good hope and an honourable opinion of you. And yet you must not enter
upon political measures in senate-house and public meeting while a
candidate: you must hold such things in abeyance, in order that from
your lifelong conduct the senate may judge you likely to be the
supporter of their authority; the Roman knights, along with the
loyalists and wealthy, judge you from your past to be eager for peace
and quiet times; and the people think of you as not likely to be hostile
to their interests from the fact that in your style of speaking in
public meetings, and in your declared convictions, you have been on the
popular side.
XIV. This is what occurred to me to say on the subject of these two
morning reflexions, which I said you ought to turn over in your mind
every day as you went down to the forum: "I am a _novus homo_," "I am a
candidate for the consulship." There remains the third, "This is Rome,"
a city made up of a combination of nations, in which many snares, much
deception, many vices enter into every department of life: in which you
have to put up with the arrogant pretensions, the wrong-headedness, the
ill-will, the hauteur, the disagreeable temper and offensive manners of
many. I well understand that it requires great prudence and skill for a
man, living among social vices of every sort, so many and so serious, to
avoid giving offence, causing scandal, or falling into traps, and in his
single person to adapt himself to such a vast variety of character,
speech, and feeling. Wherefore, I say again and again, go on
persistently in the path you have begun: put yourself above rivalry in
eloquence; it is by this that people at Rome are charmed and attracted,
as well as deterred from obstructing a man's career or inflicting an
injury upon him. And since the chief plague spot of our state is that it
allows the prospect of a bribe to blind it to virtue and worth, be sure
that you are fully aware of your own strength, that is, understand that
you are the man capable of producing in the minds of your rivals the
strongest fear of legal proceeding and legal peril. Let them know that
they are watched and scrutinized by you: they will be in terror of your
energy, as well as of your influence and power of speech, and above all
of the affection of the equestrian order towards you. But though I wish
you to hold out this before them, I do not wish you to make it appear
that you are already meditating an action, but to use this terror so as
to facilitate the gaining of your object: and, in a word, in this
contest strain every nerve and use every faculty in such a way as to
secure what we seek. I notice that there are no elections so deeply
tainted with corruption, but that some centuries return men closely
connected with them without receiving money. Therefore, if we are as
vigilant as the greatness of our object demands, and rouse our
well-wishers to put forth all their energies; and if we allot to men of
influence and zeal in our service their several tasks; if we put before
our rivals the threat of legal proceedings; if we inspire their agents
with fear, and by some means check the distributors, it is possible to
secure either that there shall be no bribery or that it shall be
ineffectual.
These are the points that I thought, not that I knew better than you,
but that I could more easily than you--in the pressing state of your
present engagements--collect together and send you written out. And
although they are written in such terms as not to apply to all
candidates for office, but to your special case and to your particular
election, yet I should be glad if you would tell me of anything that
should be corrected or entirely struck out, or that has been omitted.
For I wish this little essay "on the duties of a candidate" to be
regarded as complete in every respect.
[Footnote 726: It is to be observed that at this time Pompey is reckoned
as inclined to the _populares_. His legislation in B.C. 70 had been
somewhat in their favour; but he had not, as a fact, ever declared
himself either way.]
[Footnote 727: C. Antonius, impeached by Cæsar for plundering Macedonia,
_appellavit tribunos iuravitque se forum eiurare, quod æquo iure uti non
posset_ (Ascon. § 84). His offences in Macedonia, where he had been left
by Sulla, were in B.C. 83-80; his impeachment, B.C. 76; his expulsion
from the senate, B.C. 70.]
[Footnote 728: M. Marius Gratidianus (Ascon. § 84). These denunciations
of Antonius and Catiline seem to be taken from the oration _in toga
candida_.]
[Footnote 729: Cælius, consul B.C. 94 with Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus.]
