[77] A doubt has been raised whether he was not married when he went to Greece, as otherwise his daughter would seem to have become a wife earlier than is probable. The date, however, has been generally given as it is stated here.

[78] Tacitus, Annal., xi., 5, says, "Qua cavetur antiquitus, ne quis, ob causam orandam, pecuniam donumve accipiat."

[79] De Off., lib. i., ca. xlii.: "Sordidi etiam putandi, qui mercantur a mercatoribus, quod statim vendant. Nihil enim proficiunt, nisi admodum mentiantur."

[80] De Off., lib. i., ca. xlii.: "Primum improbantur ii quaestus, qui in odia hominum incurrunt: ut portitorum ut f[oe]neratorum." The Portitores were inferior collectors of certain dues, stationed at seaports, who are supposed to have been extremely vexatious in their dealings with the public.

[81] Philipp., 11-16.

[82] Let any who doubt this statement refer to the fate of the inhabitants of Alesia and Uxellodunum. Caesar did not slay or torture for the sake of cruelty, but was never deterred by humanity when expediency seemed to him to require victims. Men and women, old and young, many or few, they were sacrificed without remorse if his purpose required it.

[83] Pro Pub. Quintio, ca. xxv.

[84] See Appendix B, Brutus, ca. xcii., xciii.

[85] Brutus, ca. xciii.: "Animos hominum ad me dicendi novitate converteram."

[86] It must be remembered that this advice was actually given when Cicero subsequently became a candidate for the Consulship, but it is mentioned here as showing the manner in which were sought the great offices of State.

[87] Cicero speaks of Sicily as divided into two provinces, "Quaestores utriusque provinciae." There was, however, but one Praetor or Proconsul. But the island had been taken by the Romans at two different times. Lilybaeum and the west was obtained from the Carthaginians at the end of the first Punic war, whereas, Syracuse was conquered by Marcellus and occupied during the second Punic war.

[88] Tacitus, Ann., lib. xi., ca. xxii.: "Post, lege Sullae, viginti creati supplendo senatui, cui judicia tradiderat."

[89] De Legibus, iii., xii.

[90] Pro P. Sexto, lxv.

[91] Pro Cluentio, lvi.

[92] Contra Verrem, Act. iv., ca. xi.: "Ecquae civitas est, non modo in provinciis nostris, verum etiam in ultimis nationibus, aut tam potens, aut tam libera, aut etiam am immanis ac barbara; rex denique ecquis est, qui senatorem populi Romani tecto ac domo non invitet?"

[93] Contra Verrem, Act. i., ca. xiii.: "Omnia non modo commemorabuntur, sed etiam, expositis certis rebus, agentur, quae inter decem annos, posteaquam judicia ad senatum translata sunt, in rebus judicandis nefarie flagitioseque facta sunt."

Pro Cluentio, lvi.: "Locus, auctoritas, domi splendor, apud exteras nationes nomen et gratia, toga praetexta, sella curulis, insignia, fasces, exercitus, imperia, provincia."

[94] Contra Verrem, Act. i., ca. xviii.: "Quadringenties sestertium ex Sicilia contra leges abstulisse." In Smith's Dictionary of Grecian and Roman Antiquities we are told that a thousand sesterces is equal in our money to L8 17s. 1d. Of the estimated amount of this plunder we shall have to speak again.

[95] Pro Plancio, xxvi.

[96] Pro Plancio, xxvi.

[97] M. du Rozoir was a French critic, and was joined with M. Gueroult and M. de Guerle in translating and annotating the Orations of Cicero for M. Panckoucke's edition of the Latin classics.

[98] In Verrem Actio Secunda, lib. i., vii.

[99] Plutarch says that Caecilius was an emancipated slave, and a Jew, which could not have been true, as he was a Roman Senator.

[100] De Oratore, lib. ii., c. xlix. The feeling is beautifully expressed in the words put into the mouth of Antony in the discussion on the charms and attributes of eloquence: "Qui mihi in liberum loco more majorum esse deberet."

[101] In Q. Caec. Divinatio, ca. ii.

[102] Divinatio, ca. iii.

[103] Ibid., ca. vi.

[104] Ibid., ca. viii.

[105] Divinatio, ca. ix.

[106] Ibid., ca. xi.

[107] Ibid.

[108] Ibid., ca. xii.

[109] Actio Secunda, lib. ii., xl. He is speaking of Sthenius, and the illegality of certain proceedings on the part of Verres against him. "If an accused man could be condemned in the absence of the accuser, do you think that I would have gone in a little boat from Vibo to Velia, among all the dangers prepared for me by your fugitive slaves and pirates, when I had to hurry at the peril of my life, knowing that you would escape if I were not present to the day?"

[110] Actio Secunda, l. xxi.

[111] In Verrem, Actio Prima, xvi.

[112] In Verrem, Actio Prima, xvi.

[113] We are to understand that the purchaser at the auction having named the sum for which he would do the work, the estate of the minor, who was responsible for the condition of the temple, was saddled with that amount.

[114] In Verrem, Actio Secunda, lib. ii., vii.

[115] Ibid., ix.

[116] Ibid., lib. ii., xiv.

[117] See Appendix C.

[118] In Verrem, Actio Secunda, lib. ii., ca. xxxvi.

[119] Ibid. "Una nox intercesserat, quam iste Dorotheum sic diligebat, ut diceres, omnia inter eos esse communia."—wife and all. "Iste" always means Verres in these narratives.

