Cicero has left us, from the vivacity of wit and humour
with which he treats the gallantries of Clodia, her commerce with Cælius,
and in general the gaieties and licentiousness of youth.
Cælius was a young man of considerable talents and accomplishments, who
had been intrusted to the care of Cicero on his first introduction to the
Forum; but having imprudently engaged in an intrigue with Clodia, the
well-known sister of Clodius, and having afterwards deserted her, she
accused him of an attempt to poison her, and of having borrowed money from
her in order to procure the assassination of Dio, the Alexandrian
ambassador. In this, as in most other prosecutions of the period, a number
of charges, unconnected with the main one, seem to have been accumulated,
in order to give the chief accusation additional force and credibility.
Cicero had thus to defend his client against the suspicions arising from
the general libertinism of his conduct. He justifies that part of it which
related to his intercourse with Clodia, by enlarging on the loose
character of this woman, whom he treats with very little ceremony; and, in
order to place her dissolute life in a more striking point of view, he
conjures up in fancy one of her grim and austere ancestors of the Clodian
family reproaching her with her shameful degeneracy. All this the orator
was aware would not be sufficient for the complete vindication of his
client; and it is curious to remark the ingenuity with which the strenuous
advocate of virtue and regularity of conduct palliates, on this occasion,
the levities of youth,—not, indeed, by lessening the merits of strict
morality, but by representing those who withstand the seductions of
pleasure as supernaturally endued.
This oration was a particular favourite of one who was long a
distinguished speaker in the British Senate. “By the way,” says Mr Fox, in
a letter to Wakefield, “I know no speech of Cicero more full of beautiful
passages than this is, nor where he is more in his element. Argumentative
contention is what he by no means excels in; and he is never, I think, so
happy as when he has an opportunity of exhibiting a mixture of philosophy
and pleasantry; and especially when he can interpose anecdotes and
references to the authority of the eminent characters in the history of
his country. No man appears, indeed, to have had such real respect for
authority as he; and therefore, when he speaks upon that subject, he is
always natural and in earnest; and not like those among _us_, who are so
often declaiming about the wisdom of our ancestors, without knowing what
they mean, or hardly ever citing any particulars of their conduct, or of
their _dicta_(327).”
_De Provinciis Consularibus_. The government of Gaul was continued to
Cæsar, in consequence of this oration, so that it may be considered as one
of the immediate causes of the ruin of the Roman Republic, which it was
incontestibly the great wish of Cicero to protect and maintain inviolate.
But Cicero had evidently been duped by Cæsar, as he formerly had nearly
been by Catiline, and as he subsequently was by Octavius, Pollio, and
every one who found it his interest to cajole him, by proclaiming his
praises, and professing ardent zeal for the safety of the state. So little
had he penetrated the real views of Cæsar, that we find him asking the
Senate, in his oration, what possible motive or inducement Cæsar could
have to remain in the province of Gaul, except the public good. “For would
the amenity of the regions, the beauty of the cities, or civilization of
the inhabitants, detain him there—or can a return to one’s native country
be so distasteful?”
_Pro Cornelio Balbo_.—Balbus was a native of Cadiz, who having been of
considerable service to Pompey, during his war in Spain, against
Sertorius, had, in return, received the freedom of Rome from that
commander, in virtue of a special law, by which he had obtained the power
of granting this benefit to whom he chose. The validity of Pompey’s act,
however, was now questioned, on the ground that Cadiz was not within the
terms of that relation and alliance to Rome, which could, under any
circumstances, entitle its citizens to such a privilege. The question,
therefore, was, whether the inhabitants of a federate state, which had not
adopted the institutions and civil jurisprudence of Rome, could receive
the rights of citizenship. This point was of great importance to the
municipal towns of the Republic, and the oration throws considerable light
on the relations which existed between the provinces and the capital.
_In Pisonem_.—Piso having been recalled from his government of Macedon, in
consequence of Cicero’s oration, _De Provinciis Consularibus_, he
complained, in one of his first appearances in the Senate, of the
treatment he had received, and attacked the orator, particularly on the
score of his poetry, ridiculing the well known line,
“Cedant arma togæ—concedat laurea linguæ.”