[Footnote 730: Cicero, of course, was now a senator, but he was the
first of his family who had been so. The others who came forward for the
consulship were two patricians, P. Sulpicius Galba, L. Sergius Catilina;
four plebeians, C. Antonius, L. Cassius Longinus, whom Asconius calls
_nobiles_, _i.e._, members of families who had held curule office; and
Q. Cornificius and C. Licinius Sacerdos, whose families had only
recently risen to this position, _tantum non primi ex familiis suis
magistratum adepti erant_ (Asc.)]
[Footnote 731: He hints, I think, at Cæsar, who supported Antonius and
Catiline, and also the Luculli, who were opponents of Pompey.]
[Footnote 732: C. Fundanius, defended by Cicero B.C. 66, fr. p. 216. Q.
Gallius, defended by Cicero on _ambitus_ B.C. 64, fr. p. 217 (_Brut._ §
277). C. Cornelius, quæstor of Pompey, tr. pl. B.C. 67, defended by
Cicero B.C. 65 (Ascon. § 56 _seq._) C. Orchivius, Cicero's colleague in
prætorship B.C. 66 (_Or._ § 160). We don't know on what charge Cicero
defended him. The passage in _pro Cluent._ § 147, does not mean that he
was accused of _peculatus_, but that he presided over trials of
_peculatus_ as prætor.]
[Footnote 733: Manilius, tr. pl. B.C. 66, proposed the law for
appointing Pompey to supersede Lucullus in the East. After his year of
office he was accused of _maiestas_, and later on of _repetundæ_, but
apparently neither case came on. C. Cornelius, tr. pl. B.C. 57, was
accused of _maiestas_ in B.C. 55, and defended by Cicero. He had become
alienated from the senate by its opposition to his legislation against
usury in the provinces, and the case made a great sensation.]
APPENDIX B
L. VETTIUS (LETTER L, A II, 24)
L. Vettius, a kind of Titus Oates, was like the witness in "Great
Expectations," prepared to swear "mostly anything." The interest
attaching to such a sordid person is confined to the question whether he
was really acting with the connivance of, or under an agreement with,
any of the leading politicians of the day. If the principle of _cui
bono_ is applied, it is evident that the gainers were the party of the
trumvirs, whose popularity would be increased by a belief being created
that their opponents the Optimates were prepared to adopt extreme
measures to get rid of them. It would give them just the advantage which
the Rye House plot gave Charles II. This is Cicero's view, it seems, of
the matter, as insinuated in this letter and in his speech against
Vatinius (§§ 24-26; cp. _pro Sest._ § 132). In the letter, however, his
insinuations seem directed against Cæsar: in the speech Vatinius is the
scape-goat. But Vettius was not only a liar, but a bad liar. He made
blunders; and when he brought in the name of Bibulus, he was not aware
that Bibulus had got scent of something going on, and had secured
himself by giving Pompey warning. He also did not tell consistent
stories, mentioning names (such as that of Brutus) at one time, and
withdrawing them at another. He was accordingly wholly discredited, and
could therefore expect no protection from Cæsar, who had been careful
not to commit himself; and he had nothing for it but suicide, like
Pigott at the time of the Parnell Commission.
Cicero, then, would have us believe that Vettius had been instigated by
Vatinius (acting for Cæsar) to name Bibulus, L. Lucullus, Curio (father
and son), L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, L. Lentulus, L. Paullus, Cicero
himself, his son-in-law Piso, and M. Laterensis, as having been all more
or less privy to the plot to murder Pompey and Cæsar. That there was
absolutely no such plot, and that Vettius broke down hopelessly when
questioned. That the object was, (1) to irritate Pompey with the
Optimates and so confirm him in his alliance with Cæsar, (2) to
discredit the Optimates generally.
It may be well to state briefly the views put forward by our other
authorities for this period.
(1.) Suetonius (_Cæs. 20_) appears to attribute the instigation of
Vettius to Cæsar, as also the murder of Vettius in prison, after he
broke down so flagrantly. The text of this passage, however, is somewhat
doubtful.
