i i 
 
 
 W.e<J6 
 
 PRINCEiaN THEOLOGICAL SEMINSRY 
 
 BY THE HEIRS OF THE LATE 
 
 profcasor Ibcnrg Cariinaton BlcjanDcr, 5).H)., 3LU.2). 
 
 u. 2.. 
 
THE 
 
 OF 
 
 MARCUS TUIiLIUS CICERO 
 
 By CONYERS kiDDLETON, D.D. 
 
 PRINCIPAL LIBRARIAN TO THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGEc 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 
 Hunc i^tur spectemus. Hoc propositum sit nobis exemplum. 
 Ille se profecisse sciat, cui Cicero valde placebit. 
 
 QuintU. Instit, I. x. 1. 
 
 FROM THE LONDON EDITION. 
 
 VOL. II, 
 
 BOSTON : 
 
 PUBLISHED BY WELLS AND LILLY. 
 
 1818. 
 
LIFE 
 
 MARCUS TUILILIUS CICERO- 
 
 SECTION VI. 
 
 A. Urb. 696. Cic 50. Coss.— P. Corn. Lent. Spinthcr. Q. Caec. Metel. Nepos. 
 
 Cicero's return was what he himself truly calls it, 
 the beginning of a new life to him,^ which was to be 
 governed by new maxims, and a new kind of policy, 
 yet so as not 1o forfeit his old character. He had 
 been made to feel in what hands the weight of 
 power lay, and what little dependence was to be 
 placed on the help and support of his aristocratical 
 friends : Pompey had served him on this important 
 occasion very sincerely, and with the concurrence 
 also of Caesar, so as to make it a point of i^ratitude, 
 as well as prudence, to be more observant of them 
 than he had hitherto been : The senate, on the oth- 
 er hand, with the magistrates, and the honest of 
 all ranks, were zealous in his cause ; and the consul 
 
 * Alterius vitae qiioddam initium ordimur. [ad Att. 4. 1.] In another 
 place, he calls his restoration to his former dignity, TrstKiyymirieLv, [ad 
 Att. 6. 6.] or a new birth; a word borrowed probably from the Py- 
 thagorean school, and applied afterwards by the sacred writers to the 
 renovation of our nature by baptism, as well as our restoration to life 
 after death in tlie general resurrection. Matt. xix. 29. Tit. iii. 5 
 
4 THE LIFE OF sect. vr. 
 
 A. Urb 696. Cic. 50. Coss.— P. Com. Lent. Spinther. Q. Caec. Metel. Nepos. 
 
 Lentulus, above all, seemed to make it the sole 
 end and glory of his administration.^ This un- 
 common consent of opposite parties, in promoting 
 his restoration, drew upon him a variety of obliga- 
 tions, which must needs often clash and interfere 
 with each other, and which it was his part still to 
 manage so, as to make them consistent with his 
 honour, his safety, his private, and his publick 
 duty : these Avere to be the springs and motives of 
 his new life, the hinges on which his future con- 
 duct was to turn ; and to do justice severally to 
 them all, and assign to each its proper weight and 
 measure of influence, required his utmost skill and 
 address.f 
 
 The day after his arrival, on the fifth of Sep- 
 tember, the consuls summoned the senate, to give 
 him an opportunity of paying his thanks to them 
 in publick for their late services ; where, after a 
 general profession of his obligations to them all, he 
 made his particular acknowledgments to each ma- 
 gistrate by name ; to the consuls ; the tribunes ; 
 the praetors : He addressed himself to the tribunes, 
 before the^ praetors, not for the dignity of their 
 office, for in that they were inferiour, but for their 
 greater authority in making laws ; and, conse- 
 quently, their greater merif in carrying his law 
 into effect. The number of his private friends was 
 
 * Hoc specimen virtutis, hoc indicium animi, hoc himen consulatns 
 suj (ore putavit, si me mihi, si meis, si reipub. reddidisset.— Post 
 red. in Sen. 4. 
 
 t bed quia saepe conciirrit, propter arquorum de me mcritoriim 
 mter ipsos contentiones, ut codem tempore in omnes verear ne vix 
 possim gratus videri. Sed ego hoc meis ponderibu« examinabo, non 
 solum quid cuique deheam, sed etiam quid cujusque intersit, et quid 
 a me cujusque tempus poscat. Pro Plancio. 32. « 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 
 
 A. Urb. 696. Cic. 50. Coss.— P. Com. Lent. Spinther. Q. Caec. Metel. Nepos. 
 
 too great to make it possible for him to enumerate 
 or thank them all ; so that he confined himself to 
 the magistrates, with exception only to Pompey,* 
 whom, for the eminence of his character, though 
 at present only a private man, he took care to dis- 
 tinguish by a personal address and compliment. 
 But, as Lent ul us was the first in office, and had 
 served him with the greatest affection, so he gives 
 him the first sliare of his praise ; and, in the over- 
 flowing of his gratitude, stiles him, the parent and 
 the god of his life and fortunes.f The next day 
 he paid liis thanks likewise to the people, in a 
 speech from the rostra ; where he dwelt chiefly on 
 the same topicks which he had used in the senate, 
 celebrating the particular merits and services of 
 his principal friends, especially of Pompey : v^^hom 
 he declares to be "the greatest man for virtue, 
 " wisdom, glory, who was then living, or had lived, 
 " or ever would live ; and that he ovved more to 
 " him, on this occasion, than it was even lawful al- 
 '' most for one man to owe to another."} 
 
 * Cum perpaucis nominatim gratias egissem, quod oranes enn- 
 merari nullo modo possent, scelus autein esset quenquaru praeterirK 
 lb. 30. 
 
 flodierno autena die nominatim a me raagistratibus statui gratias 
 esse agendas, et de privatis uni, qui pro salute mea municipia, co- 
 loniasque adiisset. Post red. in Sen. 12. 
 
 f Princeps P. Lentulus, parens ac J)eus nostrae vitae, fortauae, 
 &c. Ibid, 4. It was a kind of maxim among the ancients, that, 
 " to do good to a mortal, was to be a god to a mortal :" — Deus esl 
 mortali, juvare mortalcm. [Plin. Hist. 2. 7.] Thus Cicero, as he 
 calls Lentulus here his god, so, on other occasions, gives the same ap- 
 pellation to Plato : ''Deus illc noster Plato."— [Ad Att. 1. 16,]— to 
 express the highest sense of the benefits received from them. 
 
 X Cn Pompeius, vir omnium qui sunt, ftierunt, erunt, princeps 
 virtute, sapientia, ac gloria. Huic ego homini, Quirites, tantum 
 debeo, quantum hominem homini debere vix fas e<;t. Post red. ad 
 Quir. 7. 
 
THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 696. Cic. 50. Coss.— P. Corn. Lent. Spinther. Q Caec. Metel. Nepos. 
 
 Both those speeches are still extant, and a pas- 
 sage or two from each will illustrate the temper 
 and disposition in which he returned. In speaking 
 to the senate, after a particular recital of the ser- 
 vices of his friends, he adds : " as I have a pleasure 
 " in enumerating these, so I willingly pass over in 
 " silence what others wickedly acted against me ; 
 " it is not my present business to remember inju- 
 " ries ; which, if it were in my power to revenge, 
 *'I should choose to forget; my life shall be ap- 
 " plied to other puposes ; to repay the good of- 
 " fices of those who have deserved it of me ; to hold 
 " fast the friendships which have been tried as it 
 '• were in the fire ; to waoe war with declared ene- 
 " mies ; to pardon my timorous, nor yet expose my 
 '' treacherous friends ; and to balance the misery 
 *' of exile by the dignity of my return.''* To the 
 " people he observes ; " that there were four sorts 
 " of enemies, who concurred to oppress him : the 
 '* first, who, out of hatred to the republick, were 
 " mortal enemies to him for having saved it : the 
 " second, who, under a false pretence of friendship, 
 " infamously betrayed him : the third, who, through 
 ^' their in«»biiity to obtain what he had acquired, 
 " were envious of his dignity : the fourth, wdio 
 " though by office they ought to have been the 
 " guardians of the republick, bartered away his 
 •' safety, the peace of the city, and the dignity of 
 " the empire, which w^ere committed to their trust. 
 " I will take my revenge," says he, " on each of 
 *' them, agreeably to t|ie different manner of their 
 •' provocation ; on the bad citizens, by defending 
 " the republick strenuously ; on my perfidious 
 
 * Post red. in Sen. 9. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 
 
 A. Urb. 696. Cic 50, Coss.— P. Com. Lent. Spinther. Q. Caec. Metel. Nepos. 
 
 " friends, by never trusting them aoain ; on the 
 " envious, by continuing my steady pursuit of vir- 
 " tue and glory ; on those merchants of provinces, 
 *' by calling them home to give an account of their 
 " administration : but I am more solicitous how to 
 " acquit myself of my obligations to you, for your 
 " great services, than to resent the injuries and 
 " cruelties of my enemies : for it is much easier to 
 " revenge an injury than to repay a kindness, and 
 " much less trouble to get the better of bad men 
 " than to equal the good."=^ 
 
 This affair being happily over, the senate had 
 leisure again to attend to publick business; and 
 there was now a case before them of a very urgent 
 nature, which required a present remedy ; an un- 
 usual scarcity of corn and provisions in the city, 
 which had been greatly encreased by tlie late con- 
 course of people from all parts of Italy, on Ci- 
 cero's account, and was now felt very severely by 
 the poorer citizens : They had borne it with much 
 patience while Cicero's return was in agitation ; 
 comforting themselves with a notion, that if he was 
 once restored, plenty would be restored with him ; 
 but. finding the one at last effected v*ithout the 
 other, they began to grow clamorous, and unable 
 to endure their hunger anv longer. 
 
 Clodius could not slip so fair an opportunity of 
 Exciting some new disturbance, and creating fresh 
 trouble to Cicero, by charging the calamity to his 
 score : for this end he employed a number of young 
 fellows to run all ni^ht about the streets, makin^r a 
 
 * Post red. ad Quir. 9. 
 
THE LIFE OF sect, ti, 
 
 A. Urb, 696. Cic. 50. Coss.— P. Com. Lent. Spinther. Q. Caec. Metel. Nepos. 
 
 lamentable outcry for bread ; and calling upon Ci- 
 cero to relieve them from the famine to which he 
 had reduced them ; as if he had got some hidden 
 store or magazine of corn, secreted from common 
 use.^ He sent his mob also to the theatre, in which 
 the praetor Caecilius, Cicero's particular friend, 
 was exhibiting the Apollinarian shews, where they 
 raised such a terrour that they drove the whole 
 company out of it : then, in the same tumultuous 
 manner, they marched to the temple of Concord, 
 whither Metellus had summoned the senate ; but 
 happening to meet with Metellus in the way, they 
 presently attacked him with vollies of stones ; with 
 some of which they wounded even the consul him- 
 self, who, for the greater security, immediately ad- 
 journed the senate into the Capitol. They were 
 led on by two desperate ruffians, their usual com- 
 manders, M. Lollius and M. Sergius ; the first of 
 W'hom had in Clodius's tribunate undertaken the 
 task' of killing Pompey ; the second had been cap- 
 tain of the guard to ('atiline, and was probably of 
 his family :t but Clodius, encouraged by this hope- 
 ful beginning, put himself at their head in person, 
 and pursued the senate into the Capitol, in order 
 
 * Qui facnltate oblata, ad iinperitorum animos incitandos, renovatu- 
 rum ie ilia fnnesta latrocinia ob annonae causam piitavisti. Pro dom. 5. 
 
 Quid ? piieronim ilia concursatio nocturna? niira a te ipso instituta, 
 me frumentum flagitabant ? Quasi vero ego aut rei iVumentariae prae- 
 iuissem, aut compressum aliquod frumentum tenerera. lb. 6. 
 
 t Cum homines ad tlieatrum prirao, deiude ad senatum concurris- 
 sent impulsu Clodii. Ad Att. 4. 1. 
 
 Concursus est ad tempIumConcordiae factus, senatum illuc vocante 
 Metello— qui sunt homines a U. Metello. in senatu palam nominati, a 
 quibus ille se lapidibus appetitum, etiam percussum esse dixit.— Quis 
 est iste Lollius? Qui te tribuno pleb.— Cn. Pompeium interficiendum 
 depoposcit.— Quis est Sergius ? arraigerCatilinae, stipatortui corporis, 
 plgnifer seditionis— his atque hujusmodi ducibus, cum tu in annpnae 
 caritate in cousules, in senatum — repentinos impetus comparares. — 
 Pro Dom. 5. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 
 
 A. Uib. 696. Cic 50. Coss.— P. Com. Lent. Spiuther. Q. Caec. Metel. Nepos. 
 
 to disturb their debates, and prevent their provid- 
 ing any relief for the present evil ; and above all, 
 to excite the meaner sort to some violence acrainst 
 Cicero. But he soon found, to his great disap- 
 pointment, that Cicero was too strong in the aifec- 
 tions of the ( ity to be hurt again so soon : for the 
 people themselves saw through his design, and 
 were so provoked at it, that they turned universal- 
 ly against him, and drove him out of the field with 
 all his mercenaries ; when perceiving that Cicero 
 was not present in the senate, they called out upon 
 him by name with one voice, and would not be 
 quieted till he came in person to undertake their 
 cause, and propose some expedient for their relief. 
 He had kept his house all that day, and resolved 
 to do so, till he saw the issue of the tumult ; but 
 when he understood that Clodius was repulsed, 
 and that his presence was Universally reqiured by 
 the consuls, the senate, and the whole people : he 
 came to the senate-house, in the midst of their de- 
 bates, and being presently asked his opinion, pro- 
 posed, that Pompey should be entreated to under- 
 take the province of restoring plenty to the city ; 
 and, to enable him to execute it with effect, should 
 be invested with an absolute power over all the 
 publick stores and corn-rents of the empire through 
 all the provinces : the motion was readily accepted, 
 and a vote immediately passed, that a law should 
 be prepared for that purpose, and offered to liie 
 people."^ All the consular senators were absent, 
 
 * Ego vero dorai me tenui, quamdiu turbulentuiu tempus fiiit — cum 
 servos tuos ad rapiuam, ad bonoruni caedem paratos — armatos etiaui 
 !n Capi<^oliiira tecum venisse constabat — scio me domi mansisse — pos- 
 teaquam mihi nunciatum est, populnm Roraannm in Capiiolium — con- 
 venisse. rainistros autem scelenim tuorum perlerritos, partim araissis 
 gladiis, partim creptis, diffugisse; veni noa solum sine ullis ropjis, ac 
 raanu, vernm etiam cum paucis amicis. — lb. 3. 
 VOL. II, 2 
 
10 THE LIFE OF sect. vr. 
 
 A. Urb. 696. Cic. 50. Coss.— P. Com. Lent. Spinther. Q. Caec Metel. Nepos. 
 
 except Messala and Afranius : they pretended to 
 be afraid of the niob; but the real cause was their 
 unwillingness to concur in grantins; this commission 
 to Pompey. The consuls carried the decree with 
 them into the Kostra, and read it publickly to the 
 people ; who, on the mention of Cicero's name, in 
 which it was drawn, gave an universal shout of ap- 
 plause ; upon which, at the desire of all the magis- 
 trates, Cicero made a speech to them, setting forth 
 the reasons and necessity of the decree, and giving 
 them the comfort of a speedy relief, from the vigi- 
 lance and authority of Pompey.^ The absence 
 however of the consular senators gave a handle to 
 reflect upon the act, as not free and valid, but ex- 
 torted by fear, and without the intervention of the 
 principal members ; but the very next day, in a 
 fuller house, when all those senators were present, 
 and a motion was made to revoke the decree, it 
 was unanimously rejected ;t and the consuls were 
 ordered to draw up a law conformable to it, by 
 which the whole administration of the corn and pro- 
 visions of the republick was to be granted to Pom- 
 
 E^o deniqfre^—a popnlo Romano universo, qui turn in CapitoJium 
 convenerat, cura ilJo die minus valerem, nominatim in senatuni voca- 
 bar. Veni exspectatus ; rauitisjara sententiis dictis, rogatus sum sen- 
 tentiam ; dixi reipub. saluberrimam, mihi necessariara. lb. 7. 
 
 Factum est S. C in meam sententiam, ut cum Pompeio ageretup, 
 ut earn rem susciperet, lexque ferretur. Ad Att. 4 1. 
 
 * Cum abessent consulares, quod tuto se negarent posse sententiam 
 dicere, praetor Messalara et Atranium. Ibid. 
 
 Quo S. C. recitato. cum contimio more hoc iusulso et novo plausuro, 
 meo nomine recitando dedisset, habui coucionem. — Ibid. 
 
 t At enim liberum senatus judicium propter metum non fuit. Pro 
 dom. 4. 
 
 Postridie senatus frcquens, et omnes consulares nihil Pompeio pos- 
 tulanti negarunt. Ad Att. 4. 1. 
 
 Cum omnes adessent, coeptum est referri de inducendo S. C. i ab 
 nniverso senatu reclamatum est. Pro dora. 4. 
 
^ECT. VI. CICERO. 11 
 
 A. Urb. 696. Cic, 50. Coss.— P. Com. Lent. Spinther. Q. Caec. Metel. Nepos. 
 
 pey for five years, with a power of choosing fif- 
 teen lieutenants to assist him in it. 
 
 This furnished Clodius with fresh matter of 
 abuse upon Cicero : he charged him " with ingra- 
 " titude, and the desertion of the senate, which had 
 "always been firm to him, in order to pay his 
 " court to a man who had betrayed him : and 
 "that he was so silly as not to know his own 
 " strength and credit in the city, and how able he 
 " was to maintain his authority without the help 
 " of Pompey.""^ But Cicero defended himself by 
 saying, " that they must not expect to play the 
 " same game upon him now that he was restored, 
 " with which he had ruined him before, by raising 
 "jealousies between him and Pompey: that he 
 " had smarted for it too severely already, to be 
 " caught again in the same trap ; that, in decree- 
 " ing this commission to Pompey, he had discharg- 
 " ed both his private obligations to a friend, and 
 " his publick duty to the senate ; that those who 
 " grudged all extraordinary power to Pompey, 
 " must grudge the victories, the triumphs, the ac- 
 " cession of dominion and revenue, which their 
 " former grants of this sort had procured to the 
 "empire; that the success of those shewed, what 
 " fruit they were to expect from this."t 
 
 * Tune es ille, ioquit, quo senatus carere non potuit ? — quo resti- 
 tuto, senatus auctoritatera restitutara putabamus ? quam primuna ad- 
 veniens prodidisti. lb. 2. 
 
 Nescit quantum auctoritate valeat, quas res gesserit, qua dignitate 
 sit restitutus. Cur ornat euro, a quo desertus est? lb. 11. 
 
 f Desinant homines iisdem raachinis sperare me restitutum posse 
 labefactari, quibus antea stantem perculerunt — data meroes est er- 
 roris raei magna, ut me non solum pigeat stultitiae meae, sed ctiam 
 pudeat. lb. 11. 
 
12 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 6Q6. Cic. 50. Coss.— P. Com. Lent. Spinther. Q. Caec Metel. Nepos. 
 
 But what authoritv soever this law conferred on 
 Pompey, his creatures were not yet satisfied with 
 it ; so that Messius, one of the tribunes, proposed 
 another, to give him the additional power of rais- 
 ing what money, fleets, and armies he thought 
 fit ; with a greater command through all the pro- 
 vinces, than their proper governours had in each. 
 Cicero's law seemed modest in comparison of 
 Messius' s : Pompey pretended to be content with 
 the first, whilst all his dependents were pushing 
 for the last; they expected that Cicero would 
 come over to them ; but he continued silent, nor 
 would stir a step farther ; for his affairs were still 
 in sucli a state, as obliged him to act with caution, 
 and to manage both the senate and the men of 
 power : the conclusion was, that Cicero's law was 
 received by all parties, and Pompey named him 
 for his first lieutenant, declaring that he should 
 consider him as a second self, and act nothing 
 without his advice.^ Cicero accepted the employ- 
 ment ; on condition that he might be at liberty to 
 use or resign it at pleasure, as he found it con- 
 venient to his affairs :t but he soon after quitted 
 
 Cn. Pompeio — maxima terra marique bella extra ordinera esse cora- 
 raissa : qiiarum rerura si quern poeniteat, eum victoriae populi Ro- 
 raani necesse est poenitere. lb. 8. 
 
 * Legem consules conscripserunt — alteram Messius, qua omnis pe- 
 cuniae ilat potestatem, et adjungit classem et exercilum, et majus 
 imperium in provinciis, quam sit eorum, qui eas obtinent. [Ila nos- 
 tra lex consularis nunc modesta videtur, haec Messii non ferenda. 
 Pompeius ilJam velle se dicit ; familiares banc. Consulares duce 
 Favonio fremunt, nos tacemus;,et ego magis, quod, de dome nostra 
 nihil adhiic pontifiees respouderifnt. — 
 
 llle Icgatos quindecim cum postularet, me principem nominavit et 
 ad omnia me alterum se fore dixit. — Ad Att. 4. 1. 
 
 f Ego me a Pompeio legari ita sum passus, ut nulla re impedirer, 
 quod ne, si vellem, naihi esset integrum. — lb. 2. 
 
SECT. VI. 
 
 CICERO. 13 
 
 A. Urb. 696. Cic. 50. Coss— P. Com. Lent. Spinther. Q. Caec. Metel. Nepos. 
 
 it to his brother, and chose to continue in the city ; 
 where he had the pleasure to see the end of his 
 law effectually answered : for the credit of Pom- 
 pey's name immediately reduced the price of vic- 
 tuals in the markets ; and his vigour and diligence 
 in prosecuting the affair soon established a gene- 
 ral plenty. 
 
 Cicero was restored to his former dignity, but 
 not to his former fortunes ; nor was any satisfac- 
 tion yet made to him for the ruin of his houses and 
 estates : a full restitution indeed had been decreed, 
 but was reserved to his return, which came now 
 before the senate, to be considered and settled by 
 publick authority, where it met still with great ob- 
 struction. The chief difficulty was about his Pa- 
 latine house, which he valued above all the rest, 
 and which Clodius for that reason, had contrived 
 to alienate, as he hoped, irretrievably, by demol- 
 ishing the fabrick, and dedicating a temple upon 
 the area to the goddess Liberty : where, to make 
 his work the more complete, he pulled down also 
 the adjoining portico of Catulus, that he might 
 build it up anew, of the same order with his tem- 
 ple ; and, by blending the publick with private 
 property, and consecrating the whole to religion, 
 might make it impossible to separate or restore 
 any part to Cicero, since a consecration, legally 
 performed, made the thing consecrated unapplica- 
 ble ever after to any private use. 
 
 This portico was built, as has been said, on the 
 spot where Fulvius Flaccus formerly lived, whose 
 house was publickly demolished, for the treason of 
 its master ; and it was Clodius's design to join Ci- 
 
14 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 696. Cic. SO. Coss.— P. Com. Lent. Spinther. Q. Caec Metel. Nepos. 
 
 cero's to it, under the same denomination, as the 
 perpetual memorial of a disgrace and punishment 
 inflicted by the people.^ When he had finished 
 the portico, therefore, and annexed his temple to 
 it, which took up but a small part, scarce a tenth 
 of Cicero's house, he left the rest of the area void, 
 in order to plant a grove, or walks of pleasure 
 upon it, as had been usual in such cases ; where, as 
 it has been observed, he was prosecuting a particu- 
 lar interest, as well as indulging his malice in ob- 
 structing the restitution of it to Cicero. 
 
 The affair was to be determined by the college 
 of priests, who were the judges in all cases re- 
 lating to religion : for the senate could only make 
 a provisional decree, " That if the priests dis- 
 '' charged the ground from the service of religion, 
 "then the consuls should take an estimate of the 
 " damage, and make a contract for rebuilding the 
 " whole, at the publick charge, so as to restore it 
 " to Cicero, in the condition in which he left it."t 
 The priests, therefore, of all orders were called 
 together on the last df September, to hear this 
 cause, vfliiTh Cicero pleaded in person before 
 them : They were men of the first dignity and fa- 
 milies in the republick ; and there never was, as 
 Cicero tells us, so full an appearance of them in 
 any cause, since the foundation of the city : he 
 reckons up nineteen by name, a great part of 
 
 * TJt domus M. Tullii Ciceropis cum domo Fulvii Flacci ad ine- 
 moriarn poenae publice constitiitae conjuncta esse videatur. Pro 
 dom. 38. 
 
 f Qui si sustnlerint religionern, aream praeclarara habebimus : su- 
 perficiem consiiles ex S. C. aestimabunt. — Ad Att. 4. 1. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. if, 
 
 A. Urb. 696. Cic. 50. Coss.— P. Corn. Lent. Spiuther. Q. Caec. Metel. Nepos. 
 
 whom were of consular rank.^ His first care, be- 
 fore he entered into the merits of the question, 
 was to remove the prejudices which his enemies 
 had been labouring to instil, on the account of his 
 late conduct in favour of Pompey, by explaining 
 the motives, and shewing the necessity of it ; con- 
 triving at the same time to turn the odium on the 
 other side, by running over the history of Clodius's 
 tribunate, and painting all its violences in the most 
 lively colours ; but the c[uestion on which the 
 cause singly turned, was about the efficacy of the 
 pretended consecration of the house, and the de- 
 dication of the temple : to shew the nullity, there- 
 fore, of this act, he endeavours to overthrow the 
 very foundation of it, " and prove Clodius's tribu- 
 " nate to be originally null and void, from the 
 " invalidity of his adoption, on which it was en- 
 " tirely grounded :" he shews, " that the sole end 
 «' of adoption, which the laws acknowledged, was 
 " to supply the want of children, by borrowing 
 " them as it .were from other families ; that it was 
 " an essential condhion of it, that he who adopted 
 '' had no children of his own, nor was in condition 
 « to have any : that the parties concerned were 
 '' obliged to appear before the priests, to signify 
 " their consent, the cause of the adoption, the cir- 
 " cumstances of the families interested in it, and 
 " the nature of their religious rites ; and that the 
 " priests might judge of the whole, and see that 
 '• there was no fraud or deceit in it, nor any dis- 
 " honour to any family or person concerned : that 
 '« nothing of all this had been observed in the case 
 «' of Clodius : that the adopter was not full twenty 
 
 * Nego unquara post sacra constitiita, quorum eadem est antiqui- 
 tas, quae ipsius urbis, nlla de re, ne. de capite quidem virginura ves~ 
 taliura, taua fiequens collegium judicasse. De Harnsp. resp. 6, 7. 
 
16 THE LIFE OF 
 
 SECT 
 
 A. Urb. 696. Cic 50. Coss.— P. Corn. Lent. Spinther. Q. Caec. Metel. Nepos. 
 
 " years old, when he adopted a senator, who was 
 " old enough to be his father : that he had no oc- 
 '' casion to adopt, since he had a wife and chil- 
 " dren, and would probably have more, which he 
 " must necessarily disinherit by this adoption, if it 
 " was I'eal : that Clodius had no other view than, 
 ^' by the pretence of an adoption, to make himself 
 *' a plebeian and tribune, in order to overturn the 
 " state ; that the act itself, which confirmed the 
 " adoption, was null and illegal, being transacted 
 " while Bibulus was observing the auspices, which 
 " was contrary to express law, and huddled over 
 '' in three hours by Caesar, when it ought to have 
 " been published for three market days successive- 
 " ly, at the interval of nine days each :* that if the 
 " adoption was irregular and illegal, as it certainly 
 " was, the tribunate must needs be so too, which 
 " was entirely built upon it : but granting the tri- 
 " bunate, after all, to be valid, because some emi- 
 " nent men would have it so, yet the act made af- 
 " terw^ards for his banishment could not possibly 
 '^ be considered as a law, but as a privilege only, 
 " made against a particular person, W'hich the sa- 
 " cred law% and the laws of tlie twelve tables, had 
 " utterly prohibited : that it was contrary to the 
 " very constitution of the republick, to punish any 
 *' citizen, either in body or ^oods, till he had been 
 " accused in proper form, and condemned of some 
 " crime by competent judges : that privileges, or 
 " laws to inflict penaHies on singJe persons by name, 
 '' without a legal triaJ, , were cruel and pernicious, 
 '* and nothing better than proscriptions, and of all 
 " things not to be endured in their city."t Then, 
 
 * Prodora. 13, 14, 15, 16. 
 
 fib. 17. in privos Loraiues Jeges ferri noluerunt ; id'est enim pri- 
 Yilegiuin : quo quid est iujtistius ? de Legib. 3. 19. 
 
SECT. VI. 
 
 CICERO. 17 
 
 A. Urb. 696. Cic. 50. Coss.— P. Com. Lent. Spinther. q. Caec. Metel. Nepos. 
 
 in entering upon the question of his house, he de- 
 clares, " that the whole etTect of his restoration de- 
 " pended upon it ; that if it was not given back to 
 " him, but suffered to remain a monument of tri- 
 " umph to his enemy, of o;rief and calamity to him- 
 " self, he could not consider it as a restoration, but 
 *^ a perpetual punishment : that his house stood in 
 " the view of the whole people, and if it must con- 
 " tinue in its present state, he should be forced to 
 " remove to some other place, and could never en- 
 *• dure to live in that city, in which he must always 
 ^' see trophies erected both against himself and the 
 " republick : the house of Sp. Melius," says he, 
 " who affected a tyraimy, was levelled ; and by the 
 " name of Aequimelium, given to the place, the 
 " people confirmed the equity of his punishment : 
 " the house of Sp. Cassius was overturned also for 
 " the same cause, and a temple raised upon it to 
 " Tellus : M. Yaccus's house was confiscated and 
 " levelled ; and, to perpetuate the memory of his 
 " treason, the place is still called Yaccus's mea- 
 *' dows : M. Manlius likewise, after he had repuls- 
 " ed the Gauls from the Capitol, not content with 
 " the glory of that service, was adjudged to aim at 
 " dominion, so that his house was demolished, where 
 " you now see the two groves planted : must I 
 " therefore suffer that punishment, which our an- 
 " cestors inflicted as the greatest, on wicked and 
 '' traitorous citizens, that posterity may consider 
 " me, not as the oppressor, but the author and cap- 
 " tain of the conspiracy ?"^ When he comes to 
 speak of the dedication itself, he observes, " that 
 "the goddess Liberty, to which the temple was 
 " dedicated, was the known statue of a celebrated 
 
 * Pro (lorn. 37, 38. 
 VOL. IT, 3 
 
18 THE LIFE OF sect, vu 
 
 A. Urb. 696. Cic. 50. Coss.— P. Corn. Lent. Spinther. Q. Caec. Metel. Nepos. 
 
 ' strumpet, which Appius brought from Greece, 
 ' for the ornament of his aedileship : and, upon 
 ' dropping the thoughts of that magistracy, gave 
 ' orders to his brother Clodius to be advanced to a 
 ' deity :^ that the ceremony was performed with- 
 ' out any license or judgment obtained from the 
 ' college of priests, by the single ministry of a 
 
 * young raw man, the brother-in-law of Clodius, 
 ' who had been made priest but a few days before ; 
 ' a mere novice in his business, and forced into the 
 
 • service :t but if all had been transacted regular- 
 ' ly, and in due form, that it could not possibly 
 ' have any force, as being contrary to the standing 
 ' laws of tlie republick : for there was an old tri- 
 
 bunician law made by Q. Papirius, which prohi- 
 bited the consecration of houses, lands, or altars, 
 without tlie express command of the people ; 
 which was not obtained, nor even pretended in 
 the present case :{ that great regard had always 
 been paid to this law in several instances of the 
 gravest kind : that Q. Marcius, the censor, erect- 
 ed a statue of Concord in a publick part of the 
 city, which C. Cassius afterwards, when censor, 
 removed*into the senate-house, and consulted the 
 college of priests, whether he might not dedicate 
 the statue and the house also itself to Concord : 
 upon which M. Aemilius, the high-priest, gave 
 answer, in tlie name of the college, that unless 
 the people had deputed him by name, and he act- 
 ed in it by their authority, they were of opinion 
 that he could not rightly dedicate them :? that 
 Licinia also, a vestal virgin, dedicated an altar 
 and little temple under the sacred rock ; upon 
 
 * Pro dom. 43. f lb. 45. t lb. 49. 
 
 5 Pro dora. 51. 53, 
 
SECT. VI. 
 
 CICERO. 19 
 
 A. Urb. 696. Cic. 50. Coss.— f*. Corn. Lent. Spinther. Q. Caec. Metel. Nepos. 
 
 *' which S. Julius, the praetor, by order of the se- 
 *' nate, consulted the college of priests ; for whom 
 *' P. Scaevola, the hi^li-priest, gave answer, that 
 " what Licinia had dedicated in a publick place, 
 " without any order of the people, could not be 
 '' considered as sacred : so' that the senate enjoin- 
 *' ed the praetor to see it desecrated, and to efface 
 " whatever had been inscribed upon it : after all 
 " this, it was to no purpose, he tells them, to men- 
 " tion what he had proposed to speak to in the last 
 ''place, that the dedication was not performed 
 "with any of the solemn words and rites which 
 " such a function required, but by the ignorant 
 " young man before mentioned, without the help 
 " of his colleagues, his books, or any to prompt 
 " him ; especially when Clodius, Avho directed him, 
 " that impure enemy to all religion, who often 
 '' acted the woman among men, as well as the man 
 " among women, huddled over the whole ceremo- 
 " ny in a blundering, precipitate manner, faulter- 
 *' ing and confounded in mind, voice, and speech, 
 "often recalling himself, doubting, fearing, hesi- 
 " tating, and performing every thing quite contra- 
 " ry to what the sacred books prescribed : nor is 
 " it- strange, says he, that in an act so mad and 
 "villainous, his audaciousness could not get the 
 " better of his fears : for what pirate, though ever 
 " so barbarous, after he had been plundering tem- 
 " pies, when pricked by a dream or scruple of re- 
 "ligion, he came to consecrate some altar on a 
 " desert shore, was not terrified in his mind, on 
 " being forced to appease that deity by his pray- 
 " ers, whom he had provoked by his sacrilege ? In 
 " what horrours, then, think you, must this man 
 " needs be, the plunderer of all temples, houses. 
 
20 THE LIFE OF sect. \i 
 
 A. Urb. 696. Cic. 50 Coss.— P. Com. Lent. Spinther. Q. Caec MeteL Nepos. 
 
 " and the whole city, when, for the expiation of so 
 " many impieties, he was wickedly consecrating 
 " one single altar ?'^ Then, after a solemn invocation 
 "and appeal to all the gods who peculiarly fa- 
 " voLired and protected that city, to bear witness 
 " to the integrity of his zeal and love to the re- 
 " publick, and that in all his labours and strug- 
 " gles, he had constantly preferred the publick 
 *' benefit to his own, he commits the justice of 
 " his cause to the judgment of the venerable 
 " bench." 
 
 He was particularly pleased with the composi- 
 tion of this speech, w^hich he published immediate- 
 ly ; and says upon it, that if ever he made any 
 figure in speaking, his indignation, and the sense 
 of his injuries, had inspired him with new force 
 and spirit in this cause.f The sentence of the 
 priests turned wholly on what Cicero had alleged 
 about' the force of the Papirian law ; viz. that if 
 he, who performed the office of consecration, had 
 not been specially authorised and personally ap- 
 pointed to it by the people, then the area in ques- 
 tion mighV without any scruple of religion, be 
 restored to Cicero. This, though it seemed some- 
 what evasive, was sufficient for Cicero's purpose ; 
 and his friends congratulated him upon it, as upon 
 a clear victory ; while Clodius interpreted it still 
 in favour of himself, and being produced into the 
 rostra by his brother Appius, acquainted the peo- 
 
 * Pro dom. 54, 55. 
 
 t Acta res est accurate a nobis: et si unquam in dicendo fuiraus 
 aliqni<l, aut etiam si iinqnam alias fiiimiis. turn profccto dolor et mag- 
 nitiido vim quandum nobis d tendi dedit. Itaque oratio juventgts 
 nostrae deberi non potest. Ad Att. 4. 2. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 21 
 
 A. Urb. 696. Cic. 50. Coss.— P. Com. Lent. Spintber. Q. Caec. MetPl. Nepos. 
 
 pie " that the priests had given judgment for him, 
 " but that Cicero was preparing to recover posses- 
 " sion by force, and exhorted them, therefore, to 
 " follow him and Appius in the defence of their 
 " liberties." But his speech made no impression 
 on the audience ; " some wondered at his impu- 
 " dence, others laughed at his folly, and Cicero 
 " resolved not to trouble himself, or the people, 
 " about it, till the consuls, by a decree of the se- 
 '' nate, had contracted for rebuilding the portico, of 
 " Catulus.* 
 
 The senate met the next day, in a full house, to 
 put an end to this affair ; when Marcellinus, one 
 of the consuls-elect, being called upon to speak 
 first, addressed himself to the priests, and desired 
 them to give an account of the grounds and mean- 
 ing of their sentence ; upon which Lucullus, in 
 the name of the rest, declared, " that the priests 
 "were indeed the judges of religion, but the se- 
 " nate of the law; that they therefore had deter- 
 " mined only what related to the point of religion, 
 "and left it to the senate to determine whether 
 " any obstacle remained in point of law :" all the 
 other priests spoke largely after him in favour of 
 Cicero's cause : when Clodius rose afterwards to 
 
 * Cum pontifices decressent, ita; ♦' Si neqiie populi jiissu, neque 
 plebisscitu, is qui se dedicasse diceret, nominatinj oi rei praefectus 
 esset ; neque populi jus'^ii, neque plebisscitu id facere Jussus esset, 
 videri posse sine religione eani partem areae milii it slitui." Mihi 
 factja statim est gratulatio ; nemo enim dubitat. quin domus nobis 
 esset adjudicata. Turn subito ille in confionem a>t!ndit, quara 
 Appius ei dedit : nunciat jam populo, pontifices secundum se detre- 
 visse ; me autem vi conaii in possessionem venii e : hortaUir, ut se et 
 Appium sequantur, et suam libertatem ut defendant. Hie cum etiam 
 illi infimi partim admirareutur, partim irriderent bominis amen- 
 tiam. Ad Att. 4. 2. 
 