[120] These were burning political questions of the moment. It was as though an advocate of our days should desire some disgraced member of Parliament to go down to the House and assist the Government in protecting Turkey in Asia and invading Zululand.

[121] "Sit in ejus exercitu signifer." The "ejus" was Hortensius, the coming Consul, too whom Cicero intended to be considered as pointing. For the passage, see In Verrem, Actio Secunda, lib. ii., xxxi.

[122] In Verrem, Actio Secunda, lib. iii., 11.

[123] "Exegi monumentum aere perennius," said Horace, gloriously. "Sum pius AEneas" is Virgil's expression, put into the mouth of his hero. "Ipse Menaleas," said Virgil himself. Homer and Sophocles introduce their heroes with self-sounded trumpetings:

[Greek: Eim' Odysseus Daertiades hos pasi doloisi Anthropoisi melo, kai meu kleos ouranon ikei.] Odyssey, book ix., 19 and 20.

[Greek: Ho pasi kleinos Oidipous kaloumenos.] [OE]dipus Tyrannus, 8.

[124] Pro Plancio, xxvi.: "Frumenti in summa caritate maximum numerum miseram; negotiatoribus comis, mercatoribus justus, municipibus liberalis, sociis abstinens, omnibus eram visus in omni officio diligentissimus."

[125] In Verrem, Actio Secunda, lib. iii., ix.: "Is erit Apronius ille; qui, ut ipse non solum vita, sed etiam corpore atque ore significat, immensa aliqua vorago est ac gurges vitiorum turpitudinumque omnium. Hunc in omnibus stupris, hunc in fanorum expilationibus, hunc in impuris conviviis principem adhibebat; tantamque habebat morum similitudo conjunctionem atque concordiam, ut Apronius, qui aliis inhumanus ac barbarus, isti uni commodus ac disertus videretur; ut quem omnes odissent neque videre vellent sine eo iste esse non posset; ut quum alii ne conviviis quidem iisdem quibus Apronius, hic iisdem etiam poculis uteretur, postremo, ut, odor Apronii teterrimus oris et corporis, quem, ut aiunt, ne bestiae quidem ferre possent, uni isti suavis et jucundus videretur. Ille erat in tribunali proximus; in cubiculo socius; in convivio dominus, ac tum maxime, quum, accubante praetextato praetoris filio, in convivio saltare nudus c[oe]perat."

[126] A great deal is said of the Cybea in this and the last speech. The money expended on it was passed through the accounts as though the ship had been built for the defence of the island from pirates, but it was intended solely for the depository of the governor's plunder.

[127] In Verrem, Actio Secunda, lib. iv., vii.

[128] In Verrem, Actio Secunda, lib. iv., lvii.

[129] In Verrem, Actio Secunda, lib. v., lxvi.: "Facinus est vinciri civem Romanum; scelus verberari; prope parricidium necari; quid dicam in crucem tollere!"

[130] In Verrem, Actio Secunda, lib. v., lxv.

[131] In Verrem, Actio Secunda, lib. v., xx.: "Onere suo plane captam atque depressam."

[132] In Verrem, Actio Secunda, lib. v., xxvi.

[133] Ibid., xxviii.

[134] Pro Fonteio, xiii.

[135] De Oratore, lib. ii., lix.: "Perspicitis, hoc genus quam sit facetum, quam elegans, quam oratorium, sive habeas vere, quod narrare possis, quod tamen, est mendaciunculis aspergendum, sive fingas." Either invent a story, or if you have an old one, add on something so as to make it really funny. Is there a parson, a bishop, an archbishop, who, if he have any sense of humor about him, does not do the same?

[136] Cicero, Pro Cluentio, l., explains very clearly his own idea as to his own speeches as an advocate, and may be accepted, perhaps, as explaining the ideas of barristers of to-day. "He errs," he says, "who thinks that he gets my own opinions in speeches made in law courts; such speeches are what the special cases require, and are not to be taken as coming from the advocate as his own."

[137] When the question is discussed, we are forced rather to wonder how many of the great historical doings of the time are not mentioned, or are mentioned very slightly, in Cicero's letters. Of Pompey's treatment of the pirates, and of his battling in the East, little or nothing is said, nothing of Caesar's doings in Spain. Mention is made of Caesar's great operations in Gaul only in reference to the lieutenancy of Cicero's brother Quintus, and to the employment of his young friend Trebatius. Nothing is said of the manner of Caesar's coming into Rome after passing the Rubicon; nothing of the manner of fighting at Dyrrachium and Pharsalia; very little of the death of Pompey; nothing of Caesar's delay in Egypt. The letters deal with Cicero's personal doings and thoughts, and with the politics of Rome as a city. The passage to which allusion is made occurs in the life of Atticus, ca. xvi: "Quae qui legat non multum desideret historiam contextam illorum temporum."

[138] Jean George Greefe was a German, who spent his life as a professor at Leyden, and, among other classical labors, arranged and edited the letters of Cicero. He died in 1703.

[139] It must be explained, however, that continued research and increased knowledge have caused the order of the letters, and the dates assigned to them, to be altered from time to time; and, though much has been done to achieve accuracy, more remains to be done. In my references to the letters I at first gave them, both to the arrangement made by Graevius and to the numbers assigned in the edition I am using; but I have found that the numbers would only mislead, as no numbering has been yet adopted as fixed. Arbitrary and even fantastic as is the arrangement of Graevius, it is better to confine myself to that because it has been acknowledged, and will enable my readers to find the letters if they wish to do so. Should Mr. Tyrrell continue and complete his edition of the correspondence, he will go far to achieve the desired accuracy. A second volume has appeared since this work of mine has been in the press.