(2.) Appian (_B. C._ ii. 12) describes the scene as happening at the
time that Cæsar's agrarian law was being passed, and Bibulus was hustled
in the forum. Vettius, with a drawn dagger, rushed into the crowd crying
out that he had been sent by Bibulus, Cicero, and Cato to assassinate
Cæsar and Pompey, and that an attendant of Bibulus had given him the
dagger. Vettius was arrested, put into prison to be questioned the next
day, and was murdered during the night. Cæsar meanwhile addressed the
people and excited their anger; but after the death of Vettius the
matter was hushed up.
(3.) Plutarch (_Lucull._ 42) says that the "Pompeians," annoyed at
finding the union with Cæsar opposed by the leading Optimates, induced
Vettius to accuse Lucullus and others of a plot to assassinate Pompey;
and that the corpse of Vettius shewed evident signs of violence.
(4.) Dio Cassius (38-39) says bluntly that Vettius was employed by
Lucullus and Cicero to assassinate Pompey, and was got rid of in prison.
He adds that Vettius was discredited by bringing in the name of Bibulus,
who (as Cicero also says) had secured himself by giving Pompey warning.
The conclusions seem to be (though in such a tangled skein of lies it is
impossible to be sure), (1) that there was no plot, properly so called,
though many of the Optimates, and Cicero among them, had used incautious
language; (2) that Vettius was suborned by some person or party of
persons to make the people believe that there was one; (3) that
Cæsar--though there is not sufficient evidence to shew that he had been
the instigator--was willing to take advantage of the prejudice created
by the suspicions thus aroused; (4) that though Vettius had served
Cicero in his capacity of spy in the days of the Catilinarian
conspiracy, and was able to report words of his sufficiently
characteristic, yet this letter to Atticus exonerates Cicero from
suspicion, even if there were a plot, and even if we could believe that
he could have brought himself to plot the death of Pompey.
APPENDIX C
The following letters to Tiro, with one from Quintus in regard to
his manumission, are given here because of the difficulty of dating
them. The indications of time are as follows. I. Those addressed to
Tiro are earlier than that of Quintus, because they refer to a
promised emancipation, while that of Quintus speaks of it as
accomplished. II. The letter of Quintus is after the emancipation
of his own freedman Statius, which apparently took place B.C. 59.
III. Quintus is at a distance from Italy, and is looking forward to
rejoin his brother and family. IV. Cicero is engaged on some more
than ordinary literary work. V. Pompey is visiting Cicero in his
Cuman villa. Now after his return from Asia (B.C. 58), Quintus was
only twice thus distant, in B.C. 57-56 in Sardinia, and in B.C.
54-53 in Britain and Gaul. In both of these periods Cicero was
engaged on literary work; in the former on the _de Oratore_, in the
latter on the _de Republica_. There is really no means of deciding
between these two. It is even possible that they might be placed
some time during the proprietorship of Quintus in Asia (B.C.
62-59), during which Cicero was engaged, among other things, on a
poem on his own times and a history of his consulship. Tiro--or M.
Tullius Tiro, as he was called after his emancipation--was not a
young man, and may well have been emancipated even in B.C. 59.
According to Hieronymus, he died in B.C. 5 in his hundredth year.
He was therefore little more than a year younger than Cicero
himself. The illness of Tiro must have been an earlier one than
that of which we shall hear much in B.C. 50-49.
I (F XVI, 13)
TO TIRO
(CUMÆ) 10 APRIL
I shall consider that I have everything possible from you, if I see you
in good health. I am awaiting the arrival of Andricus, whom I sent to
you, with the utmost anxiety. Do take pains to recover, if you love me:
and as soon as you have thoroughly re-established your health, come to
me. Good-bye.