22 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 696. Cic. 50. Coss.— P. Com. Lent. Spinther. Q. Caec. Metel. Nepos. 
 
 speak, he endeavoured to waste the time so, as to 
 hinder their coming to any resolution that day; 
 but after he had been speaking for three hours 
 successively; the assembly grew so impatient, and 
 made such a noise and hissing, that he was forced 
 to give over : yet, when they were going to pass 
 a decree, in the words of Marcellinus, Serranus 
 put his negative upon it : this raised an universal 
 indignation ; and a fresh debate began, at the 
 motion of the two consuls, on the merit of the 
 tribune's intercession ; when, after many warm 
 speeches, they came to the following vote : " That 
 " it was the resolution of the senate, that Cicero's 
 "house should be restored to him, and Catulus's 
 " portico rebuilt, as it had been before ; and that 
 ''this vote should be defended by all the magis- 
 " trates ; and if any violence or obstruction was 
 " offered lo it, that the senate would look upon it, 
 " as offered by him, who had interposed his nega- 
 " tiv^." This staggered Serranus, and the late 
 farce was played over again ; his father threw him- 
 self at his feet, to beg him to desist ; he desired a 
 night's time, which at first was refused, but, on Ci- 
 cero's request, granted ; and the next day he re- 
 voked his negative, and, without farther opposi- 
 tion, suffered the senate to pass a decree, that Ci- 
 cero's damage should be made good to him, and 
 his houses re-built at the publick charge.^ 
 
 The consuls began presently to put the decree 
 in execution ; and, having contracted for th6 I'e- 
 building Catulus's portico, set men to work, upon 
 clearing the ground, and demolishing what had 
 been built by Clodius : but as to Cicero's build- 
 
 * Ad Att. 4. 2. 
 
SECT. V] 
 
 CICERO. 23 
 
 A. Urb. 696. Cic. 50. Coss.— P. Com. Lent. Spiuther. Q. Caec. Metel. Nepos. 
 
 ings, it was agreed to take an estimate of his 
 damage, and pay the amount of it to himself, to 
 be laid out according to liis own fancy : in which 
 his Palatine house was valued at sixteen thousand 
 pounds : his Tusculan at four thousand ; his For- 
 mian only at two thousand. This was a very de- 
 ficient and shameful valuation, which all the world 
 cried out upon ; for the Palatine house had cost 
 him, not long before, near twice that sum : but 
 Cicero would not give himself any trouble about 
 it, or make any exceptions, which gave the con- 
 suls a handle to throw the blame upon his own 
 modesty, for not remonstrating against it, and 
 seeming to be satisfied with what was awarded: 
 but the true reason was, as he himself declares, 
 that those wdio had dipt his wings had no mind to 
 let tliem grow again ; and though they had been 
 his advocates when absent, began now to be se- 
 cretly angry, and openly envious of him when pre- 
 sent.^ 
 
 But as he was never covetous, this affair gave 
 him no great uneasiness ; thouoh, through the late- 
 ruin of his fortunes, he was now in such want of 
 money, that he resolved to expose his Tusculan 
 villa to sale ; but soon changed his mind and built 
 it up again with much more magnificence than 
 before; and for the beauty of its situation and 
 
 * Nobis superficiem aediiim consules de consilii sententia aestiraa- 
 runt H.S. vicies ; caetera valde illiberaliter ; Tusculanara villam 
 quingentis millibus; Formianuin U.S. diicentis quinquagiutamillibus : 
 qnae'aestimatio non modo ab optimo qnoque, sed etiam a plebe re- 
 prehenditur. Dices, quid igitur causae luit ? Dicuot illi quidem 
 pudorein raeum, quod iieque negarim, neque vehementius postula- 
 rim. Sed non est id; nam hoc quidem etiam profuisset. Verum 
 iidem, mi Pomponi, iidem inquara illi, qui miiii pennas incideruut, 
 nolunt easdem reoasci. Ibid. 
 
24 THE LIFE OP SECT. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 696. Cic. 50. Coss.— P. Com. Lent. Spintiier. Q. Caec Metd. N^os. 
 
 neighbourhood to the city, took more pleasure in 
 it ever after, than in any other of his country seats. 
 But he had some domestick grievances about this 
 time, which touched him more nearly ; and which, 
 as he signifies obscurely to Atticus, were of too 
 delicate a nature to be explained by a letter :^ 
 they arose chiefly from the petulant humour of 
 his wife, which began to give him frequent occa- 
 sions of chagrin ; and, by a series of repeated pro- 
 vocations, confirmed in him that settled disgust, 
 which ended at last in a divorce. 
 
 As he was now restored to the possession both 
 of his dignity and fortunes, so he was desirous to 
 destroy all the publick monuments of his late dis- 
 grace ; nor to suflfer the law of his exile to remain, 
 with the other acts of Clodius's tribunate, hanging 
 up in the Capitol, engraved, as usual, on tables of 
 brass : watching therefore the opportunity of Clo- 
 dius's absence, he went to the Capitol with a strong 
 body of his friends, and taking the tables down 
 conveyed them to his own house. This occasion- 
 ed a sharp contest in the senate between him and 
 Clodius, aTjout the validity of those acts ; and 
 drew Cato also into the debate ; who, for the sake 
 of his Cyprian commission, thought himself obliged 
 to defend their legality against Cicero ; which 
 created some little coldness between them, and 
 gave no small pleasure to the common enemies of 
 them both.t 
 
 * Tusculanum proscripsi : suburbano non facile careo. — Caetera, 
 quae me solicitant, ^t/o-T/jtargga sunt. Amainur a fratre et filia. lb. 
 
 t Plutarch in Cic. Dio. p. 100. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 25 
 
 A. Urb. 696. Cic. 50. Coss.— P. Corn. Lent. Spinther. Q. Caec. Metel. Nepos. 
 
 But Cicero's chief concern at present was, how 
 to support his former authority in the city, and 
 provide for his future safety ; as well against the 
 malice of declared enemies, as the envy of pre- 
 tended friends, which he perceived to be growing 
 up afresh against him : he had thoughts of putting 
 in for the censorship ; or of procuring one of those 
 honorary Lieutenancies, which gave a publick 
 character to private senators ; with intent to make 
 a progress through Italy, or a kind of religious 
 pilgrimage to all the temples, groves and sacred 
 places, on pretence of a vow made in his exile. 
 This would give him an opportunity of shewing 
 himself every where in a light which naturally 
 attracts the affection of the multitude, by testify- 
 ing a pious regard to the favourite superstitions 
 and local religions of the country ; as the great, in 
 the same country, still pay their court to the vul- 
 gar, by visiting the shrines and altars of the saints 
 which are most in vogue : he mentions these pro- 
 jects to Atticus, as designed to be executed in the 
 spring, resolving in the mean while to cherish 
 the good inclination of the people towards him, by 
 keeping himself perpetually in the view of the 
 city.=^ 
 
 Catulus's portico, and Cicero's house were ris- 
 ing again apace and carried up almost to the roof; 
 when Clodius, without any warning, attacked them, 
 on the second of November, with a band of armed 
 men, Avho demolished the portico, and drove the 
 
 * Ut nuila re impedirer. quod nisi vellera, milii esset integrum, aut 
 si comitia censorura proximi consules haberent, petere posse, aut 
 votivam legationem sumsisse prope omniunri lanoruni, ar Jncoruni 
 Ad Att. 4. 2. 
 
 TOL. IT. 4 
 
26 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 696. Cic. 50. Coss.— P. Com. Lent. Spinther. Q. Caec. Metel. Nepos. 
 
 workmen out of Cicero's ground and with the 
 stones and rubbish of the place began to batter 
 Cluintus's house, with whom Cicero then lived, 
 and at last set fire to it ; so that the two brothers, 
 with their families, were forced to save themselves 
 by a hasty flight. Milo had already accused Clo~ 
 dius for his former violences, and resolved, if pos- 
 sible, to bring him to justice: Clodius, on the 
 other hand, was suing for the Aedileship, to secure 
 himself, for one year more at least, from any pro- 
 secution : he was sure of being condemned, if ever 
 he w^as brought to trial, so that whatever mis- 
 chief he did in the mean time was all clear gain, 
 and could not make his cause the worse :^ he now 
 therefore gave a free course to his natural fury ; 
 was perpetually scouring the streets with his in- 
 cendiaries, and threatening fire and sword to the 
 city itself, if an assembly was^ not called for the 
 election of aediles. In this humour, about a week 
 after -his last outrage, on the eleventh of Novem- 
 ber, happening to meet with Cicero, in the sacred 
 street, he presently assaulted him with stones, 
 clubs, and drawn swords : Cicero was not prepared 
 for the encQunter, and took refuge in the vestibule 
 of the next house ; where his attendants rallying 
 in his defence, beat off the assailants, and could 
 easily have killed their leader, but that Cicero 
 was willing, he says, to cure by diet, rather than 
 surgery. The day following Clodius attacked Mi~ 
 
 * Armatis hoininibus ante diem III. Non. Noveinb. expuisi sunt 
 fabri de area nostra, disturbata portions CatiiU — Uiiao ad tectum 
 paene pervenerat. Quint i fratris domns primo (Vacta conjectu fapi- 
 dum, ex area nostra, deinde jussu Clodii inflammaia. in>^pectaote 
 
 urbe, conjectis ignibus.- Videt, si onuies quos vult palam occi- 
 
 derit, nihilo suam causam difficiliorem, quara adhnc sit, in judicio 
 fnturam.— Ad Att. 4. 3. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 2r 
 
 A. Urb. 696. Cic. 50. Coss.— P. Com. Lent. Spinther. Q. Caec Metel. Nepos. 
 
 lo's house, with sword in hand and lighted flam- 
 beaus, with intent to storm and burn it : but Milo 
 was never unprovided for him ; and Q,, Flaccus, 
 sallying out with a strong band of stout fellows, 
 killed several of his men, and would have killed 
 Clodius too, if he had not hid himself in the inner 
 apartments of P. Sylla's house, which he made use 
 of on this occasion as his fortress."^ 
 
 The senate met, on the fourteenth, to take these 
 disorders into consideration ; Clodius did not think 
 fit to appear there ; but Sylla came, to clear himself 
 probably from the suspicion of encouraging him in 
 these violences, on account of the freedom, which 
 he had taken with his house.f Many severe 
 speeches were made, and vigorous counsels propos- 
 ed ; MarcelUnus's opinion was, that Clodius should 
 be impeached anew for these last outrages; and 
 that no election of aediles should be suffered, till 
 he was brought to a trial : Milo declared, that as 
 long as- he continued in office tlie consul Metellus 
 should make no election : for he would take the 
 auspices every day, on which an assembly could 
 be held ; but Metellus contrived to waste the day in 
 speaking, so that they w^ere forced to break up 
 withont making any decree. Milo was as good as 
 his word, and, having gathered a superiour force, 
 
 * Ante diem tertiuin Id. Novcmb. eum sacra via descenderem, 
 insecutiis est me cum suis. Clamor, lapides, fiistes, gladii ; haec ira- 
 provisa omnia. Diseessiraus in vestibuhira Tetii Daraionis : qui erant 
 mecum facile operas aditu prohibuenint. Ipse occidi potuit ; sed 
 ego diaeta curare incipio, chirurgiae taedet. — MJJonis donnira prid. 
 id. expugnare et incendere ita conatus est, ut palam hora quinta cum 
 scutis homines, eductis gladiis, alios cum accensis i'acibus adduxerit. 
 Ipse domum P. Syllae pro castris ad earn impngnationem sumpserat, 
 &c. Ad Att. 4. '3. 
 
 f Sylla se in senatu postridie Idus, domi Clodius. Tb, 
 
28 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Uib. 696. Cic. SO. Coss.— P. Com. Lent. Spinther. Q. Caec. Metel. Nepos. 
 
 took care to obstruct the election ; though the con- 
 sul Metellus employed all his power and art to 
 elude his vigilance, and procure an assembly by 
 stratagem -, calling it to one place, and holding it in 
 another, sometimes in the field of Mars, sometimes 
 in the forum ; but Milo was ever before hand with 
 him ; and, keeping a constant guard in the field 
 from midnight to noon, was always at hand to in- 
 hibit his proceedings, by obnouncing, as it was call- 
 ed, or declaring, that he was taking the auspices 
 on that day ; so that the three brothers were baf- 
 fled and disappointed, though they were perpetu- 
 ally haranguing and labouring to intlame the peo- 
 ple against Ihose, who interrupted their assemblies 
 and right of electing; where Meteilus's speeches 
 were turbulent, Appius's rash,Clodius's furious. Ci- 
 cero, who gives this account to Atticus, was of opi- 
 nion that there would be no election ; and that Clo- 
 dius w^ould be broui^ht to trial, if he was not first 
 killed by Milo ; which was likely to be his fate : 
 " Milo," says he, " makes no scruple to own it ; 
 " being not deterred by my misfortune, and having 
 " no envious or peifidious counsellors about him, 
 " nor any iazy nobles to discourage him : it is com- 
 " monly given out by the other side, that what he 
 " does, is all done by my advice ; but they little 
 " know how^ much conduct, as well as courage, 
 "there is in this hero."* 
 
 * Egregins IVTarcellinus, omnes acres; Metellus calainnia dicendi 
 tempiis exeniit : conciones tiirhulentae JMetelli, tem^rariae Appii, fu- 
 riosissimae Clodii : haec tainentsumnia, nisi Milo in campuin obnun- 
 cias«et, comilia f'utura. — Comitia fore nou arbitror; reuni Publium, 
 nisi ante occisu5j erit, fore a Milone puto. Si se inter viam obtulerit, 
 occisnm iri ab ipso Milone video. Non dubitat facere; prae se fert; 
 casuni ilium nostrum non extimescit, etc. 
 
 Meo consilio omnia illi fieri querebantur, ignari quantum in iH© 
 heroe esset animi, quantum etiara consilii. — Ad Att. 4.3, 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 29 
 
 A. Urb. 696. Cic. 50. Ctps,— P. Com. Lojt. Spintber. Q. Caec. Metel. Nepos. 
 
 Young Lentulus, the son of the consul, was, by 
 the interest of his father, and the recommendation 
 of his noble birth, chosen into the college of augurs 
 this summer, though not yet seventeen years old ; 
 having but just changed his puerile for the manly 
 gown :* Cicero was invited to the inauguration 
 feast, w^here, by eating too freely of some vegeta- 
 bles, which happened to please his palate, he was 
 seiz9d with a violent pain of the bowels, and diar- 
 rhaea ; of which he sends the following account to his 
 friend Gall us. 
 
 " Cicero to Gallus. 
 
 " After I had been labouring for ten days, with 
 " a cruel disorder in my bowels, yet could not con- 
 '' vince those, who wanted me at the bar, that I was 
 " ill, because I had no fever, I ran away to Tuscu- 
 " lum ; having kept so strict a fast for two days be- 
 " fore, that I did not taste so much as water : being 
 " worn out therefore with illness and fasting, I 
 *' wanted rather to see you, than imagined that you 
 " expected a visit from me ; for my part, I am 
 " afraid, I confess, of all distempers ; but especially 
 " of those, for which the Stoicks abuse your Epi- 
 " curus, when he complains of the strangury and 
 
 N. B. From these facts it appears, that what is said above, of 
 Aelian and Fusian Jaws, and prohibiting the magistrates from ob- 
 structing the assemhiies of the people, is to be understood only in 
 a partial sense, and that his new law extended no farther, than to 
 hinder the magistrates from dissolving an assembly, after it was ac- 
 tually convened and had entered upon business ; for it was still unlaw- 
 ful, we see, to convene an assembly, while the magistrate was in the 
 act of observing the heavens. 
 
 * Cui superior annus idem et virilem patris et praetextam populi 
 judicio togara dederit.— Pr. Sext. 79. it. Dio. I. 39. p. 09. 
 
30 THE LIFE OF sect, vi, 
 
 A. Urb. 696. Cic. 50. Coss.— P. Corn. Lent. Spinther. Q Caec. Metel. Nepos. 
 
 " dysentery ; the one of which they take to be the 
 " effect of ghittony ; the other of a more scanda- 
 " lous intemperance. I was apprehensive indeed 
 " of a dysentery ; but seem to have found benefit, 
 " either from the change of air, or the relaxation of 
 " my mind, or the remission of the disease itself: 
 " but that you may not be surprized how this 
 ^' should happen, and what I have been doing to 
 " bring it upon me ; the sumptuary law, which 
 *' seems to introduce a simplicity of diet, did me 
 " all this mischief. For since our men of taste are 
 " grown so fond of covering their tables with the 
 '' productions of the earth, which are excepted by 
 «' the law, they have found a Avay of dressing mush- 
 " rooms and all other vegetables so palatably, that 
 " nothing can be more delicious : I happened to 
 " fall upon these at Lentulus's augural supper, and 
 " was taken with so violent a flux, that this is the 
 " first day on which it has begun to give me any 
 " ease. Thus I, who used to command myself so 
 " easily in oysters and lampreys, was caught with 
 '* beets and mallows ; but I shall be more cautious 
 " for the future : you- however, who must have 
 " heard of-my illness from Anicius, for he saw me 
 " in a fit of vomiting, had a just reason, not only 
 " for sending, but for coming yourself to see me. 
 " I think to stay here, till I recruit myself; for I 
 " have lost both my strength and my flesh ; but if I 
 " once get rid of my distemper, it will be easy, I 
 " hope, to recover the rest."^ 
 
 * Ep. Fam. 7. 2G. 
 
 N. B. Pliny says, that the colum, by which he is supposed to mean 
 the cholick, was not known at Rome till the reign of Tiberius : but 
 the case described in this letter seems to come so very near to it that 
 he must be understood, rather of the name, than of the thing; as the 
 learned Dr. Lc Clerc has observed in his history of medicine. — PHn. Ic 
 26. 1. Le Cler. Hist. par. 2. 1. 4. sect. 2. c. 4. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 31 
 
 A. Urb. 696. Cic. SO. Coss.— P. Com. Lent. Spinther. Q. Caec. Metel. Nepos. 
 
 King Ptolemy left Rome about this time, after 
 he had distributed immense sums among the great, 
 to purchase his restoration by a Roman army. 
 The people of Aegypt had sent deputies also after 
 him, to plead their cause before the senate, and to 
 explain the reasons of their expelling him ; but the 
 king contrived to get them all assassinated on the 
 road, before they reached the city. This piece of 
 villany, and the notion of his having bribed all the 
 magistrates, had raised so general an aversion to 
 him among the people, that he found it advisable 
 to quit the city, and leave the management of his 
 interest to his agents. The consul Lentulus, who 
 had obtained the province of Cilicia and Cyprus, 
 whither he was preparing to set forward, was very 
 desirous to be charged with the commission of re- 
 placing him on the throne ; for which he had 
 already procured a vote of the senate : the oppor- 
 tunity of a command, almost in sight of Aegypt, 
 made him generally thought to have the best pre- 
 tensions to that charge ; and he was assured of Ci- 
 cero's warm assistance in soliciting the confirmation 
 of it. 
 
 In this situation of affairs, the new tribunes en- 
 tered into office : C. Cato, of the same family with 
 his namesake Marcus, was one of the number ; a 
 bold turbulent man, of no temper or prudence, yet 
 a tolerable speaker, and generally on the belter 
 side in politicks. Before he had borne any pub- 
 lick office, he attempted to impeach Gabinius of 
 bribery and corruption ; but not being able to get 
 
 The mention likewise of the J'-jo-cv^im 7rttb», or the strangury of Epi- 
 curus, and the censure which thi^ >loicks passed upon it, would make 
 one apt to suspect, that some disorders of a venereal kind were not 
 unknown to the ancients. 
 
32 THE LIFE OF sect, vi, 
 
 A. Ui-b. 696. Cic 50. Coss.— P. Com. Lent. Spinther. Q. Caec. Metel. Nepos. 
 
 an audience of the praetors, he had the hardiness 
 to mount the rostra, which was never allowed to a 
 private citizen, and, in a speech to the people, de- 
 clared Pompey dictator : but his presumption had 
 like to have cost him dear ; for it raised such an 
 indignation in the audience, that he had much diffi- 
 culty to escape with his life.^ He opened his pre- 
 sent magistracy by declaring loudly against king 
 Ptolemy, and all who favoured him, especially 
 Lentulus, whom he supposed to be under some pri- 
 vate engagement with him, and, for that reason, 
 was determined to baffle all their schemes. 
 
 Lupus likewise, one of his colleagues, summon- 
 ed the senate, and raised an expectation of some 
 uncommon proposal for him : it was indeed of an 
 extraordinary nature ; to revise and annul that 
 famed act of Caesar's consulship, for the division 
 of the Campanian lands : he spoke long and well 
 upon' it, and was heard with much attention ; gave 
 great praises to Cicero, w ith severe reflections on 
 Caesar, and expostulations with Pompey, who was 
 now abroad in the execution of his late commis- 
 sion : in tim conclusion he told them, that he would 
 not demand the opinions of the particular senators, 
 because he had no mind to expose them to the re- 
 sentment and animosity of any ; but from the ill 
 humour, which he remembered, when that act first 
 passed, and the favour with which he was now 
 heard, he could easily collect the sense of the 
 house. Upon which Marcellinus said, " that he 
 
 * Ut Cato, adolescens nulliiis consilii, — vix vivus effiigeret; quod 
 cum Gabinium de arabitu vellet postulare, neque praetores dlebus ali- 
 quot adiri possent, vel potcstatein sui facerent, in concionem adscen- 
 dit, et Pompeium privatus dictatorem appellavit. Propius nihil est 
 factum, quam ut occiderctur. Ep. ad Quint, Frat. 1. 2. 
 
SKCT. VI. CICERO. 33 
 
 A. Urb. 696. Cic, 50. Coss.—P.* Com. hem. Spinthei-. q. Caec Metel. Nepos. 
 
 " must not conclude, from their silence, either what 
 " they liked or disliked : that for his own part, 
 " and he might answ^er, too, he believed, for the 
 " rest, he chose to say nothing on the subject at 
 " present, because he thought that the cause of 
 "the Campanian lands ought not to be brought 
 " upon the stage in Pompey's absence." 
 
 This affair being dropt, Racilius, another tri- 
 bune, rose up and renewed the debate about IMilo's 
 impeachment of Clodius, and called upon Mar- 
 cellinus, the consul-elect, to give his opinion upon 
 it ; who, after inveighing against all the violences 
 of Clodius, proposed, that, in the first place, an 
 allotment of judges should be made for the trial ; 
 and after that, the election of aediles ; and, if 
 any one attempted to hinder the trial, that he 
 should be deemed a publick enemy. The other 
 consul-elect, Philippus, was of the same mind ; 
 but the tribunes, Cato and Cassius, spoke against 
 it, and were for proceeding to an election before 
 any step towards a trial. When Cicero was call- 
 ed upon to speak, he ran through the whole se- 
 ries of Clodius's extravagancies, as if he had been 
 accusing him already at the bar, to the great sa- 
 tisfaction of the assembly : Antistius, the tribune, 
 seconded him, and declared, that no business 
 should be done before the trial ; and when the 
 house was going universally into that opinion, 
 Clodius began to speak, with intent to waste the 
 rest of tlie day, while his slaves and follow ers with- 
 out, who had seized the steps and avenues of the 
 senate, raised so great a noise, of a sudden, in 
 abusing: some of Milo's friends, that the senate 
 
 VOL. II. «'> 
 
34 THE LIFE OP sect, vf. 
 
 A. Urb. 696. Cic. 50. Coss.— P. Com. Lent. Spinther. Q. Caee. Metel. Nepos. 
 
 broke up in no small hurry, and with fresh indigna- 
 tion at this new insult/^ 
 
 There was no more business done through the 
 remaining part of December, wliich w^as taken 
 up chiefly, with holydays. Lentulus and Metel- 
 lus, whose consulship expired with the year, set 
 forward for their several governments ; the one 
 for Cilicia, the other for Spain ; Lentulus com- 
 mitted the whole direction of his affairs to Cicero ; 
 and Metellus, unwilling to leave him his enemy, 
 made up all matters with tiim before his depart- 
 ure, and wrote an affectionate letter to him af- 
 terwards from Spain ; in which he acknowledges 
 his services, and intimates, that he had given up 
 hi«i brother Clodius, in exchange for his friend- 
 ship.t 
 
 A. Urb. 697. Cic. 51. Coss.— Cn. Com. Lent. Marcellinus. L. Mar. Philippus. 
 
 Cicero's^^first concern, on the opening of the 
 new year, was to get the commission, for restor- 
 ing king Ptolemy, confirmed to Lentulus ; which 
 come now under deliberation : the tribune, Cato, 
 was fierce against restoring him at all, with the 
 
 * Tnm Clodius rogatiis diem dicendo exiinere coepit — deinde ejus 
 operae repente a Graecostasi et gradihus elamorem satis magnum sus- 
 tulerunt, opinor in Q. Sextilitfrn et amicos 3.*il(:nis incitatae; eo 
 metu injecto repente magna querimonia omnium discessimus. Ad 
 Quint. Fr. 2. 1. 
 
 t Libenterque comrautata persona, te mihi fratris loco esse duco 
 Ep. Fam. 5. 3. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 35 
 
 A, Urb. 697. Cic. 51. Coss.— Cn. Com. Lent. Marcelliniis. L. Rfar. Philippus. 
 
 greatest part of the senate on his side ; when 
 taking occasion to consult the Sibylline books, on 
 the subject of some late prodigies, he chanced to 
 find in them certain verses, forewarning the Ro- 
 man people, not to replace an exiled king of 
 Egypt with an army. This was so pat to his 
 purpose, that there could be no doubt of its being 
 forged ; but Cato called up the guardians of the 
 books into the rostra, to testify the passage to be 
 genuine ; where it was publickly read and ex- 
 plained to the people : it was laid also before the 
 senate, w^ho greedily received it; and, after a 
 grave debate on this scruple of religion, came to 
 a resolution that it seemed dangerous to the re- 
 publick, that the king should be restored by a 
 multitude.^ It cannot be imagined, that they laid 
 any real stress on this admonition of the Sibyl, 
 for there was not a man either in or out of the 
 house, who did not take it for a fiction: but it 
 was a fair pretext for defeating a project which 
 was generally disliked : They were unwilling to 
 gratify any man's ambition, of visitjng the rich 
 country of Egypt, at the head of an army, and 
 persuaded, that without an army, no man would be 
 solicitous about going thither at all.f 
 
 This point being settled, the next question was, 
 in what manner the king should be restored : va- 
 
 * Senatus religionis calumniam, non religione, sed malevolentia, 
 et illius jegiae largitionis iovidia comprobat. — Ep. Fam. 1.1. 
 
 De Rege Alexandrino factum est S. C. cummultitudine eurn reduci, 
 periculosura reipub. videri. — Ad Quint. Fr. 2. 2. 
 
 f Haec Lamen opinio est populi Roman!, a tuis invidis atquc ob- 
 trectatoribus nomen inductum fictae religionis, non tam ut te impe- 
 diient. quam ut nequis, propter exercitus eupiditatem, Alexandriam 
 vellet ire. Ep. Fam. 1. 4. 
 
36 THE LIFE OF sect, vi 
 
 A. Urb. 697. Cic. 51. Coss.— Cn. Com. Lent. Marcellinus. L. Mar. Philippus. 
 
 rious opinions were proposed ; Crassus moved, 
 that three ambassadours, chosen from those who 
 had some publick command, should be sent on 
 the errand ; which did not exclude Pompey : Bi- 
 bulus proposed, that three private senators ; and 
 Volcatius, that Pompey alone should be charged 
 with it : but Cicero, Hortensius, and LucuUus 
 urged, that Leiitulus, to whom the senate had al- 
 ready decreed it, and who could execute it with 
 most convenience, should restore him without an 
 army. The two first opinions were soon over- 
 ruled, and the strugsile. lay between Lentulus and 
 Pompey. Cicero, though he had some reason to 
 complain of Lentulus, since his return, particu- 
 larly for the contemptible valuation of his houses, 
 yet, for the great part which he had borne in re- 
 storing him, was very desirous to shew his gra- 
 titude, and resolved to support him with all his 
 authority : Pompey, who had obligations also to 
 Lentulus, acted the same part towards him, which 
 he had done before towards Cicero; by his own 
 conduct and professions, he seemed to have Len- 
 tulus's interest at heart ; yet, by the conduct of 
 all his fri^ends, seemed desirous to procure the 
 employment for himself; while the king's agents 
 and creditors, fancying that their business would be 
 served the most effectually by Pompey, began 
 openly to solicit, and even to bribe for him.'^ But 
 
 * Crassus tres legatos deccrnit, nee excludit Pompeiura : censet 
 enimetiam ex iis, qui enin impqrio sunt. M. Bibulus tres legatos ex 
 iis, qui privati sunt. Huic assfentiuntur reliqui consulares, praeter 
 Servilinm, qui omnino reduci negat oportere, et Volcatium, qui de- 
 cernit I'ompeio. 
 
 Hortcnsii et mea et Luculli sententia — Ex illo S. C. quod te refe- 
 rente factum est, tibi decernit, ut reducas regem. 
 
SECT. VI. 
 
 CICERO. 37 
 
 A. XJrb. 697. Cic. 51. Coss.--Cn. Com. Leut. Jlarcellinus. L. Mar. Philippus. 
 
 the senate, through Cicero's influence, stood gene- 
 rally inclined to Lentulus ; and, after a debate, 
 which ended in his favour, Cicero, who had been 
 the manager of it, happening to sup with Pom- 
 pey that evening, took occasion to press hiin, with 
 much freedom, not to suffer his name to be used 
 in this competition ; nor give a handle to his ene- 
 mies, for reproaching him with the desertion of 
 a friend, as well as an ambition of engrossing all 
 power to himself. Pompey seemed touched with 
 the remonstrance, and professed to have no other 
 thought, but of serving Lentulus, while his de- 
 pendents continued still to act so, as to convince 
 every body that he could not be sincere.^ 
 
 When Lentulus's pretensions seemed to be in a 
 hopeful way, C. Cato took a new and effectual 
 method to disappoint them, by proposing a law to 
 the people, for taking away his government and 
 recalling him home. This stroke surprised every 
 body ; the senate condemned it as factious ; and 
 Lentulus's son changed his habit upon it, in order 
 
 Regis causa si qui sunt qui velint, qui pauci sunt, omnes rem ad 
 Pompeiura deferri volunt. Ep. Fam. 1.1. 
 
 Reliqua cum esset in senatu contentio, Lentulusne an Pompeius re- 
 ducevet, obtinere causara Lentulus videbatur. In ea re Pompeius 
 quid velit non despicio : familiares ejus quid cupiant, omnes vident. 
 Creditores vero regis aperte pecunias suppeditant contra Lentulum. 
 Sine dubio res remota a Lentulo videtur, cum magno raeo dolore : 
 quaraquam raulta fecit, quare si fas esset, jure ei succensere possemus. 
 Ad auin. Fr. 2. 2. 
 
 * Ego eo die casu apud Pompeium caenavi : nactnsque tempns hoc 
 magis idoneum, quam unquam antea post tuum dicessum, is enim 
 dies houestissimus nobis fuerat in senatu, ita sum cum illo locutus, ut 
 mihi viderer animum hominis ab omni alia cogitatione ad tuam di<^- 
 nitatem tuendam traducere : quem ego ipsum cum audio, prorsus cum 
 libero omni suspicione cupiditatis : cum autem ejus familiares, omni- 
 um ordinum, video, perspicio, id quod jam omnibus est apertum, to- 
 tara rem istam jam pridem a certis hominibus, non invito rege ipso— 
 esse corruptam. Ep. Fam. 1. 2. 
 
38 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 697. Cic. 51. Coss.— Cn. Com. Lent. Maroellinus. L. Mar. Philippus. 
 
 to move the citizens, and hinder their offering such 
 an affront to his father. Fhe tribune, ( 'aninius, 
 proposed another law, at the same time, for send- 
 ing Pompey to Egypt : but this pleased no bet- 
 ter than the other ; and the consuls contrived, that 
 neither of them should be brought to the suffrage 
 of the people.^ These new contests gave a fresh 
 interruption to Ptolemy's cause ; in which Cicero's 
 resolution was, if the commission could not be ob- 
 tained for Lentulus, to prevent its being granted 
 at least to Pompey, and save themselves the dis- 
 grace of being baffled by a competitor -.f but the 
 senate was grow^n so sick of the whole affair, that 
 they resolved to leave the king to shift for him- 
 self, without interposing at all in his restoration ; 
 and so the matter hung ; whilst other affairs, more 
 interesting, were daily rising up at home, and en- 
 gaging the attention of the city. 
 
 The election of aediles, which had been indus- 
 triously postponed through all the last summer, 
 could not easily be kept off any longer : the city- 
 was impatient for its magistrates ; and especially 
 for the pl«^s and shews with which they used to 
 entertain them ; and several also of the new tri- 
 bunes being zealous for an election, it was held, at 
 
 * Nos cum raaxime consilio, studio, labore, gratia, de causa regia 
 niteremur, subito exorta est nefaria Catonis promulgatio, quae studia 
 nostra impediret, et animos a minore cura ad sumraum timorem tra- 
 duceret. Ibid. 5. 
 
 ■Suspicor per vim rogationem Caniniura perlaturum. Ad Quint. 
 2.2. ; 
 
 f Sed vereor ne aut eripiatur nobis causa regia, aut deseratur. Sed 
 si res coget, est quiddam tertium, quod non — mihi displicebat ; ut 
 neque jacere regem patereraur, nee nobis repuguantibus, ad eum de- 
 ferri, ad quem prope jam delatum videtur. Ne, si quid non obtinqe- 
 rimus, repulsi esse videamur. Ep. Fam. 1. 5. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 39 
 
 A. Urb. 697. Cic 51. Coss.— Cn. Com. Lent. Marcellinas. L, Mar. Hiilippus. 
 
 last, on the twentieth of January ; when Clodius 
 was chosen aedile, without any opposition ; so that 
 Cicero began once more to put himself upon his 
 guard, from the certain expectation of a furious ae- 
 dileship.^ 
 
 It may justly seem strange, how a man so profli- 
 gate and criminal as Clodius, whose life was a per- 
 petual insult on all laws, divine and human, should 
 be suffered not only to live without punishment, 
 but to obtain all the honours of a free city in their 
 proper course ; and it would be natural to suspect, 
 that we had been deceived in our accounts of 
 him, by taking them from his enemies, did we not 
 find them too firmly supported by facts to be call- 
 ed in question : but a little attention to the par- 
 ticular character of the man, as well as of the 
 times in which he lived, will enable us to solve the 
 difficulty. First, the splendour of his family, 
 which had born a principal share in all the tri- 
 umphs of the republick, from the very foundation 
 of its liberty, was of great force to protect him 
 in all his extravagancies: those, who know anv 
 thing of Rome, know what a strong impre^ssion 
 this, single circumstance of illustrious nobility 
 would necessarily make upon the people ; Cicero 
 calls the nobles of this class, praetors and consuls 
 elect from their cradles, by a kind of hereditary 
 right ; whose very names were sufficient to ad- 
 vance them to all the di^rnities of the state.t Se- 
 
 * Sed omnia fiunt lardiora propter furiosae aedilitatis expectatio- 
 nem. Ad Quint. 2. 2. 
 
 t Non idem mihi licet, quod iis, qui nobili geiiere nati sunt, qui- 
 bus omnia populi Koraani beneficia dormientibus delerunlur. — In 
 Verr. 5. 70. 
 
 Erat nobilitate ipsa, blanda conciliatrieula commendatus. Oraoes 
 semper boui nobilitali tavemus, &c. — Pr. Sext. 9. 
 