[140] The peculiarities of Cicero's character are nowhere so clearly legible as in his dealings with and words about his daughter. There is an effusion of love, and then of sorrow when she dies, which is un-Roman, almost feminine, but very touching.

[141] I annex a passage from our well known English translation: "The power of the pirates had its foundation in Cilicia. Their progress was the more dangerous, because at first it had been but little noticed. In the Mithridatic war they assumed new confidence and courage, on account of some services which they had rendered the king. After this, the Romans being engaged in civil war at the very gates of their capital, the sea was left unguarded, and the pirates by degrees attempted higher things—not only attacking ships, but islands and maritime towns. Many persons distinguished for their wealth, birth and capacity embarked with them, and assisted in their depredations, as if their employment had been worthy the ambition of men of honor. They had in various places arsenals, ports, and watch-towers, all strongly fortified. Their fleets were not only extremely well manned, supplied with skilful pilots, and fitted for their business by their lightness and celerity, but there was a parade of vanity about them, more mortifying than their strength, in gilded sterns, purple canopies, and plated oars, as if they took a pride and triumphed in their villany. Music resounded, and drunken revels were exhibited on every coast. Here generals were made prisoners; and there the cities which the pirates had seized upon were paying their ransom, to the great disgrace of the Roman power. The number of their galleys amounted to a thousand, and the cities taken to four hundred." The passage is taken from the life of Pompey.

[142] Florus, lib. iii., 6: "An felicitatem, quod ne una cuidam navis amissa est; an vero perpetuitatem, quod amplius piratae non fuerunt."

[143] Of the singular trust placed in Pompey there are very many proofs in the history of Rome at this period, but none, perhaps, clearer than the exception made in this favor in the wording of laws. In the agrarian law proposed by the Tribune Rullus, and opposed by Cicero when he was Consul, there is a clause commanding all Generals under the Republic to account for the spoils taken by them in war. But there is a special exemption in favor of Pompey. "Pompeius exceptus esto." It is as though no Tribune dared to propose a law affecting Pompey.

[144] See Appendix D.

[145] Asconius Pedianus was a grammarian who lived in the reign of Tiberius, and whose commentaries on Cicero's speeches, as far as they go, are very useful in explaining to us the meaning of the orator. We have his notes on these two Cornelian orations and some others, especially on that of Pro Milone. There are also commentaries on some of the Verrine orations—not by Asconius, but from the pen of some writer now called Pseudo-Asconius, having been long supposed to have come from Asconius. They, too, go far to elucidate much which would otherwise be dark to us.

[146] Quint., lib. viii., 3. The critic is explaining the effect of ornament in oratory—of that beauty of language which with the people has more effect than argument—and he breaks forth himself into perhaps the most eloquent passage in the whole Institute: "Cicero, in pleading for Cornelius, fought with arms which were as splendid as they were strong. It was not simply by putting the facts before the judges, by talking usefully, in good language and clearly, that he succeeded in forcing the Roman people to acknowledge by their voices and by their hands their admiration; it was the grandeur of his words, their magnificence, their beauty, their dignity, which produced that outburst."

[147] Orator., lxvii. and lxx.

[148] De Lege Agraria, ii., 2: "Meis comitiis non tabellam, vindicem tacitae libertatis, sed vocem vivam prae vobis, indicem vestrarum erga me voluntatum ac studiorum tulistis. Itaque me * * * una voce universus populus Romanus consulem declaravit."

[149] Sall., Conj. Catilinaria, xxi.: "Petere consulatum C. Antonium, quem sibi collegam fore speraret, hominem et familiarem, et omnibus necessitudinibus circumventum." Sallust would no doubt have put anything into Catiline's mouth which would suit his own purpose; but it was necessary for his purpose that he should confine himself to credibilities.

[150] Cicero himself tells us that many short-hand writers were sent by him—"Plures librarii," as he calls them—to take down the words of the Agrarian law which Rullus proposed. De Lege Agra., ii., 5. Pliny, Quintilian, and Martial speak of these men as Notarii. Martial explains the nature of their business:

"Currant verba licet, manus est velocior illis; Nondum lingua suum, dextra peregit opus."—xiv., 208.

[151]Ad Att., ii., 1. "Oratiunculas," he calls them. It would seem here that he pretends to have preserved these speeches only at the request of some admiring young friends. Demosthenes, of course, was the "fellow-citizen," so called in badinage, because Atticus, deserting Rome, lived much at Athens.

[152] This speech, which has been lost, was addressed to the people with the view of reconciling them to a law in accordance with which the Equites were entitled to special seats in the theatre. It was altogether successful.

[153] This, which is extant, was spoken in defence of an old man who was accused of a political homicide thirty-seven years before—of having killed, that is, Saturninus the Tribune. Cicero was unsuccessful, but Rabirius was saved by the common subterfuge of an interposition of omens. There are some very fine passages in this oration.

[154] This has been lost. Cicero, though he acknowledged the iniquity of Sulla's proscriptions, showed that their effects could not now be reversed without further revolutions. He gained his point on this occasion.