10 April.
II (F XVI, 14)
TO TIRO
(CUMÆ) 11 APRIL
Andricus arrived a day later than I expected him, and accordingly I had
a night of terror and unhappiness. Your letter does not make me at all
more certain of your state, and yet it did revive me. I can take
pleasure in nothing; can employ myself in no literary work, which I
cannot touch till I have seen you. Give orders to promise the doctor any
fee he chooses to ask. I wrote to that effect to Ummidius. I am told
that your mind is ill at ease, and that the doctor says this is what
makes you ill. If you care for me, rouse from their sleep your studies
and your culture, which make you the dearest object of my affection. It
is your mind that requires strengthening now, in order that your body
may also recover. Pray do it both for your own and my sake. Keep Acastus
with you to help to nurse you. Preserve yourself for me. The day for the
fulfilment of my promise is at hand, and I will be true to it, if you
only come. Good-bye, good-bye!
11 April, noon.
III (F XVI, 15)
TO TIRO
(CUMÆ) 12 APRIL
Ægypta arrived on the 12th of April. Though he brought the news that you
were entirely without fever and were pretty well, yet he caused me
anxiety by saying that you had not been able to write to me: and all the
more so because Hermia, who ought to have arrived on the same day, has
not done so. I am incredibly anxious about your health. If you will
relieve me from that, I will _liberate_ you from every burden. I would
have written at greater length, if I had thought that you were now
capable of taking any pleasure in reading a letter. Concentrate your
whole intelligence, which I value above everything, upon preserving
yourself for your own and my benefit. Use your utmost diligence, I
repeat, in nursing your health. Good-bye.
P.S.--When I had finished the above Hermia arrived. I have your letter
written in a shaky hand, and no wonder after so serious an illness. I am
sending Ægypta back to stay with you, because he is by no means without
feeling, and seems to me to be attached to you, and with him a cook for
your especial use. Good-bye!
IV (F XVI, 10)
TO TIRO
CUMÆ, 19 MAY
I of course wish you to come to me, but I dread the journey for you. You
have been most seriously ill: you have been much reduced by a low diet
and purgatives, and the ravages of the disease itself. After dangerous
illnesses, if some mistake is made, drawbacks are usually dangerous.
Moreover, to the two days on the road which it will have taken you to
reach Cumæ, there will have to be added at once five more for your
return journey to Rome. I mean to be at Formiæ on the 30th: be sure, my
dear Tiro, that I find you there strong and well. My poor studies, or
rather _ours_, have been in a very bad way owing to your absence.
However, they have looked up a little owing to this letter from you
brought by Acastus. Pompey is staying with me at the moment of writing
this, and seems to be cheerful and enjoying himself. He asks me to read
him something of ours, but I told him that without you the oracle was
dumb. Pray prepare to renew your services to our Muses. My promise shall
be _performed_ on the day named: for I have taught you the etymology of
_fides_.[734] Take care to make a complete recovery. I shall be with you
directly. Good-bye.
19 May.
[Footnote 734: From _fio_, according to Cicero, _credamusque quia "fiat"
quod dictum est, appellatam fidem_ (_de Off._ i. § 23). He is referring
to his promise to emancipate Tiro on a particular day.]
V (F XVI, 16)
Q. CICERO TO HIS BROTHER
(GAUL?)
As I hope to see you again, my dear Marcus, and my own son Cicero, and
your Tulliola and your son, I am delighted about Tiro. He was much too
good for his position, and I am truly glad that you preferred that he
should be our freedman and friend rather than our slave. Believe me,
when I read your letter and his I jumped for joy, and I both thank and
congratulate you: for if the fidelity and good character of my own
Statius is a delight to me, how much more valuable must those same
qualities be in your man, since there is added to them knowledge of
literature, conversational powers, and culture, which have advantages
even over those useful virtues! I have all sorts of most conclusive
reasons for loving you: and here is another one, either for what you
have done, or, if you choose, for your perfect manner of announcing it
to me. Your letter shewed me your whole heart. I have promised Sabinus's
servants all they asked, and I will perform my promise.
END OF VOL. I.