40 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 697. Cic. 51. Coss— Cn. Com. Lait. Marcellinus. L. Mar. Philippus. 
 
 condly, his personal qualities were peculiarly adapt- 
 ed to endear him to all the meaner sort : his bold 
 and ready wit ; his talent at haranguing ; his pro- 
 fuse expense ; and his being the first of the fami- 
 ly who had pursued popular measures, against the 
 maxims of his ancestors, who were all stern asser- 
 tors of the aristocratical power. Thirdly, the con- 
 trast of opposite factions, who had each their ends 
 in supporting him, contributed principally to his 
 safety : the triumvirate willingly permitted and 
 privately encouraged his violences; to make their 
 own power not only the less odious, but even 
 necessary, for controlling the fury of such an in- 
 cendiary ; and though it was often turned against 
 themselves, yet they chose to bear it, and dissem- 
 ble their ability of repelling it, rather than de- 
 stroy the man who was playing their game for 
 them, and, by throwing the republick into confusion, 
 throwing it of course into their hands : the senate, 
 on the other side, whose chief apprehensions were 
 from the triumvirate, thought, that the rashness of 
 Clodius might be of some use to perplex their 
 measures, and stir up the people against them on 
 proper oc^j^sions ; or it humoured their spleen, at 
 least, to see him often insulting Pompey to his 
 face.^ Lastly, all, who envied Cicero, and desired 
 to lessen his authority, privately cherished an ene- 
 my, who employed all his force to drive him from 
 the administration of affairs : this accidental con- 
 
 * Videtis igitur hominein per seipsum jam pridera afflictiira ac ja- 
 centem, perniciosis Optiraatiuin^ discordiis excitari. — Ne a republica 
 reipub. pestis amoveretiir, restiterunt : etiam, ue causain diceret : 
 etiam, ne privatus esset : eliamne in sinu atque in deliciis quidam op- 
 timi viri viperain illam venenalani ac pestiferam habere potuerunt? 
 Quo tandem decepti inunere ? Volo, inquiunt, esse qui in concione 
 detrahat de Pompeio. — De Hariisp. resp. 24. 
 
-^ECT. vi. CICERO. 41 
 
 A. Urb. 697. Cic. 51. Coss.— Cn. Com. Lent Marcellinus. L. Mai-. Philippus. 
 
 currence of circumstances, peculiar to the man and 
 the times, was (he thing that preserved Clodius, 
 whose insolence could never have been endured 
 in any quiet and regular state of the city. 
 
 By his obtaining the aedileship, the tables were 
 turned between him and Milo : the one was arm- 
 ed with the authority of a magistrate ; the other 
 become a private man : the one freed from all ap- 
 prehension of judges and a trial ; the other exposed 
 to all that danger from the power of his antago- 
 nist : and it was not Clodius's custom, to neglect 
 any advantage against an enemy ; so that he now- 
 accused Milo of the same crime of which Milo 
 had accused him ; of publick violence and breach 
 of the laws, in maintaining a band of gladiators to 
 the terrour of the city. Milo made his appear- 
 ance to this accusation, on the second of Februa- 
 ry ; when Pompey, Crassus, and Cicero appeared 
 with him; and M. Marcellus, though Clodius's 
 colleague in the aedileship, spoke for him at Ci- 
 cero's desire ; and the Avhole passed quietly and 
 favourably for him on that day. The second 
 hearing w^is appointed on the ninth ; when Pom- 
 pey undertook to plead his cause ; but no sooner 
 stood up to speak, than Clodius's mob began to 
 exert their usual arts, and, by a continual clamour 
 of reproaches and invectives, endeavoured to hin- 
 der him from going on, or at least from being 
 heard : but Pompey was too firm to be so baffled ; 
 and spoke for near three hours, with a presence 
 of mind, which commanded silence in spite of 
 their attempts. When Clodius rose up to answer 
 him, Milo's party, in their turn, so disturbed and 
 confounded him, that he was not able to speak a 
 
 VOL. IT. 6 
 
42 THE LIFE OF sect, vi 
 
 A. Urb. 697. Cic. 51. Coss.— Cn. Com. Lent. Marcellinus. L, Mar. Philippus. 
 
 word ; while a number of epigrams and lampoons 
 upon him and his sister were thrown about, and 
 publickly rehearsed amons; the multitude below, 
 so as to make him quite ifurious : till recollecting 
 himself a little, and finding it impossible to pro- 
 ceed in his speech, he demanded aloud of his mob, 
 who it was, that attempted to starve them by fa- 
 mine ? To which they presently cried out, Pom- 
 pey : he then asked, who it was, that desired to 
 be sent to Egypt? They all echoed, Pompey : 
 but when he asked, who it was, that they them- 
 selves had a mind to send ? they answered, Cras- 
 sus : for the old jealousy was now breaking out 
 again between him and Pompey ; and though he 
 appeared that day on Milo's side, yet he was not, 
 as Cicero says, a real well-wisher to him. 
 
 These warm proceedings among the chiefs, 
 brought on a fray below% among their partisans ; 
 the Glodians began the attack, but w ere repulsed 
 by the Pompeians ; and Clodius himself driven out 
 of the rostra i Cicero, when he saw the affair pro- 
 ceed to blows, thought it high time to retreat and 
 make the-4)est of his w ay towards home : but no 
 great harm was done, for Pompey, having cleared 
 the forum of his enemies, presently drew off his 
 forces, to prevent a<iy farther mischief or scandal 
 from his side.^ 
 
 * Ad diem IIII. Non. Febr. M\\& aflfiiit. Ei Pompeiiis advocatus 
 venit. Dixit Marcellus a ine rogatus. Hoiieste discessiraiis. Pro- 
 ductus dies est in lill. Id. FeU— A. D. IIII. Id. Milo affiiit. Dixit 
 Pompeius, sive voliiit. Nam ut snrrexit, operae Clodianae clamorem 
 sustiilernnt : idque ei perpetua oratione contigit. non niodo nt ac- 
 claraalione, sed nt convicjo et maledictis impediretnr. Uiii nt pero- 
 ravit. nam in eo sane lortis Init, non est deterritus, dixit oirn a atque 
 interdum etiam silentio, cum anrtoritate pfregerat ; sed ut peroravit, 
 surrexit Clodius : ei tantus clamor a nostris, piacuerat euim refeiTft 
 
aKci. VI. CICERO. 43 
 
 A. Urb. 697. Cjc. 51. Coss.— Cn. Com. Lent. Marcellinus. L. Mar. Philippus. 
 
 The senate was presently summoned, to provide 
 some remedy for these disorders; where Pom- 
 pey, w^ho had drawn upon himself a fresh envy 
 from his behaviour in the Eoryptian affair, was 
 severely handled by Bibulus, Curio, Favonius, and 
 others ; Cicero chose to be absent, since he must 
 either have offended Pompey, by sayini^ nothing 
 for him, or the honest party, by defending him. 
 The same debate was carried on for several days ; 
 in which Pompey was treated very roughly by 
 the tribune Cato ; who inveighed against him with 
 great fierceness, and laid open his perfidy to Ci- 
 cero, to whom he paid the highest compliments ; 
 and was heard with much attention by all Pom- 
 pey's enemiese 
 
 Pompey answered him with an unusual vehe- 
 mence ; and reflecting openly on Crassus, as the 
 author of these affronts, declared, that he would 
 guard his life with more care than Scipio Africa- 
 nus did^ when Carbo murdered him. These warm 
 expressions seemed to open a prospect of some 
 great agitation likely to ensue : Pompey consult- 
 ed with Cicero on the proper means of his securi- 
 ty ; and acquainted him w ith his apprehensions of 
 
 gratiam, iit neque mente, neque lingua, neqiie ore consisterel. — Cum 
 omnia maledicta, turn versus etiara obscoenissimi in Clodium et Clo- 
 diara dicerentur. Ille furens et exsanguis inteiTogabat suos in da- 
 more ipso, quis esset, qui plebera fame necaret ? Respondebant ope- 
 rae, Pompeius. Quis Alexandriam ire cuperet ? Respondebant, Pora- 
 peius. Quem ire vellent? Respondebant, Crassum. Is aderat turn 
 
 Miloni animo non amico. 
 
 Hora fere nona, quasi signo dato, Clodiani nostros consputare coe- 
 periint. Exarsit dolor, urgere illi ut loco nos moverent. Factus est 
 a nostris impetus, lnga operarum. Ejectus de rostris Clodius. Ac 
 nos quoque turn f'ugimus, ne quid in turba. — Senatus vocatus in Cu- 
 riam, Pompeius domum Ad Quint. Fr. 2. 3.^ 
 
44 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 697. Cic. 51. Coss.— Cn. Com. Lent. Marcell'nus. L. Mar. Philippus. 
 
 a deri^n against his life ; thai Cato was privately 
 supported, and Clodius furnished with money by 
 Crassus ; and both of them encouraged by Curio, 
 Bibulus, and tlie rest, who envied him ; that it was 
 necessary for him to look to himself, since the 
 meaner people were wholly alienated, the nobility 
 and senate generally disaffected, and the youth 
 corrupted. Cicero readily consented to join forces 
 with him, and to summon their clients and friends 
 from all parts of Ital> : for though he had no mind 
 to fight his battles in the senate, he was desirous 
 to defend his person from all violence, especially 
 against Crassus, whom he never loved : they re- 
 solved likewise, to oppose with united strength all 
 the attempts of Clodius and Cato, against Lentulus 
 and Milo.* Clodius, on the other hand, was not 
 les-; busy in mustering his friends against the next 
 hearing of Milo's cause : but as his strength was 
 much infei iour to that of his adversary, so he had 
 no expectation of getting him condemned, nor any 
 
 * Neqne c;^o in senatum. ne aut, de tantis rebus tacerem, aiit in 
 Pompeio defendendo, nam is car|)ebatur a Bibulo, Curione, Favonio, 
 Servilio filio, aniraos bonoruin oflenderem. Kes in posterum diem 
 dilata est.— Eo die nihil perfectum. — Ad diem II. Id. — Cato est 
 vehementer in Porapeium inveetiis et eum oratione perpetiia tan- 
 quam reuui accusavit. De me raulta, me invito, cum mea summa 
 laude dixit. Cum illius in me perfidiam incrcpavit, auditus est 
 magno silentio maJevoloruni. Respondit ei vehementer Pompeius 
 Crassumque descripsit ; dixitque aperte, se munitiorera ad custodi- 
 endam vitara suara fore, quam Africanus fuisset, quem C. Carbo 
 inieremisset. Itaque magnae mihi res moveri videbautur. Nam 
 Pompe us haec intelligit, mecunique communicat insidias vitae suae 
 fieri: C. Catonem a Crasso sus'entari ; Clodio pecuniara suppedita- 
 ri : utrumque et ab eo et a Cijrione, Bibulo, caeterisque suis ob- 
 trectatoribus conGrmari : vehementer esse providendum ne opprima- 
 tur, concionario illo populo, a se prope alienato, nobilitate inimica, 
 non aequo senatu, juventute improba ; itaque se eomparat. homines 
 ex agris arcessit. Operas autem suas Clodius contirmat. Manus 
 ad Quirinalia paratur. In eo multo sumus superiores, etc. Ad Quint. 
 2. 3. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 45 
 
 A. Urh. 697. Cic. 51. Coss.— Cn. Com. Lent. Marcellinus. L. Mar. Philippus. 
 
 other view, but to teize and harass him :^ for 
 after two hearings, the affair was put off by seve- 
 ral adjournments to the beginning of May ; from 
 which time we find no farther mention of it. 
 
 The consul, Marcellinus, who drew his colleague 
 Philippus along with him, was a resolute opposer 
 of the triumvirate, as well as of all the violences 
 of the other magistrates : for which reason, he 
 resolved to suffer no assemblies of the people, ex- 
 cept such as were necessary for the elections into 
 the annual offices : his view was, to prevent Cato's 
 law for recalling Lentulus, and the monstrous 
 things, as Cicero calls them, which some were at- 
 tempting at this time in favour of Caesar. Cicero 
 gives him the character of one of the best con- 
 suls that he had ever known, and blames him only 
 in one thing ; for treating Pompey, on all occa- 
 sions, too rudely ; v. hich made Cicero often absent 
 himself from the senate, to avoid taking part, either 
 on the one side or the other.f For the support, 
 therefore, of his dignity and interest in the city, he 
 resumed his old task of pleading causes; which 
 was always popular and reputable, and in which he 
 was sure to find full employment. His first cause 
 was the defence of L. Bestia, on the tenth of 
 February, who, after the disgrace of a repulse 
 
 * Vid. Dio. p. 99. 
 
 f Consul est egresins Lentulus, non impedientc colFega : sic in- 
 quam bonus, ut meliorem non viderim. Dies comitiaI«i<5 exerait 
 omues. — iSic legibus perniciosissimis obsistitur, maximc Catonis. — 
 Nunc igitur Catonem Lentulus a legibus removii, et eos, qui de 
 Caesare raonstra piomulgarunt.— Marcellinus autem hoc uno niihi 
 minus satisfaoit, quod euin nimis aspere tractat, quanquam id sena- 
 tu non invito facit : quo ego me libentius a curia, et ab omni parte 
 reip. subtraho. Ad Quint. 26. 
 
46 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 697. Cic. 51. Coss.— Cn. Com. Lent. Marcellinus. L. Mar. Philippus. 
 
 from the praetorship in the last election, was ac- 
 cused of bribery and corruption in his suit for it ; 
 and notwithstanding the authority and eloquence 
 of his advocate, was convicted and banished. He 
 was a man extremely corrupt, turbulent, and se- 
 ditious ; had always been an enemy to Cicero ; 
 and supposed to be deeply engao;ed in Catiline's 
 plot ; and is one instance of the truth of what Ci- 
 cero says, that he was often forced, aoainst his 
 will, to defend certain persons, who had not de- 
 served it of him, by the intercession of those who 
 had.^ 
 
 Caesar, who was now in the career of his victo- 
 ries in Gaul, sent a request to the senate ; "that 
 " money miojht be decreed to him for the payment 
 " of his army ; with a power of choosing ten lieu- 
 " tenants, for the better management of the war, 
 " and the conquered provinces ; and that his com- 
 " mand should be prolonged for five years more."' 
 The demand was thought very exorbitant ; and 
 it seemed strange, that, after all his boasted con- 
 quests, he should not be able to maintain his army 
 without mTJtiey from home, at a time when the 
 treasury was greatly exhausted ; and the renewal 
 of a commission, obtained at first by violence, and 
 against the authority of the senate, was of hard 
 digestion. But Caesar's interest prevailed, and 
 Cicero himself was the promoter of it, and pro- 
 cured a decree to his satisfaction ; yet, not without 
 disgusting the old patriots, who stood firm to their 
 
 * A, D. III. Id. dixi pro Bestia de ambitu apnd praetorem Cn. 
 Domitimn, in foro medio, maximo conventu. — Ad Uuint . 2. 3. 
 
 Cogor nonnunquam homines non optime de me meritos, rogatii 
 eorum qui bene meriti sunt, defendere. Ep. Fam. 7. 1. Vid. Philip. 
 XI. 5. Salhist. 17. 43. Phitar. in Cic. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 47 
 
 A. Urb. 697. Cic 51. Coss.— Cn. Corn. Lent. Marcellinus. L. Mar. Pbilippus. 
 
 maxim of opposing all extraordinary grants : but 
 Cicero alleged the extraordinary services of Cae- 
 sar ; and that the course of his victories ought not 
 to be checked by the want of necessary supplies, 
 while he was so gloriously extending the bounds 
 of the Empire, and conquering nations, whose 
 names had never been heard before at Rome : and 
 thouiih it were possible for him to maintain his 
 troops without their help, by the spoils of the ene- 
 my, yet those spoils ought to be reserved for the 
 splendour of his triumph, which it was not just to 
 defraud by their unseasonable parsimony.* 
 
 He might think it 'imprudent, perhaps, at this 
 time, to call Caesar home from an unfinished war, 
 and stop the progress of his arms in the very height 
 of his success ; yet the real motive of his conduct 
 seems to have flowed, not so much from the merits 
 of the cause, as a regard to the condition of the 
 times, and his own circumstances. For in his pri- 
 vate letters, he owns, " That tlie malevolence and 
 " envy of the aristocratical chiefs had almost dri- 
 " ven him from his old principles, and, though not 
 " so far as to make him forget his dignity, yet so 
 " as to take a proper care of his safety, both which 
 " might be easily consistent, if there was any faith 
 " or gravity in the consular senators : but they had 
 " managed their matters so ill, that those who were 
 " superiour to them in power, were become supe- 
 
 * Ilium enim arbitrabar etiam sine hoc subsidio pecuniae retinere 
 exercitum praeda ante parta, et helium conHcere posse : sed decus il- 
 lud et ornamentum triuraphi minuendum nostra parsimonia uon puta- 
 vi. — 
 
 Et quas regiones, quasque gentes nullae nobis antea litterae, nulla 
 rox, nulla fama notas leccrat, bas noster imperator, nosterque exerci- 
 tus, etpopuli Koraaniarmaperagrarunt. — De Prov. CousuJ, XJ. I?.. 
 
48 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 697. Cic. 51. Coss.— Cn. Corn. Lent. Marcelliuus. L. Mar. Philippus. 
 
 *• liour too in authority, so as to be able to carry 
 " in the senate what they could not have carried 
 " even with the people without violence : that he 
 •' had learned, from experience, what he could not 
 '^ learn so well from books, that as no regard was to 
 " be had to our safety, without a reo;ard also to our 
 " dignity ; so the consideration of dignity ought 
 " not to exclude the care of our safety."^ In an- 
 other letter, he says, " That the state and form of 
 " the government was quite changed, and what he 
 " had proposed to himself, as the end of all his 
 *' toils, a dignity and liberty of acting and voting, 
 " was quite lost and gone : that there was nothing 
 *' left, but either meanly to assent to the few w^ho 
 " governed all, or weakly to oppose them, with- 
 " out doing any good : that he had dropt, therefore, 
 *' all thoughts of that old consular gravity and cha- 
 " racter of a resolute senator, and resolved to con- 
 *' form himself to Pompey's will ; that his great af- 
 " fection to Pompey made him begin to think all 
 " things riffht which were useful to him : and he 
 '^ comforted himself with reflecting, that the great- 
 *' ness of his obligations would make all the world 
 " excuse hil5t for defending what Pompey liked, or 
 " at least for not opposing it ; or else, what of all 
 " things he most desired, if his friendship with Pom- 
 
 * Quorum inalevolentissirais obtrectationibus nos scito de vetere 
 ilia nostra, (liuturnaque sententia propejam esse depulsos : non nos 
 quidem ut nostrae dignitatis simus obliti, sed ut habeamus rationem 
 aliquaudo etiam salutis. Poterat utrumque praeclare, si esset fides, 
 si gravitas in hominibus consularil^us. — 
 
 Nam qui plus opibus, armis, poleutia valent, profecisse tantum rai- 
 hi videnlur stullitia et inconstantia adversariornm, ut etiara auctori- 
 tate jam plus valerent. — quod ipse, literis omnibus a pueritia deditus, 
 experiundo tamen magis, quam discendo cognovi ; — neque salutis nos- 
 trae rationem habendam nobis esse sine dignitate, neque dignitatij*" 
 sine salute. — Ep. fam 1. 7. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 49 
 
 A. tJrb. 697. Cic. 51. Coss.— P. Corn. Lent. Marcellinus. L. Mar. Philippus. 
 
 " pey would permit him, for retiring from publick 
 " business, and giving himself wholly up to his 
 " books."^ 
 
 But he was now en2;aired in a cause in which he 
 was warmly and specially interested, the defence 
 of P. Sextius, the late tribune. Clodius, who gave 
 Cicero's friends no respite, having himself under- 
 taken MUo, assigned the prosecution of Sextius to 
 one of his confidents, M. Tullius Albinovanus, who 
 accused him of publick violence, or breach of 
 peace in his tribunate.f Sextius had been a true 
 friend to Cicero in his distress, and borne a great 
 part in his restoration ; but as, in cases of eminent 
 service, conferred jointly by many, every one is 
 apt to claim the first merit, and expect the first 
 share of praise ; so Sextius, naturally morose, fan- 
 cying himself neglected, or not sufficiently requit- 
 ted by Cicero, had behaved very churlishly towards 
 him since his return : but Cicero, who was never 
 forgetful of past kindnesses, instead of resenting 
 his perverseness, having heard that Sextius was in- 
 disposed, went in person to his house, and cured 
 
 *'Tantmri enini animi inductlo et me hercule amor erga Porapeium 
 apiid me valet, ut, quae ille iitilia sunt, et quae ille vult, ea milii om" 
 Ilia jam et recta ct vera videantur — Me quidem ilia res consolatur, 
 quod ego Is ?um, cui vel maxime concedant omues, ut vel ea defen- 
 dam, quae Pompeius velit, vel taceam, vel etiam, id quod mihi max- 
 ime lubet, ad nostra me studia referam litterarum ; quod profecto fa- 
 ciam, si mihi per ejusdem amicitiam licebit. 
 
 Quae enim proposita fuerant nobis, cum et bonoribus amplissimis, 
 et laboribus maximis perfuncti essemus, dignitas in sententiis dicen- 
 dis, libertas in Rep. capessenda ; ea sublata tota : sed nee mihi magis, 
 quam omnibus. Nam aut assentiendum est nulla cum gravitate pau- 
 cis, aut frustra dissentiendum. Ibid. 8. 
 
 t Qui cum omnibus salutis meae defensoribus bellura sibi esse ge- 
 rendum judicaverunt. Pro Sext. 2. 
 VOL, IT. 7 
 
 D 
 
50 THE LIFE OF sect, vi, 
 
 A. Urb. 697. Cic 51. Coss.— Cn. Corn. Lent. Marcellinus. L. Mar. Philippus. 
 
 him of all his jealousies, by freely offering his assis- 
 tance and patronage in pleading his cause.^ 
 
 This was a disappointment to the prosecutors, 
 who flattered themselves that Cicero was so much 
 disgusted, that he would not be persuaded to plead 
 for him ; but he entered into the cause with a hearty 
 inclination, and made it, as in effect, it really w^as, 
 his own.f In his speech, which is still extant, after 
 laying open the history of his exile, and the mo- 
 tives of his own conduct through the whole pro- 
 gress of it, he shews, " That the only ground of 
 *' persecuting Sextius was, his faithful adherence to 
 " him, or rather to the republick : that, by con- 
 *" demning Sextius, they would, in effect, condemn 
 " him, whom all the orders of the city had declared 
 " to be unjustly expelled, by the very same men 
 " who were now^ attempting to expel Sextius : that 
 " it was a banter and ridicule on justice itself, to 
 " accu'se a man of violence, w ho had been left for 
 " dead upon the spot, by the violence of those w^ho 
 " accused him ; and whose only crime was, that 
 " he would not suffer himself to be quite killed, 
 " but presumed to guard his life against their fu- 
 "ture attempts." In short, he managed the cause 
 so well, that Sextius was acquitted, and in a manner 
 the most honourable, by the unanimous suffrages of 
 all the judges, and with an universal applause of Ci- 
 cero's humanity and gratitude.^ 
 
 * Is erat aeger : domiim, ut debuimus, ad eum statim venimns ; 
 eique nos totos tradidimus : idqOe lioiirius praeter liominuns opinio- 
 ntm, qui nos ei jure succensere putabant, nt humanissiiui gralissinn- 
 que et ipsi et omnibus videremur: itaque facieirius. Ad Quint. 2. 3. 
 
 fP. Sextius est reus non suo sed mco nomine, etc. Pro Sext. 13. 
 
 I Sextius noster absolutus est. A. D. II. Id. Mart, et quod velic> 
 menter interfuit Reipub. nullaui videri in ejusmodi causa dissensionem 
 esse, omnibus seuteutiis absolutus est—Scito nos in eu judicio couse- 
 
 k 
 
SECT. VI. 
 
 CTCERO. 51 
 
 A. Urb. 697. Cic 51. Coss.— Cn. Com. Lent. Marcellinus. L. Mar. Philippus. 
 
 Pompey attended this trial as a friend to Sextius ; 
 while Caesar's creature, Yatinius, appeared not 
 only as an adversary, but a witness ao;ainst hiin : 
 which gave Cicero an opportunity of lashing him, 
 as Sextius particularly desired, with all the keenness 
 of his raillery, to the great diversion of the audi- 
 ence : for, instead of interrogating him in the ordi- 
 nary way about the facts deposed in the trial he 
 contrived to teize him with a perpetual series of 
 questions which revived and exposed the iniquity 
 of his factious tribunate, and the whole course of 
 his profligate life, from his lirst appearance in pub- 
 lick ; and, in spite of all his impudence, quite 
 daunted and confounded him. Yatinius, however, 
 made some feeble effort to defend himself, and rally 
 Cicero in his turn ; and, among other things, re- 
 proached him with the baseness of changing sides, 
 and becoming Caesar's friend, on account of the 
 fortunate state of his atfairs ; to which Cicero 
 briskly replied, though Pompey himself stood by, 
 that he §till preferred the condition of Bibulus's 
 consulship, which Yatinius thought abject and mi- 
 serable, to the victories and triumphs of all men 
 whatsoever. This speech against Yatinius is still 
 remaining, under the title of the interrogation, and 
 is nothing else but what Cicero himself calls it, a 
 perpetual invective on the magistracy of Yatinius, 
 and the conduct of those who supported him.* 
 
 In the beginning of April, the senate granted 
 the sum of three hundred thousand pounds toPom- 
 
 cutos esse, nt omnium gratissimi Judicaremur. Nam in defendendo 
 homimMiiorosocumulatissimesatisteciraus.— Ad Quint. 2. 4. 
 
 ' * Vatinium, a quo palam oppugnabatur, arbitratu nostro concidimus, 
 diis hominibusque plaudentibus.— Quid quaeris ? Homo petulans et 
 audax Vatinius valde pertiirbatus, debilitatusque discessit.—lb. 
 
 '^- 
 
52 THE LIFE OF sect, vi 
 
 A. Urb. 697. Cic. 51. Coss.— Cn. Corn. Lent. Marcellinus. L Mar. Philippus. 
 
 pey, to be laid out in purchasing corn for the use 
 of the city ; where there was still a great scarcity, 
 and as great, at the same time, of money ; so 
 that the moving a point so tender, could not fail of 
 raising some ill humour in the assembly ; when Ci- 
 cero, whose old spirit seems to have revived in him 
 from his late success in Sextius's cause, surprised 
 them by proposing, that, in the present inability of 
 the treasury to purchase the Campanian lands, 
 which by Caesar's act, were to be divided to the 
 people, the act itself should be reconsidered, and 
 a day appointed for that deliberation ; the motion 
 was received with an universal joy, and a kind of 
 tumultuary acclamation ; the enemies of the tri- 
 umvirate were extremely pleased with it, in hopes 
 that it would make a breach between Cicero and 
 Pompey : but it served only for a proof, of what 
 Cicero himself observes, that it is very hard for a 
 man to depart from his old sentiments in politics, 
 when they are right and just.* 
 
 Pompey^ whose nature was singularly reserved, 
 expressed no uneasiness . upon it, nor took any no- 
 tice of it tajCicero, though they met and supped 
 together familiarly, as they used to do : but he set 
 
 Ego, scdente Pompeio, cum ut laudaret P. Sextium introiisset inur- 
 bera, dixissetque testis Vatiiiiiis, me forluna et felicitate C. Caesaris 
 commoliKi!, illi amiciim esse coepisse ; dixi. me earn Bibuli fortunam, 
 quum ilie afflictam pntaret, omnium triumphis victoriisque anteferre. — 
 Tota Tero interrogatio mea nihil habuit, nisi reprehensionem illius 
 tribunatus : in quo omnia dicta sunt libertatc, animoque maximo. Ep. 
 Fam. 1. 9. 
 
 * Pompeio pecunia decreta in rem fnimentariam ad H.S. cccc. sed 
 eodem die vehemencer actum de agro Campano, clamore senatus prope 
 concionali, Acriorem causam inopia pecuniae faciebat, et annonae 
 caritas. Ad Quint. 2. .'). 
 
 Nonis April, raihi est senatus assensus, ut de agro Campano, idibus 
 Maiis, fVequenti senatu referretur. JVam potui aiagis in arcem illius 
 causae invadere. Ep, Fara. 1. 9. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 53 
 
 A. Urb. 697. Cic 51. Coss.— Cn. Com. Lent. Marcelliniis. L. Mar. Philippus. 
 
 forward soon after towards Africa, in order to pro- 
 vide corn ; and, intending to call at Sardinia, pro- 
 posed to embark at Pisa or Leghorn, that he might 
 have an interview with Caesar, who was now at 
 Luca, the utmost limit of his Gallick government. 
 He found Caesar exceedingly out of humour with Ci- 
 cero ; for Crassus had already been with him at Ra- 
 venna, and greatly incensed him by his account of 
 Cicero's late motion ; which he complained of so 
 heavily, that Pompey promised to use all his au- 
 thority, to induce Cicero to drop the pursuit of it; 
 and, for that purpose, sent away an express to 
 Rome, to entreat him not to proceed any farther in 
 it till his return ; and when he came afterwards to 
 Sardinia, where his lieutenant, Q. Cicero, then re- 
 sided, he entered immediately into an expostulation 
 with him about it, " recounting all his services to 
 " his brother, and that every thing which he had 
 " done for him, was done with Caesar's consent ; 
 " and reminding him of a former conversation be- 
 " tween themselves, concerning Caesar's acts, and 
 " what Quintus himself liad undertaken for his 
 " brother on that head ; and, as he then made him- 
 '^ self answerable for him, so he was now obliged 
 '' to call him to the performance those engage- 
 " ments : in short, he begged him to press his 
 " brother, to support and defend Caesar's interests 
 " and dignity, or, if he could not persuade him to 
 " that, to engage him, at least, not to act against 
 " them."* 
 
 * Hoc S. C. iu sententiaoi lueam Cacto, Pompeiiis, cum mihi nihil 
 ostendisset se esse ofl'ensum, in Sardiniani ct in Alricam profectiis est, 
 eoque itinera Lucam ad Caesarein venit. Ibi multa de niea seiitentia 
 questus est Caesar, qiiippe qui etiam Havennae Crassnm ante vidissct, 
 ab eoque in me esset ineeusus. Sane moleste Pompeiiim id ferre con- 
 stabat : quod ego, cum audissem ex aliis, maximeex fratremeo cog- 
 nori ; quera cum in Sardinia paucis post dicbus, quam Luca discesse- 
 
54 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 697. Cic. 51. Coss.— Cn. Com. Lent. Marcellinus. L. Mar. Philippus. 
 
 This remonstrance from Pompey, enforced by 
 his brother Q,uintus, staggered Cicero's resolution, 
 and made him enter into a fresh deliberation with 
 himself about the measures of his conduct ; where, 
 after casting up the sum of all his thoughts, and 
 weighing every circumstance, which concerned 
 either his own or the publick interest, he deter- 
 mined at last to drop the affair, rather than ex- 
 pose himself again, in his present situation, to 
 the animosity of Pompey and Caesar ; for which 
 he makes the following apology to his friend Len- 
 tulus : " that those, who professed the same prin- 
 " ciples, and were embarked in the same cause 
 " with him, were perpetually envying and thwart- 
 " ing him, and more disgusted by the splendour of 
 ''his life, than pleased with any thing which he 
 " did for the publick service : that their only plea- 
 "sure, and what they could not even dissemble, 
 " while he was acting with them, was to see him 
 " disoblige Pompey, and make Caesar his enemy ; 
 " when they, at the same time, were continually 
 " caressing Clodius before his face, on purpose to 
 " mortify him : that if the government indeed had 
 " fallen mf^ wicked and desperate hands, neither 
 "hopes nor fears, nor gratitude itself, could have 
 '' prevailed with him to join with them ; but when 
 '^ Pompey held the chief sway, who had acquired 
 " it by the most illustrious merit ; whose dignity 
 '' he had always favoured from his first setting out 
 
 rat, convenisset. Te, iuquit, ip?ura cupio ; nihil opportunius potu- 
 it accidere : nisi cuna Mateo tratre diligenter egeris, dependendiim 
 tibi est, quod milii pro illo spospondisti : quid multa ? Questus est 
 gravitcr : sua merita coramemoravit : quid egisset saepissime de actis 
 Caesaris cum meo fratre, quidque sibi is de me recepisset, in memo- 
 riam redegit : seque quae de mea salute egisset, voluntate Caesaris 
 egisset, ipsum meum iratrem testatus est. Ibid. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 55 
 
 A. Urb. 697. Cic. 51. Coss.— Cn. Corn. Lent. Mai-celiinus. L. Mar. Pliilippus. 
 
 " in the world, and from wlioin he had received 
 " the greatest obligations ; and who, at tiiat very 
 "time, made his enemy the common enemy of 
 ♦' them both ; he had no reason to apprehend the 
 " charge of inconstancy, if, on some occasions, he 
 " voted and acted a little diflferently from what he 
 *' used to do, in complaisance to such a friend : 
 ''that his union with Pompey necessarily included 
 " Caesar, with whom both he and his brother had 
 " a friendship also of long standing ; which tiie>^ 
 " were invited to renew by all manner of civili- 
 " ties and good offices, freely otfered on Caesar's 
 " part : that, after Caesar's great exploits and vie- 
 " tories, the republick itself seemed to interpose 
 " and forbid him to quarrel with such men : that 
 " when he stood in need of their assistance, his 
 " brother had engaged his word for him to Pom- 
 " pey, and Pompey to Caesar ; and he thought 
 " himself obliged to make good those eno-aofe- 
 " ments."=* 
 
 This was the general state of his political be- 
 haviour : he had a much larger view, and more com- 
 prehensive knowledge both of men and things, 
 
 * Qui cum ilia sentirent in Repnb. quae ego acjebam, seinperqiie 
 sensissent ; rae tamen non satist'acere Pompeio, ( aesaremque inimi- 
 cissiraiim mihi fiitiiriim, gandere se aiebant : hoc mini dolendum, sed 
 illud mnlto magis, quod iniraicum menm — sic amplexabaiitur — Sic 
 rae praesente osculabantur — Ego si ab iuiprobis et perdilis civibus 
 Rempub. teneri videbam — Noii modo praemiis — Sed ne pcriculis qui- 
 dem iiliis. compulsus — Ad eoiiini causain me adjnngrrein, ne si sum- 
 ma quidem eorum in me merita constaient. Cum autem in Hepub. 
 Cn. Pompeius princeps esset — mcumque inimicum uuum in civitate 
 haberet irumicum, non putavi lamam inconstanliae mihi pcrtimes- 
 cendam. si quibusdam in sententiis paullum mc immuta.vscm, meam- 
 que voluntatera ad summi viri, de meque optinie mcriti dignitatem 
 agregassem, etc. Gravissime autem me in hac mente impulit, et 
 Pompeii fides, quamde me Caesari dederat, et Iratris mei, quam Pom- 
 peio — Ep. Fara. 1.9. 
 
56 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 697. Cic. 51. Coss,— Cu. Corn. Lent. Marcellinus. L. Mar. Philippus. 
 
 than the other chiefs of the aristocracy, Bibulus, 
 Marcellinus, Cato, Favonius, kc. whose stiffness 
 had ruined their cause, and brought them into 
 their present subjection by alienatino- Pompey and 
 the equestrian order from the senate : they con- 
 sidered Cicero's management of the triumvirate, 
 as a mean submission to illegal power, which they 
 were always opposing and irritating, though ever 
 so unseasonably ; whereas Cicero thought it time 
 to give over fighting, when the forces were so une- 
 qual; and that the more patiently they suffered 
 the dominion of their new masters, the more 
 temperately they would use it ;^ being persuaded, 
 that Pompey, at least, who was the head of them, 
 had no designs against the publick liberty, unless 
 he were provoked and driven to it by the per- 
 verse opposition of his enemies.f These were the 
 grounds of that complaisance which he now gene- 
 rally paid to him, for the sake both of his own and 
 the publick quiet : in consequence of which, when 
 the appointed day came, for considering the case 
 of the Campanian lands, the debate dropt of 
 course, when it was understood, that Cicero, the 
 mover of itrwas absent and had changed his mind : 
 though it was not, as he intimates, without some 
 struggle, in his own breast, that he submitted to 
 
 * Neque, iit ego arbitror, errarent, si cum pares esse noii possent, 
 pugnare desislerent. — 
 
 Comrautata tota ratio est senatus, judiciorum, Rei totiiis publicae. 
 Otium nobis exoptandiim est: quod ii, qui potiuntur rerum, prae- 
 stituri videutur, si quidam homines patientius eorum potentiam fer- 
 re potueriut. Dignitatem quidlem illam consularem fbrtis et con- 
 stantis senatoris, nihil est, quod cogitemus. Amissa est culpa eorum, 
 qui a senatu et ordinem conjunctissimura, et hominem clarissimuni 
 abalienarunt. Fbid. 8. 
 
 fEp. Fam. 1.9. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 57 
 
 A. Uri>. 697. Cic. 51. Coss.— Cn. Com. Lent. Maiceliinus. L. Mar. Philippus. 
 
 this step, wliich was likely to draw upon him an 
 imputation of levity ."^ 
 
 His dauo'hter, TuUia, having now lived a widow 
 about a year, was married to a second husband, 
 Furius Crassipes ; and the wedding^ feast held at 
 Cicero's house on the sixth of April : we find very 
 little said, of the character or condition of this 
 Crassipes ; but by Cicero's care in making the 
 match, the fortune which he paid, and the con- 
 gratulation of his friends upon it, he appears to 
 have been a nobleman of principal rank and dig- 
 nity .f Atticus, also, who was about a year young- 
 er than Cicero, was married this spring to Pilia, 
 and invited him to the wedding. { As to his do- 
 mestick affairs, his chief care at present was about 
 rebuilding three of his houses, wliich were demol- 
 ished in his exile : and repairing the rest, with that 
 also of his brother, out of which they were driven 
 in the last attack of Clodius : by the hints, which 
 he gives of them, they all seem to have been very 
 magnificent, and built' under the direction of the 
 best architects : Clodius gave no farther interrup- 
 tion to them, being forced to quit the pursuit of 
 Cicero, in order to watch the motions of a more 
 dangerous enemy, Milo. Cicero, however, was not 
 without a share of uneasiness, within his own walls ; 
 
 * Quod idibiis et postridie fuerat dictum, de agro Canipano ac- 
 tum iri, non est actum. In hac causa mihi aqua haeret.— Ad Quint. 
 2. 8. 
 
 t De nostra Tullia— spero nos cum Crassipede confecisse. lb. 4. 
 