[155] This has been lost. Cicero, in accordance with the practice of the time, was entitled to the government of a province when ceasing to be Consul. The rich province of Macedonia fell to him by lot, but he made it over to his colleague Antony, thus purchasing, if not Antony's co-operation, at any rate his quiescence, in regard to Catiline. He also made over the province of Gaul, which then fell to his lot, to Metellus, not wishing to leave the city. All this had to be explained to the people.

[156] It will be seen that he also defended Rabirius in his consular year, but had thought fit to include that among his consular speeches. Some doubt has been thrown, especially by Mr. Tyrrell, on the genuineness of Cicero's letter giving the list of his "oratiunculas consulares," because the speeches Pro Murena and Pro Pisone are omitted, and as containing some "rather un-Ciceronian expressions." My respect for Mr. Tyrrell's scholarship and judgment is so great that I hardly dare to express an opinion contrary to his; but I should be sorry to exclude a letter so Ciceronian in its feeling. And if we are to have liberty to exclude without evidence, where are we to stop?

[157] Corn. Nepo., Epaminondas, I.: "We know that with us" (Romans) "music is foreign to the employments of a great man. To dance would amount to a vice. But these things among the Greeks are not only pleasant but praiseworthy."

[158] Conj. Catilinaria, xxv.

[159] Horace, Epis. i., xvii.:

"Si sciret regibus uti Fastidiret olus qui me notat."

[160] Pro Murena, xxix.

[161] Pro Murena, x. This Sulpicius was afterward Consul with M. Marcellus, and in the days of the Philippics was sent as one of a deputation to Antony. He died while on the journey. He is said to have been a man of excellent character, and a thorough-going conservative.

[162] Pro Murena, xi.

[163] Ibid., xi.

[164] Ibid., xii.

[165] Ibid., xiii.

[166] Ibid., xi.

[167] Pro Cluentio, 1.

[168] De Lege Agraria, ii., 5.

[169] He alludes here to his own colleague Antony, whom through his whole year of office he had to watch lest the second Consul should join the enemies whom he fears—should support Rullus or go over to Catiline. With this view, choosing the lesser of the two evils, he bribes Antony with the government of Macedonia.

[170] De Lege Agraria, i., 7 and 8.

[171] The "jus imaginis" belonged to those whose ancestors was counted an AEdile, a Praetor, or a Consul. The descendants of such officers were entitled to have these images, whether in bronze, or marble, or wax, carried at the funerals of their friends.

[172] Forty years since, Marius who was also "novus homo," and also, singularly enough, from Arpinum, had been made Consul, but not with the glorious circumstances as now detailed by Cicero.

[173] De Lege Agraria, ii., 1, 2, and 3.

[174] See Introduction.

[175] Pliny the elder, Hist. Nat., lib. vii., ca. xxxi.

[176] The word is "proscripsisti," "you proscribed him." For the proper understanding of this, the bearing of Cicero toward Antony during the whole period of the Philippics must be considered.

[177] Catiline, by Mr. Beesly. Fortnightly Review, 1865.

[178] Pro Murena, xxv.: "Quem omnino vivum illinc exire non oportuerat." I think we must conclude from this that Cicero had almost expected that his attack upon the conspirators, in his first Catiline oration, would have the effect of causing him to be killed.

[179] AEneid, viii., 668:

"Te, Catilina, minaci Pendentem scopulo."

[180] Velleius Paterculus, lib. ii., xxxiv.

[181] Juvenal, Sat. ii., 27: "Catilina Cethegum!" Could such a one as Catiline answer such a one as Cethegus? Sat. viii., 232: "Arma tamen vos Nocturna et flammas domibus templisque parastis." Catiline, in spite of his noble blood, had endeavored to burn the city. Sat. xiv., 41: "Catilinam quocunque in populo videas." It is hard to find a good man, but it is easy enough to put your hand anywhere on a Catiline.

[182] Val Maximus, lib. v., viii., 5; lib. ix., 1, 9; lib. ix., xi., 3.

[183] Florus, lib. iv.

[184] Mommsen's History of Rome, book v., chap v.

[185] I feel myself constrained here to allude to the treatment given to Catiline by Dean Merivale in his little work on the two Roman Triumvirates. The Dean's sympathies are very near akin to those of Mr. Beesly, but he values too highly his own historical judgment to allow it to run on all fours with Mr. Beesly's sympathies. "The real designs," he says, "of the infamous Catiline and his associates must indeed always remain shrouded in mystery. * * * Nevertheless, it is impossible to deny, and on the whole it would be unreasonable to doubt, that such a conspiracy there really was, and that the very existence of the commonwealth was for a moment seriously imperilled." It would certainly be unreasonable to doubt it. But the Dean, though he calls Catiline infamous, and acknowledges the conspiracy, nevertheless give us ample proof of his sympathy with the conspirators, or rather of his strong feeling against Cicero. Speaking of Catiline at a certain moment, he says that he "was not yet hunted down." He speaks of the "upstart Cicero," and plainly shows us that his heart is with the side which had been Caesar's. Whether conspiracy or no conspiracy, whether with or without wholesale murder and rapine, a single master with a strong hand was the one remedy needed for Rome! The reader must understand that Cicero's one object in public life was to resist that lesson.

[186] Asconius, "In toga candida," reports that Fenestella, a writer of the time of Augustus, had declared that Cicero had defended Catiline; but Asconius gives his reasons for disbelieving the story.