Cicero replied in a bitter invective, in which he exposed the whole life
and conduct of his enemy to public contempt and detestation. The most
singular feature of this harangue is the personal abuse and coarseness of
expression it contains, which appear the more extraordinary when we
consider that it was delivered in the Senate-house, and directed against
an individual of such distinction and consequence as Piso. Cicero applies
to him the opprobrious epithets of _bellua_, _furia_, _carnifex_,
_furcifer_, &c.; he banters him on his personal deformities, and upbraids
him with his ignominious descent on one side of the family, while, on the
other, he had no resemblance to his ancestors, except to the sooty
complexion of their images.
_Pro Milone_.—When Milo was candidate for the Consulship, the notorious
demagogue Clodius supported his competitors, and during the canvass, party
spirit grew so violent, that the two factions often came to blows within
the walls of the city. While these dissensions were at their height,
Clodius and Milo met on the Appian Way—the former returning from the
country towards Rome, and the latter setting out for Lanuvium, both
attended by a great retinue. A quarrel arose among their followers, in
which Clodius was wounded and carried into a house in the vicinity. By
order of Milo, the doors were broken open, his enemy dragged out, and
assassinated on the highway. The death of Clodius excited much confusion
and tumult at Rome, in the course of which the courts of justice were
burned by a mob. Milo having returned from the banishment into which he
had at first withdrawn, was impeached for the crime by the Tribunes of the
people; and Pompey, in virtue of the authority conferred on him by a
decree of the Senate, nominated a special commission to inquire into the
murder committed on the Appian Way. In order to preserve the tranquillity
of the city, he placed guards in the Forum, and occupied all its avenues
with troops. This unusual appearance, and the shouts of the Clodian
faction, which the military could not restrain, so discomposed the orator,
that he fell short of his usual excellence. The speech which he actually
delivered, was taken down in writing, and is mentioned by Asconius
Pedianus as still extant in his time. But that beautiful harangue which we
now possess, is one which was retouched and polished, as a gift for Milo,
after he had retired in exile to Marseilles.
In the oration, as we now have it, Cicero takes his exordium from the
circumstances by which he was so much, though, as he admits, so
causelessly disconcerted; since he knew that the troops were not placed in
the Forum to overawe, but to protect. In entering on the defence, he
grants that Clodius was killed, and by Milo; but he maintains that
homicide is, on many occasions, justifiable, and on none more so than when
force can only be repelled by force, and when the slaughter of the
aggressor is necessary for self-preservation. These principles are
beautifully illustrated, and having been, as the orator conceives,
sufficiently established, are applied to the case under consideration. He
shows, from the circumstantial evidence of time and place—the character of
the deceased—the retinue by which he was accompanied—his hatred to
Milo—the advantages which would have resulted to him from the death of his
enemy, and the expressions proved to have been used by him, that Clodius
had laid an ambush for Milo. Cicero, it is evident, had here the worst of
the cause. The encounter appears, in fact, to have been accidental; and
though the servants of Clodius may, perhaps, have been the assailants,
Milo had obviously exceeded the legitimate bounds of self defence. The
orator accordingly enforces the argument, that the assassination of
Clodius was an act of public benefit, which, in a consultation of Milo’s
friends, was the only one intended to have been advanced, and was the sole
defence adopted in the oration which Brutus is said to have prepared for
the occasion. Cicero, while he does not forego the advantage of this plea,
maintains it hypothetically, contending that _even if_ Milo had openly
pursued and slain Clodius as a common enemy, he might well boast of having
freed the state from so pernicious and desperate a citizen. To add force
to this argument, he takes a rapid view of the various acts of atrocity
committed by Clodius, and the probable situation of the Republic, were he
to revive. When the minds of the judges were thus sufficiently prepared,
he ascribes his tragical end to the immediate interposition of the
providential powers, specially manifested by his fall near the temple of
Bona Dea, whose mysteries he had formerly profaned. Having excited
sufficient indignation against Clodius, he concludes with moving
commiseration for Milo, representing his love for his country and
fellow-citizens,—the sad calamity of exile from Rome,—and his manly
resignation to whatever punishment might be inflicted on him.