 Quod mihi de Filia et de Crassipede gralularis— Nperoque et opto 
 banc conjunctionem nobis vobiptati fore Ep. Fam. 1. 7. 
 
 Viaticum Crassipes praeripit. Ad Att. 4. 5. 
 
 I Prid. Id haec scripsi ante hicem. Eo die apud Porapoainm in 
 ejus nuptiis eram coenaturus. Ad Quint. 2. 3. 
 VOL. IT. ^ 
 
5« THE LIFE OF sect, yu 
 
 A. Urb. 697. Cic. 51. Coss.— Cn. Com. Lent. Marcellinus. L. Mar. Philippus. 
 
 his brother's wife and his own, neither agreed well 
 with each other, nor their own husbands : Q,uintus's 
 was displeased at her husband's staying so long 
 abroad ; and Cieero's not disposed to make her's 
 the happier for stayini>; at home. His nephew, alsoy 
 youno; ftuintus, a perverse youth, spoiled by a 
 mother's indulgence, added somewhat to his 
 trouble ; for he was now charged with the care of 
 his education, in the father's absence ; and had him 
 taught under his own eye by Tyrannio, a Greek 
 master; who, with several other learned men, of 
 that country, was entertained in his house. ^ 
 
 King Ptolemy's affair was no more talked of; 
 Pompey had other business upon his hands, and 
 was so ruffled by the tribune Cato, and the consul 
 Marcellinus, that he laid aside all thoughts of it for 
 himself, and wished to serve Lentulus in it. The 
 senate had passed a vote against restoring him at 
 all; but one of the tribunes inhibited them from 
 proceeding to a decree ; and a former decree was 
 actually subsisting in favour of Lentulus : Cicero, 
 therefore, after a consultation with Pompey, sent 
 him their jitkit and last advice ; '' that, by his com- 
 " mand of a province so near to Egypt, as he was^ 
 "the best judge of what he was able to do; so if 
 " he found him^^elf master of the thing, and was as» 
 " sured of success, he might leave the king ai Pto~ 
 
 '* Domiis utrinsqiie nostrnm aedifipatnr strenne. — lb. 4. Longilium 
 redemptorem cohortatiis sum. Fidfin mihi faciebat, se velle nobis 
 placere. Dorauscrit egregia. lb.; 6. 
 
 Uuintus tuus, puer optiinus, eriiditur egregie. Hoc iiniic magis 
 aniinadverto. quod Tyraiuio docet apud me. — ib. 4. 
 
 A. D. VIII. Id. Apr. Sponsalia Cras^ipedi praebui. Huic convivio 
 pueroptimus. (Auintus tuus, quod perleviter commotus fuerat, defuit. — 
 Multum is mecum sermon<;m habuit et perhumanum de discordiis 
 mulicrum nostrarum— Pomponia autem etiam de te questa est. — lb. C 
 
«ECT. VI. CICERO. ^9 
 
 A. Urb. 697. Cic. 51. Coss.— Cn. Com. Leut. Marcellinus. L. Mar. Philippus. 
 
 " lemais, or some other neighboui ino; city, and pro- 
 " ceed without him to Alexandria ; where, if by the 
 " influence of his fleet and troops be could appease 
 " the publick dissensions, c^nd persuaae the inhabi- 
 " tants to receive their king peaceably, he might 
 " then carry him home, and so restore him accord- 
 " ing to the first decree ; yet without a multitude, 
 " as our religious men," says he, '' tell us the Sibyl 
 " has injoined : — that it was the opinion, however, of 
 " them both, that people would judge of the fact 
 " by the event : if he was certain, therefore, of car- 
 " rying his point, he should not defer it ; if doubt- 
 " ful, should not undertake it : for as the world 
 " would applaud him, if he effected it with ease, so 
 " a miscarriage might be fatal, on account of the 
 " late vote of the senate, and the scruple about re- 
 " ligion."* But Lentulus, wisely judging the affair 
 too hazardous for one of his dignity and fortunes, 
 left it to a man of a more desperate character, Ga- 
 binius ; who ruined himself soon after by embark- 
 ing in it. 
 
 The tribune Cato, wlio was perpetually inveigh- 
 ing against keeping gladiators, like so many stand- 
 ing armies, to the t^nour of the citizens, had lately 
 
 * Te perspicere posse, qui Ciliciam Cyprumque teneas, quid efficere 
 et quid conseqiii possis, et, si res facultatera habitura videatur, ut 
 Alexandriain atqiie Ae^yptum tenere possis, esse et tuae et nostri ira- 
 perii dignitatis, Ptolemaide, aut aliqno propinqiio loco rege collocato, 
 t€ cum classe, atque exercitn proficisci Alexandriam : ut cum earn 
 pace, praesidiisque firinaris, Ptolemaeus redeat in rognum : ila fore, 
 ut per te restitnatur, quemadmodum senatus initio censuit ; et sine 
 raultitudine reducatur, quemadmodum homines religiosi Sibyllaepla- 
 cere dixerunt. Sed haec sententia sic et illi et nobis probabatur, ut 
 ex eventu liomines de tuoconsilio rxistimaturos videremus. Nos qui- 
 dem hoc sentimus ; si exploratum tibi sit, posse te regni illius potiri ; 
 non esse cunctandura : si dubium, noii esse conandum, etc. Ep. Fam. 
 1. 7, 
 
60 THE LIFE OF sect, vi 
 
 A. Urb. 69r. Cic. 51. Coss.— Cn. Corn. Lent. *Iarcell'nus. L. Mar. Philippus. 
 
 bought a band of them, but findins; himself unable 
 to maintain them, was contriving to part with them 
 again without noise or scandal. Milo got notice 
 of it, and privately em^\loyed a person, not one of 
 his own friends, to buy them ; and when they were 
 purchased, Racilius, another trit)une, taking the 
 matter upon himself, and pretending they were 
 bought for him, published a proclamation, that 
 Cato's family of gladiators was to be sold by 
 auction; which gave no small diversion to the 
 city.* 
 
 Milo's trial being put ofi* to the fifth of May, 
 Cicero took the benefit of a short vacation, to make 
 an excursion into the country, and visit his estates 
 and villas in different parts of Italy. He spent 
 five days at Arpinum, whence he proceeded to his 
 other houses at Pompeiae and Cumae ; and stopt a 
 while, on his return, at Antium, where he had lately 
 rebuilt his house, and was now disposing and ordering 
 his library, by the direction of Tyrannio : " the 
 " remains of which," he says, " were more considera- 
 " ble than he expected from the late ruin." Atti- 
 cus lent hinwtwo of his librarians to assist his own, 
 in taking catalogues, and placing the books in 
 order ; which he calls " the infusion of a soul into 
 " the body of his house."t During this tour, his 
 
 * Ille vindpx gladiatorum et bestiarioruin eraerat — bestiarios, Hos 
 alere non poterat. Itaqiie vix tenebat. Sensit Milo, dedit cuidam 
 non familiari negotium, qui sine snspicione eraeret earn familiam aCa- 
 tone : quae siniulatqiie abducta ,est, Hacilins rem patefecit, eosque 
 boinines sibi emptos esse dixit — kt tabulara proscripsit, se familiam 
 Catonianara veiiditurum. In earn tabulam magni risus consequebantur. 
 Ad Quint. 2. 6. 
 
 t Offendes designationcm Tyrannionis mirificara in librorura meo- 
 imn Bibliotheta : quorum reliquiae raulto meliores suqt quam puta- 
 
SECT. Ti. CICERO. 61 
 
 A. Utb. 697. Cic 51. Cois.— Cn. Cotd. Loit. Marcelliuus. L. Mar. Philippui. 
 
 old enemy, Gabinius, the proconsul of Syria, hav- 
 ini2; gained some advanta2;e in Judea against Aristo- 
 bulus, who had been dethroned by Pompey, and 
 on that account was raising troubles in the country, 
 sent publick letters to the senate, to give an account 
 of his victory, and to beg the decree of a thanks- 
 giving for it. His friends took the opportunity of 
 moving the affair in Cicero's absence, from whose 
 authority they apprehended some obstruction ; but 
 the senate, in a full house, slighted his letters and 
 rejected his suit : an affront which had never been 
 offered before to any proconsul. Cicero w^as in- 
 finitely delighted with it, calls the resolution divine, 
 and was doubly pleased for its being the free and 
 genuine judgment of the senate, without any strug- 
 gle or influence on his part ; and reproaching Ga- 
 binius wdth it, afterwards, says, that by this act the 
 senate had declared, that they could not believe 
 that he, whom they had always known to be a trai- 
 tor at home, coidd ever do any thing abroad that 
 was useful to the republick.^ 
 
 Many prodigies were reported to have happened 
 about this time, in the neighbourhood of Rome : 
 horrible noises under ground, with clashing of 
 
 ram. Etiam vellem raihi inittas de tuis librariolis duos aliquos qiiibu.«; 
 TyraDnio ulatur glutinatoribus, et ad caetera administris. Ad Att. 
 4. 4. 
 
 Postea veroquam Tyrannio mihi libros disposuit, mens addita vide- 
 tur meis aedibus : qua quidera in re, mirifica opera Dionysii et Meno- 
 phili tui fuit. lb. 
 
 ). o. 
 
 * Id. Maiis senalus frequens divinus fuit in supplicatione Gabiniode- 
 neganda. Adjurat Procilius hoc nemini accidisse. Foris valde plandi- 
 tur. IMihicum sua sponte jucundum. turn jucundius, quod me abscnte, 
 est enim exw^ivjf judicium, sine oppugnatione, sine gratia nostra. Ad 
 Quint. 2. 8. ^ 4. 5. 
 
 Hoc statuit senalus, cum frequens supplicationemGabiniodcnegavit. 
 A proditore, atque eo, quein praesentera hoslem Reipub. cognovit 
 bene Kempub. geri non potuisse. De Prov. Consul. 6. 
 
62 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 697. Cic. 51. Coss.— Cn. Com. Lent. Marcellinus. L. Mar. Philippus. 
 
 arms ; and on the Alban hill, a little shrine of Juno, 
 which stood on a table facinj^ the east, turned sud- 
 denly of itself towards the north. These terrours 
 alarmed the city, and the senate consulted the ha- 
 ruspices, who were the publick diviners or pro- 
 phets of the state, skilled in all the Tuscan disci- 
 pline of interpreting portentous events ; who gave 
 the following answer in writhig : — " That supplica- 
 " tions must be made to Jupiter, Saturn, iNeptune, 
 " and the other gods : that the solemn shews and 
 " plays had been negligently exhibited and pollut- 
 " ed : sacred and religious places made profane : 
 " ambassadours killed, contrary to right and law : 
 " faith and oaths disreo:arded : ancient and hidden 
 '^sacrifices carelessly performed and profaned: — 
 " That the gods gave this warning, lest, by the dis- 
 '^ cord and dissension of the better sort, dangers 
 " and destruction should fall upon the senate and 
 " the chiefs of the city; by which means the pro- 
 ♦' vinces would fall under the power of a single 
 •^ person ; their armies be beaten, great loss ensue ; 
 *• and honours be heaped on the unworthy and dis- 
 " graced."^— — 
 
 One may observe, from this answer, that the di- 
 viners were under the direction of those who en- 
 deavoured to apply the influence of religion to the 
 cure of their civil disorders : each party interpret- 
 ed it according to their own views : Clodius took a 
 handle from it of venting his spleen afresh against 
 Cicero ; and, calling th^ people together for that 
 purpose, attempted to persuade them, " that this 
 " divine admonition was designed particularly 
 
 * VU\. Arguiii. Manutii in Orat. de Harusp. respons. Dio, J. 39. 
 p. 100. 
 
SECT. VI. 
 
 CICERO. 63 
 
 A. Urb. 697. Cic. 51. Coss.— Cn. Com. Lent. Marcellinus. L. Mar. Philippus. 
 
 " against him ; and that the article of the sacred 
 " and religious places referred to tlie case of his 
 " house ; which, after a solemn consecration to re- 
 " ligion, was rendered aoain profane ; charoing all 
 " the displeasure of the .2;ods to Cicero's account, 
 " who affected nothing less than a tyranny, and the 
 " oppression of their liberties."* 
 
 Cicero made a reply to Clodius, the next day, in 
 the senate ; where, after a short and general invec- 
 tive upon his profligate life, " he leaves him," he 
 says, "a devoted victim to Milo, who seemed to 
 " be given to them by heaven, for the extinction of 
 " such a plague ; as Scipio was for the destruction 
 " of Carthage : he declares the prodigy to be one 
 " of the most extraordinary which had ever been 
 " reported to the senate ; but laughs at the absur- 
 " dity of applying any part of it to him ; since his 
 " house, as he proves at large, was more solemnly 
 " cleared from any service or relation to religion, 
 " than any other house in Rome, by the judgment 
 " of the priests, the senate, and all the orders of 
 " the city."t Then, running through the several 
 articles of the answer, '- he shews them all totally 
 " so exactly with the notorious acts and impieties 
 " of Clodius's life, that they could not possibly be 
 
 " applied to any thing else that, as to the sports 
 
 " said to be negligently performed and polluted, it 
 " clearly denoted the pollution of the IMegalensian 
 " play ; the most venerable and religious of all oth- 
 " er shews ; which Clodius himself, as aedile, exhi- 
 " bited in honour of the mother of the gods ; where, 
 " when the magistrates and citizens were seated, to 
 " partake of the diversions, and the usual procla- 
 
 * Dio. Ibid + De Hani«pic. responsis. 
 
64 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 6Q7. Cic. 51. Cojs.— Cn. Corn. Lent. Marcellinus. L. Mar. PhilippuS. 
 
 " mation was made, to comniand all slaves to re- 
 " tire ; a vast body of them, gathered from all pails 
 ** of the city, by the order of Clodius, forced their 
 " way upon the stage, to the great terrour of the 
 " assembly ; where much mischief and bloodshed 
 " would have ensued, if the consul Marcellinus, by 
 " his firmness and presence of mind, had not quiet- 
 " ed the tumult : and, in another representation of 
 " the same plays, the slaves, encouraged again by 
 " Clodius, were so audacious and successful in a 
 " second irruption, that they drove the whole com- 
 " pany out of the theatre, and possessed it entirely 
 " themselves :^ that as to the profanation of sacred 
 " and religious places ; it could not be interpreted 
 " of any thing so aptly, as of what Clodius and his 
 " friends had done : for that in the house of Q.. 
 " Seius, which he had bought, after murthering the 
 " owner, there was a chapel and altars which he had 
 " lately demolished : that L. Piso had destroyed a ce- 
 " lebrated chapel of Diana, where all that neighbour- 
 " hood, and some even of the senate, used annually to 
 " perform their family sacrifices : that Serranus also 
 " had thrown down, burnt, and profaned several con- 
 " secrated cTiapels, and raised other buildings upon 
 "them :t that as to ambassadours, killed contrary to 
 " law and right, though it was commonly interpreted 
 '* of those from Alexandria, yet other ambassadours 
 " had been murthered, whose death was no less offen- 
 *' sive to the gods ; as Theodosius, killed with the 
 " privity and permission of Clodius ; and Plato, by 
 '* the order of Piso :t As to the violation of faith 
 
 * De Hanispic. responsis, 10, 11, 12, 13. f Ibid. 14. 15. 
 
 t Ibid. 16, 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 65 
 
 A. Urh. 697. Cic. 51. Coss.— Cn. Com. Lent. Mai'cellinus. L. Mar. Phitippus. 
 
 " and oaths, that it related evidently to those judges 
 " who had absolved Clodius ; as being one of the 
 "most memorable and flagrant perjuries which 
 " Rome had ever known ; that the answer itself 
 " suggested this interpretation, when it subjoined, 
 " that ancient and occult sacrifices were polluted ; 
 *' which could refer to nothing so properly as to 
 " the rites of the Bona Dea ; which were the most 
 " ancient and the most occult of any in the city ; 
 " celebrated with incredible secrecy to that goddess, 
 *' whose name it was not lawful for men to know ; 
 '' and with ceremonies, which no man ever pried 
 '' into, but Clodius.'-^ Then as to the warning, 
 " given by the gods, of dangers likely to ensue 
 " from the dissensions of the principal citizens ; 
 " tliat there was no man so particularly active in 
 " promoting those dissensions, as Clodius ; who was 
 " perpetually enflaming one side or the other ; 
 "now pursuing popular, now aristocratical mea- 
 **sures; at one time a favourite of the triumvi- 
 " rate, at another of the senate ; whose credit was 
 " wholly supported by their quarrels and animo- 
 " sities. He exhorts them, therefore, in the con- 
 '^ elusion, to beware of falling into those miseries, 
 ** of which the gods so evidently forewarned them ; 
 '' and to take care, especially, that the form of the 
 " republick was not altered ; since all civil con- 
 " tests between great and powerful citizens must 
 " necessarily end, either in an universal destruc- 
 "tion, or a tyranny of the conqueror: that the 
 " state was now in so tottering a condition, that 
 " nothing could preserve it but their concord : that 
 "there was no hope of its being better, while 
 
 -'■- Tbid. 17, 18. 
 VOL. IT. 9 
 
66 T^HE LIFE OF sect, vr 
 
 A. Utb. 697. Cic. 51. Coss— Cn. Corn. Lent. ]Marcellinus. L. Mar. Philippus. 
 
 " Clodius remained unpunished ; and but one de- 
 " ^ree left of being worse, by being wholly ruined 
 " and enslaved ; for the prevention of which, the 
 " gods had given them this remarkable admoni- 
 " tion ; for they were not to believe, what was 
 "sometimes represented on the stage, that any 
 "god ever descended from heaven to converse 
 " familiarly with men ; but that these extraordinary 
 " sounds and agitations of the world, the air, the 
 " elements, were the only voice and speech which 
 " heaven made use of; that these admonished them 
 " of their danger, and pointed out the remedy ; 
 " and that the gods, by intimating so freely the 
 " way of their safety, had shewn, how easy it 
 " would be to pacify them, by pacifying only 
 " their own animosities and discords among them- 
 " selves." 
 
 About the middle of the summer, and before 
 the titne of choosing new consuls, whit h was com- 
 monly in August, the senate began to deliberate 
 on the provinces, which were to be assigned to 
 them at the expiration of their office. The con- 
 sular provinces, about which the debate singly 
 turned, were the two Gauls, which Caesar now 
 held ; Macedonia, which Fiso, and Syria, which 
 Gabinius possessed. All w^ho spoke before Ci- 
 cero, excepting Serviiius, were for taking one or 
 both the Gauls from Caesar ; v* hich was what the 
 senate generally desired : but when it came to Ci- 
 cero's turn, he gladly laid hold on the occasion to 
 revenge himself on Piso and Gabinius ; and exert- 
 ed all his authority, to get tbem recalled with some 
 marks of disgrace, and their <fovernoients, assigned 
 to the succeeding consuls ; but as for Caesar, his^ 
 
SECT. VI, CICERO. 67 
 
 A. Urb. 697. Cic 51. Coss.— Cn. Com. Lent. Marcellinus. L. Mar. Philippus. 
 
 opinion was, "that his command should be con- 
 " tinued to him till he had finished the war, which 
 " he was carrying on with such success, and settled 
 " the conquered countries." This gave no small 
 offence ; and the consul Philippus could not for- 
 bear interrupting and reminding him, " that he 
 " had more reason to be angry with Caesar, than 
 "with Gabinius himself; since Caesar was the au- 
 " thor and raiser of all that storm which had op- 
 " pressed him.*' But Cicero replied, " that, in this 
 " vote, he was not pursuing his private resentment, 
 " but the publick good, which had reconciled him 
 '' to Caesar ; and that he could not be an enemy 
 " to one who was deservino; so well of his coun- 
 "try: that a year or two more would complete 
 ^' his conquests, and reduce all Gaul to a state of 
 " peaceful subjection : that the cause was widely 
 " different between Caesar and the other two ; that 
 " Caesar's administration was beneficial, prosperous, 
 " glorious to the republick ; theirs, scandalous, ig- 
 " nominious, hurtful to their subjects, and con- 
 " temptible to their enemies." In short, he ma- 
 naged the debate so, that the senate came fully 
 into his sentiments, and decreed the revocation of 
 Piso and Gabinius.^ 
 
 * Itaque ego idem, qui nunc consiilibus iis, qui designati erunt, 
 Syriana, Macedoniamque decerno — Quod si essent illi optimi viri, 
 tamen ego raea sententia C. Caesari nondura succedendum putarein. 
 Qua de re dicara, patres conscript!, quod sentio, atque illara inter- 
 pellationem farailiarissirai mei, qua quallo ante interrupta est oratio 
 niea. iron pertiinescarn. Negat me vir optiinus inimiciorem debere 
 esse Gabinio. quam Caesari ; oninem enim illara tempeslatexn, cui 
 cesserirn, Caesare impulsore atque adjutore esse exciiatam. Cui si 
 primum sic respondeam, me communis ulilitatis habere ratiouem, 
 non dolorls mei. — Hie me mens in Rempub. animus p'istinusac pe- 
 rennis, cum C. Caesare reducit, reconciliat, restituit in gratiam. 
 Quod volent denique homines existiment, nemini ego possum esse 
 bene de Republica merenti non amicus. — Vid. Orat. deProvin. Cons. 
 8, 9, &c. 
 
68 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A.'Urb. 697. Cic, 51. Coss.—Cn. Com. Lent. Marcellinus. L. Mar. Fhilippus. 
 
 He was now likewise engaged in plead ino; two 
 considerable causes at the bar ; the one in defence 
 of Cornelius Balbus, the other of M. Coelius. 
 Balbus was a native of Gades in Spain, of a splen- 
 did family in that city, who, for his fidelity and 
 services to the Roman generals in that province, 
 and especially in the Sertorian war, had the free- 
 dom of Rome conferred upon him by Pompey, in 
 virtue of a law, which authorised him to grant it 
 to as many as he thought proper. But Pompey's 
 act was now called in question, as originally null 
 and invalid, on a pretence, that the city of Gades 
 was not within the terms of that alliance and re- 
 lation to Rome, which rendered its citizens ca- 
 pable of that privilege. Pompey and Crassus were 
 his advocates, and at their desire, Cicero also; 
 who had the third place, or post of honour as- 
 signed to him, to give the finishing hand to the 
 cause.''^' The prosecution was projected, not so 
 much out of enmity to Balbus, as to his patrons 
 Pompey and Caesar ; by whose favour he had ac- 
 quired great wealth and power ; being at this time 
 general of the artillery to Caesar, and the princi- 
 pal manager or steward of all his affairs. The 
 judges gave sentence for him, and confirmed his 
 right to the city ; from which foundation he was 
 raised afterwards, by Augustus, to the consulate 
 itself: his nephew also, young Balbus, who was 
 made free with him at the same time, obtained the 
 honour of a triumph, for his victories over the 
 Garamantes ; and, as Pljny tells us, they were the 
 
 * Quo nailii difficilior est hie extremus perorandi locus. — Sed mos 
 est gerendus, iion luodo Cornelio, cujus ego voluntati in ejus pericu- 
 lis nullo modo deesse possum ; sed etiam Cn. Pompeio. — Pro Balbo. 
 1, 2, &c. 
 
SECT. V 
 
 CICERO. 69 
 
 A. Urb. 697. Cic. 51. Cass.— Cn. Com. hait. Marcellinus. L. Mar. Philippus. 
 
 only instances of foreigners, and adopted citizens, 
 who had ever advanced themselves to either of 
 those honours in Rome.* 
 
 Coelius, whom he next defended, was a young 
 gentleman of equestrian rank, of great parts and 
 accomplishments, trained under the discipline of 
 Cicero himself; to whose care he was committed 
 by his father, upon his first introduction into the 
 forum : before he was of age to hold any magis- 
 tracy, he had distinguished himself by two publick 
 impeachments; the one of C. Antonius, Cicero's 
 colleague in the consulship, for conspiring against 
 the state ; the other of L. Atratinus, for bribery 
 and corruption. Atratinus's son was now re- 
 venging his father's quarrel, and accused Coelius 
 of publick violence, for being concerned in the 
 assassination of Dio, the chief of the Alexandrian 
 embassy ; and of an attempt to poison Clodia, the 
 sister of Clodius ; he had been this lady's gal- 
 lant; whose resentment for her favours slio:hted by 
 him, was the real source of all his trouble. In 
 this speech, Cicero treats the character and gallan- 
 tries of Clodia, her commerce with Coelius, and 
 the gayeties and licentiousness of youth, with such 
 a vivacity of wit and humour, that makes it one 
 of the most entertaifiing, which he has left to us. 
 Coelius, who was truly a libertine, lived on the 
 Palatine hill, in a house which he hired of Clo- 
 dius, and among the other proofs of his extrava- 
 
 * Fuit et Balbus Cornelius major consul—Primus externorum, at- 
 que etiam in oceano genitornm usus illo honore. — Hist. N. 7. 43. 
 
 Garama caput Garamantum : omnia armis Romanis superata. et 
 aCornelio Balbo tiumphata, uno omnium externo curru et quiritiura 
 Jure donato : quippe Gadibus nato civitas Rom. cum Balbo majore 
 patruo data est. lb. 5. 5. 
 
70 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Ui-b. 697. Cic. 51. Coss.— Cn. Corn. Lent. Marcellinus. L. Mar. Philippus. 
 
 gance, it was objected, that a young man, in no 
 publick employment, should take a separate house 
 from his father, at the yearly rent of two hundred 
 and fifty pounds: to which Cicero replied, that 
 Clodius, he perceived, had a mind to sell his house, 
 by setting the value of it so high ; whereas in 
 truth, it was but a little paltry dwelling, of small 
 rent, scarce above eighty pounds per annum.* 
 Coelius was acquitted, and ever after professed the 
 hiochest regard for Cicero ; with whom he held a 
 correspondence of letters, which will give us oc- 
 casion to speak more of him, in the sequel of the 
 history. 
 
 Cicero seems to have composed a little poem 
 about this time, in compliment to Caesar; and ex- 
 cuses his not sending it to Atticus, " because Caesar 
 " pressed to have it, and he had reserved no copy : 
 " though, to confess the truth, he says, he found it 
 44 very' difficult to digest the meanness of recant- 
 " ing'his old principles. But adieu, says he, to all 
 '* right, true, honest councils : it is incredible what 
 *' perfidy there is in those who want to be leaders, 
 " and whoTeally would be so, if there was any 
 '' faith in them. I felt what they were to my cost, 
 " when I was drawn in, deserted, and betrayed by 
 " them ; I resolved still to act on with them in all 
 " things ; but found them the same as before, till, 
 " by your advice, I came at last to a better mind. 
 " You will tell me that you advised me indeed to 
 " act, but not to write ;; it is true ; but I was wil- 
 
 * Suraptus iinius generis objectus est, habitationis : triginta milli- 
 bus dixistis eura haiiitare. Nunc demum intelligo P. Clodii insulara 
 esse venalera, cujiis hie in aediculis habitet, decern, ut opinor, milU- 
 bus. — Pro Gael io. 7. 
 
SECT. VI. 
 
 CICERO. 71 
 
 A. Urb. 697. Cic. 51. Coss.— Cn. Corn. Lent Marcellinus. L. Mai-. Philippus, 
 
 " ling to put myself under a necessity of adhering 
 '* to my new alliance, and preclude the possibility 
 " of returning to those who, instead of pitying me, 
 " as they ought, never ceased envying me. — But 
 " since those who have no power will not love me, 
 " my business is to accjuire the love of those who 
 " have : you will say, J wish that you had done it 
 " long ago ; I know you wished it, and I was a 
 " mere ass for not minding you."^ 
 
 In this year also, Cicero wrote that celebrated 
 letter to Lucceius, in which he presses him to at- 
 tempt the history of his transactions : Lucceius 
 was a man of eminent learning and abilities, and 
 had just finished the history of the Italick and Marian 
 civii wars, with intent to carry it down through his 
 own times, and in the general relation to include, 
 as he had promished, a particular account of Ci- 
 cero's acts : but Cicero, who was pleased with his 
 stile and manner of writing, labours to engage him 
 in this letter, to postpone the design of his con- 
 tinued history, and enter directly on that separate 
 period, " from the beginning of his consulship 
 " to his restoration, comprehending Catiline's con- 
 
 * Urgebar ab eo. ad quem raisi, et non habebani exempJar : quid ? 
 etiara, (diidum circumrodo, qnod devorandnm est) subtiapicula mihi 
 videbatur Trctxim^tu. ; sed valrant recta, vera, honesta consilia. JVon est 
 credibile, quae sit perfidia in istis principibus, ut volnnt esse, et nt 
 esseut, si quicquam haberent (idei. benseram, noram, indnctus, relic- 
 tus, projectus ab iis : tanien hoc erat animo, ut cum iis in Rep. con- 
 sentirem. lidem erant, qui fuerant. Vix aliquandf) te auctore resipivj. 
 Dices, ea te monuisse, quae fiicerein, non etiain ut scriberem. Ego 
 inehercule mihi necessilatem vohii imponere hiijus novae conjunc- 
 tionis, ne qua mihi liceret labi ad ilios, qui etiani turn cum misereri 
 raei debent, non desinuol invidere. Sed tamen raodici luiinus t/VseiiTi/, 
 ut scripsi — Sed quoniam qui nihil possunt, ii me amare nolunt, demu<? 
 operam, ut ab iis, qui possunt, Idiligamur : dices, vellem janipridem. 
 Scio te voluisse, et measinum gcrmanum tuisse. — Ad Alt. 4,/). 
 
 Sciibis poemaab eo nostrum probari. — Ad diiint. 2. !.'» 
 
72 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 697. Cic 51. Cos8.— Cn. Com. Lent. Mareellinus. L. Mar. Philippus, 
 
 " spiracy, and his own exile." He observes, " that 
 '' this short interval was distinguished with such a 
 " variety of incidents, and unexpected turns of 
 " fortune, as furnished the happiest materials, both 
 " to the skill of the writer and the entertainment of 
 "the reader: that, when an author's attention was 
 " confined to a sinorle and select subject, he was 
 " more capable of adornini^ it, and displayino; his 
 " talents, than in the wide and diffusive field of g^e- 
 " neral history ; but if he did not think the facts 
 " themselves worth the pains of adorning, that he 
 " would yet allow so much to friendship, to affec- 
 " tion, and even to that favour which he had so iau- 
 " dablv disclaimed in his prefaces, as not to confine 
 " himself scrupulously to the strict laws of history, 
 
 " and the rules of truth. That, if he would un- 
 
 " dertake it, he would supply him with some rough 
 " memoirs, or commentaries, for the foundation of 
 " his work ; if not, that he himself should be forced 
 " to do, what many had done before him, write his 
 " own life ; a task, liable to many exceptions and 
 " difficulties, where a man would necessarily be re- 
 " strained by modesty, on the one hand, or partiali- 
 « ty on the^ther, either from blaming or praising 
 " himself so much as he deserved," &c.^ 
 
 This letter is constantly alleged as a proof of 
 Cicero's vanity, and excessive love of praise ; but 
 Ave must consider it as wrhten, not by a philoso- 
 pher, but a statesman, conscious of the greatest 
 services to his country, for which he had been bar- 
 barously treated, and, on that account, the more 
 eager to have them represented in an advanta- 
 
 ♦ Ep. Fam. 12. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. rs 
 
 A. Urb. 697. Cic 51. Coss.— Cii. Com. Lent. Mai-cellinus. L. Mar. Philippus. 
 
 geous light, and impatient to taste some part of that 
 glory when living, which he was sure to reap from 
 them when dead ; and as to the passage which 
 gives the offence, where he presses his friend to 
 exceed even the bounds of truth in his praises, it 
 is urged only, we see, conditionally, and upon an 
 absurd or improbable supposition, that Lucceius 
 did not think the acts themselves really laudable, 
 or worth praising : But whatever exceptions there 
 may be to the morality, there can be none to the ele- 
 gance and composition of the letter ; which is filled 
 with a variety of beautiful sentiments, illustrated 
 by examples drawn fri)m a perfect knowledge of 
 history ; so that it is justly ranked among the capi- 
 tal pieces of the epistolary kind, which remain to 
 us from antiquity. Cicero had employed more 
 than ordinary pains upon it, and was pleased with 
 his success in it: for he mentions it to Atticus 
 with no small satisfaction, and wished him to get 
 a copy of it from their friend Lucceius. The ef- 
 fect of it was, that Lucceius undertook what Ci- 
 cero desired, and probably made some progress in it, 
 since Cicero sent him the memoirs which he promi- 
 sed, and Lucceius lived many years after, in an unin- 
 terrupted friendship with him, though neither this, 
 nor any other of his writings, had the fortune to 
 be preserved to succeeding ages.* 
 
 All people's eyes and inclinations began now to 
 turn towards Caesar, who by the eclat of his vic- 
 
 * Epistolam, Lucceio quara misi— fac ut ab eo suinas : valde bel~ 
 la est : eumqiie ut adproperet adhorteris, et, quod oiihi se ita lactu^ 
 nun rescripsit, agas gratias. Ad Att. 4. 6. 
 
 Tu Lucceio librum nostrum dabis. Ibid. 11 
 
 VOL, II. 10 
 
74 THE LIFE OF sect, vi, 
 
 A. Uib. 697. Cic. 51. Coss.— Cn. Corn. Lent. Mavcellinus. L. Mar. Fhilippus. 
 
 tories, seemed to rival the fame of Pompey him- 
 self; and, by his address and generosity, gained 
 ground upon him daily in authority and influence 
 in publick affairs. He spent the winter at Luca ; 
 whither a vast concourse of all ranks resorted to 
 him from Rome. Here Pompey and Crassus were 
 again made friends by him ; and a project formed, 
 that they should jointly seize the consulship for 
 the next year, though they had not declared them- 
 selves candidates within the usual time. L. Do- 
 mitius Ahenobarbus, a professed enemy, was one 
 of the competitors ; who, thinking himself sure 
 of success, could not forbear bragging, that he 
 would effect, when consul, what he could not do 
 when praetor, rescind Caesar's acts, and recall him 
 from his government ;^ which made them resolve, 
 at all hazards, to defeat him. What greatly favour- 
 ed their designs, was, the obstinacy of the tribune, 
 C. Cato; who, to revenge himself on Marcellinus, for 
 not suffering him to hold any assemblies of the peo- 
 ple, for promulgating his laws, would not suffer the 
 consuls to hold any, for the choice of the magis- 
 trates.f The triumvirate supported him in this re- 
 solution till"rtie year expired, and the government 
 fell into an Inter-regnum ; when, by faction and 
 violence, and the terrour of troops poured into the 
 city, they extorted the consulship out of the hands 
 
 * Sed cum L. Domitius consnlatns candidatus palana minaretur, 
 coDsulem se effectuium, quod praetor nequisset, ademptummque ei 
 exerc.itns. Crassura Fonipeiumque in urbeiii provinciae suae Lucam 
 extractos compulit, ut detrudendj Domitii causa alterum consulatum 
 petereDt. ISueton. J. Caes. 24. 
 
 f Consul — dies comitiales exemit oinnes — C. Cato concionatus est, 
 comitia haberi non situruin, si sibi cum populo agendi dies esseut ex-- 
 erapti. Ad Quint. 2. G. 
 
SECT. VI. 
 
 CICERO. 
 
 A. Uvb. 697. Cic 51. Cose.— Cn. Com. Lent. Marcellinus. L. Mar. Philippus. 
 
 of Domitius, and secured it to themselves.^ This 
 made Pompey generally odious, who, in all this 
 height of greatness, could not defend himself from 
 the perpetual railleries and insults of his adversa- 
 ries ; which yet he bore with singular temper and 
 patience. Marcellinus was constantly alarming 
 the city with the danger of his power ; and as he 
 was haranguing one day, on that subject, being en- 
 couraged by a general acclamation of the peo- 
 ple ; " cry out, citizens," says, he " cry out while 
 " you may ; for it will not be long in your power 
 " to do so with safety."t Cn. Piso also, a young 
 nobleman, who had impeached Manilius Crispus, 
 a man of praetorian rank, and notoriously guilty, 
 being provoked by Pompey 's protection of him, 
 turned his attack against Pompey himself, and 
 charged him with many crimes against the state ; 
 being asked, therefore, by Pompey, w^hy he did 
 not choose to impeach him, rather than the crimi- 
 nal, he, replied, briskly, that if he would give 
 bail to stand a trial, without raising a civil war, he 
 would soon bring him before his judges.J 
 
 A. Urb. 698. Cic. 52. Coss.— Cn. Porapelus Magnus II. M. Licinius Crassus II. 
 
 During the continuance of these tumults, oc- 
 casioned by the election of the new consuls, Cice- 
 
 * Quid enira hoc raiserius, quara eiim, qui tot annos, quot liabet, 
 designatus consul tuerit, consulem fieri non posse ? etc. Ad Att. 4. 
 8. Vid. Dio. p. 103. 
 
 t Acclamate, inquit, Quirites, acclaraate, dura licet : jam enim 
 vobis impune facere non Iicel)it. Val. iMax. 6. 2. 
 