[187] Cicero, however, declares that he has made a difference between traitors to their country and other criminals. Pro P. Sulla, ca. iii.: "Verum etiam quaedam contagio sceleris, si defendas eum, quem obstrictum esse patriae parricidio suspicere." Further on in the same oration, ca. vi., he explains that he had refused to defend Autronius because he had known Autronius to be a conspirator against his country. I cannot admit the truth of the argument in which Mr. Forsyth defends the practice of the English bar in this respect, and in doing so presses hard upon Cicero. "At Rome," he says, "it was different. The advocate there was conceived to have a much wider discretion than we allow." Neither in Rome nor in England has the advocate been held to be disgraced by undertaking the defence of bad men who have been notoriously guilty. What an English barrister may do, there was no reason that a Roman advocate should not do, in regard to simple criminality. Cicero himself has explained in the passage I have quoted how the Roman practice did differ from ours in regard to treason. He has stated also that he knew nothing of the first conspiracy when he offered to defend Catiline on the score of provincial peculations. No writer has been heavy on Hortensius for defending Verres, but only because he took bribes from Verres.

[188] Publius Cornelius Sulla, and Publius Autronius P[oe]tus.

[189] Pro P. Sulla, iv. He declares that he had known nothing of the first conspiracy and gives the reason: "Quod nondum penitus in republica versabar, quod nondum ad propositum mihi finem honoris perveneram, quod mea me ambitio et forensis labor ab omni illa cogitatione abstrahebat."

[190] Sallust, Catilinaria, xviii.

[191] Livy, Epitome, lib. ci.

[192] Suetonius, J. Caesar, ix.

[193] Mommsen, book v., ca. v., says of Caesar and Crassus as to this period, "that this notorious action corresponds with striking exactness to the secret action which this report ascribes to them." By which he means to imply that they probably were concerned in the plot.

[194] Sallust tells us, Catilinaria, xlix., that Cicero was instigated by special enemies of Caesar to include Caesar in the accusation, but refused to mix himself up in so great a crime. Crassus also was accused, but probably wrongfully. Sallust declares that an attempt was made to murder Caesar as he left the Senate. There was probably some quarrel and hustling, but no more.

[195] Sallust, Catilinaria, xxxvii.: "Omnino cuncta plebes, novarum rerum studio, Catilinae incepta probabat." By the words "novarum rerum studio"—by a love of revolution—we can understand the kind of popularity which Sallust intended to express.

[196] Pro Murena, xxv.

[197] "Darent operam consules ne quid detrimenti respublica capiat."

[198] Catilinaria, xxxi.

[199] Quintilian, lib. xii., 10: "Quem tamen et suorum homines temporum incessere audebant, ut tumidiorem, et asianum, et redundantem."

[200] Orator., xxxvii.: "A nobis homo audacissimus Catilina in senatu accusatus obmutuit."

[201] 2 Catilinaria, xxxi.

[202] In the first of them to the Senate, chap. ix., he declares this to Catiline himself: "Si mea voce perterritus ire in exsilium animum induxeris, quanta tempestas invidiae nobis, si minus in praesens tempus, recenti memoria scelerum tuorum, at in posteritatem impendeat." He goes on to declare that he will endure all that, if by so doing he can save the Republic. "Sed est mihi tanti; dummodo ista privata sit calamitas, et a reipublicae periculis sejungatur."

[203] Sallust, Catilinaria, xli.: "Itaque Q. Fabio Sangae cujus patrocinio civitas plurimum utebatur rem omnem uti cognoverant aperiunt."

[204] Horace, Epo. xvi., 6: "Novisque rebus infidelis Allobrox." The unhappy Savoyard has from this line been known through ages as a conspirator, false even to his fellow-conspirators.

Juvenal, vii., 214: "Rufum qui toties Ciceronem Allobroga dixit." Some Rufus, acting as advocate, had thought to put down Cicero by calling him an Allobrogian.

[205] The words in which this honor was conferred he himself repeats: "Quod urbem incendiis, caede cives, Italiam bello liberassem"—"because I had rescued the city from fire, the citizens from slaughter, and Italy from war."

[206] It is necessary in all oratory to read something between the lines. It is allowed to the speaker to produce effect by diminishing and exaggerating. I think we should detract something from the praises bestowed on Catiline's military virtues. The bigger Catiline could be made to appear, the greater would be the honor of having driven him out of the city.

[207] In Catilinam, iii., xi.

[208] In Catilinam, ibid., xii.: "Ne mihi noceant vestrum est providere."

[209] "Prince of the Senate" was an honorary title, conferred on some man of mark as a dignity—at this period on some ex-Consul; it conferred no power. Cicero, the Consul who had convened the Senate, called on the speakers as he thought fit.

[210] Caesar, according to Sallust, had referred to the Lex Porcia. Cicero alludes, and makes Caesar allude, to the Lex Sempronia. The Porcian law, as we are told by Livy, was passed B.C. 299, and forbade that a Roman should be scourged or put to death. The Lex Sempronia was introduced by C. Gracchus, and enacted that the life of a citizen should not be taken without the voice of the citizens.

[211] Velleius Paterculus, xxxvi.: "Consulatui Ciceronis non mediocre adjecit decus natus eo anno Divus Augustus."

[212] In Pisonem, iii.: "Sine ulla dubitatione juravi rempublicam atque hanc urbem mea unius opera esse salvam."