The argument in this oration was perhaps as good as the circumstances
admitted; but we miss through the whole that reference to documents and
laws, which gives the stamp of truth to the orations of Demosthenes. Each
ground of defence, taken by itself, is deficient in argumentative force.
Thus, in maintaining that the death of Clodius was of no benefit to Milo,
he has taken too little into consideration the hatred and rancour mutually
felt by the heads of political factions: but he supplies his weakness of
argument by illustrative digressions, flashes of wit, bursts of eloquence,
and appeals to the compassion of the judges, on which he appears to have
placed much reliance(328). On the whole, this oration was accounted, both
by Cicero himself and by his contemporaries, as the finest effort of his
genius; which confirms what indeed is evinced by the whole history of
Roman eloquence, that the judges were easily satisfied on the score of
reasoning, and attached more importance to pathos, and wit, and sonorous
periods, than to fact or law.
_Pro Rabirio Postumo_.—This is the defence of Rabirius, who was prosecuted
for repayment of a sum which he was supposed to have received, in
conjunction with the Proconsul Gabinius, from King Ptolemy, for having
placed him on the throne of Egypt, contrary to the injunctions of the
Senate.
_Pro Ligario_.—This oration was pronounced after Cæsar, having vanquished
Pompey in Thessaly, and destroyed the remains of the Republican party in
Africa, assumed the supreme administration of affairs at Rome. Merciful as
the conqueror appeared, he was understood to be much exasperated against
those who, after the rout at Pharsalia, had renewed the war in Africa.
Ligarius, when on the point of obtaining a pardon, was formally accused by
his old enemy Tubero, of having borne arms in that contest. The Dictator
himself presided at the trial of the case, much prejudiced against
Ligarius, as was known from his having previously declared, that his
resolution was fixed, and was not to be altered by the charms of
eloquence. Cicero, however, overcame his prepossessions, and extorted from
him a pardon. The countenance of Cæsar, it is said, changed, as the orator
proceeded in his speech; but when he touched on the battle of Pharsalia,
and described Tubero as seeking his life, amid the ranks of the army, the
Dictator became so agitated, that his body trembled, and the papers which
he held dropped from his hand(329).
This oration is remarkable for the free spirit which it breathes, even in
the face of that power to which it was addressed for mercy. But Cicero, at
the same time, shows much art in not overstepping those limits, within
which he knew he might speak without offence, and in seasoning his freedom
with appropriate compliments to Cæsar, of which, perhaps, the most elegant
is, that he forgot nothing but the injuries done to himself. This was the
person whom, in the time of Pompey, he characterized as _monstrum et
portentum tyrannum_, and whose death he soon afterwards celebrated as
_divinum in rempublicam beneficium_!
The oration of Tubero against Ligarius, was extant in Quintilian’s time,
and probably explained the circumstances which induced a man, who had
fought so keenly against Cæsar at Pharsalia, to undertake the prosecution
of Ligarius.
_Pro Rege Dejotaro_.—Dejotarus was a Tetrarch of Galatia, who obtained
from Pompey the realm of Armenia, and from the Senate the title of King.
In the civil war he had espoused the cause of his benefactors. Cæsar, in
consequence, deprived him of Armenia, but was subsequently reconciled to
him, and, while prosecuting the war against Pharnaces, visited him in his
original states of Galatia. Some time afterwards, Phidippus, the physician
of the king, and his grandson Castor, accused him of an attempt to poison
Cæsar, during the stay which the Dictator had made at his court. Cicero
defended him in the private apartments of Cæsar, and adopted the same
happy union of freedom and flattery, which he had so successfully employed
in the case of Ligarius. Cæsar, however, pronounced no decision on the one
side or other.