 X Da inquit, praedes Reip. te, si postulatus fueris, civile bellum noi) 
 excitaturum; etiam de tuo prius, quam de Manilii capitc, in concili- 
 um judices raittam. Ibid. 
 
U THE LIFE OF sect, ru 
 
 A. Urb. 698. Cic. 52. Coss.— Cn. Porapeius Magnus II. :M. Licinius Crassus. II. 
 
 ro retired into the country ; where he staid to the 
 beginning of May, much out of humour, and dis- 
 gusted both with the republick and himself. Atti- 
 cus's constant advice to him was, to consult his safety 
 and interest, by uniting himself with the men of 
 power ; and they, on their part, were as constant- 
 ly inviting him to it, by all possible assurances of 
 their affection : but, in his answers to Atticus, he 
 observes : " that their two cases were very differ- 
 ^^ ent; that Atticus, having no peculiar character, suf- 
 "feredno peculiar indignity ; nothing but what was 
 " common to all the citizens ; whereas his own con- 
 " dition was such, that if he spoke what he ouo;ht 
 ^' to do, he should be looked upon as a madman ; 
 '' if what was useful only to himself, as a slave ; 
 " if nothing at all, as quite oppressed and subdued : 
 '^ that his uneasiness was the greater, because he 
 " could not shew it without being thought ungrat^- 
 '^ ful : — Shall I withdraw myself then," says he, 
 *' from business, and retire to the port of ease ? That 
 *'' will not be allowed to me. Shall I follow these 
 " leaders to the wars, and, after having refused to 
 *^ command^ submit to be commanded ? I will do 
 " so ; for I see that it is your advice, and wish 
 '' that I had always followed it : or, shall I re-^ 
 " sume my post, and enter again into affairs ? I 
 ^' cannot persuade myself to that, but begin to 
 "think Philoxenus in the right; who chose to be 
 '' carried back to prison, rather than commend the 
 " tyrant's verses. This is what I am now meditat- 
 ^' ing ; to declare my dislike at least of what they 
 '' are doing,"^ 
 
 * Tii qnidera, etsi es natura ?ro\iTtKoc, tamen niillam habcv'? propri-^ 
 am servitiitem : coiurauni frueris nomine. Ego vero, qui, si loquor 
 j3e Repub. quod oportet, insanns; si quod opus est, servus existimor; 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 77 
 
 A. Urb. 698. Cic. 52. Coss.— Cn. Pompeius Magnus II. ^L Licinius Crassus IL 
 
 Such were the agitations of his mind at this 
 tiaie, as he frequently signifies in his letters : he 
 was now at one of his villas on the delightful 
 shore of Baiae, the chief place of resort and plea- 
 sure for the great and rich : Pompey came thither 
 in April, and no sooner arrived, than he sent him 
 his compliments, and spent his whole time with 
 him : they had much discourse on publick affairs, 
 in which Pompey expressed 2;reat uneasiness, and 
 owned himself dissatisfied with his own part in 
 them ; but Cicero, in his account of the conver- 
 sation, intimates some suspicion of his sincerity.* 
 In the midst of this company and diversion, Ci- 
 cero's entertainment was in his studies ; for he 
 never resided any where without securing to him- 
 self the use of a good library : here he had the 
 command of Faustus's, the son of Sylla, and son- 
 in-law of Pompey ; one of the best collections of 
 Italy ; gathered from the spoils of Greece, and es- 
 pecially of Athens, from which Sylla brought away 
 many thousand volumes. He had no body in the 
 house with him, but Dionysius, a learned Greek 
 
 si taceo, oppressus et captiis ; quo dolore esse debeo ? quo sum scili- 
 cet hoc etiain acriore, quod ne doleie quidem possum, ut non ingra- 
 tus videar. Uuid si cessare libeat et in otii portum conlugere ? iVe- 
 quicquam. Immo etiam in bellura et in castra : ergo erimus maSot^ 
 qui T4>!ii esse noluimus ? Sic faciendum est ; tibi enim ipsi, cui uii- 
 nam semper parnissem, sic video placere. I^eliqui est, Im^^v fxa;^«?, 
 T«t/Tstv Kca-fxti; non niehercule possum: et Philoxeno ignosto. qui re- 
 du'^i in carcereni maluit. Veruntamen id ipsum mecum in his Jocis 
 coramentor, ut ista iinprobem. — Ad Att. 4. G. 
 
 T*he story of Dioiiysius the tyrant of Syracuse, and Philoxenus the 
 poet, is told by Diodorus Siculus. Lib. I.*), p. 331. 
 
 * Poinpeius in Cumanum Parilibus venit : misit ad me statim qui 
 salutem nuntiaret : ad cum postridie mane vadebam Ad Att. 4. x. 
 
 Nos hie cum Ponipeio fuimus : sane sibi displicens ut loquebatur; 
 sic est enim in hoc homine dicendum. — In nos vero sua?issime effusns : 
 yenit etiam ad me in Cumanum. — lb. 9. 
 
78 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 698. Cic. 52. Coss.— Cq, Fompeius Magnus II. M. Licinius Crassus II. 
 
 slave, whom Atticus had made free, and who was 
 entrusted with the instruction of the two young 
 Ciceros, the son and the nephew : " with this com- 
 " panion he was devouring books, since the wretch- 
 " ed state of the publick had deprived him," as he 
 tells us, " of all other pleasures. I had much 
 *' rather," says he to Atticus, " be sitting on your 
 " little bench under Aristotle's picture, than in the 
 " curule chairs of our great ones ; or taking a turn 
 " with you, in your walks, than with him whom it 
 " must, I see, be my fate to walk with : as for 
 " the success of that walk, let fortune look to it, or 
 " some god, if there be any, who takes care of us."^ 
 He mentions in the same letter a current report at 
 Puteoli, that king Ptolemy was restored ; and de- 
 sires to know what account they had of it at 
 Rome : the report was very true ; for Gabinius, 
 tempted by Ptolemy's gold and the plunder of 
 Egypt;, and encouraged also, as some write, by 
 Pompey himself, undertook to replace him on the 
 throne with his Syrian army ; which he executed 
 with a high hand, and the destruction of all the 
 king's enemie^; in open defiance of the authority 
 of the senate and the direction of the Sibyl : this 
 made a great noise at Rome, and irritated the 
 people to such a degree, that they resolved to 
 
 * Ego hie pascor BibliothecaFausti. Fortasse tu putabas his rebus 
 Puteolanis et Lucrinensibus. Ne ista quidem desuut. Sed meher- 
 ciile a caeteris oblectationibus deseror et vohiptatibus propter Rera- 
 pub. sic Uteris sustentor et recreor; maloque in ilia tiia sedecula, 
 cjuain habes sub imagine Aristotelrs, sedere, quam in istorum sella 
 c'urnli ; tecuinque apnd te ambulare, quam cum eo, quocum video 
 esse ambulandum. Sed de ilia ambulatione tors videret, aut si qui 
 est, qui curet, Deus. lb. 10. 
 
 Nos hie voraraus literas cum homine rairifico, ita mehercule sentio, . 
 Dionysio. lb 11. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 79 
 
 A. Urb. 698. Cic. 52. Coss.— Cn. Pomi)eiu9 Magnus II. M. Licinius Crassus II. 
 
 make him feel their displeasure for it, very severe- 
 ly, at his return."* 
 
 His coUeaojue Piso came home the first from 
 his nearer government of Macedonia ; after an 
 inglorious administration of a province, whence no 
 consular senator had ever returned but to a tri- 
 umph. For though on the account of some trifling 
 advantage in the field, he had procured himself 
 to be saluted emperour by his army, yet the oc- 
 casion was so contemptible, that he durst not send 
 any letters upon it to the senate : but, after op- 
 pressing the subjects, plundering the allies, and 
 losing the best part of his troops against the 
 neiglibouring barbarians, who invaded and laid 
 waste the country, he ran away, in disguise, from 
 a mutiny of the soldiers, whom he disbanded at 
 last, without their pay.f When he arrived at 
 Rome, he stript his fasces of their laurel, and en- 
 tered the city obscurely and ignominiously, with- 
 out any other attendance than his own retinue.J 
 On his first appearance in publick, trusting to the 
 authority of his son-in-law, Caesar, he had the 
 
 * Vid. Dio. 1.39. p. 116. etc. 
 
 f Ex qua aliquot praetorio imperio, consiilaris quidein nemo rediit. 
 qui incolumis fuerit, qui non triumphant. In Pisou. 16. 
 
 Ut ex ea provinoia, quae Cuit ex omnibus una maxirae triumphalis. 
 i>ullas sit ad senatum litteras mittere ausus. Nuntius ad senatum 
 missus est nullus. lb. 19. 
 
 Mitto de afnissa maxima parte exercitus. — 20. 
 
 Dyrrhachium ut venit decedens, obsessus est ab iis ipsis miiitibus. 
 Quibus cum juratus affirmasset, se, quae deberentiir, postero die per- 
 soluturum ; domum se abdidit : inde nocte intenipesta crepidatus, 
 veste servili navem conscendit. — 38. 
 
 X Sic iste — Macedonicus Imperatof in urbem se intulit, ut nullius 
 negotiatoris obscurissimi reditus unquam fuerit desertior — 23. 
 
 C»»m Ui — detractam e crnentis fascibns lanream ad portam Ksquili- 
 cam abjpctisti lb 20. 
 
80 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 693. Cic. 52. Coss.— Cn. Pompeius Magnus II. M. Licinius Crassus II. 
 
 hardiness to attack Cicero and complain to the se- 
 nate of his injurious treatment of him : but when 
 he beo;an to reproach him with the disgrace of 
 his exile, the whole assembly interrupted him by 
 a loud and g^eneral clamour.^ Among other things 
 with which he upbraided Cicero, he told him, 
 that it was not any envy for what he had done, 
 but the vanity of what he had said, which had 
 driven him into exile ; and that a single verse of his^ 
 
 Cedant anna togae, concedat laurea linguae^ 
 
 was the cause of all his calamity ; by provoking 
 Pompey to make him feel how much the power of 
 the general was superiour to that of the orator : he 
 put him in mind also, that it was mean and unge- 
 nerous to exert his spleen only against such, whom 
 he, had reason to contemn, without daring to med- 
 dle with those who had more power, and where his 
 resentment was more due.f But it had been bet- 
 ter for him to have stifled his complaints, and suf- 
 fered Cicero to be quiet ; who, exasperated by his 
 imprudent attack, made a reply to him upon the 
 spot in an illVective speech, tlie severest, perhaps, 
 that was ever spoken by any man, on the person, 
 the parts, the whole life and conduct of Piso ; which, 
 as long as the Roman name subsists, must deliver 
 
 * Time ausiis es meum discessum ilium — maledicti et contumeliae 
 loco ponere ? ^-iuo qiiidera tempore cepi, patres conscripli, fructum 
 immortalem vesiri in me amoris — qui non admurmiiratione, scd voce 
 et clamore abjecti hominis — petiilantiam fregistis. Ibid. 14. 
 
 f Non ulla tibi, inqiiit, invidianocuit, sed versus tui. Haec res tibi 
 fluctus illos excitavit. Tuae dicis, inquit, togae, summum imperalo- 
 rem esse cessurum. 
 
 Paulo ante dixisti me cum iis confiigere quos despicerem ; non at- 
 tingere eos, qui plus possent, quibus iratus esse deberem. Ibid. 29, 
 30, 31. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 81 
 
 A. Urb. 698. Cic. 52. Coss.— Cn. Ponipeius Rlagnus 11. M. Licinius Crassus II. 
 
 down a most detestable character of him to all pos- 
 terity. As to the verse, with which he was ur«ed, 
 he ridicules the absurdity of Piso's application of 
 it, and tells him, " that he had contrived a very ex- 
 " traordinary punishment for poor poets, if they 
 " were to be banished for every bad Tine : that he 
 " was a critick of a new kind ; not an Aristarchus, 
 " but a grammatical Phalaris ; who, instead of ex- 
 " punging the verse, w^as for destroying the au- 
 " thor : that the verse itself could not imply any 
 " affront to any man whatsoever: that he was an 
 " ass, and did not know his letters, to imagine, that 
 " by the gown, he meant his own gown ; or by arms, 
 " the arms of any particular general ; and not to see 
 " that he was speaking only in the poetical style ; 
 " and as the one was the emblem of peace, the oth- 
 " er of war, that he could mean nothing else, than 
 " that the tumults and dangers, with which the city 
 " had been threatened, must now give way to peace 
 " and tranquillity : that he might have stuck a lit- 
 " tie indeed in explaining the latter part of the 
 " verse, if Piso himself had not helped him out ; 
 " who, by trampling his own laurel under foot at 
 " the gates of Rome, had declared how much he 
 " thought it inferiour to every other kind of ho- 
 *' nour : — that as for Pompey, it was siUy to think, 
 " that, after the volumes which he had written in 
 " his praise, one silly verse should make him at last 
 *' his enemy : but that, in truth, he never was his 
 " enemy ; and if, on a certain occasion, he had 
 " shewn any coldness towards him, it was all owing 
 " to the periidy and malice of such as Piso ; who 
 *^ were continually infusing jealousies and suspi- 
 '' cions into him, till they had removed from his 
 
 VOL. II. 11 
 
S2 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 698 Cic. 5-. Coss.— Cn. Pompcius Magnus II. M. Licinius Crassus II. 
 
 " confidence all who loved either him or the repiib- 
 '' lick."^ 
 
 About this time the theatre, which Pompey had 
 built at his own charge, for the use and ornament 
 of the city, was solemnly opened and dedicated : it 
 is much celebrated by the ancients for its grandeur 
 and magnificence : the plan was taken from the the- 
 atre of Mytilene, but greatly enlarged, so as to re- 
 ceive commodiously forty thousand people. It was 
 surrounded by a portico, to shelter ihe company 
 in bad weather, and had a curia, or senate-house an- 
 nexed to it ; with a basilica also, or grand hall, pro- 
 per for the sittings of judges, or any other publick 
 business : which were all finished at Pompey 's cost, 
 and adorned with a great number of images, form- 
 ed by the ablest masters, of men and women, fam- 
 ed for something very remarkable or prodigious in 
 their lives and characters.! Atticus undertook 
 the care of placing all these statues, for which 
 
 * Quoniam te non 4ristarchnm, sed grammaticiim Phalarini liabe- 
 raus. qui non notam apponas ad malnm.versum, sed poetain armis pro- 
 seqiiare. Quid.4)nnc te, asine, literas doceam ? Non dixi hane to- 
 gain, qua sum amictus, nee arma, scutum et gladium unius iinperato- 
 ris : sed quod pacis est insigne et otii, toga; contra autem arma, 
 tumultus ac belli, more poetarura locutus, hoc inteiligi volui, bellura 
 ac tnnuiltum paci atque otio concessurum — in altero — haererem, nisi 
 tu expedisses. Nam cum tu — detractam e cruentis fascibus lauream 
 ad p nam Ksquiiinam abjecisti, indicasti, non modo amplissimae, sed 
 etiam minimae laudi lauream concessisse. Vis Pompeium isto versu 
 inimicum mihi esse factum. Primo nonue compensabit cum uno ver- 
 siculo tot mea volumina laudum snarum ? Vestrae fraudes,— vestrac 
 criminationes insidiarum mearum — effecerunt ut ego escluderer, etc. 
 In Pison. 30, 31. i 
 
 t Pompeins Magnus in ornamentis theatri mirabiles fama posuit 
 imagines; ob id diligentius magnorum artiticum ingt niis elahoratas : 
 inter quas legitur Knlythe. a viginti liberis rogo illala^ euixa triginta 
 partus; Alcippe, Klephantum. Plin. Hist. 7. 3. 
 
sE€T. VI. CICERO. 83 
 
 A. Urb. 698. Cic. 52. Coss.— Cn. Ponipeius Magnus II. M. Licxnius Crassus II. 
 
 Pompey charo;ed Cicero with his thanks to him :* 
 but what made this f ibrick the more surprisinj^ and 
 splendid, was a beautiful temple, erected at one 
 end of it to Venus the conqueress ; and so contriv- 
 ed, that the seats of the theatre might serve as stairs 
 to the temple. This was designed, it is said, to 
 avoid the reproach of making so vast an expense 
 for the mere use of luxury ; the temple being so 
 placed, that those who came to the shews might 
 seem to come to w^orship the goddess.f 
 
 At the solemnity of this dedication, Pompey 
 entertained the people with the mo^t magnificent 
 shews which had ever been exhibited in Rome : in 
 the theatre, were stage-plays, prizes of musick, 
 wrestling, and all kinds of bodily exercises : in the 
 circus, horse-races, and huntings of wild beasts, for 
 five days successively ; in which five hundred lions 
 were killed ; and on the last day, twenty elephants : 
 whose lamentable howling, when mortally wound- 
 ed, raised such a commiseration in the multitude, 
 from a vulgar notion of their great sense and love 
 to man, that it destroyed the whole diversion of 
 the shew, and drew curses on Pompey himself, 
 
 * Tibi etiam gratias agebat, quod signa compooeuda suscepisses. 
 Ad Att. 1. 9. 
 
 f Qniuti Pompeius, inquit, acdem Victoriae dedicaturns esset, cu- 
 jus gradus vicem theatri essent, etc. A Gell. X. 1. Vid. TertuII. 
 de Spectac. 
 
 Dion Cassiiis raeotions it, as a tradition he had met with, that 
 this theatre was not really built by Pompey, but by his freed- 
 man Demetrius, who had made himself richer than his master, by 
 attendins; him in bis wars ; and to take off' the envy of raising so vast 
 ail estate, laid out 'a considerable part of it upon the theatre, and 
 gave the honour of it to Pompey. Dio, p. 107. Senec. de Tranq- 
 Anim. c. 8. 
 
84 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 698. Cic. 52, Coss.— Cn. Pompeius Magnus II. M. Licinius Crassus II. 
 
 for being the author of so much cruelty.* So 
 true it is, what Cicero observes of this kind of 
 prodigality ; that there is no real dignity or last- 
 ing honour in it ; that it satiates, while it pleases, 
 and is forgotten, as soon as it is over.f It gives 
 us however a genuine idea of the wealth and 
 grandeur of these principal subjects of Rome : 
 Avho, from their private revenues, could raise such 
 noble buildings, and provide such shews, from the 
 several quarters of the world, which no monarch 
 on earth is now able to exhibit. 
 
 Cicero, contrary to his custom, was present at 
 these shews, out of compliment to Pompey, and 
 gives a particular account of them to his friend 
 M. Marius, who could not be draw^n by them from 
 his books and retreat in the country. " The old. 
 " actors," says he, " who had left the stage, came 
 "on to it again, in honour of Pompey; but, for 
 " the sake of their own honour, ought rather to 
 " have staid away ; our friend Aesopus appeared to 
 " be quite sunk and worn out ; so that all people 
 " seemed willing to grant him his quietus : for in 
 
 ;^;^5 
 
 * Magnificentissima vero Pompeii nostri miinera in secundo Ctm- 
 sulatu. De Off. 2. 10. 
 
 Pompeii quoque altero Cousulatu, dedicatione templi Veneris Vic« 
 
 tricis, pngnare in Circo viginli elephantes Amissa fiigae spe 
 
 misericordiam vulgi inenarrabili habitii qnerentes siipplicavere, qua- 
 dam sese lainentatione fomplorantes, tanto popnii dolore, ut oblitus 
 imperatoris — Mens universus consnrgeret, dirasque Pompeio, quas 
 ille mox liiit, poenas imprecaretur. — Pliu. I. 8. 7. Vid. Die, 1. 39. p. 
 107. It Plutar. in Pomp. 
 
 f In his infinitis — sumptibus, nihil nos inagnopere mirari : cnm 
 nee necessitati subveniatur, nee dignitas augeatur : ipsaque ilia de- 
 lectatio miiltitndinis sit ad breve exigiuimque tempus — in quo tamen 
 ipso, una cum satietate memoria quoque inoriatur voluptatis. — De 
 Off. 2. 16, 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 85 
 
 A. Urb. 698. Cic 52. Coss.— Cn. Pompeius Magnus II. M. Liciuius Crassus II. 
 
 ** attempting to raise his voice, where he had occa- 
 " sion to swear, his speech faultered and failed 
 
 *'him. In the other plays, the vast apparatus, 
 
 " and crouded machinery, which raised the ad- 
 " miration of the mob, spoiled the entertainment : 
 " six hundred mules, infinite treasures of plate, 
 " troops of horse and foot fii^htinjj on the stage. — 
 " The huntings indeed were magnificent, but what 
 "pleasure to a man of taste, to see a poor weak 
 " fellow torn to pieces by a fierce beast ; or a 
 " noble beast struck dead with a spear : the last 
 "day's shew of elephants, instead of delight, raised 
 " a general compassion, and an opinion of some 
 " relation between that animal and man : but least 
 " you should think me w holly happy, in these 
 " days of diversion, I have almost burst myself in 
 " the defence of your friend Gallus Caninius. If 
 "the city would be as kind to me, as they are to 
 " Aesopus, I would willingly quit the stage, to live 
 " with you, and such as you, in a polite and libe- 
 '^ral ease."^ 
 
 The city continued for a great part of this sum- 
 mer, without its annual magistrates : for the elec- 
 tions which had been postponed from the last year, 
 were still kept off by the consuls, till they could 
 settle them to their minds, and secure them to 
 their own creatures : w hich they effected, at last, 
 except in the case of two tribunes, who slipt into 
 the office against their will: but the most re- 
 markable repulse w^as, of i\l. Cato from the prae- 
 torship, which was given to Yatinius ; from tiie 
 best citizen, to the worst. Cato, upon his return 
 
 * Ep. Fam. 7. 1. 
 
86 THE LIFE OF sect, vi, 
 
 A. Urb. 698. Cic. 52. Coss.— Cn. Pompeius Magnus II. M. Licinius Crassus II. 
 
 from the Cyprian voyage, was coaipliuaynted by 
 the senate for that service with the offer of the 
 praetorship in an extraordinary manner.^ But he 
 declined the compliment, thinking it more ao;reea- 
 ble to his character, to obtain it in the ordinary 
 way, by the free choice of the people : but when 
 the election came on, in which he was thou;>;ht 
 sure of success, Pompey broke up the assembly, 
 on pretence of somewhat inauspicious in tlie hea- 
 vens, and by intrigue and management, got Vati- 
 nius declared praetor, who had been repulsed the 
 year before with disgrace from the aedileship :t 
 but this being carried by force of money, and 
 likely to produce an impeachment of Yatinius, 
 Afranius moved for a decree, that the praetors 
 should not be questioned for bribery after their 
 election ; which passed, against the general humour 
 of the senate ; with an exception only of sixty 
 days, in which they were to be considered as private 
 men. The pretence for the decree was, that so 
 much of the year being spent, the whole would 
 pass without any praetors at all, if a liberty of im- 
 peaching was allowed : from this moment, says Ci- 
 cero, they lT2rve given the exclusion to Cato ; and, 
 being masters of all, resolve that all the world shall 
 know it. J 
 
 * Ciijns ministerii gratia senatus relationem interponi jiibebat, ut 
 praetoriis comitiis extra ordinem ratio ejus habeietur. .Sed ipse id 
 fieri passus non est. Val. Max. 4. 1. Plutar. in Cato. 
 
 f Proxiraa deraentiae suffragia — qiioniam quem honorera Catoni 
 negavenint, Vatinio dare coacti sUnt. Val. Max. 7. 5. PJut. in Pomp. 
 
 I A. D. Hi. id. Maii S. C. factum est de arabitu in Afrauii senten- 
 
 tiam. Sed maguo cum gemitu senatus. Consules non sunt perse- 
 
 cuti eorura sententias; qui Afranio cum essent assensi addiderunt, ut 
 praetores ita crearentur, ut dies LX. privati essent. Eo die Catonem 
 plane repudiarunt. Quid multa? Teneot omnia, idque ita oranes in- 
 telligere volunt. Ad Quint. 2. 9. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. sr 
 
 A. Vtb. 698. Cic. 52. Coss.— Cn. Pompeius Magnus II. M. Licinius Crassus II. 
 
 Cicero's Palatine house, and the adjoinino^ porti- 
 co of Catulus, were now finished ; and as he and 
 his brother were the curators likewise of the re- 
 pairs of the temple of Tellus,* so they seem to 
 have provided some inscriptions for these build- 
 inojs, in honour and memory of themselves : but 
 since no publick inscriptions could be set up, un- 
 less by publick authority, they were apprehensive 
 of an opposition from Clodius. Cicero mentioned 
 the case to Pompey, who promised his assistance, 
 but advised him to talk also with Crassus, which he 
 took occasion to do, as he attended him home one 
 day from the senate. Crassus readily undertook 
 the affair, and told him, that Clodius had a point to 
 carry for himself by Pompey 's help and his, and 
 that if Cicero would not oppose Clodius, he was 
 persuaded that Clodius would not disturb him ; to 
 which Cicero consented. Clodius's business was, 
 to procure one of those free or honorary lieutenan- 
 cies, that he might go with a publick character to 
 Byzantium, and king Brogitarus, to gather the 
 money which they owed him for past services. 
 As it is a mere money matter, says Cicero, 1 shall 
 not concern myself about it, whether I gain mv 
 own point or not, though Pompey and Crassus have 
 jointly undertaken it ; but he seems to have ob- 
 tained what he desired, since, besides the intended 
 inscriptions, he mentions a statue also of his bro- 
 ther, which he had actually erected at the temple 
 of Tellus.t 
 
 * Quod Aedes Telluris est curationis meae. De Harusp. resp. 14. 
 
 f Multa noote cum Vibullio veni ad Pompeium. Cumqiie ego egis- 
 sein de istis operibns et inscriptionihiis, per niilii bcni^iie respondit. 
 Cum Crasso se dixit loqui velle. niiliiquc, lit idem tacereni, suasit. 
 Crassum cousulem ex seiiatu domuiri reduxi : suscepit rem, dixitqne esse 
 qtiod Clodius hoe tempore rnperet per se, et per Pompeium consequi. 
 
8S THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. ITtb. 698. Cic. 52. Coss.— Cn. Pompeius. Magnus II. M. Licinitis Crassus II. 
 
 Trebonius, one of the tribunes in the interests of 
 the trhimvirate, published a law, " for the assign- 
 " ment of provinces to the consuls for the term of 
 " five years : to Pompey, Spain and Africk ; to 
 " Crassus, Syria, and the Parthian war, with a pow- 
 " er of raising what forces they thought fit : and 
 *' that Caesar's commission should be renewed also 
 " for five years more." The law was opposed by 
 the generality of the senate ; and above all, by Ca- 
 to, Favonius, and two of the tribvuies, C. Ateius 
 Capito, and P. Aquilius Gallus: but the superiour 
 force of the consuls and the other tribunes prevail- 
 ed, and cleared the forum by violence of all their 
 opponents. The law no sooner passed, than Cras- 
 sus began to prepare for his eastern expedition ; 
 and was in such haste to set forward, that he left 
 Rome above two months before the expiration of 
 his consulship : his eagerness to involve the repub- 
 lick in a desperate war, for which the Parthians had 
 given no pretext, was generally detested by the 
 city: the tribune Ateius declared it impious, and 
 prohibited by all the auspices ; and denounced dire- 
 ful imprecations against it ; but finding Crassus de- 
 termined to^Tnarch in defiance of all religion, he 
 waited for him at the gates of the city, and, having 
 dressed up a little altar, stood ready with a fire and 
 sacrifice to devote him to destruction.* Ateius 
 was afterwards turned out of the senate by Appius, 
 wlien he was censor, for falsifying the auspices on 
 this occasion ; but the miserable fate of Crassus sup- 
 
 Putare so, si es;o cum non impedircm, posse me adipisci sine conteu- 
 lione quod vel!em, etc. Ad Quint. 2. 9. 
 
 Keddita est inihi pervetus opistola in qua de Acdc Telluris, et 
 
 de porticii Catuli me admones. Fit utrumque diligeiiter. Ad Tel- 
 luris etiam tuam statuam locavi. lb. 3. 1. 
 
 '■*■■ Dio. I, :39. p. 109. Plut. in Crass. 
 
SECT. VI. CFCERO. 89 
 
 A. Urb. 698. Cic. 52. Coss.— Cn. Pompeius Magnus II. M. Licinius Crassus. II. 
 
 ported the credit of them ; and confirmed the vul- 
 gar opinion of the inevitable force of those ancient 
 rites, in drawing down the divine vengeance on all 
 who presumed to contemn them.* Appius was one 
 of the augurs ; and the only one of the college who 
 maintained the truth of their auguries, and the reali- 
 ty of divination ; for which he w^as laughed at by 
 the rest ; who charged him also with an absurdity, 
 in the reason, which he subscribed, for his censure 
 upon Ateius, viz. that he had falsified the auspices, 
 and brought a great calamity on the Roman peo- 
 ple : for if the auspices, they said, were false, they 
 could not possibly have any effect, or be the cause 
 of that calamity.f But though they were undoubt- 
 edly forged, it is certain, however, that they had a 
 real influence on the overthrow of Crassus : for the 
 terrour of them had deeply possessed the minds of 
 the soldiers, and made them turn every thing which 
 they saw, or heard, to an omen of their ruin ; so 
 that when the enemy appeared in sight, they were 
 struck with such a panick, that they had not cour- 
 age or spirit enough left, to make a tolerable resis- 
 tance. 
 
 Crassus was desirous, before he left Rome, to be 
 reconciled to Cicero : they had never been real 
 friends, but generally opposite in party ; and Ci- 
 cero's early engagements with Pompey kept him, of 
 
 * M. Cra«so quid acciderit, videmtis, dirarmn obnunciatioae neglecta. 
 DeDivin. 1. 16. 
 
 \ Solus eniin miiltoiuin amiorum inemoria, non decantandi Augurii, 
 seel divinandi, teniiit disciplinain • qiieiu irridebant collegaa tiii ; eum- 
 que tuin Pisidam, tiiin Soramim au'^iirem e>se dieebant. Qiiibus nulla 
 videbatur in auguriis ant aiispiciis praesensio. lb. 47. 
 
 In quo Appius, bonus augur. — Von satis scienter — Civein egregium, 
 Ateimn, censor uotavit, quod erasntitum auspiciasubscripserit. Uuae 
 si falsa fuisset mil lam adferre potuisset causam calamitati?. lb. ir». 
 VOL. II. 12 
 
90 THE LIFE OF sect, vf, 
 
 A. Urb. 698. Cic. 52. Coss.— Cn. Pompeius Magnus II. M. Licinius Crassus II. 
 
 course, at a distance from Crassus : their coldness 
 was still increased, on account of Catiline's plot, of 
 which Crassus was strongly suspected, and charged 
 Cicero with being the author of that suspicion : 
 they carried it, however, on both sides with much 
 decency, out of regard to Crassus's son, Publius, a 
 professed admirer and disciple of Cicero, till an ac- 
 cidental debate in the senate blew up their secret 
 grudge into an open quarrel. 1 he debate was up- 
 on Gabinius, whom Crassus undertook to defend, 
 with many severe reflections upon Cicero, who re- 
 plied, with no less acrimony, and gave a free vent 
 to that old resentment of Crassus's many injuries, 
 which had been gathering, he says, several years, 
 but lain dormant so long, that he took it to be ex- 
 tinguished, till, from this accident, it burst out into 
 a flame. The quarrel gave great joy to the chiefs 
 of tlie senate, who highly applauded Cicero, in 
 hopes to embroil him with the triumvirate : but 
 Pompey laboured hard to make it up, and Caesar 
 also, by letter, expressed his uneasiness upon it, 
 and begged it of Cicero, as a favour, to be reconcil- 
 ed with Crassus ; so that lie could not hold out 
 against an-kitercession so powerful, and so well en- 
 forced by his aflection to young Crassus : their re- 
 conciliation was confirmed by mutual professions 
 of a sincere friendship for the futiue ; and Crassus, 
 to give a publick testimony of it to the city, in- 
 vited himself, just before his departure, to sup with 
 Cicero, who entertained him in the gardens of his 
 son-in-law, Crassipes.'^' , These gardens were upon 
 
 * Repentinam ejus Gabiiiii dcfcnsionem — Si sine iilla mea contunic- 
 lia suscepisset, tulissera : sod cum nie disputantein, non lacessentem 
 laesisset, exarsi non solum praesenti, credo, iracnndia (nam ealam.ve- 
 hemens fortasse non fuisset) sed cum incJusum iliud odium multarum 
 ejus in me injuriarum, quod ego efiudisse me omne arbitrabar, residuum 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 91 
 
 A. Urb. 698. Cic. 52. Coss.— Cn. Pompeius Magnus II. 51. Licinius Crassus. II. 
 
 the banks of the Tiber, and seem to have been fa- 
 mous for their beauty and situation ;* and are the 
 only proof which we meet with of the spieqdid for- 
 tunes and condition of Crassipes. 
 
 Cicero spent a great part of the summer in the 
 country, in study and retreat, " pleased," he says, 
 " that he was out of tlie way of those squabbles, 
 " where he must either have defended what he did 
 '* not approve, or deserted the man whom he ought 
 " not to forsake."t In this retirement he put the 
 "last hand to his piece on the Complete Oiator, 
 which he sent to Atticus, and promises also to send 
 to Lentulus, telling him, " that he had intermitted his 
 " old task of orations, and betaken himself to the 
 " milder and gentler studies, in which he had fin- 
 " ished, to his satisfaction, three books, by way of 
 " dialogue, on the subject of the Orator, in Aris- 
 "totle's manner, which would be of use to his 
 " son, young Lentulus, being drawn, not in the 
 " ordinary way of the schools, and the dry meth- 
 " od of precepts, but comprehending all that the 
 " ancients, and especially Aristotle and Isocrates, 
 " had taught on the institution of an Orator/'J 
 
 taraen insciente rae fuisset, orane repeute apparuit — Curaqiie Pora- 
 peiiis ita contendisset, iit nihil unquara magis, ut cum Ciasso redirein 
 in gratiaii) ; Caesarque per literas maxima se molestia ex ilia conten- 
 tioue aflectum ostenderet : habiii non temporum solum meorum ra- 
 tionem, sod etiam naturae. Crassuque ut quasi testata populo Horn. 
 esset nostra gratia, paene a meis laribus in provinciam est profectus. 
 Nam cum milii condixisset, coonavit apud me in mei generi Crassipe- 
 dis hortis. — Ep. Fam. 1. 9. 
 
 * Ad Quint. 3. 7. Ad Att. 4. 12. 
 
 t Ego afuisse me in altercationibus, quas in senatu factas audio 
 fero non raoleste ; nam aut deicndisscra quod non placeret, aut de- 
 fuissem cui non oporteret. Ad Att. \. 13. 
 
 \ Scripsi etiam, (nam ab orationibus dijungo me fere referoque ad 
 mansuetiores musas) scripsi igitur Aristoteleo more, queraadraodum 
 
92 THE LIFE OFs sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 698. Cic. 52. Coss.— Cn. Pompeius Magnus II. M. Licinius Crassus. II. 
 
 The three books contain as many dialogues, 
 upon the character and idea of the perfect Orator : 
 the principal speakers were P. Crassus and M. 
 Antonius, persons of the first dignity in the re- 
 publick, and the greatest masters of eloquence, 
 which Rome had then known : they were near 
 forty years older than Cicero, and the first Ro- 
 mans who could pretend to dispute the prize of 
 oratory with the Greeks, and who carried the 
 Latin tongue to a degree of perfection, which left 
 little or no room for any farther improvement.* 
 The disputation was undertaken at the desire, 
 and for the instruction of two young orators of 
 great hopes, C. Cotta and P. Sulpicius, who were 
 then beginning to flourish at the bar : Cicero him- 
 self was not present at it, but being informed by 
 Cotta of the principal heads, of and general argu- 
 ment of the whole, supplied the rest from his 
 own invention, agreeably to the different stile and 
 manner, which those great men were known to 
 pursue, and with design to do honour to the me- 
 mory of them both, but especially of Crassus, who 
 had been the director of his early studies, and to 
 whom he assigns the defence of that notion which 
 
 quldem volui, tres libros in dispntatione et dlalogo de Oratore, quos 
 arbitror Lentulo tuo non fore iiiutiles. Abhorrent enim a commnni- 
 bus praeceptis : ac omnem antiqiiornm, et Arifitoteleam et Isocra- 
 team rationern Oraloriam oo/nplectuntiir. Ep. Fam. 1. 9. 
 