[213] Dio Cassius tells the same story, lib. xxxvii., ca. 38, but he adds that Cicero was more hated than ever because of the oath he took: [Greek: kai ho men kai ek toutou poly mallon emisethe.]

[214] It is the only letter given in the collection as having been addressed direct to Pompey. In two letters written some years later to Atticus, B.C. 49, lib. viii., 11, and lib. viii., 12, he sends copies of a correspondence between himself and Pompey and two of the Pompeian generals.

[215] Lib. v., 7. It is hardly necessary to explain that the younger Scipio and Laelius were as famous for their friendship as Pylades and Orestes. The "Virtus Scipiadae et mitis sapientia Laeli" have been made famous to us all by Horace.

[216] These two brothers, neither of whom was remarkable for great qualities, though they were both to be Consuls, were the last known of the great family of the Metelli, a branch of the "Gens Caecilia." Among them had been many who had achieved great names for themselves in Roman history, on account of the territories added to the springing Roman Empire by their victories. There had been a Macedonicus, a Numidicus, a Balearicus, and a Creticus. It is of the first that Velleius Paterculus sings the glory—lib. i., ca. xi., and the elder Pliny repeats the story, Hist. Nat., vii., 44—that of his having been carried to the grave by four sons, of whom at the time of his death three had been Consuls, one had been a Praetor, two had enjoyed triumphal honors, and one had been Censor. In looking through the consular list of Cicero's lifetime, I find that there were no less than seven taken from the family of the Metelli. These two brothers, Metellus Nepos and Celer, again became friends to Cicero; Nepos, who had stopped his speech and assisted in forcing him into exile, having assisted as Consul in obtaining his recall from exile. It is very difficult to follow the twistings and turnings of Roman friendships at this period.

[217] Velleius Paterculus, lib. ii., ca. xiv. Paterculus tells us how, when the architect offered to build the house so as to hide its interior from the gaze of the world, Drusus desired the man so to construct it that all the world might see what he was doing.

[218] It may be worth while to give a translation of the anecdote as told by Aulus Gellius, and to point out that the authors intention was to show what a clever fellow Cicero was. Cicero did defend P. Sulla this year; but whence came the story of the money borrowed from Sulla we do not know. "It is a trick of rhetoric craftily to confess charges made, so as not to come within the reach of the law. So that, if anything base be alleged which cannot be denied, you may turn it aside with a joke, and make it a matter of laughter rather than of disgrace, as it is written that Cicero did when, with a drolling word, he made little of a charge which he could not deny. For when he was anxious to buy a house on the Palatine Hill, and had not the ready money, he quietly borrowed from P. Sulla—who was then about to stand his trial, 'sestertium viciens'—twenty million sesterces. When that became known, before the purchase was made, and it was objected to him that he had borrowed the money from a client, then Cicero, instigated by the unexpected charge, denied the loan, and denied also that he was going to buy the house. But when he had bought it and the fib was thrown in his teeth, he laughed heartily, and asked whether men had so lost their senses as not to be aware that a prudent father of a family would deny an intended purchase rather than raise the price of the article against himself."—Noctes Atticae, xii., 12. Aulus Gellius though he tells us that the story was written, does not tell us where he read it.

[219] I must say this, "pace" Mr. Tyrrell, who, in his note on the letter to Atticus, lib. i., 12, attempts to show that some bargain for such professional fee had been made. Regarding Mr. Tyrrell as a critic always fair, and almost always satisfactory, I am sorry to have to differ from him; but it seems to me that he, too, has been carried away by the feeling that in defending a man's character it is best to give up some point.

[220] I have been amused at finding a discourse, eloquent and most enthusiastic, in praise of Cicero and especially of this oration, spoken by M. Gueroult at the College of France in June, 1815. The worst literary faults laid to the charge of Cicero, if committed by him—which M. Gueroult thinks to be doubtful—had been committed even by Voltaire and Racine! The learned Frenchman, with whom I altogether sympathize, rises to an ecstasy of violent admiration, and this at the very moment in which Waterloo was being fought. But in truth the great doings of the world do not much affect individual life. We should play our whist at the clubs though the battle of Dorking were being fought.

[221] Pro P. Sulla, iv.: "Scis me * * * illorum expertem temporum et sermonum fuisse; credo, quod nondum penitus in republica versabar, quod nondum ad propositum mihi finem honoris perveneram. * * * Quis ergo intererat vestris consiliis? Omnes hi, quos vides huic adesse et in primis Q. Hortensius."

[222] Ad Att., lib. i., 12.

[223] Ad Att., lib. i., 13.

[224] Ibid., i., 14.

[225]Ibid., i., 16: "Vis scire quomodo minus quam soleam praeliatus sum."

[226] "You have bought a fine house," said Clodius. "There would be more in what you say if you could accuse me of buying judges," replied Cicero. "The judges would not trust you on your oath," said Clodius, referring to the alibi by which he had escaped in opposition to Cicero's oath. "Yes," replied Cicero, "twenty-five trusted me; but not one of the thirty-one would trust you without having his bribe paid beforehand."

[227] Ad Att., i., 14: "Proxime Pompeium sedebam. Intellexi hominem moveri."

[228] Ibid.: "Quo modo [Greek: eneperpereusamen], novo auditori Pompeio."

[229] Mommsen, book v., chap. vi. This probably has been taken from the statement of Paterculus, lib. ii., 40: "Quippe plerique non sine exercitu venturum in urbem adfirmabant, et libertati publicae statuturum arbitrio suo modum. Quo magis hoc homines timuerant, eo gratior civilis tanti imperatoris reditus fuit." No doubt there was a dread among many of Pompey coming back as Sulla had come: not from indications to be found in the character of Pompey, but because Sulla had done so.