 * Crassus — quatuor et triginta turn habebat annos, totidemqne an- 
 nis mihi aetate praestabat— Triennio ipso minor quam Antonius, 
 quod idcirco posjii, ut dicendi Latine prima niaturitas qua aetate ex- 
 titisset, posset notari ; et intelligeretur. jam ad summum paene esse 
 perductam. ut eo nihil ferme quisqnam addere posset, nisi qui a phi- 
 losophia, a jurecivili, ab historia luisset instructior. Brut. 275. 
 
 Nunc ad Antonium, Crassumque pervenimus. Nam ego sic exis- 
 timo hos Oralores inisse maximos : ol in his priraum cum Graecorum 
 gloria Latine dicendi copiam aequatam — lb. 250. 
 
SECT. VI. 
 
 CICERO. 93 
 
 A. Urb. 698. Cic. 52. Coss.— Cn- Pompeius Magnus II. M. Licinius Crassns. II. 
 
 he himself always entertained, of the character of 
 a consummate speaker.^ 
 
 Atticus was exceed inorly pleased with this trea- 
 tise, and commended it to the skies ; but object- 
 ed to the propriety of dismissin<>; Scaevola from 
 the disputation, after he had once been introduced 
 into the first dialoj^ue. Cicero defends himself by 
 the example of their god, Plato, as he calls him, 
 in his book on Government ; where the scene be- 
 in o; laid in the house of an old gentleman, Ce- 
 phalus, the old man, after bearing a part in the 
 first conversation, excuses himself, that he must 
 go to prayers, and returns no more ; Plato not 
 thinking it suitable to the character of his age, to 
 be detained in the company through so long a dis- 
 course : that, with greater reason, therefore, he 
 had used the same caution in the case of Scaevo- 
 la ; since it w^as not decent to suppose a person of 
 his dignity, extreme age and infirm health, spending 
 several days successively in another man's house : 
 that the first day's dialogue related to his particu- 
 lar profession, but the other two turned chiefly 
 on the rules and precepts of the art, w here it was 
 not proper for one of Scaevola's temper and char- 
 acter to assist only as a hearer.f This admirable 
 
 * Nos enim, qui ipsi sermoni nou interfulssemus, et qiiibus C. Cot- 
 ta tantmnmodo locos, ac sententias hujiis dispiitationis tradidisset, 
 quo in genere orationis utrumque Oratorem cognoveramns, id ipsum 
 sumusio eorum sermone adumbiare conati. — De Orat. 3. 4. 
 
 IJt ei, (Crasso) ct si iiequaqiiam parem illius ingonio, at pro nostro 
 tainen studio raeritam gratiam debilamquc rcferamus — Ibid.— 
 
 f Quod in iis libris, quos laudas, personam desideras Soaevolae. 
 Non earn temere dimovi, sed feci idem, quod in ?roxilii<t Deus iile nos- 
 ter, Plato. Cum in Piraeeum Socrntes venisset ad Ccpbaluni, locu- 
 pletem et festivum senem, quoad primus iile sermo habeielur adest 
 in disputando Senex, etc. Ad Alt. 4. 16. 
 
94 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 698. Cic 52. Coss.— Cn. Pompeius Magnus II. M. Licinius Crassus. II. 
 
 work remains entire, a standing monument of Ci- 
 cero's parts and abilities; which, while it exhib- 
 its to us the idea of a perfect orator, and marks 
 out the way, by which Cicero formed himself to 
 that character, it explains the reason, likewise, why 
 no body has since equalled him, or ever will, till 
 there be found again united, what will hardly be 
 found single in any man, the same industry, and the 
 same parts. 
 
 Cicero returned to Rome, about the middle of 
 November, to assist at Milo's wedding, who mar- 
 ried Fausta, a rich and noble lady, the daughter 
 of Sylla the dictator f- with whom, as some wri- 
 ters says, he found Sallust the historian in bed, not 
 long after, and had him soundly lashed, before he 
 dismissed him. The consuls, Pompey and Cras- 
 sus, having reaped all the fruit, which they had 
 proposed from the consulship, of securing to them- 
 selves the provinces which they wanted, were not 
 much concerned about the choice of their succes- 
 sors ; so that, after postponing the election to the 
 end of the year, they gave way, at last, to their 
 enemy, L. Dbmitius Ahenobarbus ; being content 
 to have joined with him their friend, Appius Clau- 
 dius Pulcher. 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cic. 53. Coss.—L. Don^tius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcher. 
 
 As soon as the new year came on, Crassus's ene- 
 mies began to attack him in the senate : their de- 
 
 * Ad Att. 4. 13. 5. 8. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 95 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cic 53. Coss.— L. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcher. 
 
 sign was to revoke his commission, or abrido;e it, 
 at least, of the power of making war upon the 
 Parthians: but Cicero exerted himself so strenu- 
 ously in his defence, that he baffled their attempts, 
 after a warm contest Avith the consuls themselves' 
 and several of the consular senators. He o-ave 
 Crassus an account of the debate by letter, in which 
 he tells him, that he had ^iven proof, not only to 
 his friends and family, but to the whole city, of 
 the sincerity of his reconciliation ; and assures him 
 of his resolution to serve him, with all his pains, 
 advice, authority, interest, in every thing o^reat or 
 small, which concerned himself, his friends, or cli- 
 ents ; and bids him look upon that letter, as a 
 league of amity, which on his part should be in- 
 violably observed.* 
 
 The month of February being generally em- 
 ployed in giving audience to foreign ^princes and 
 ambassadours, Antiochus, king of Comagene, a ter- 
 ritory on the banks of the Euphrates,! preferred 
 a petition to the senate for some new honour or 
 privilege, which was commonly decreed to princes 
 in alliance with the republick ; but Cicero, being 
 in a rallying humour, made the petition so ridicu- 
 lous, that the house rejected it, and at his motion, 
 reserved likewise out of his jurisdiction one of his 
 principal towns. Zeugma ; in which was the chief 
 bridge and passage over the Euphrates. Caesar, 
 in his consulship, had granted to this king the ho- 
 nour of the praetexta, or the robe of the Roman 
 
 * Has literas velim existimes foederis habitnras esse vim, noii epis- 
 tolae ; meque ea, quae tibi promitlo ac recipio, sanctissime esse ob- 
 ser?aturiim. Ep. Fam. 5. 8. 
 
 f Ep. Fam. 15. 1..3, 1. 
 
96 THE LIFE OF sect, vi, 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cic 53. Coss.— L. Doniitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcber. 
 
 Mao;istrate^ ; which was always disaoreable to the 
 nobility, wlio did not care to see these petty prin- 
 ces put upon the same rank with themselves ; so 
 that Cicero, callinsj out upon the nobles, " will 
 " you," says he, '' who refused the praetexta to the 
 ** king of Bostra, suffer this Comagenian to strut in 
 *•' purple !" But this disappointment was not more 
 mortifying to the king, than it was to the consuls, 
 whose best perquisites were drawn from these com- 
 pliments, which were always repaid by rich pre- 
 sents ; so that Appius, who had been lately reconcil- 
 ed to Cicero, and paid a particular court to him at 
 this time, applied to him by Atticus and their com- 
 mon friends, to suffer the petitions of this sort to 
 pass quietly, nor destroy the usual harvest of the 
 month, and make it quite barren to him."^ 
 
 Cicero made an excursion this spring to visit his 
 several seats and estates in the country ; and, in his 
 Cumean villa, began "a treatise on politicks; or 
 *• on the best state of a city, and the duties of a citi- 
 " zen :" he calls it a great and laborious work, yet 
 worthy of jiis pains, if he could succeed in it ; if 
 not, I shalfTlirow it, says he, into that sea, which 
 is now before me, and attempt something else, 
 since it is impossible for me to be idle. It was 
 drawn up in the form of a dialogue, in which the 
 
 * De CoiTiageno rege, quod rem totani discusserara, mihi et per se 
 et per Pomponiiim blauditur Appius. Videt enim, si hoc genere di- 
 eendi utar i« caeteris, Februarium sterilein futurum. Eumque lusi 
 jocose satis: neque solum illiid extorsi oppidulum, quod erat positum 
 in Euplirate, Zeugma ; sed praeterea togam ejus praetextam, quain 
 «rat adeptus Caesare consule, magno hominum risu cavillatus. — Vos 
 autem homines nobiles, qui Bostrenura praetextatum non ferebatis, 
 Comagenum feretis ? Multa dixi in ignobilem regem, quibus totus est 
 explosus. Quo genere commotus Appius lotura me amplexatur. Ad 
 Quint. 2. 12. 
 
SECT. vi. CICERO. 9r 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cic 53. Coss.— L. Domitius AhenolKirbus. A. Claudius Pulcher. 
 
 greatest persons of the old republick were intro- 
 duced, debating on the origin and best constitution 
 of government ; Scipio, Laelius, Philius, INIaniiius, 
 &;c.* The whole was to be distributed into nine 
 books, each of them the subject of one day's dis- 
 putation : when he had finished the two first, they 
 were read in his Tusculan villa to some of his 
 friends ; where Sallust, who was one of the company, 
 advised him to change his plan, and treat the subject 
 in his own person, as Aristotle had done before him ; 
 alleging, that the introduction of those ancients, 
 instead of adding gravit}^ gave an air of romance 
 to the argument, which would have the greater 
 weight, when delivered from himself ; as being the 
 work, not of a little sophist^r contemplative theo- 
 rist, but of a consular sen^r and statesman, con- 
 versant in the greatest affairs, and writing what his 
 own practice, and the experience of many years, 
 had taught him to be true. These reasons seemed 
 very plausible, and made him think of altering his 
 scheme ; especially, since, by throwing the scene 
 so far back, he precluded himself from touching 
 on those important revolutions of the republick, 
 which were later than the period to which he con- 
 fined himself : but, after some deliberation, being 
 unwilling to throw away the ttvo books already finish- 
 ed, with which he was much j)leased, he resolved 
 to stick to the old plan, and as he had preferred it 
 
 * Scribebaru ilia, quae dixeram TroxilmA, spissum sane opus et ope- 
 losum : sed si ex sententia successerit, bene erit opera posita; sin 
 minus, in iliud ipsum mare dejiciemus, quod scribentes spectamus; 
 aggrediemur alia, quoniam quiescere non possemus. lb. 11. 
 
 Hauc ego, quam institui, de Uepub. disputationem iu Afrirani per- 
 sonam ctPhili, et Laelii ct Manilii contnli, etc. — Hein, quod te non 
 lugit, magnam complexus sum et gravem, et plurimi otii, quod ego 
 jrnaxime egeo. Ad Alt. 4. 10. 
 
 VOL. II. 1 3 
 
98 THE LIFE OF sect, yu 
 
 A. Urb 699. Cic. 53. Coss.— L. Domitius Ahenobarbus. Claudius Pukher. 
 
 from the first, for the sake of avoiding offence, so 
 he pursued it without any other alteration, than 
 that of reducing; the number of books from nine 
 to six; in which form they were afterwards pub- 
 lished, and survived him for several ages, though 
 DOW unfortunately lost.* 
 
 From the fragments of this work, which still re- 
 main, it appears to have been a noble performance, 
 and one of his capital pieces ; where all the impor- 
 tant questions in politicks and morality were dis- 
 cussed with the greatest elegance and accuracy; 
 *^ of the origin of society ; the nature of law and 
 " obligation ; the eternal difference of right and 
 " wrong ; of justice being the only good policy, 
 " or foundation either S[ publick or private pros- 
 " perity : so that he calls his six books, so many 
 " pledges, given to the publick, for the integrity of 
 "his conduct."! The younger Scipio was the 
 principal speaker of the dialogue, whose part it 
 was, "to assert the excellence of Ihe Roman con- 
 
 * Sermo autem in novem et dies et libros distribntus de optirao statu 
 civitatis et de-wptimo cive.— Hi iibri, cum in Tusciilano mihi legeren- 
 tur, audiente Sallustio; admonitus sum ab illo, multo majore auctori- 
 tate illis de rebus dici posse, si ipse loqiierer de Repub. praesertim 
 cum esseni, non Heraclides Ponticus, sed consnlaris, et is, qui in maxi- 
 mis versatus in Repub. rebus essem : quae tarn antiquis hominibus at- 
 tribuerem, ea visum iri, firta esse. — Commovit me, et f^o inagis, quod 
 maximos motus nostrae civitatisiattingere non potoram, quovderant infe- 
 rlores, quam illorura aetas qui loquebanlur. Ego autem id ipsum turn 
 eram secutus, ne in nostra tempora incurrens oflfenderem quempiam. 
 Ad Quint. 3. 5. 
 
 This will solve that variation, which we find in his own account of 
 this work, in different parts of his writings; and why Fannius, who 
 in some places is declared to be a speaker In it, [Ad Att. 4. 16. Ad 
 Quint. 3. !).] is denied to be so in others; being dropped when the 
 number of books was contracted. 
 
 t Cum. sex libris, tanquam praedibus rae ipsum obslrinxerim, quos 
 tibi tara valde probari gaudeo. Ad Att. 6. 1 . 
 
SE€T. VI. CICERO. 99 
 
 A. Urb. 699> Cic. 53. Coss.— L. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcher. 
 
 " stitution, preferably to that of all other states :"* 
 who, in the sixth book, under the fiction of a 
 dream, which is still preserved to us, takes occasion 
 to inculcate the doctrine of the immortality of the 
 soul and a future state, in a manner so lively and 
 entertaining, that it has been the standing pattern, 
 ever since, to the wits of succeeding ages, for at- 
 tempting the same method of instilling moral les- 
 sons, in the form of dreams or visions. 
 
 He was now drawn at last into a particular inti- 
 macy and correspondence of letters with Caesar ; 
 who had long been endeavouring to engage him to 
 his friendship, and with that view, had invited his 
 brother Quintus, to be one of his Lieutenants in 
 Gaul ; where (iuintus, to pay his court the better 
 to his General, joined heartily in pressing his bro- 
 ther to an union w^ith him, instead of adhering so 
 obstinately to Pompey, who, as he tells him, was 
 neither so sincere, nor so generous a friend as Cae- 
 sar, f Cicero did not dislike the advice, and ex- 
 pressed a readiness to comply with it, of which 
 Balbus gave an intimation to Caesar, with a letter, 
 also inclosed, from Cicero himself; but the packet 
 happening to fall into water, the letters were all 
 destroyed, except a scrap or two of Balbus's, to 
 which Caesar returned answer ; " I perceive, that 
 " you had written some\vhat about Cicero, which I 
 " could not make out ; but, as far as I can guess, 
 " it was something rather to be wished, than hoped 
 
 * An senses, cum in illis de Repub. libris persnadere videatur Afri- 
 canus, omnium Keriim pub. nostram veterem illam luisse optimam. — 
 De Leg. 2. x. vid. ib. 6. 9. 
 
 t De Pompeio asscntior tibi, vel tu potius mihi, nam, ut sets, Jam- 
 pridem istura canto Caesarem. — Ad Quint. 2. 13. 
 
100 THE LIFE OF sect, vi^ 
 
 A. Orb. 699. Cic. 53. Cosj.— L. Domithis Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcher. 
 
 " for."=^ But Cicero sent another copy of the same 
 letter, which came safe to his hands, written, as he 
 says, in the familiar style, yet without departing 
 from his dignity. Caesar answered him with all 
 imacriiiaole kindness, and the offer of every thing, 
 in which his power could serve him, telling him, 
 how a$;reeable his brother's company was to him, 
 by the revival of their old affection ; and since he 
 was now removed to such a distance from him, he 
 would take care, that in their mutual want of each 
 other, he should have cause at least to rejoice, that 
 his brother was with him, rather than any one else. 
 He thanks him also for sending the law^yer Treba- 
 tius to him, and says upon it, jocosely, that there 
 was not a man before in his army, who knew how 
 to draw a recognizance. — Cicero, in his account of 
 this letter to his brother, says ; " it is kind in you, 
 " and like a brother, to press me to this friendship, 
 " though I am running that way apace myself, and 
 *' shall do, what often happens to travellers, who 
 " rising later than they intended, yet, by quicken- 
 " ing their speed, come sooner to their journey's 
 " end than if they had set o.ut earlier ; so I, who 
 " have oviET-slept myself in my observance of this 
 " man, though you were frequently rousing me, 
 " will correct my past laziness by mending my 
 " pace for the future." — But as to his seeking any 
 advantage or personal benefit from this alliance, 
 " believe me," says he, " you who know me ; I 
 
 * Ille scripsit ad Balbiim, rasoiculum ilium epistolariim, in quo fue- 
 rat et mea et Balbi, totum sibi' aqua madidum redditum esse : ut no 
 illud quidejn sciat, meam iuisse aliquam epistolain. Sed ex J3albi 
 epistola panca verba intellexerat, ad quae rescripsit his verbis. De 
 Cicerone video le quiddani scripsisse, quod ego non intellexi : quan- 
 tum autem eonjeetura consequebar id erat hujusmodi, iit magis opt-an- 
 dum, quam sperandum pulareiD. Ad Quint. 2. 12. 
 
SECT VI. 
 
 CICERO. 101 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cic. 53. Coss.— L. Doraitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcber. 
 
 " have from him abeady what I most value, the 
 " assurance of liis affection, which I prefer to all 
 *' the o;reat things that he offers me.^ — In another 
 " letter" he says ; " I lay no great stress on his 
 " promises, want no farther honours, nor desire 
 " any new glory, and wish nothing more but the 
 " continuance of his esteem, yet live still in such a 
 " course of ambition and fatigue, as if I were ex- 
 " pecting what I do not really desire."t 
 
 But thouo^h he made no use of Caesar's genero- 
 sity for himself, yet he used it freely for his friends : 
 for besides his brother, who was Caesar's lieute- 
 nant, and Trebatius, who was his lawyer ; he pro- 
 cured an eminent post for Orfius, and a regiment 
 for Curtius ; yet Caesar was chiding him all the 
 while for his reservedness in asking.f His recom* 
 mendatory letter of Trebatius, will shew both 
 
 * Cum Caesaris Uteris, refertis omni officio, diligentia. siiavitate — 
 duarum rnitiura est, qiiani suavis ei tuns adventiis fuerit, et recorda- 
 tio veteris amoris ; deinde se effecturum, nt ego in inedio dolore ac 
 desiderio tui, te, cum a me abesses, potissimiim secnm esse laetarer, 
 — Trebatium quod ad se miserira, persalse et humaniter etiam gratias 
 mihi agit : negat enim in taiita multitudine eorum, qui una essent, 
 quempiam fuisse, qui vadimonium concipere posset. 
 
 Quare facis tu quidem fraterno, quod me hortaris, sed mehercule 
 currentem nunc quidem, ut omnia raea studia in istum unum confc- 
 ram, etc. 
 
 Sed mihi crede, quern nosti, quod in istis rebus ego plurimi aesti- 
 mo, jam liabeo : — deinde Caesaris tantum in me amorem, quem omni- 
 bus his hoDoribus, quos me a se expectare vult, autepono. — Ad Quint. 
 
 2. 15. 
 
 f Promissis lis, quae ostendit, non valde pendeo : nee honores sitio, 
 nee desidero gloriam : magisque ejus voluntatis perpetuitatem, quam 
 promissorum exitura expecto. Vivo tameii in ea ambitione et labore, 
 tauquam id, quod non postulo, expectem. lb. 3. 5. 
 
 I M. Curtio Tribunatum ab eo petivi.— lb. 2. 15. Ep. Fam. 7. 5. 
 De Tribunatu — mihi ipse Caesar nominatim Curtio paratum esse 
 rescripsit, meamquo in rogando verecundiam objurgavit. Ad Uuint. 
 
 3. 1. 
 
102 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cic. 53. Coss.— L. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcher. 
 
 what a share he possessed at this time of Caesar's 
 confidence, and with what an affectionate zeal he 
 used to recommend his friends. 
 
 " Cicero to Caesar, Emperour. 
 
 " See, how I have persuaded myself to consi- 
 " der you as a second self; not only in what affects 
 *' my own interest, but in what concerns my 
 "friends: I had resolved, whithersoever I went 
 " abroad, to carry C. Trebatius alon^ with me ; 
 " that I might bring him home adorned with the 
 " fruits of my care and kindness : but since Pom- 
 " pey's stay in Rome has been longer than I ex- 
 "pected, and my own irresolution, to which you 
 " are no stranger, will either wholly hinder, or at 
 " least, retard my going abroad at all ; see, what 
 "I have taken upon myself: I began presently to 
 " resolve that Trebatius should expect the same 
 " things from you, which he had been hoping for 
 " from me : nor did I assure him with less frank- 
 " ness of your good will, than I used to do of my 
 "own: but-sw wonderful incident fell out, both as 
 " a testimony of my opinion, and a pledge of your 
 " humanity ; for while I was talking of this very 
 " Trebatius, at my house, with our friend Balbus, 
 " your letter was delivered to me ; in the end of 
 " which you said ; " as to M. Orfius, whom you 
 " recommended to me, 1 will make him even king 
 " of Gaul, or lieutenant, to Lepta ; send me an- 
 " other, therefore, if yoii please, whom I may pre- 
 " fer. We lifted up our hands, both I and Bal- 
 " bus ; the occasion was so pat, that it seemed not 
 " to be accidental, but divine. I send you there- 
 
SECT. VI. 
 
 CICERO. 103 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cic. 53. Coss.— D. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcher. 
 
 " fore Trebatius ; and send him so, as at first in- 
 " deed I designed, of my own accord, but now 
 " also by your invitation : embrace him, my dear 
 " Caesar, with all your usual courtesy ; and what- 
 " ever you could be induced to do for my friends, 
 ** out of your regard to me, confer it all singly upon 
 " him. I will be answerable for the man ; not 
 " in my former stile, which you justly rallied, 
 " when I wrote to you about Milo, but in the 
 " true Roman phrase, w^hich men of sense use ; 
 " that there is not an honester, worthier, modester 
 " man living : I must add, what makes the prin- 
 " cipal part of liis character, that he has a sin- 
 " gular memory and perfect knowledge of the 
 "civil law. I ask for him, neither a regiment, 
 " nor government, nor any certain piece of prefer- 
 "ment; I ask your benevolence and generosity; 
 " yet am not against the adorning him, whenever 
 " you shall think proper, with those trappings also 
 " of glory : in short, I deliver the whole man to 
 " you, from my hand, as we say, into yours, 
 " illustrious for victory and faith. But I am 
 "more importunate than I need be to you; yet 
 " I know you will excuse it. Take care of your 
 " health, and continue to love me, as you now 
 '' do."* 
 
 Trebatius was of a lazy, indolent, studious tem- 
 per; a lover of books and good company; ea- 
 gerly fond of the pleasures of Rome : and whol- 
 ly out of his element in a camp : and because 
 Caesar, through the infinite hurry of his affairs, 
 could not presently admit him to his familiarity, and 
 
 * Ep. Fam. 7. r». 
 
104 THE LIFE OF aECT. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cic. 53. Coss.— L. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcher. 
 
 prefer him so soon as he expected, he \^as tired of 
 the drudgery of attending him, and impatient to 
 be at home again. Under these circumstances 
 there is a series of letters to him from Cicero writ- 
 ten not only with the disinterested affection of a 
 friend, but the solicitude even of a parent, employ- 
 ing all the arts of insinuation, as well of the grave, 
 as of the facetious kind, to hinder him from ruining 
 his hopes and fortunes by his own imprucience. " He 
 " laughs at his childish hankering after the city ; 
 " bids him reflect on the end for which he went 
 " abroad, and pursue it with constancy ; observes, 
 "from the Medea of -Euripides, that many had 
 " served themselves and the publick w^ell, at a 
 " distance from their country ; whilst others, by 
 " spending their lives at home, had lived and died 
 " ingloriously ; of which number, says he, you 
 " would have been one, if we had not thrust you 
 "out; and since I am now acting Medea, take 
 " this' other lesson from me, that he, who is not 
 " wise for himself, is wise to no purpose."^ He 
 rallies his impatience, or rather " imprudence ; 
 " as if he had carried a bond, .not a letter to Cae- 
 " sar, and \Tiought that he had nothing to do, but 
 " to take his money and return home ; not recol- 
 "lecting, that even those who follow^ed king 
 " Ptolemy with bonds to iVlexandria, had not yet 
 
 * Tu raodo ineptias istas et desideria urbis et urbanitatis depone ; 
 et quo censilio profectus es, id assiduitate et virtute cousequere. — 
 
 Nam iniiiti suam rem bene gessere et publicam, patria procul. 
 Multi, qui domi aetatem agerent, propterea sunt improbati. 
 
 Quo in uumero tu certe fuisses, nisi te extrusisseinus— et quando 
 Medeam agere coepi, illud semper memento, qui ipse sibi sapiens 
 prodcsse non quit, nequicquam sapit. Ep. Fam. 7. 6, 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 105 
 
 A. Urbu 699. Cic. 53. Coss.— L. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pnlcher. 
 
 " brought back a penny of money .'^ You write 
 " me word, says he, that Caesar now consults you ; 
 " I had rather hear, that he consults your fnter- 
 "est.f Let me die, if I do not believe, such is 
 " your vanity, that you had rather be consulted, 
 " than enriched by him."J By these railleries and 
 perpetual admonitions, he made Trebatius asham- 
 ed of his softness, and content to stay with Cae- 
 sar, by whose favour and generosity he was cured 
 at last of all his uneasiness : and having here laid 
 the foundation of his fortunes, flourished after- 
 wards in the court of Augustus, with the charac- 
 ter of the most learned lawyer of that ao^e.^ 
 
 Caesar was now upon his second expedition into 
 Britain, which raised much talk and expectation 
 at Rome, and gave Cicero no small concern for 
 the safety of his brother, who, as one of Caesar's 
 lieutenants, was to bear a considerable part in it.|| 
 But the accounts which he received from the place, 
 soon eased him of his apprehensions, by inform- 
 ing him, that there was nothing either to fear or to 
 hope from the attempt ; no danger from the people, 
 
 * Subimpudens videbare ; tanquam enim syngrapham ad impe- 
 latorem, non epistolam attiilisses, sic, peciinia ablata. domum redi- 
 re properabas. Nee tibi in mentem veniebat, eos ipsos. qui cum 
 syngraphis venisseut Alexandriam, Dummuin adhue nullum auferre po- 
 tuisse. lb. 17. 
 
 f Consuli quidem te a. Gaesare scribis ; sed ego tibi ab illo consult 
 vellem. lb. 11. 
 
 I Moriar, ni, quae tua gloria est, puto te malle a Caesare consuli, 
 quam inaurari. lb. 13. 
 
 ^ — Nisi quid tu, docte Trebati, 
 Dissentis. Hor. Sat. 2. 1. 79. 
 
 II ExQuinti Tratris Uteris suspicor jam eum esse io BritaDoia: sug* 
 penso animo expecto quid agat--Ad Att. 4. 1^. 
 
 YOL. IT. 14 
 
106 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cic. 53. Coss.— L. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcher. 
 
 no spoils from the country.* In a letter from At- 
 ticus, " we are in suspense," says he, " about the 
 " British war ; it is certain, that the access of the 
 " island is strongly fortified ; and it is known also 
 " already, that there is not a grain of silver in it, 
 '' nor any thing else but slaves ; of whom you 
 " will scarce expect any, I dare say, skilled in 
 "musick or letters."! In another to Trebatius; 
 " I hear that there is not either any gold or silver 
 " in the island ; if so, you have nothing to do but 
 *' to take one of their chariots, and fly back to 
 " us."t 
 
 From their railleries of this kind on the barbarity 
 and misery of our island, one cannot help reflecting 
 on the surprising fate and revolutions of kingdoms: 
 how Rome, once the mistress of the world, the 
 seat of arts, empire and glory, now lies sunk in 
 sloth, ignorance, and poverty ; enslaved to the most 
 cruel, as well as to the most contemptible of ty- 
 rants, superstition and religious imposture ; while 
 this remote country, anciently the jest and con- 
 tempt of the polite Romans, is become the happy 
 seat of lii^erty, plenty, and letters ; flourishing in 
 
 *Ojiicnndas mihi tuas de Britannia literas ! Timebam Oceanuin, 
 timeham littus insulae. lieliqua non equidem conteinno. Ad Quint. 
 2. 16. 
 
 De Britannicis rebus cognovi ex tuis Uteris, nihil esse nee quod 
 naetuainus, nee quod gaudeaiiuis. Uj. 3. 1.* • 
 
 f Brifannici belli exitus expectatur. Constat eniin aditus insulae 
 munitos esse niirificis luolihus. Etiani illud jam cognitum est, ncque 
 argenti scrupulum esse ullum in ilia in?ula, neque ullam spein prae- 
 dae. nisi ex mancipiis ; ex qnibus nuUos puto te literis, aut musicis 
 eruditos expectare. Ad Att. 4. 16. 
 
 t In Britannia nihil esse audio neque auri neque argenti. Id si ita 
 est, essedum aliquod suadeo capias, et ad nos quam primura recurras 
 Ep. Fam. 7. 7. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 107 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cic. 53. Coss.— L. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Fulcher. 
 
 all the arts and refinements of civil life ; yet nin- 
 nino' perhaps the same course which Rome itself 
 had run before it ; from virtuous industry to wealth; 
 from wealth to luxury ; from luxury to an impa- 
 tience of discipline and corruption of morals ; till, 
 by a total degeneracy and loss of virtue, being 
 grown ripe for destruction, it falls at last a prey 
 to some hardy oppressor, and with the loss of liber- 
 ty, losing every thing else that is valuable, sinks 
 gradually again into its original barbarism. 
 
 Cicero, taking it for granted that Trebatius fol- 
 lowed Caesar into Britain, begins to joke with him 
 upon the wonderful figure that a British lawyer 
 would make at Rome ; and, as it was his profession 
 to guard other people's safety, bids him beware that 
 he himself was not caught by the British chari- 
 oteers.^ But Trebatius, it seems, knew how to 
 take care of himself without Cicero's advice ; and 
 when Caesar passed over to Britain, chose to stay 
 behind in Gaul : this gave a fresh handle for rail- 
 lery ; and Cicero congratulates him " upon being 
 " arrived at last into a country where he was 
 " thought to know something ; that if he had gone 
 " over also to Britain, there w^ould not have been 
 *' a man in all that great island wiser than himself." 
 — He observes, " that he was much more cautious 
 " in military, than in civil contests ; and wonders, 
 " that, being such a lover of swimming, he 
 " could not be persuaded to swim in the ocean ; 
 " and, when he could not be kept away from 
 
 * Mira enim persona indiici potest Britamiici Juris consulti. Ep, 
 Fam. 7. 11. 
 
 Til, qui caeteris cavere didicisti, in rJiilannia ne ab essodariis deei 
 piaris caveto. lb. C. 
 
08 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 6Q9. Cic. 53. Coss.— L. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcher. 
 
 " every shew of gladiators at Kome, had no 
 " curiosity to see the British charioteers ; he re- 
 " joices, however, after all, that he did not 2;o ; 
 " since they should not now be troubled with the 
 " impertinence of his British stories."^^ 
 
 Quint us Cicero, who had a s^enius for poetry, 
 was projectinoj the plan of a poem, upon their 
 British expedition, and beg2;ed his brother's assist- 
 ance in it : Cicero approved the design, and ob- 
 served upon it, " that the nature and situation of 
 " places so strange, the manners of the people, 
 " their battles with them, and the general himself, 
 *' Caesar, were excellent subjects for poetry ; but 
 " as to his assistance, it was sending owls to Athens : 
 " that Quintus, who had finished four tragedies in 
 " sixteen days, could not want either help or fame 
 " in that way, after his Electra and the Troades."t 
 
 * Esf , quod gaudeas, tein ista loca venisse, ubi aliqiiid sapere vide- 
 rere : quod si in Britanniara quoque protiectus esses, profecro nemo 
 in ilia tanta insula te peritior fuisset — Sed tu in re railitari raulto es 
 cautior quara in advocationibus : qui neque in oreano naiare voluisti, 
 homo shidiosissimns naiandi, neque spertare essedarios, quera antea ne 
 Andabatain qqjjjem defraudare poteramus. lb. x. 
 
 In Brilanniura te profectum non esse gaudeo, quod et labore earuisti, 
 et eeo te de illis rebus non audiam. lb. 17. 
 
 The little hint, here given, of Trebatius's love of swimming, adds a 
 new light and beauty to that passage of Horace, where the poet in- 
 troduces him. advising, to swim thrice, across the Tiber, to cure the 
 want of sleep; the advice, it seems, being peculiarly agreeable to his 
 own practice and character. 
 
 ter uncti 
 
 Trans7ianto Tibcrim, somno quibus est opus alto. 
 , Sat. 2.1. V. 8. 
 
 t Tevero t/Vo9sT/v scribendi egregiam habere video. Quos tu situs, 
 quas naturas rerum et locorum, quos mores, quas gentes, qiias pugnas, 
 qiiem vero ipsum imperatorem hal)es ? Ego te libenter, ut rogas qui- 
 bus rebus vis, adjuvabo, et tibi versus, quos rogas, yxxuKo.' eif Aflxvctc rait- 
 tam. Ad Quint. 2. 16. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 109 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cic 53. Coss.— L. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcher. 
 
 In other It^ters, he answers more seriously, that it 
 was impossible to conceive how much he wanted 
 leisure for versifying ; that to write verses required 
 an ease and cheerfulness of mind, whicli the times 
 had taken from him ; and that his poetical liame 
 was quite extin<>;uished by the sad prospect of 
 things before them.^ 
 
 He had sent Caesar his Greek poem in three 
 books, on the history of his consulship ; and Caesar's 
 judgment upon it was, that the beginning of it was 
 as good as any thing which he had ever seen in that 
 language, but that the following lines, to a certain 
 place, were not equal in accuracy and spirit. Ci- 
 cero desires therefore to know of his brother, what 
 Caesar really thought of the whole; whether tlie 
 matter or the stile displeased him ; and begs that 
 he would tell him the truth freely ; " since whether 
 " Caesar liked it or not, he should ni4," he says, 
 " be a jot the less pleased with himself."t He be- 
 
 Quatuor tra^oedias, cum xvi. diebus absolvisse scribas, tu quldqiiara 
 ab alio inutuaris? et KXiog qiiaeris, cum Electram et Troadem scrip- 
 sens ? lb. 3. 6. 
 
 N. B. These four tragedies, said to be written in sixteen days, 
 cannot be supposed to have been original productions, but translaiions 
 from some of the Greek poets, of which Quintus was a great master : 
 fini-^hed by him in haste for the enteriainraent of the camp : for the 
 word Troadem in the text, the name of one of them, should most pro- 
 bably be Troades, the title of one of Euripides's plays ; as the Ekctra 
 also was. 
 
 * Quod me de facipudis versibus rogas, incredibile est. mi frater, 
 quantum egeam tempore — Facerem tamen ut possera, sed — Opus est 
 ad poema quadam animi alacritate, quam plane mihi tempora eripiunt. 
 lb. 3. 5. 
 
 De versibus— deest mihi opera, quae non modo tempus, sed etiara 
 animum ab omni cura vacuum desiderat : sed abest etiam «v9;!/£r/«(r^5f 
 etc. lb. 4. 
 
 t Sed heus tu, celari videor a tc, quomodonam, mi frater, de nos(ris 
 versibus Caesar ? Nam primum librum se legissc scripsit ad me ante : 
 
no THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. UA. 699. Cic. 53. Coss.— L. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcher. 
 
 gan however another poem, at his brother's earnest 
 request, to be addressed to Caesar, but, after some 
 progress, was so dissatisfied with it, that he tore it :* 
 yet Quintus still urging;, and signifying, that he had 
 acquainted Caesar with the design, he was obliged 
 to resume it, and actually finished an epick poem in 
 honour of Caesar ; which he promises to send as 
 soon as he could find a proper conveyance, that it 
 might not be lost, as ftuintus's tragedy of Erigone 
 w^as in coming from Gaul ; " the only thing," says 
 he, " which had not found a safe passage, since 
 " Caesar governed that province."! 
 
 While Cicero was expressing no small dissatisfac- 
 tion at the measures which his present situation 
 obliged him to pursue, Caesar was doing every 
 thing in his power to make him easy : he treated 
 his brother with as much kindness as if Cicero him- 
 self had been his general ; gave him the choice of 
 his winter quarters, and the legion which he best 
 liked :t and Clodius happening to write to him 
 
 et prima sic, ut neget se ne Graeca quidepi meliora legisse ; reliqua ad 
 qnendam ]ocum^uBu/ucere^tt. Hoc enira iititur verbo. Die mihi veriira, 
 num aut res enm ant XH*'^'^"^ "®" deJectat ? Nihil est quod vereare. 
 Ego enim ne pilo quidein minus me amabo. lb. 2. 16. 
 
 * Poema ad Caesarem, quod composuerara, ineidi. lb. 3. 1. $. 4. 
 
 t Quod me institutum ad ilium poema jubes perficere ; etsi distentus 
 tum opera, tum animo sum multo magis. quoniam ex epistola, quam 
 ad te miseram, cognovit Caesar me aliquid esse exorsum ; revertar ad 
 institutum. lb. 8. 
 
 Quod me hortaris, ut absolvam, habeoabsolutum suave, mihi quidem 
 uti videtur, «t:c ad Caesarem. ^ed quaero locupletem tabellarium, ne 
 accidat quod Erigonae tuae ; fcui soli, Caesare imperatore, iter ex 
 Gallia tutum non liiit. lb. 9. 
 
 l Quintum meum-:-Dii boni 1 quemadmodum tractat, honore, digni- 
 tate, gratia ? IVon secus ac si ego essem Imperator. Hibernam legio- 
 ncm eligendi optio delata commodum, ut ad me scribit. Ad Att. 1.18. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. Ul 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cic 53. Coss.— L. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcher. 
 
 from Rome, he shewed the letter to Quiiitus, and 
 declared that he would not answer it ; thouoli Quin- 
 tus civilly pressed him not to put such an affront 
 upon Clodius for their sakes.^ In the midst of all 
 his hurry in Britain, he sent frequent accounts to 
 Cicero, in his own hand, of his progress and suc- 
 cess ; and at the instant of quitting the island, wrote 
 to him from the very shore, of the embarkment of 
 the troops, and, his having taken hostages, and im- 
 posed a tribute : and, lest he should be surprised 
 at having no letters, at the same time, from his bro- 
 ther, he acquaints him, that Quintus was then at a 
 distance from him, and could not take the benefit 
 of that express : Cicero received all these letters 
 at Rome, in less than a month after date, and takes 
 notice, in one of them, that it arrived on the twen- 
 tieth day ; a despatch equal to that of our present 
 couriers by the post.f 
 
 As to the news of the city, this summer, Cicero 
 tells his bi other, " that there were some hopes of 
 " an election of magistrates, but those uncertain ; 
 " some suspicion of a dictator, yet that not more 
 " certain ; a great calm in the forum ; but of a city, 
 
 * In qua primiim est de Clodii ad Caesarem Uteris, io quo Cacsaris 
 consilium probo, quod tibi amantissime petenli veniam non dedit, ui 
 ullum ad iilaiu Furiam verbum rescriberet. Ad Quint. 3. 1. (■. -i. 
 
 f Ab Quinto fratre et a Caesare accepi A. D. IX. Kal. Nov. literas, 
 confecta Britannia, obsidibus acceptis, nulla praeda, iinperaXa tainen 
 pecunia. datas a littoribus Britanniae, proximo A. D. VI. Kal. Octob. 
 exercitum Britannia reportabaui. Ad Att. 4. 17. 
 
 Ex Britannia Caesar ad me Kal. Sept. dcdit literas: quas ego ac- 
 cepi A. D. Iin. Kal. Octob. satis conimodas de Britannicis rebus: 
 quibus, ne admirer, quod a te nullas acceperim, scribit sc sine te fu- 
 isse. cum ad mare accesserit. Ad Quint. 3. 1. J. 7. 
 
 Cum banc jam epistolam complicarem, tabellarii a vobis venertuit 
 ad D. XI. Kal. Sept. vicesimo die n>. 3. 1. S 5 
 
112 THE LIFE OF sect, vi, 
 
 A. Uib. 699. Cic. S3. Coss.— L. Domitius Ahenobaihus. A. Claudius Pulchar. 
 
 " seemed to be quieted rather by the effects of ay^e, 
 " than of concord : that his own conduct, as wtll 
 " in publick as in private, was just what Quintus 
 " had advised, softer than the tip of his ear ; and 
 " his votes in the senate, such as pleased others 
 " rather than himself 
 
 •« Such ills do wretched war and discord breed, 
 
 " that bribery was never carried so hioh, as at this 
 " time, by the consular candidates, Memmius, Do- 
 " mitius, Scaurus, Messala ; that they were all 
 " alike ; no eminence in any : for money levelled 
 " the dignity of them all : that above eio;hty thou- 
 '* sand pounds was promised to the first tribe ; and 
 " money j^rown so scarce, by this profusion of it, 
 " that interest was risen from four to eight per 
 " cent."^ 
 
 Miemmius and Cn. Domitius, who joined their 
 interests, made a strange sort of contract with the 
 consuls, which was drawn up in writing, and attest- 
 ed in proper form, by many of their friends on both 
 sides ; by'^whidi, '* the consuls obliged themselves 
 " to serve them with all their power in the ensuing 
 " election ; and they on their part undertook, when 
 '' elected, to procure for the consuls what provin- 
 
 * Res Roraanae sic se hahebant. Erat nonnulla spes comitiorum, 
 sed incerta : erat aliqua siispicio Dictatnrae, ne ca quidem certa : 
 suminuin otium forense ; sed senescentis magis civitatis, qnara adquies- 
 centis. Sententia autem nostra* in senatii ejusmodi, magis ut alii nobis 
 assentiantur, quam nosraet ipsi. 
 
 TotAvB^ TKy^fxaiv 7roKiy.o?i^i^yu.^i]ct:. Elirip. Ikctid. 
 
 Ambitus redit immanis, nunquam par fuit. Ad Quint. 2. 15. 
 
 Seqnere me nunc in campiini. Ardet ambitus. o-nfAO. S't rot (^ia : 
 foenus ex triente Idib. Quint, factum erat bessibus — s|'>;^>) in nulloest, 
 pecunia omnium dignitatem exaoquat Ad Att. 4. 1/5. 
 
SECT. Ti. CICERO. 113 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cic 53. Coss.-.L. Domitius Ahenoharbus. A. Claudius Pulcher. 
 
 *' ces they desired ; and gave a bond of above 
 " 3000/. to provide three augurs, who should tes- 
 " tify, that they were present at making a law for 
 " granting them those provinces, when no such law 
 " had ever been made ; and two consular senators, 
 " who should affirmr that they were present like- 
 " wise at passing a decree of the senate, for fur- 
 " nishing the same provinces with arms and money, 
 " when the senate had never been consulted about 
 " it." ^ Memmius, w ho was strongly supported by 
 Caesarf finding some reason to dislike his bar- 
 gain, resolved to break it, and, by Pompey's advice 
 gave an account of it to the senate. Pompey 
 was pleased with the opportunity of mortifying 
 the consul Domitius; and willing, likewise, to lake 
 some revenge on Appius, who, though his near re- 
 lation, did not enter so fully as he expected into 
 his measures :% but Caesar was much out of hu- 
 mour at this step ;J as it was likely to raise great 
 scandal in the city, and strengthen the interest of 
 those, who were endeavouring to restrain that in- 
 famous corruption, which was the main instrument 
 of advancing his power. Appius never changed 
 
 *€onsuIes flagrant infaiiiia. qurd C. Memmius candidatus pactiooem 
 in senatii recitavit, quara ipse et suus competitor Domitius cum con- 
 sulibas fecissent, uti ambo H. S. quadragena consulibusdarent, si es- 
 sent ipsi consuies lacti, nisi tres augures dedissent, qui se adfuisse 
 dicerent, cum lex curiata ferretur, quae lata non esset; et duo consu- 
 lares. qui se dicerent in ornandis provinciis cousularibus scribendo 
 affuisse, cum onmino ne senatus quid^jm afluissent. Haec paciio non 
 verbis sed nominibus et perscriptionibus, mul'.orum tabuiis cum esse 
 fecta diceretur, prolata a Memmio est nominibus inductis auctore 
 Pompeio— Ad Att. 4. 18. 
 
 f Memmium Caesaris omnes opes confirmant lb. 15. 17. 
 
 JDio. I. 39. p. 118. 
 
 §Ut qui jam intelligebamus enunciationem illain Memmii va)de 
 Caesari displicere — Ad Att. 4. 16. 
 VOL. ir. 1.^ 
 
114 THE LIFE OF sect. y!. 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cic. 53. Coss.— L. Domitius Ahenobaibus. A. Claudius Pulcher. 
 
 countenance, nor lost any credit by the discovery ; 
 but his colleague Domitius, who affected the cha- 
 racter of a patriot, was extremely discomposed ; 
 and Memmius, now grown desperate, resolved to 
 promote the general disorder, and the creation of a 
 Dictator.^ 
 
 Quintus sent his brother word from Gaul, that it 
 was reported there, that he was present at this con- 
 tract : but Cicero assures him that it was false, and 
 that the bargain was of such a nature, as Memmiufe 
 had opened it to the senate, that no honest man 
 could have been present at it.f The senate was 
 highly incensed ; and, to check the insolence of 
 the parties concerned, passed a decree, that their 
 conduct should be inquired into by what they call- 
 ed a private, or silent judgment ; where the sen- 
 tence was not to be declared till after the election, 
 yet so, as to make void the election of those, w4io 
 should be found guilty : this they resolved to exe- 
 cute with rigour, and make an allotment of judges 
 for that purpose : for some of the Tribunes were 
 prevailed with to interpose their negative, on pre- 
 tence of hkidering all inquisitions, not specially 
 authorised by the people. J 
 
 * Hie Appius erat idem ; nihil sane jarturae. Corruerat alter, et 
 plane, inqiiarn, jacebat. Meiriniiiis autt^m — plane refVixerat, et eo 
 magis nunc cogitare Dictaturam, turn favere justitio et omnium reium 
 liceutiae. lb. 18. 
 
 f Quod scribis te audisse, in candidatorum consnlarium coitione me 
 interfuisse, id lalsum est. Pjus^riodi onim paetiones in ista coitione 
 factae sunt, quas post'i^a Menimibs patefecit, ut nemo bonus inteiesse 
 debuerit Ad Uuint. 3. 1. ^ 5. 
 
 I Atsenatus decrevit ut taciturn judicium ante comitia ficret 
 
 Magnus timor candidatorum. Se"d quidam judices — Tribunes pJ ap- 
 pcllarunt, ne injussu populi jiidicarcnt. lies cadit. comitia dilaia ex 
 S. C. dum lex de tacito judicio ierretur. Venit legi dies. Terentius 
 intercessit. Ad Att. 4. 16. 
 
sfccT. VI. CICERO. 115 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cic. 53. Coss.— L. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulclier. 
 
 This detestable bargain of forgino; laws and de- 
 crees at pleasure, in whicli so many of tlie first 
 ranks were concerned, either as principals or wit- 
 nesses, is alleged, b^ an ingenious Fiench writer, 
 as a tiagrant instance of that lit)ertinism which 
 hastened the destruction of Rome.* So far are 
 private vices from being publick benefits, that this 
 great republick, of all others the most free and 
 flourishing, ow^ed the loss of its liberty to nothing 
 els^ but a general defection of its citizens from 
 the probity and discipline of their ancestors. Ci- 
 cero oftenforetells their approaching ruin from this 
 very cause ; and when he bewails the wretchedness 
 of the times, usually joins the wickedness of their 
 morals, as the genuine source of it.f 
 
 But lest these corrupt candidates should escape 
 without punishment, they were all publickly im- 
 peached by different prosecutors, and the city w^as 
 now in a great ferment about them ; " since," as 
 Cicero says, " either the men or the laws must ne- 
 " cessarily perish ; yet they will all," says he, " be 
 " acquitted ; for trials are now managed so cor- 
 ^' ruptly, that no man will ever be condemned»for 
 " the future, unless for murder."} But Q,. Scae- 
 
 * Considerations sur les causes de la grandeur, etc. des Romains. c. x. 
 
 f His praesertim moribus atque temporibus, quibus ita prolapsa 
 resp. est, ut omnium opibus refraenanda, ac coercenda sit. De l)i- 
 vin. 2. 2. 
 
 Qui sit remp. afflictam et oppressam miseris temporibus, ac perdi- 
 tis moribus, in vetcrem dignitatam et libertatem vindicaturus. — Ep. 
 Fam. 2. 5. 
 
 J De ambitu postulati sunt omnes, qui consulatum pctant— Magno 
 res in motu est. Propterea quod aut hominum aiit legum interitus 
 ostenditur — Ad Quint. 3. 2. 
 
 Sed omnes absolventur, nee posthac quisquam daranabitur, nisi qui 
 liominem ocoiderit. Ad Att. 4. 10. 
 
116 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cic. 53. Coss.— L. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcher. 
 
 vola, one of the tribunes, took a more effectual 
 way to mortify them, by resolving to hinder any 
 election of consuls during; his magistracy, in which 
 he persevered, and by his aulhority dissolved all 
 the assemblies convened for that purpose.* The 
 tribunician candidates, however, were remarkably 
 modest this year; for they made an agreement 
 among themselves, which they all confirmed by an 
 oath, " That, in prosecuting their several interests, 
 ** thev would submit their conduct to the ludor- 
 " ment of Cato, and deposit four thousand pou*ids 
 " a piece in his hands, to be forfeited by those 
 " whom he should condemn of any irregular prac- 
 " tice. If the election proves free," says Cicero, 
 " as it is thought it will, Cato alone can do more 
 '' than all the laws and all the jud ges."t 
 
 A great part of this year was taken up in pub- 
 lick trials: SufFenas and .C. Cato, who had been 
 tribunes two years before, were tried in the begin- 
 ning of July, for violence and breach of peace in 
 their magistracy, and both acquitted ; but Pro- 
 cilius, one of their colleagues, " was condemned 
 " for killing a citizen in his own house : whence 
 " we are to collect," says Cicero, " that our Are- 
 " opagites value neither bribery nor elections, nor 
 >* interregnums, nor attt^mpts against the state, nor 
 
 ♦ Comitiorum qiiotidie siiij^uli dies tolluntur obnuntiationibus, mag- 
 na volantate bononim — Ad Quint. 3. 3. 
 
 Obnuntiationibus per Scaevolam interpositis, singulis diebus 
 
 Ad Att. 4. 16. > 
 
 f Tribunitii eandidati jurarunt se arbitrio Catonis petituros : apud 
 eum U.S. quingena deposuerunt ; ut qui a Caione damnatus esset, id 
 perderet, et corapetitoribus tribne;etur — Si (omitia, ut putantur, 
 gratuita fuerint ; plus unus Cato potuerit, quara oiunes quidem judi- 
 ces. lb, 1,5. Ad Quint. 2. 15. 
 
SECT. VI 
 
 CICERO. iir 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cic 53. Coss.— L. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcher. 
 
 " the whole republick, a rush ; we must not mur- 
 *• der a man indeed in his own house, thous^h thet 
 " perhaps mi^ht be done moderately, since twenty- 
 " two acquitted Procilius, when twenty-eioht con- 
 " demned him."* Clodius was tlie accuser in these 
 impeachments, which made Cato, as soon as he 
 was acquitted, seek a reconciliation with Cicero 
 and Milo.f It was not Cicero's business to reject 
 the friendship of an active and popular senator, 
 and Milo had occasion for his service, in his ap- 
 proaching suit for the consulship. But thoui>,h Ci- 
 cero had no concern in these trials, he was con- 
 tinually employed in others, through the rest of 
 the summer : " I was never," says he, " more busy 
 " in trials than now ; in the worst season of the 
 *' year, and the greatest heats that we have ever 
 " known ; there scarce passes a day in which I do 
 " not defend some."f Besides his clients in the 
 city, he had several towns and colonies under his 
 patronage, which sometimes wanted his help abroad, 
 as the corporation of Keate did now, to plead for 
 them before the consul Appius, and ten commis- 
 sioners, in a controversy with their neighbours of 
 Interamna, about draining the lake Yelinus into the 
 river Nar, to the damage of their grounds. He 
 
 * III. Non. Quint. Suflfenas et Cato absoluti : Procilius condemiia- 
 tus. Ex quo intellectum est, r^KrA^uiTraytrxc, ambitum, comitia, in- 
 terregnum, majeslalem, totam deniquo Hemp, flocii noo facere. Pe- 
 bemus patr«in Caniilias domi suae occidere nolle, neque tanien id 
 
 ipsurn at)uude. Nam absolverunt 22, condemnarunt 28. Ad Att. 
 
 4. 1/J. 
 
 f Is tamen et mecum et cum Milone in gratiam rcdiit. lb. 16. 
 
 I Sic enim babeto nunquam me a causis et judiciis disfrictiorem 
 fuisse, atque id anni tempore gravissimo, et caiuiibus maximis. Ad 
 Quint. 2 16. 
 
 Diem scito esse nullum, quo non dice pro reo. lb. 3. 3-. 
 
118 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cic 53. Coss.— D. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcher. 
 
 returned from this cause in the midst of the Apol- 
 linarian shows, and, to relieve himself from the fa- 
 tigue of his journey, went directly to the theatre, 
 where he was received by an universal clap : in the 
 account of which to Atticus, he adds, but this you 
 are not to take notice of, and I am a fool indeed 
 myself for mentioning it.^^ 
 
 He now also defended Messius, one of Caesar's 
 lieutenants, who came from Gaul on purpose to 
 take his trial : then Drusus, accused of prevaricat- 
 ing or betraying a cause, which he had undertaken 
 to defend ; of which he was acquitted by a ma- 
 jority only of four voices. After that Vatinius, 
 the last year's praetor, and Aemilius Scaurus, one 
 of the consular candidates, accused of plundering 
 the province of Sardinia;! and about the same 
 time likewise, his old friend, Cn. Plancius; who 
 had entertained him so generously in his exile, 
 and, being now chosen aedile, was accused by a 
 disappointed competitor, M. Laterensis, of bribery 
 and corruption. All these were acquitted, but 
 the orations for them are lost,, except that for Plan- 
 cius ; whicti remains a perpetual monument of Ci- 
 cero's gratitude : for Plancius having obtained the 
 tribunate from the people, as the reward of his fideli- 
 
 * Reatini me ad sua Ti/uTrn duxerimt, iit agerera causara contra In- 
 teramiiates — Redii Romara — Veni in spectaculum ; primum inagno 
 et aeqnabili plausu, (sed hoc ne curaris ; ego ineptus qui scripserim) 
 Ad Att. 4. 15. 
 
 f Messins defendebatur a noWs, e legatione revocatus. Deinde me 
 cxpedio ad Drusum, inde ad Scaurura. Ibid. 
 
 Drusus erat de prevaricatione — absolutus, in summa quatuor sen- 
 tententiis. Eodera die post meridiem Vatiuium aderara defensurus ; 
 ea res facilis. Scauri judicium statira exercebitur, cui nos non deeri- 
 mus. Ad Quint. 2. 16. 
 
 Scaurura beneficio defensionis valde obligavi. lb. 3. 1. § 5. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 119 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cic. 53. Coss.— L. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcher. 
 
 ty to Cicero, did not behave himself in that post 
 with the same affection to him as before, but seems 
 studiously to have slighted him; while several of 
 his colleagues, and especially Racilius, were ex- 
 erting all their power in the defence of his person 
 and dignity.^ Yet Cicero freely undertook his 
 cause, and as if no coldness had intervened, dis- 
 played the merit of his services in the most pa- 
 thetick and affecting manner ; and rescued him 
 from the hands of a powerful accuser, and his 
 own particular friend. " Drusus's trial was held 
 " in the morning ; from which, after going home 
 " to write a few letters, he was obliged to return 
 " to Yatinius's in the afternoon:" which gives us a 
 specimen of the hurry in which he generally lived, 
 and of the little time which he had to spend upon 
 his private affairs, or his studies ; and though he 
 was now^ carrying on several great works of the 
 learned kind, " yet he had no other leisure," he 
 tells us, " for meditating and composing, but when 
 "he was taking a few turns in his gardens, for the ex- 
 " ercise of his body, and refreshment of his voice."t 
 Yatinius had been one of his fiercest enemies ; 
 was in a perpetual opposition to him in politicks ; 
 and, like Bestia, mentioned above, a seditious, pro- 
 fligate, abandoned libertine : so that the defence 
 of him gave a plausible handle for some censure 
 upon Cicero : but his engagements with Pompey, 
 and especially liis new friendship with Caesar, 
 made it necessary to embrace all Caesar's friends ; 
 
 * Negas tribunatiim Plancii qiiicqiiam attulisse adjiiftienti dignitati 
 meae. Atque hoc loco. Jquod verissime facere potcs. L. Kacilii — 
 diviua in me tnerita commenjoras, etc Pro Plancio, 32. 
 
 f Ita quicquid conficio aut cogito in ambnlationis forp tempiw 
 conrero. Ad Quint. 3. 3. 
 
120 THE LIFE OF sect, vi 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cic. 53. Coss.— L. Domitius Aheuobarbus. A. Claudius Puicher. 
 
 amon^y whom Yatinius was most warmly recom- 
 mended to him. 
 
 Gabinius being recalled, as has been said, from 
 his government, returned to Rome about the end 
 of September: he bragged every where on his 
 journey, that he was going to the demand of a tri- 
 umph; and, to carry on that farce, continued a 
 while without the gates ; till perceiving how odious 
 he was to all within, he stole privately into the city 
 by night, to avoid the disgrace of being insulted 
 by the populace.* There were three different im- 
 peachments provided against him : the first, for 
 treasonable practices against the state ; the second, 
 for the plunder of his province ; the third, for bri- 
 bery and corruption ; and so many persons offered 
 themselves to be prosecutors, that there was a con- 
 test among them before the praetor, how to adjust 
 their several claims.f The first indictment fell to 
 L. tentulus, who accused him the day after he en- 
 tered the city, " that, in defiance of religion and 
 " the decree of the senate, he had restored the king 
 " of Egypt w^ith an army, leaving his own province 
 " naked, and open to the incursion of enemies, 
 " who had made great devastations in it." Cicero, 
 who had received from Gabinius all the provoca- 
 tion which one man could receive from another, 
 had the pleasure to see his insolent adversary at 
 
 * Ad urbem accessit A. D. xii. Kal. Oct. nihil turpius, nee deser- 
 tins. Ad Quint. Fr. 3. 1. § .^., 
 
 Cum Gabinms, quacunque Ven-ebat, triiiniphiiin se postulare dixis- 
 set, subitoqiK^oniis imperator noctu in urbcm, liostium piaue, inva- 
 sisset. lb. 2. 
 
 f Gabininm tres adhuc f'actiones postulant, etc. lb. 1 § .*>. 
 
 Ciiiii has^c scribebani auto lucem, apud Caionc-m ^rat divinatio in 
 Gabiuiiiin fuiura, inter Mcmmium, ct Ti. JNeronein, et C. et L. Anto- 
 nios. lb. 2. 
 
SECT. IV. CICERO. i2i 
 
 A. tt*k 09©. Cic 53. Cosa.— L. Domitius Ahenobatbus. A. Claudius Puleher. 
 
 his feet, and was prepared lo give him such a re- 
 ception as he deserved ; but Gabinius durst not 
 venture to shew his head for the first ten days, till 
 he was obliged to come to the senate, in order to 
 give them an account, according to custom, of the 
 state of his province, and the troops which he had 
 left in it : As soon as he had told his story, he was 
 going to retire, but the consuls detained him, to 
 answer to a complaint brought against him by the 
 publicans, or farmers of the revenues, who were 
 attending at the doors to make it good. This drew 
 on a debate, in which Gabinius was so urged and 
 teazed on all sides, but especially by Cicero, that, 
 trembling with passion, and unable to contain him- 
 self, he called Cicero a banished man ; upon which, 
 says Cicero, in a letter to his brother, " nothing 
 " ever happened more honourable to me : the 
 " whole senate left their seats to a man, and, with 
 " a general clamour, ran up to his very face ; while 
 " the publicans also were equally fierce and cla- 
 " morous against him, and the whole company be- 
 " haved just as you yourself would have done/'* 
 
 Cicero had been deliberating for some time, 
 whether he should not accuse Gabinius himself; 
 but, out of regard to Pompey, was content to ap- 
 pear only as a witness against him ;t and, when the 
 
 * Interim ipso decimo die, quo ipsuin oportebat hostium nuinerum 
 et militiim rennnciare, in re haesit, summa in freqiientia : cum vellet 
 exire, a eonsniibus retentus est; iiiirodiicti publicani. Homo uudique 
 actus, cum a me maxime vulneraretur. non tulit, et metrementi voce 
 exulera appellavit. Hie, O Dii, nihil unqiiam honorificentius nobis ac- 
 cidit. Cousnrrexit senatus cum clamore ad unuin, sic uL ad corpus ejus 
 accederet. Pari clamore atque irapetu publicaui. Quid quaeris ? 
 Omnes, tanquara, si tu esses, ita fuerunt. lb. 
 
 f Ego tamen me teneo ab accusando vix mehercule. Sed tameo te- 
 neo, vel quod nolo cum Porapeio pugnare : satis est. quod instat de 
 Milone. lb. 3. 2. 
 
 VOL. IT. 16 
 
122 THE LfFE OF sect, rr. 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cic. 53, Coss.— L. Domitius Abenobaibus. A. Claudius Pulcher. 
 
 trial was over, gives the following account of it to 
 his brother. 
 
 " Gabinius is acquitted : nothing was ever so stu- 
 *' pid as his accuser, Lentulus ; nothinsr so sordid as 
 " the bench : yet if Pompey had not taken incredi- 
 " ble pains, and the rumour of a dictatorship had 
 " not infused some apprehensions, he could not 
 " have held up his head even against Lentulus : 
 " since, with such an accuser, and such judges ; of 
 " the seventy-two who sat upon him, thirty-two 
 " condemned him. The sentence is so infamous, 
 " that he seems likely to fall in the other trials, es- 
 " pecially that of plunder : but there is no repub- 
 " lick, no senate, no justice, no dignity, in any of 
 " us : what can f say more of the judges ? There 
 " were but two of them of praetorian rank, Domi- 
 " tins Calvinus, who acquitted him so forwardly, 
 " that all the world mi^ht see it ; and Cato, who, as 
 " soon as the votes were declared, ran officious- 
 " ly from the bench, to carry the news to Pom- 
 *' pey. Some say, and particularly Sallust, that I 
 " ought to have accused him ; but should I risk my 
 " credit \rkh sucli judges 1 What a figure should 
 " I have made, if he had escaped from me ? But 
 " there were other things which influenced me : 
 " Pompey would have considered it as a struggle, 
 " not about Gabinius's safety, but his own dignity : 
 " it must have made a breach between us : we 
 " should have been matched like a pair of gladia- 
 " tors ; as Pacidianus w^ith Aeserniijus the Samnite ; 
 *' he would probably have bit off one of my ears, 
 " or been reconciled at least with C'lodius — for, af- 
 " ter all the pains, which I had taken to serve him ; 
 *' when I owed nothing to him, he every thing to 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 123 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cic. 53. Coss.— L. Domititis Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcher. 
 
 ** me ; yet he would not bear my differinii; from 
 " him in publick affairs, to say no worse of it ; and, 
 " when he was less powerful than he is at present, 
 " shewed what power lie had acrainst me, in my 
 " flourishing' condition ; why should I now, when I 
 " have lost even all desire of power, when the re- 
 " publick certainly has none ; when he alone has 
 " all ; choose him of all men to contend with ; for 
 " that must have been the case ; I cannot think that 
 " you would have advised me to it. Sallust says, 
 " that I ought to have done either the one or the 
 " other ; and in compliment to Pompey, have de- 
 " fended him ; who be«;2;ed it of me indeed very 
 " earnestly — A special friend this Sallust ? to wish 
 " me to involve myself either in a dangerous enmi- 
 " ty, or perpetual infamy, I am delighted with 
 " my middle way ; and when I had given my testi- 
 " mony faithfully and religiously, was pleased to 
 " hear Gabinius say, that if it should be permitted 
 " to him to continue in the city, he would make it 
 " his business to give me satisfaction ; nor did he 
 " so much as interrogate me."* — He gives the 
 same account of this trial to his other friends; 
 " how Lentulus acted his part so ill, that people 
 " weie persuaded that he prevaricated — and that 
 " Gabinius's escape was owing to the indefatigable 
 " industry of Pompey, and the corruption of the 
 *' Bench."t 
 
 About the time of this trial there happened a 
 terrible inundation of the Tiber, which did much 
 
 * Ad Quint. 3. 4. 
 
 t Quomodo ergo absolutus ? Accnsatonini inciedihilis inramia, 
 
 id est L. Lentuli, quern fVemuiit omiies praevaricatum ; deiiide Pom- 
 peii mira contentlo, judicum sordes. Ad Att. 4. 16, 
 
124 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb- 699. Cic 53. Coss.— L. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcher. 
 
 damage at Rome : many houses and shops were 
 carried away by it, and the fine gardens of Cicero's 
 son in law, Crassipes, demolished. It was all 
 charged to the absolution of Gabinius, after his 
 daring violation of religion, and contempt of the 
 Sibyl's books : Cicero applies to it the following 
 passage of Horner.^ 
 
 As when in autumn Jove liis fury pours, 
 And earth is laden with incessant sliowers ; 
 When guilty mortals break th' eternal laws, 
 And judges brib'd betray the righteous cause, 
 From their deep beds he bids the rivers rise, 
 And opens all the flood-gates of the skies. 
 
 Pope, Iliad. 16. v. 466. 
 
 But Gabinius's danger was not yet over : he was 
 to be tried a second time, for the plunder of his 
 province ; where C. Memmius, one of the tribunes, 
 was his accuser, and M. Cato his judge, with whom 
 he was not likely to find any favour : Pompey pres- 
 sed Cicero to defend him, and would not admit of 
 any excuse ; and Gabinius's humble behaviour in 
 the late trial was intended to make way for Pom- 
 pey's solicitation. Cicero stood firm for a long 
 time : " Pompey," says he, " labours hard with me, 
 " but has yet made no impression, nor, if I retain 
 " a grain of liberty, ever will ;t 
 
 * Roraae, et maxime Appia ad Martis, mira proluvies. Crassipedis 
 ambulatio ablata, horti, tabernae plurimae. Magna vis aquae usque 
 
 ad piscinara publicam. Viget illud Homeri Cadit enim in abso' 
 
 lutionem Gabinii — Ad Quint. 3. 7. 
 
 f Pompeius a me valde contendit de reditu in gratiam, sed adhuc 
 nihil profecit : nee, si uUam partem libertatis tenebo, proficiet. — Ad 
 Quint. 3. 1. 5 5. 
 
 De Gabinio nihil fuit faciendum istorum, etc. tots fxoi ;^:«tvo/. II. 4. 
 gl8. 
 
S5ECT. VI. ' CICERO. 125 
 
 A. Vib. A99. Cie. 53. Cou.— L. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcher. 
 
 Oh ! e'er that dire disgrace shall blast my fame, 
 O'erwhelm me earth Iliad. 4. 218. 
 
 but Pompey's incessant importunity, backed by 
 Caesar's earnest request, made it vain to struggle 
 any longer; and forced him, against his judgment, 
 his resolution, and his dignity, to defend Gabinius ; 
 at a time when his defence at last proved of no ser- 
 vice to him ; for he was found guilty by Cato, and 
 condemned of course to a perpetual banishment. 
 It is probable that Cicero's oration was never pub- 
 lished, but as it was his custom to keep the minutes 
 or rough draught of all his pleadings, in what he 
 called his commentaries, which were extant many 
 ages after his death ;* so St. Jerome has preserved 
 from them a small fragment of this speech ; which 
 seems to be a part of the apology that he found 
 himself obliged to make for it; wherein he ob- 
 serves, '' that when Pompey's authority had once 
 " reconciled him to Gabinius, it was no longer in 
 " his power to avoid defending him ; for it was 
 " ever my persuasion," says he, '' that all friend- 
 " ships should be maintained with a religious ex- 
 " actness; but especially those which happen to be 
 " renewed from a quarrel : for in friendships, that 
 " have suffered no interruption, a failure of duty is 
 " easily excused by a plea of inadvertency, or at 
 " the worst, of negligence ; whereas, if after a re- 
 " conciliation, any new offence be given, it never 
 " passes for negligent, but wilful ; and is not im- 
 " puted to imprudence, but to perfidy."t 
 
 * Quod ferisse M. Tulliiim Comraentariis Ipsius apparet. Qnintil. I. 
 X. c. 7. 
 
 fVid. Fragment. Orationnm, 
 
126 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cic. 53. Coss.— L. Domitius Ahenobaibos. A. Claudius Pulcher. 
 
 The proconsul, Lentulus, who resided still in 
 Cilicia, having had an account from Rome, of Ci- 
 cero's change of conduct, and his defence of Ya- 
 tinius, wrote a sort of expostulatory letter to him, 
 to know the reasons of it ; telling him, that he had 
 heard of his reconciliation with Caesar and Appius, 
 for which he did not blame him ; but was at a loss 
 how to account for his new friendship with Crassus ; 
 and above all, w^hat it was, that induced him to de- 
 fend Yatinius. This gave occasion to that long and 
 elaborate answer from Cicero, already referred to, 
 written before Gabinius's trial : which could other- 
 wise have made his apology more difficult, in which 
 he lays open the motives and progress of his whole 
 behaviour from the time of his exile. — " As to the 
 " case of Yatinius," he says, " as soon as he was 
 " chosen praetor, where I warmly opposed him, in 
 " favour of Cato, Pompey prevailed with me to be 
 " reconciled to him ; and Caesar afterwards took 
 " surprising pains with me to defend him ; to which 
 " I consented, for the sake of doing what, as I told 
 " the court at the trial, the Parasite in the Eunuch^ 
 " advised his patron to do : 
 
 " Whenever she talks of Phaedria, do you presently 
 " praise Pamphila^ &c. so I begged of the judges, 
 *' that since certain persons of distinguished rank, 
 *' to whom I was much obliged, were so fond of my 
 ' enemy, and affected to caress him in the senate, 
 " before my face, whh all the marks of familiarity ; 
 " and since they had their Publius to give me jea- 
 " lousy, I might be allowed to have my Publius 
 " also, to teaze them with in my turn." Then as to 
 his general conduct, he makes this general defence ; 
 " that the union and firmness of the honest, which 
 '• subsisted when Lentulus left Rome, confirmed. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 12r 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cic 53. Coss.— L. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcher. 
 
 " says he, by my consulship, and revived by yours, 
 *' is now quite broken and deserted by those who 
 «' out/ht to have supported it, and were looked upon 
 ** as patriots ; for which reason, the maxims and 
 *' measures of all wise citizens, in which class I 
 " always wished to be ranked, ought to be chang- 
 *' ed too : for it is a precept of Plato, whose 
 " authority has the greatest weight with me, to 
 " contend in publick affairs, as far as we can 
 " persuade our citizens, but not to offer violence, 
 *' either to our parent or our country. If I 
 " was quite free from all engagements, I should 
 *' act, therefore, as I now do ; should not think 
 " it prudent, to contend with so great a power ; 
 " nor if it could be effected, to extinguish it in 
 " our present circumstances ; nor continue always 
 ** in one mind, when the things themselves and the 
 "sentiments of the honest are altered ; since a per- 
 "petual adherence to the same measures has never 
 " been approved by those, who know best how to 
 " govern states ; but as in sailing, it is the busi- 
 " ness of art, to be directed by the weather, and 
 " foolish to persevere with danger in the course 
 " in which we set out, rather than, by changing it, 
 "to arrive with safety, though later, where we in- 
 " tended ; so to us, who manage publick affairs, 
 " the chief end proposed being dignity, with pub- 
 " lick quiet, our business is not to be always say- 
 " ing, but always aiming at the same thing. — 
 " Wherefore if all things, as I said, where wholly 
 " free to me, I should be the same man that I now 
 '' am : but wlien I am invited to this conduct on 
 " the one side, by kindnesses, and driven to it on 
 'Hhe other by injuries, I easily suffer myself to 
 "vote and act what l take to be useful both to my- 
 
128 THE LIFE OF seci. ti. 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cic 53. Coss.— L. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcher. 
 
 "self and the republick; and I do it the more 
 " freely, as well on the account of my brother's 
 " being Caesar's lieutenant, as that there is not the 
 " least thing, which I have ever said or done for 
 " Caesar, but what he has repaid with such emi- 
 *' nent gratitude, as persuades me, that he takes 
 " himself to be obliged to me ; so that I have as 
 " much use of all his power and interest, which 
 " you know to be the greatest, as if they were my 
 ** own : nor could I otherwise have defeated the 
 " designs of my desperate enemies, if to those 
 " forces, which 1 have always been master of, I 
 " had not joined the favour of the men of power. 
 " Had you been here to advise me, I am persuad- 
 **ed that I should have followed the same mea- 
 " sures ; for I know your good nature and mode- 
 " ration ; I know your heart, not only the most 
 " friendly to me, but void of all malevolence to 
 " others ; great and noble, open and sincere, &:c."* 
 He 6ften defends himself, on other occasions, by 
 the same allusion to the art of sailing : " I cannot 
 «' reckon it inconstancy," says he " to change and 
 " moderate our opinion, like, the course of a ship, 
 " by the ^weather of the republick ; this is what 
 " I have learnt, have observed, have read ; what 
 " the records of former ages have delivered, of 
 "the wisest and most eminent citizens, both in this 
 " and all other cities ; that the same maxims are 
 " not always to be pursued by the same men ; but 
 " such, whatever they be, which the state of the 
 " republick, the inclination of the times, the oc- 
 " casions of publick peace require : this is wiiat 
 "' I am now doing, and shall always do.f" 
 
 * Ep. Kara. 19. 
 
 f Nf'qne enim inconstant is pulo, sententiam, tanqdam aliquod 
 navigiura atque cursmn ex reip. tcmpeslate tnoderari. Ego vero haec 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 129 
 
 A. Urf). 699. Cic. 53. Coss.— L. Domitius Ahenobai'bus. A. Claudius Pulpher. 
 
 The trial of C. Rabirius Postumus, a person of 
 equestrian rank, was an appendix to that of Gabi- 
 nius. It was one of the articles against Gabinius, 
 that he had received about two millions for restor- 
 ing King Ptolemy ; yet all his estate, which was 
 to be found, was not sufficient to answ^er the dama- 
 ges in which he was condemned ; nor could he 
 give any security for the rest : in this case, the 
 method was, to demand the deficiency from those, 
 through whose hand the management of his money 
 affairs had passed, and who were supposed to have 
 been sharers in the spoil ; this was charged upon 
 Rabirius ; and that he had advised Gabinius to un- 
 dertake the restoration of the king, and accompani- 
 ed him in it, and was employed to solicit the 
 payment of the money, and lived at Alexandria 
 for that purpose, in the king's service, as the 
 publick receiver of his taxes, and wearing the pal' 
 Hum or habit of the country. 
 