[230] Florus, lib. ii., xix. Having described to us the siege of Numantia, he goes on "Hactenus populus Romanus pulcher, egregius, pius, sanctus atque magnificus. Reliqua seculi, ut grandia aeque, ita vel magis turbida et f[oe]da."

[231] We have not Pollio's poem on the conspiracy, but we have Horace's record of Pollio's poem:

Motum ex Metello consule civicum, Bellique causas et vitia, et modos, Ludumque Fortunae, gravesque Principum amicitias, et arma Nondum expiatis uncta cruoribus, Periculosae plenum opus aleae, Tractas, et incedis per ignes Suppositos cineri doloso.—Odes, lib. ii., 1.

[232] The German index appeared—very much after the original work—as late as 1875.

[233] Mommsen, lib. v., chap. vi. I cannot admit that Mommsen is strictly accurate, as Caesar had no real idea of democracy. He desired to be the Head of the Oligarchs, and, as such, to ingratiate himself with the people.

[234] For the character of Caesar generally I would refer readers to Suetonius, whose life of the great man is, to my thinking, more graphic than any that has been written since. For his anecdotes there is little or no evidence. His facts are not all historical. His knowledge was very much less accurate than that of modern writers who have had the benefit of research and comparison. But there was enough of history, of biography, and of tradition to enable him to form a true idea of the man. He himself as a narrator was neither specially friendly nor specially hostile. He has told what was believed at the time, and he has drawn a character that agrees perfectly with all that we have learned since.

[235] By no one has the character and object of the Triumvirate been so well described as by Lucan, who, bombastic as he is, still manages to bring home to the reader the ideas as to persons and events which he wishes to convey. I have ventured to give in an Appendix, E, the passages referred to, with such a translation in prose as I have been able to produce. It will be found at the end of this volume.

[236] Plutarch—Crassus: [Greek: kai synestesen ek ton trion ischyn amachon.]

[237] Velleius Paterculus, lib. ii., 44: "Hoc igitur consule, inter eum et Cn. Pompeium et M. Crassum inita potentiae societas, quae urbi orbique terrarum, nec minus diverso quoque tempore ipsis exitiabilis fuit." Suetonius, Julius Caesar, xix., "Societatem cum utroque iniit." Officers called Triumviri were quite common, as were Quinqueviri and Decemviri. Livy speaks of a "Triumviratus"—or rather two such offices exercised by one man—ix., 46. We remember, too, that wretch whom Horace gibbeted, Epod. iv.: "Sectus flagellis hic triumviralibus." But the word, though in common use, was not applied to this conspiracy.

[238] Ad Att., lib. ii., 3: "Is affirmabat, illum omnibus in rebus meo et Pompeii consilio usurum, daturumque operam, ut cum Pompeio Crassum conjungeret. Hic sunt haec. Conjunctio mihi summa cum Pompeio; si placet etiam cum Caesare; reditus in gratiam cum inimicis, pax cum multitudine; senectulis otium. Sed me [Greek: katakleis] mea illa commovet, quae est in libro iii.

"Interea cursus, quos prima a parte juventae Quosque adeo consul virtute, animoque petisti, Hos retine, atque, auge famam laudesque bonorum."

[239] Homer, Iliad, lib. xii., 243: [Greek: Eis oionos aristos amynesthai peri patres.]

[240] Middleton's Life of Cicero, vol. i., p. 291.

[241] Pro Domo Sua, xvi. This was an oration, as the reader will soon learn more at length, in which the orator pleaded for the restoration of his town mansion after his return from exile. It has, however, been doubted whether the speech as we have it was ever made by Cicero.

[242] Suetonius, Julius Caesar, xx.

[243] Ad Att., lib. ii., 1: "Quid quaeris?" says Cicero. "Conturbavi Graecam nationem"—"I have put all Greece into a flutter."

[244] De Divinatione, lib. i.

[245] Ad Quin. Fratrem, lib. i., 1: "Non itineribus tuis perterreri homines? non sumptu exhauriri? non adventu commoveri? Esse, quocumque veneris, et publice et privatim maximam laetitiam; quum urbs custodem non tyrannum; domus hospitem non expilatorem, recipisse videatur? His autem in rebus jam te usus ipse profecto erudivit nequaquam satis esse, ipsum hasce habere virtutis, sed esse circumspiciendum diligentur, ut in hac custodia provinciae non te unum, sed omnes ministros imperii tui, sociis, et civibus, et reipublicae praestare videare."

[246] Ad Quin. Fratrem, lib. i., 1: "Ac mihi quidem videntur huc omnia esse referenda iis qui praesunt aliis; ut ii, qui erunt eorum in imperio sint quam beatissimi, quod tibi et esse antiquissimum et ab initio fuisse, ut primum Asiam attigisti, constante fama atque omnium sermone celebratum est. Est autem non modo ejus, qui sociis et civibus, sed etiam ejus qui servis, qui mutis pecudibus praesit, eorum quibus praesit commodis utilitatique servire."

[247] "Haec est una in toto imperio tuo difficultas."

[248] Mommsen, book v., ca. 6.

[249] Mommsen, vol. v., ca. vi.

[250] Ad Att., lib. ii., 7: "Atque haec, sin velim existimes, non me abs te [Greek: kata to praktikon] quaerere, quod gestiat animus aliquid agere in republica. Jam pridem gubernare me taedebat, etiam quum licebat."

[251] Ad Att., lib. ii., 8: "Scito Curionem adolescentem venisse ad me salutatum. Valde ejus sermo de Publio cum tuis litteris congruebat, ipse vero mirandum in modum Reges odisse superbos. Peraeque narrabat incensam esse juventutem, neque ferre haec posse." The "reges superbos" were Caesar and Pompey.

[252] Ad Att., lib. ii., 5: [Greek: Aideomai Troas kai Troadas helkesipeplous].—Il., vi., 442. "I fear what Mrs. Grundy would say of me," is Mr. Tyrrell's homely version. Cicero's mind soared, I think, higher when he brought the words of Hector to his service than does the ordinary reference to our old familiar critic.

[253] Quint., xii., 1.

[254] Enc. Britannica on Cicero.

[255] Ad Att., lib. ii., 9.

[256] Ibid.: "Festive, mihi crede, et minore sonitu, quam putaram, orbis hic in republica est conversus." "Orbis hic," this round body of three is the Triumvirate.

[257] We cannot but think of the threat Horace made, Sat., lib. ii., 1:

"At ille Qui me commorit, melius non tangere! clamo, Flebit, et insignis tota cantabitur urbe."

[258] Ad Att., lib. ii., 11: "Da ponderosam aliquam epistolam."

[259] Josephus, lib. xviii., ca. 5.

[260] Ad Att., lib. ii., 16.

[261] Ad Att., lib. ii., 18: "A Caesare valde liberaliter invitor in legationem illam, sibi ut sim legatus; atque etiam libera legatio voti causa datur."

[262] De Legibus, lib. iii., ca. viii.: "Jam illud apertum prefecto est nihil esse turpius, quam quenquam legari nisi republica causa."

[263] It may be seen from this how anxious Caesar was to secure his silence, and yet how determined not to screen him unless he could secure his silence.

[264] Ad Quintum, lib. i., 2.

[265] Of this last sentence I have taken a translation given by Mr. Tyrrell, who has introduced a special reading of the original which the sense seems to justify.

[266] Macrobius, Saturnalia, lib. ii., ca. i.: We are told that Cicero had been called the consular buffoon. "And I," says Macrobius, "if it would not be too long, could relate how by his jokes he has brought off the most guilty criminals." Then he tells the story of Lucius Flaccus.

[267] See the evidence of Asconius on this point, as to which Cicero's conduct has been much mistaken. We shall come to Milo's trial before long.

[268] The statement is made by Mr. Tyrrell in his biographical introduction to the Epistles.

[269] The 600 years, or anni DC., is used to signify unlimited futurity.

[270] Mommsen's History, book v., ca. v.

[271] [Greek: Automalos onomazeto] is the phrase of Dio Cassius. "Levissume transfuga" is the translation made by the author of the "Declamatio in Ciceronem." If I might venture on a slang phrase, I should say that [Greek: automalos] was a man who "went off on his own hook." But no man was ever more loyal as a political adherent than Cicero.

[272] Ad Att., ii., 25.

[273] We do not know when the marriage took place, or any of the circumstances; but we are aware that when Tullia came, in the following year, B.C. 57, to meet her father at Brundisium, she was a widow.

[274] Suetonius, Julius Caesar, xii.: "Subornavit etiam qui C. Rabirio perduellionis diem diceret."

[275] "Qui civem Romanum indemnatum perimisset, ei aqua at igni interdiceretur."

[276] Plutarch tells us of this sobriquet, but gives another reason for it, equally injurious to the lady's reputation.

[277] Ad Att., lib. iii., 15.

[278] In Pisonem, vi.

[279] Ad Att., lib. x., 4.

[280] We are told by Cornelius Nepos, in his life of Atticus, that when Cicero fled from his country Atticus advanced to him two hundred and fifty sesterces, or about L2000. I doubt, however, whether the flight here referred to was not that early visit to Athens which Cicero was supposed to have made in his fear of Sulla.

[281] Ad Fam., lib. xiv., iv.: "Tullius to his Terentia, and to his young Tullia, and to his Cicero," meaning his boy.

[282] Pro Domo Sua, xxiv.

[283] Ad Quin. Fra., 1, 3.

[284] The reader who wishes to understand with what anarchy the largest city in the world might still exist, should turn to chapter viii. of book v. of Mommsen's History.

[285] Ad Att., lib. iii., 12.

[286] Horace, Epis., lib. ii., 1.

[287] Ad Att., lib. i., 8.

[288] Horace, Epis., lib. ii., 11. The translation is Conington's.

[289] Vell. Pat., lib. i., xiii.

[290] "Civile;" when Sulla, with Pompey under him, was fighting with young Marius and Cinna.

[291] "Africanum;" when he had fought with Domitius, the son-in-law of Cinna, and with Hiarbas.

[292] "Transalpinum;" during his march through Gaul into Spain.

[293] "Hispaniense;" in which he conquered Sertorius.

[294] "Servile;" the war with Spartacus, with the slaves and gladiators.

[295] "Navale Bellum;" the war with the pirates.

[296] For the full understanding of this oft-quoted line the reader should make himself acquainted with Cato's march across Libya after the death of Pompey, as told by Lucan in his 9th book.

END OF VOLUME I.