 Cicefo urged, in defence of Rabirius, " that he 
 " had borne no part in that transaction ; but that 
 "his whole crime, or rather folly, w^as, that he 
 " had lent the king great sums of money for his 
 " support at Rome : and ventured to trust a prince, 
 " who, as all the world then thought, was going 
 " to be restored by the authority of the Roman 
 " people : that the necessity of going to Egypt 
 " for the recovery of that debt, was the source of 
 
 didici, hac vidi, haec scripta legi : haec de sapientissirais et claris* 
 simis viris, et in hac Repiib. et in aliis civitatibiis nnonumenta nobis 
 et literae prodidenint : non semper easdem sentential? ab iisdem, 
 sed qiiJiscumque reip. status, inclinatio teraporuin, ratio coocordiae 
 postiilaret, esse defendendas. Quod ego et facio, et seraper faciara 
 Pro Plancio. 39. 
 
 TOL. II. ^7 
 
130 THE LIFE OF sect, ti 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cic 53. Coss.— L. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcber. 
 
 " all his misery ; where he was forced to take 
 " whatever the king^ would give or^ impose : that 
 " it was his misfortune, to be obliged to commit 
 " himself to the power of an arbitrary monarch : that 
 " nothing could be more mad, than for a Roman 
 " knight and citizen, of a Republick, of all others 
 " the most free, to go to any place where he must 
 " needs be a slave to the will of another ; that all who 
 " ever did so, as Plato and the wisest had sometimes 
 " done too hastily, always suffered for it : this was 
 *' the case of Rabirius : necessity carried him to 
 *' Alexandria ; his whole fortunes were at stake ;^ 
 " which he was so far from improving by his traf- 
 '' tick with that king, that he was ill treated by 
 " him, imprisoned, threatened with death, and glad 
 " to run away at last with the loss of all : and, at 
 " that very time, it was wholly owing to Caesar's 
 "generosity, and regard to the merit and misfor- 
 " tunes of an old friend, that he was enabled to 
 '* sup'port his former rank and equestrian dignity 
 
 " ."t Gabinius's trial had so near a relation 
 
 to this, and was so often referred to in it, that the 
 prosecutors could not omit so fair an opportunity 
 of rallying* Cicero for the part which he had acted 
 in it : Memmius observed, " that the deputies of 
 '^ Alexandria had the same reason for appearing for 
 ^* Gabinius, which Cicero had for defending him, 
 " the command of a master."—'^ No, Memmius,'' 
 replied Cicero, " my reason for defending him was 
 '' a reconciliation with him ; for, T am not ashamed 
 *' to own, that my quarrels are mortal, my friend- 
 " ships immortal : and if you imagine that I un- 
 " dertook that cause for fear of Pompey, you 
 
 * Pro Rabir. 8, 9. f lb. 9. 
 
SECT. VI. 
 
 CICERO. 131 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cic. 53. Coss.— -L. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcher. 
 
 ^' neither know Pompey nor me ; for Pompey 
 " would neither desire it of me against my will ; 
 *' nor would 1, after I had preserved the liberty of 
 *' my citizens, ever give up my own."^ 
 
 Valerius Maximus reckons Cicero's defence of 
 Gabinius and Vatinius, among the great and lau- 
 dable examples of humanity which the Roman 
 history furnished ; " as it is nobler," he says, " to 
 "conquer injuries with benefits, than to repay 
 "them in kind, with an obstinacy of hatred."t 
 This turn is agreeable to the design of that wri- 
 ter, whose view it seems to be, in the collection 
 of his stories, to give us rather what is strange, 
 than true ; and to dress up facts, as it were, into 
 fables, for the sake of drawing a moral from them : 
 for, whatever Cicero himself might say for it, in the 
 flourishing stile of an oration, it is certain that he 
 knew and felt it to be, what it really was, an in- 
 dignity and dishonour to him, which he was forced 
 to submit to by the iniquity of the times, and his 
 engagements with Pompey and Caesar, as he often 
 laments to his friends in a very passionate strain : 
 " 1 am afflicted," says he, " my dearest brother, I 
 '' am afflicted, that there is no republick, no jus- 
 " tice in trials ; that this season of my life, which 
 
 * Ait etiara mens familiaris, eandem causain Alexandrinis fuisse, 
 cur laudarent Gabinium, quae inihi fuit, cur eundem defeiiderem. 
 Mihi, C. Merami, causa defendendi Gabinii fuit recouciliatio gratiae. 
 Neque vero me poonitet, viortalcs inhnicitias, sempUcriias amiciti- 
 as habere! Nam si me invtium putas, ne Cn. Pompeii animum offen- 
 derem, defendisse causam, et ilium ct me vehementer ignoras. Ne- 
 que eoim Pompeius me sua causa quidquam facere voluisset invitura ; 
 neque ego, cui omuium civium libeitas carissima luisset, meam pro- 
 jecissem. Pro. C. Habir. Post. 12. 
 
 f Sed hujusce 2;eneris hnmanitas etiam in M. Cicerone praecipua 
 apparuit, etc. ' Val. Max. 1. 2. 
 
132 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. ,699. Cic. 53. Coss.— L. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcber. 
 
 '' ought to flourish in the authority of the sena- 
 " torian character, is either wasted in the drudge- 
 " ry of the bar, or relieved only by domestick 
 " studies ; that what I have ever been fond of from 
 *' a boy. 
 
 In every virtuous act and glorious strife 
 To shine the first and best 
 
 "is wholly lost and gone; that my enemies are 
 " partly not opposed, partly even defended by me ; 
 '* and neither what I love, nor what I hate, left free 
 "to me."=^ 
 
 While Caesar was engaged in the British expe- 
 dition, his daughter Julia, Pompey's wife, died in 
 child-bed at Rome, after she was delivered of a 
 son, which died also soon after her. Her loss was 
 not more lamented by the husband and father, who 
 both of them tenderly loved her, than by all their 
 common friends, and well-wishers to the publick 
 peace ; who considered it as a source of fresh dis- 
 turbance to the state, from the ambitious views 
 and clashiug interests of the two chiefs ; whom the 
 life of one so dear, and the relation of son and fa- 
 iheYy seemed hitherto to have united by the ties 
 
 * Angor, mi suavissime frater, angor, nuilam esse Remp. nulla ju- 
 dicia, nostruraque hoc tempus aetatis, quod in ilia senatoria auctori- 
 tate florere debebat, aut forensi labore jactari, aut doinesticis litteris 
 sustentari. Illud vero quod a puero adaraaram, 
 
 11. ^. 208. 
 totura occidisse ; inimicos a me partim non oppugnatos ; partim etiam 
 esse defensos ; meum non modo animuna, sed ne odium quidem esse 
 liberum. Ad Quint. 3. 5, 
 
SECT. VI. 
 
 CICERO. 133 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cic. 53. Ckns.'-L. Domidus Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Fulcher. 
 
 both of duty and affection.* Caesar is said to have 
 borne the news of her death with an uncommon 
 firmness :t it is certain, that she had lived lon^ 
 enough to serve all the ends which he proposed 
 from that alliance, and to procure for him every 
 thing that Pompey's power could give : for while 
 Pompey, forgetful of his honour and interest, was 
 spending his time ingloriously at home, in the ca- 
 resses of a young wife, and the delights of Italy ; 
 and, as if he had been only Caesar's agent, was 
 continually decreeing fresh honours, troops, and 
 money to him ; Caesar was pursuing the direct 
 road to empire ; training his legions in all the toils 
 and discipline of a bloody war; himself always at 
 their head, animating them by his courage, and 
 rewardino^ them by his bounty ; till, from a great 
 and wealthy province, having raised money enough 
 to corrupt, and an army able to conquer all who 
 could oppose him, he seemed to want nothing for 
 the execution of his vast designs, but a pretext to 
 break with Pompey ; which, as all wise men fore- 
 saw, could not long be wanted, when Julia, the 
 cement of their union, was removed. For though 
 the power of the triumvirate had given a dange- 
 rous blow to the liberty of Rome, yet the jealou- 
 sies and separate interests of the chiefs obliged 
 them to manage it with some decency ; and to ex- 
 tend it but rarely beyond the forms of the consti- 
 tution ; but whenever that league should happen 
 
 * Cum medium jam, ex invidia potentiae male coha^rentis inter 
 Cn. Porapeium et C. Caesarem, concoidiae pigniis. Julia uxor .Magni 
 decessit. Filius quoque parvus, Julia natus, intra breve spatium 
 obiit. Veil. Pat. 2. 47. Val. M. 4. €. 
 
 t Caesar — cum audivit decessisse filiam — inter tertium diem im- 
 peratoria obiit munera. Senec. Consol. ad Helv. p. 116. 
 
134 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cic 53. Coss.— D. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcher. 
 
 to be dissolved, which had made them ah'eady too 
 great for private subjects, the next contest of 
 course must be for dominion, and the single maste- 
 ry of the empire. 
 
 On the second of November, C. Pontinius tri- 
 umphed over the Allobroges : he had been prae- 
 tor, when Cicero was consul ; and, at the end of 
 his magistracy, obtained the government of that 
 part of Gaul, which, having been tampering with 
 Catiline in his conspiracy, broke out soon after- 
 wards into open rebellion, but was reduced by 
 the vigour of this general. For this service he 
 demanded a triumph, but met with great opposi- 
 tion, which he surmounted with incredible pa- 
 tience : for he persevered in his suit for five years 
 successively ; residing all that while, according to 
 custom, in the suburbs of the city, till he gained 
 his point at last by a kind of violence. Cicero 
 was his friend, and continued in Rome on purpose 
 to assist him ; and the consul Appius served him 
 with all his power ; but Cato protested, that Pon- 
 tinius should never triumph while he lived ; 
 " though tiris," says Cicero, " like many of his other 
 "threats, will end at last in nothing." But the 
 praetor Galba, who had been his lieutenant, hav- 
 ing procured by stratagem an act of the people in 
 his favour, he entered the city in his triumphal 
 chariot, where he was so rudely received and op- 
 posed in his passage through the streets, that he 
 was forced to make his way with his sword, and the 
 slaughter of many of his adversaries.^ 
 
 * Ea re nou longius, quam vellem, quod Pontinio ad triuniphum 
 volebain adesse : etenim erit nescio quid negotioli, etc. Ad Quint. 3« 5. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 135 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cic 53. Coss.— L. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcher, 
 
 In the end of the year, Cicero consented to be 
 one of Pompey's lieutenants in Spain ; which he 
 be2;an to think convenient to the present state of 
 his affairs, and resolved to set forward for that 
 province, about the middle of January :* but this 
 seemed to give some umbrage to Caesar, who, by 
 the help of Quintus, hoped to disengage him gra- 
 dually from Pompey, and to attach him to him- 
 self ; and with that view had begged of him in his 
 letters, to continue at Home,t for the sake of ser- 
 ving himself w itli his authority, in all affairs which 
 he had occasion to transact there ; so that out of 
 regard probably to Caesar's uneasiness, Cicero 
 soon changed his mind, and resigned his lieuten- 
 ancy ; to which he seems to allude in a letter to 
 his brother, where he says, that he had no second 
 thoughts in whatever concerned Caesar ; that he 
 would make good his enga2;ements to him ; and 
 being entered into his friendship with judgment, 
 was now attached to him by affection.J 
 
 He was employed at Caesar's desire along with 
 Oppius, in settling the plan of a most expensive 
 and magnificent work which Caesar w^as going to 
 
 Pontinius vnlt A. D. IV. Non. Noverab. triiimphare. Huic ob- 
 viam Cato et Servilius praetores aperte, et Q,. Mucins tribuuus. Sed 
 erit cum Pontinio Appius consul. Cato tamen affirinat, se vivo ilium 
 uon triumphare ; id ego puto, ut multa ejusdera, ad nihil recasurum. 
 Ad AU. 4. 16. It. Dio, 1. 39. p. 120. 
 
 * Sed heus tu, scripseramne tibi me esse legatum Pompeio ; et. 
 extra urbem quidera lore, ex Id. Jan. visum est hoc mihi ad multa 
 quadrare. Ad Alt. 4. 18. 
 
 t Quod mihi tempus, Romae praesertira, ut iste me rogat, mancn- 
 ti, vacuum ostenditur ? — Ad Uuint. 2. 15. 
 
 I Ego vero nullas Jivlt^ei; <p^i'JltJki habere possum in Caesaris rebus — 
 Videor id judicio facere. Jam enim deheo : sed tamen amore sum in- 
 oensus — Ad Quint. 3, 1. 5 •''. 
 
136 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 699. Cie. 53. Coss.—L. Domitius Ahenobarfius. A. Claudius Pulcher. 
 
 execute at Rome, out of the spoils of Gaul ; a new 
 forum, with many orand buildings annexed to it ; 
 for the area of which alone they had contracted to 
 pay to the several owners about five hundred thou- 
 sand pounds ; or as Suetonius computes, near dou- 
 ble that sum.^ Cicero calls it a glorious piece of 
 work, and says, that the partitions, or inclosures of 
 the Campus Martins, in which the tribes used to 
 vote, were all to be made new of marble, with a 
 roof likewise of the same, and a stately portico 
 carried round the whole, of a mile in circuit, to 
 which a publick hall or town-house was to be join- 
 ed.t While this building was going forward, L. 
 Aemilius Paulus was employed in raising another, 
 not much inferiour to it, at his own expense : for 
 he repaired and beautified an ancient Basilica in the 
 old forum ; and buih at the same time a new one 
 with Phrygian columns, which was called after his 
 own name ; and is frequently mentioned by the 
 later writers, as a fabrick of wonderful magnifi- 
 cence, computed to have cost him three hundred 
 
 thousand pounds.J 
 
 __ 
 
 * Forum de manubiis inchoavit ; riijus area super H. S. millies con- 
 stitit. Suet. J. Caes. 26. 
 
 f Itaque Caesar s amici (me dico et Oppium, dirumparis licet) in 
 moiiumenturn illud, quod tu tolleie laudibus solebas, ut forum laxare- 
 mus, et usque ad libertatis atrium explicaremus, consuiusiuius H. S, 
 sexcenties : cum privaiis non poterat transigi minore pecunia Efficie- 
 mus rem gloriosissimara. Nam in Campo iVlartio septa tributis comi- 
 tiis marmorea siimus, et tecla facturi, eaque cingemus excelsa por- 
 ticu, ut mille passuum couficiatur. Simul adjungetur huic operi, villa 
 eliam publica — Ad Att. 4. 16. 
 
 I Paulus in medio i'oro Basilicam jam paene texuit, iisdera antiquis 
 colunmis : iilam aiuem, quam iofavii. facit magnificentissimam. Ni- 
 hil gratius illo mouumento, nihil gloriosius — Ibid. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. VdJ 
 
 A. Urb. 700. Cic. 54. 
 
 The new tribunes pursued the measures of their 
 predecessors, and would not suffer an election of 
 consuls ; so that when the new year came on, the 
 republick wanted its proper head : in this case the 
 administration fell into the hands of an interrex ; a 
 provincial magistrate, who must necessarily be a 
 patrician, and chosen by the body of patricians, 
 called together for that purpose by the senate.* 
 His power, however, was but short lived, being 
 transferred every i\Ye days, from one interrex to 
 another, till an election of consuls could be obtain- 
 ed ; but the tribunes, whose authority was absolute, 
 while there were no consuls to control them, 
 continued fierce against aiiy election at all : some 
 were for reviving the ancient dignity of military 
 tribunes ; but that being unpopular, a more plausi- 
 ble scheme was taken up and openly avowed, of 
 declaring Pompey dictator. This gave great ap- 
 prehensions to the city, for the memory of Syl- 
 la's dictatorship ; and was vigorously opposed by 
 all the chiefs of the senate, and especially by Cato : 
 Pompey chose to keep himself out of sight, and 
 retired into the countiy, to avoid the suspicion of 
 affecting it. " The rumour of a Dictatorship, 
 " says Cicero, is disagreeable to the honest; but 
 " the other things, which they talk of, are more so 
 " to me : the whole affair is dreaded, but flags : 
 " Pompey flatly disclaims it, though he never de- 
 " nicd it to me before : the tribune Hirrus will 
 " probably be the promoter ; good gods [ how silly 
 " and fond of himself without a rival ? At Pom- 
 " pey's request, I have deterred Crassus Junianus, 
 " who pays great regard to me, from meddling 
 
 " Vid. Ascon. argument in Milon. 
 VOL. II. 1ft 
 
138 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 700. Cic. 54. 
 
 " with it. It is hard to know whether Pompey 
 " really desires it or not ; but if Hirrus stir in it, 
 '' he will not convince us that he is averse to it."^ 
 In another letter; " Nothing is yet done as to the 
 " dictatorship ; Pompey is still absent ; Appius in 
 " a great bustle ; Hirrus preparing to propose it; 
 " but several are named as ready to interpose their 
 " negative : the people do not trouble their heads 
 " about it ; the chiefs are against it ; I keep myself 
 " quiet."t Cicero's friend Milo was irresolute 
 how to act on this occasion ; he was forming an 
 interest for the consulship ; and if he declared 
 against a dictatorship, was afraid of making Pom- 
 pey his enemy ; or if he should not help the op- 
 ponents, that it would be carried by force; in both 
 which cases, his own pretensions were sure to be 
 disappointed : he was inclined, therefore, to join 
 in the opposition, but so far only as to repel any 
 violence.J 
 
 The tribunes in the mean time, were growing 
 every day more and more insolent, and engrossing 
 all power to themselves; till.Q. Pompeius Rufus, 
 
 — — 2a^ __ . 
 
 * Rumor Dictatoris injucundiis bonis: mihi eliam luagis quae lo- 
 quuntur. Bed tota res et tinictur ot relrigescit. Poinpeius plane 
 se negat velle: antea ipse niihi non negahat. Hirrus auctor fore 
 videtur. O Dii, quara ineptus, et qtiauj se ainans sine rival) ! Cras- 
 sura JunJanum hominem raiiji deditum, per me deterruit. Velit, 
 nolit, scire difficile est. Hirro tamen agente, nolle se non probabit— 
 Ad Quint. 3. 8. * 
 
 f De Dictatore tamc-n actum nihil est. Pompeius abest : Appi- 
 us miscet : Hirrus parat ; mul|:i intercessores numerantur : populus 
 non curat : principes nolunt : ego quiesco— Ibj 9. 
 
 I Hoc horret Milo— et si ille Dictator factus sit, paene diffidit. In- 
 tercessorem dictaturae si jnverit inann et praesidio suo, Pompeium 
 metuit inimicum; sinon juverit, timet, ne per vim perleratur.— lb: 8. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 139 
 
 A. Urb. 700. Cic. 54. 
 
 the grandson of Sylla, and the most factious es- 
 pouser of a dictator, was, by a resolute decree of 
 the senate, committed to prison : and Pompey 
 himself, upon his return to the city, finding the 
 greater and better part utterly adverse to his dic- 
 tatorsliip, yielded at last after an interregnum of 
 six months, that Cn. Domitius Calvinus, and M. 
 Messala, should be declared consuls.* These 
 were agreeable likewise to Caesar: Cicero had 
 particularly recommended Messala to him ; of 
 whom, he says in a letter to his brother ; " As to 
 " your reckoning Messala and Calvinus sure con- 
 " suls, you agree with what we think here ; for I 
 " will be answerable to Caesar for JNIessala.t 
 
 A. Urb. 700. Cic. 54. Coss.— Cn. Domitius Calvinus. M. Valerius Messala. 
 
 But after all this bustle about a Dictator, there 
 seems to have been no great reason for being 
 much afraid of it at this time : for the republick was 
 in so great a disorder, that nothing less than a dicta- 
 torial power could reduce it to a tolerable state : 
 some good of that kind might reasonably be ex- 
 pected from Pompey, without the fear of any great 
 harm, while there was so sure a check upon him as 
 Caesar, who, upon any exorbitant use of that pow- 
 er, would have had the senate, and all the better 
 
 * Vid. Dio. I. 40. p. 141. 
 
 t Messalain qiiod certiim consiilem cum Domitio ntimeratis, nihil a 
 nostra opinione dissenlitis. Ego IVlessalam Cacsari praestabo— Ad 
 Quint. 3. 8. 
 
140 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 700. Cic. 54. Coss.— Cn. Domitius Calvinus. M. Valerius Messala. 
 
 sort, on his side, by the specious pretence of as- 
 serting the publick liberty : Cicero therefore judg- 
 ed rightly, in thinking that there were other things 
 which might be apprehended, and seemed likely to 
 happen, that, in their present situation, were of 
 more dangerous consequence than a dictatoiship. 
 
 There had scarce been so long an interregnum 
 in Rome since the expulsion of their kings, during 
 which all publick business, and especially all judi- 
 cial proceedings, were wholly interrupted ; which 
 explains a jocose passage in one of Cicero's letters 
 to Trebatius : " If you had not already," says he, 
 " been absent from Rome, you would certainly 
 " have run away now : for what business is there 
 " for a lawyer in so many interregnums? I would 
 "advise all my clients, if sued in any action, to 
 " move every interrex twice for more time : do not 
 " you think that 1 have learnt the law of you to 
 " good purpose ?* 
 
 He now began a correspondence of letters with 
 Curio, a young senator of distinguished birth and 
 parts, wliiT, upon his first entrance into the forum, 
 had been committed to his care, and was at this 
 time quaestor in Asia. He was possessed of a 
 large and splendid fortune, by the late death of his 
 father; so that Cicero, who knew his high spirit 
 and ambition, and that he was formed to do much 
 good or hurt to his country, was desirous to engage 
 
 * Nisi ante Roma profectus esses, nunc earn certe relinqueres. 
 Quis enim tot interregnis jiirisconsultura desiderat ? Kgo omnibus, 
 unde petitur, hoc consiiii dederira, ut a singulis interregibus binas ad- 
 vocationes postuleut. Satisne tibi videor abs te jus ^civile didicisse ? 
 Ep. Fara. 7. 11. 
 
SECT. VI. 
 
 CICERO. 141 
 
 A. Urb. 700. Cic. 54. Coss.— Cn. Doraitius Calvinus. ivL Valerius Messala. 
 
 him early in the interests of the republick, and; by 
 instillino; great and generous sentiments, to inflame 
 him with a love of true glory. Curio had sent 
 orders to his agents at Rome, to proclaim a shew of 
 gladiators, in honour of his deceased father ; but 
 Cicero stopped the declaration of it for a while, in 
 hopes to dissuade him from so great and fruitless an 
 expense.* He foresaw that nothing was more likely 
 to corrupt his virtue, than the ruin of his fortunes, 
 or to make him a dangerous citizen, than prodigali- 
 ty, to which he whs naturally inclined, and which 
 Cicero, for that reason, was the more desirous to 
 check at his first setting out : but all his endeavours 
 were to no purpose. Curio resolved to give the shew 
 of gladiators ; and, by a continual profusion of his 
 money, answerable to this beginning, after he had 
 acted the patriot for some time with credit and ap- 
 plause, was reduced at last to the necessity of selling 
 himself to Caesar. 
 
 There is but little of politics in these letters be- 
 sides some general complaints of the lost and des- 
 perate state of the republick. In one of them, 
 after reckoning up the various subjects of epistolary 
 writing : " Ir^hall I joke with you then," says he, 
 *' in my letters ? On my conscience, there is not a 
 " citizen, I believe, who can laugh in these times : 
 " or shall I write something serious? But what can 
 " Cicero write seriously to Cui io, unless it be on 
 " the republick ? where my case at present is such, 
 " that I have no inclination to write what I do 
 
 * Riipae studium iion defuit declarandorum munenim tuo nomine : 
 sed nee mihi placuit, nee euiquam tuorum, qiiMiquani tt; absenle fieri, 
 quodtibi, cum venlsses, non esset integrum, etc. Ep. Fam. 2. ?,. 
 
142 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 700. Cic. 54. Coss.— Cn. Domitius Calvinus. M. Valerius Messala. 
 
 " think — ."* In another, after putting; hioi in mind 
 of the incredible expectation which v\as entertain- 
 ed of him at Rome : '* Not that I am afraid," 
 says he, " that your virtue should not come up to the 
 " opinion of the publick, but rather that you find 
 " nothing worth caring for at your return, all things 
 " are so ruined and oppressed : but I question 
 *' whether it be prudent to say so much — It is your 
 " part, however, whether you retain any hopes, or 
 *' quite despair, to adorn yourself with all those 
 " accomplishments which can qualify a citizen, in 
 " wretched times and profligate morals, to restore 
 " the republick to its ancient dignity ."f 
 
 The first news from abroad, after the inaugura- 
 tion of the consuls, was of the miserable death of 
 Crassus and his son Publius, with the total defeat 
 of his army by the Parthians. This was one of 
 the greatest blows that Rome had ever receiv- 
 ed from a foreign enemy, and for which it was 
 ever after meditating revenge : the Roman wri- 
 ters generally imputed it to Crassus's contempt 
 of the auspices, as some Christians have since 
 charged iT to his sacrilegious violation of the 
 temple of Jerusalem, which he is said to have 
 plundered of two millions, both of them with 
 equal superstition pretending to unfold the coun- 
 
 * Jocerne tecum per literas ? civem raehercule non puto esse, qui 
 temporibus his ridere possit. An gravius aliquid scribam ? Quid est 
 quod possit graviter a Cicerone scribi ad Curionera, nisi de Rep. ? Atque 
 in hoc genere haec mea causa es^t, ut neque ea, quae, non sentio, velim 
 scribere ib. 4. 4. 
 
 t Non quo verear ne tua virtus opinion! hominura non respondeat : 
 sed mehercule, ne cum veneris, non habeas Jam quod cures : ita sunt 
 omnia debilitata jam prope etextincta, etc. ib. ft. 
 
SECT. VI. 
 
 CICERO. 143 
 
 A. Urb. 700. Cic. 54. Coss.— Cn.Domitius Calviiius. M. Valerius Messala. 
 
 cils of heaven, and to fathom those depths which 
 are declared to be unsearchable.^ The chief and 
 imniediate concern which the city felt on this oc- 
 casion, was for the detriment that the repviblick 
 had suffered, and the dano;er to which it was expos- 
 ed, by the loss of so great an army ; yet the princi- 
 pal mischief lay in what they did not at first re- 
 gard, and seemed rather to rejoice at, the loss of 
 Crassus himself. For after the death of Julia, Cras- 
 sus's authority was the only means left of curbing 
 the power of Pompey, and the ambition of Cae- 
 sar ; being ready always to support the weaker, 
 against the encroachments of the stronger, and 
 keep them both within the bounds of a decent re- 
 spect to the laws ; but this check being now taken 
 away, and the power of the empire thrown, as a 
 kind of prize, between two, it gave a new turn to 
 their several pretensions, and created a fresh com- 
 petition for the larger share, which, as the event 
 afterwards shewed, must necessarily end in the sub- 
 version of the whole. 
 
 Publius Crassus, who perished with his father in 
 this fatal expedition, was a youth of an amiable 
 character ; educated with the strictest care, and 
 perfectly instructed in all the liberal studies ; he 
 had a ready wit and easy language ; was grave 
 without arrogance, modest without negligence, 
 adorned with all the accomplishments proper to 
 form a principal citizen and leader of the repub- 
 
 * M. Crasso quid acciderit, videinus dirarum obnuntiatione neglec- 
 ta. [De Dio. 1. 16.] 
 
 Being for bis impious sacrilege at Jerusalem justly destined to de- 
 struction, God did cast infatuations into all bis councils, for tbe lead- 
 ing him thereto Prideaux. Connect. Par. 2. p. 362 
 
144 THE LIFE OF sect, vi, 
 
 A. Urb. 700. Cic. S4. Coss.— Cn. Domitius Calvinus. M. Valerius Messala. 
 
 lick : by the force of his own judgment he had 
 devoted himself very early to the observance and 
 imitation of Cicero, whom he perpetually attend- 
 ed and reverenced with a kind of filial piety. — 
 Cicero conceived a mutual affection for him, and 
 observing his eager thirst of glory, was constantly 
 instilling into him the true notion of it ; and ex- 
 horting him to pursue that sure path to it, which 
 his ancestors had left beaten and traced out to him, 
 through the gradual ascent of civil honours. But^ 
 by serving under Caesar in the Gallick wars, he 
 had learnt, as he fancied, a shorter way to fame 
 and power, than what Cicero had been inculcat- 
 ing ; and having signalized himself in a campaign 
 or two as a soldier, was in too much haste to 
 be a general ; when Caesar sent him at the head 
 of a thousand horse, to the assistance of his father 
 in the Parthian war. Here the vigour of his 
 youth and courage carried him on so far, in the 
 pursuit of an enemy, whose chief art of conquest 
 consisted in flying, that he had no way left to es- 
 cape, but what his high spirit disdained, by the de- 
 sertion of his troops and a precipitate flight ; so that, 
 finding FiTmself opposed with numbers, cruelly 
 wounded, and in danger of falling alive into the 
 hands of the Parthians^ he chose to die by the sword 
 of his armour-bearer. Thus while he aspired, as 
 Cicero says, to the fame of another Cyrus or Al- 
 exander, he fell short of that glory which many 
 of his predecessors had reaped, from a succession 
 of honours, conferred by their country, as the re- 
 ward of their services.* 
 
 * Hoc magis sura Public deditus, quod me quanquam a pueritia 
 seuf.per, taraen hoc tempore maxime, sicut alterum parentem et oh- 
 servat et diligit. [Ep. Fam. 5. 8.] 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 145 
 
 A. Urb. 700. Cic. 54. Coss.— Cn. Pompeius Calvinus. M. Valerius Messala. 
 
 By the death of young Crassus, a place became 
 vacant in the college of Augurs, for which Cicero 
 declared himself a candidate : nor was any one so 
 hardy as to appear against him, except Hirrus, 
 the tribune, who, trusting to the popularity of his 
 office and Pompey's favour, had the vanity to 
 pretend to it : but a competition so unequal fur- 
 nished matter of raillery only to Cicero ; who was 
 chosen without any difficulty or struggle, with 
 the unanimous approbation of the whole body.* 
 This college, from the last regulation of it by 
 Sylla, consisted of fifteen, who were all persons 
 of the first distinction in Rome ; it was a priest^ 
 hood for life, of a character indelible ; which no 
 crime or forfeiture could efface : the priests of all 
 kinds were originally chosen by their colleges ; 
 till Domitius, a tribune, about fifty years before, 
 transferred the choice of them to the people; 
 whose authority was held to be supreme in sacred, as 
 w^ell as civil affairs.f This act was reversed by 
 Sylla, and the ancient right restored to the colle- 
 ges ; but Labienus, when tribune, in Cicero's con- 
 sulship, recalled the law of Domitius, to facilitate 
 
 p. Crassnra ex omni nobilitate adolescentem dilexi pluriraum, etc. 
 [ib. 13. 16.] 
 
 Cum P. Crasso, cum initio aetatis ad amicitiam se meam contulis- 
 set, saepe egisse me arbitror, cum enm veliementissime hortarer, ut 
 earn laudis viam rectissimam esse dliceret, quam majores ejus ei tri- 
 tam reliquissent. Erat enim cum in<titutus optime, tum plane per- 
 fectequeeruditiis. Ineratque et ingen urn satis acre, et orationis non 
 inelegans xnpia : praetereaque sine arrogant la gravis esse videbatur, 
 et sine segnitic verecundus, etc. Vid. Brut. p. 407. It. Plut. Id 
 Crass. 
 
 * Quomodo Hirrum putas Auguratus tui corapetitorem — Ep. Fam. 
 8.3. 
 
 f Atque hoc idem de caeteris Sacerdotiis Cn. Domitius tribunns PI. 
 f.ulit, etc. De Leg. Ag. 2. 7. 
 
 VOL. IT. 1^ 
 
146 THE LIFE OF sect. vr« 
 
 A. Urb. 700, Cic. 54. Coss.— Cn. Domitius Calvinus. M. Valerius Messala. 
 
 Caesar's advancement to the high-priesthood: it 
 was necessary, however, that every candidate 
 should be nominated to the people by two augurs, 
 who gave a solemn testimony upon oath of his dig- 
 nity and fitness for the office : this was done in 
 Cicero's case by Pompey and Hortensius, the two 
 most eminent members of the college ; and after 
 the election, he was installed with all the usual 
 formalities by Hortensius.^ 
 
 As in the last year, so in this, the factions of the 
 city prevented the choice of consuls : the candi- 
 dates, T. Annius Milo, Q, Metellus Scipio, and 
 P. Plautius Hypsaeus, pushed on their several in- 
 terests with such open violence and bribery, as if 
 the consulship was to be carried only by money or 
 arms.t Clodius was putting in at the same time 
 for the praetorship, and employing all his credit 
 and interest to disappoint Milo, by whose obtain- 
 ing fhe consulship, he was sure to be eclipsed and 
 controlled in the exercise of his subordinate ma= 
 gistracy.J Pompey was wholly averse to Milo, 
 who did not pay him that court which he expected^ 
 but seemed to affect an independency, and to trust 
 to his own strength, while the other two competi- 
 tors were wholly at his devotion: Hypsaeus had 
 been his quaestor, and always his creature ; and he 
 
 * Quo eninti tempore me Augurem a toto eollegio expetitura Cn. 
 Pompeius et Q. Hortensius nominaverunt ; neque enim licebat a 
 pluribus nominari Philip. 2. 2. 
 
 Cooptatura me ab eo in collegium recordabar, in quo juratns judici- 
 »ni dignitatis meae feeerat : et inauguratum ab eodem, ex quo, au- 
 gurum iustitutis in parentis eura loco colere debebara. Brut, init 
 
 t Plutar. in Cato. 
 
 I Occurrebat ei, niancam ac debileiD Praeturara suam futuram con- 
 sule Miione— Pro Milon. 9, 
 
^ECT. VI. CICERO. 147 
 
 A. Urb. 700. Cic 54. Coss.— Cn. Domiiius Calvinus. M. Valerius Messahu 
 
 designed to make Scipio his father-in-law, by mar- 
 rying his daughter Cornelia, a lady of celebrated 
 accomplishments, the widow of young Crassus. 
 
 Cicero, on the other hand, served Milo to Ihe 
 utmost of his power, and ardently wished his suc- 
 cess : this he owed to Milo's constant attachment to 
 him, which at all hazaids he now resolved to repay : 
 the affair, however, was likely to give him much 
 trouble, as well from the difficulty of the opposi- 
 tion, as from Milo's own conduct, and unbounded 
 prodigality, which threatened the ruin of all his 
 fortunes : in a letter to his brother, who was still 
 with Caesar, he says, ** nothing can be more wretch- 
 " ed than these men and these times : wherefore, 
 " since no pleasure can now be had from the re- 
 " publick, I know not why I should make myself 
 " uneasy : books, study, quiet, my country houses, 
 " and above all, my children, are my sole delight : 
 " Milo is my only trouble : I wish his consulship 
 " may put an end to it ; in which I will not take 
 " less pains, than I did in my own ; and you will 
 " assist us there also, as you now do : all things 
 " stand well with him, unless some violence de- 
 " feat us : I am afraid only, how his money will 
 " hold out : for he is mad beyond all bounds in the 
 " magnificence of his shews, which he is now pre- 
 " paring at the expense of 250,000/. but it shall be 
 " my care to check his inconsiderateness in this one 
 " article, as far as I am able, &c/'* 
 
 * Itaque ex Rep. quoniam nihil jam voluptatis capi potest ; cur sto- 
 .macher, iiesclo. Iviterae me el studia nostra, et otium, viilacqiie de- 
 Jectant, maximeque piieri nostri. Angit unus Milo. Sed velim lincm 
 afferat cousulatus : in quo cnitar non minus quam sum enisus in nostro : 
 tuque istinc, quod facis, adjuvabis. De quo caetera (nisi plane vis eri- 
 puerit) recta sunt : de re t'amiliari timco. 
 
• 148 THE LIFE OF sect, vi 
 
 ' A. Urb. 700. Cic. 54. Coss.— Cn. Domitius Calvinus. M. Valerius Messala. 
 
 In the heat of this competition, Curio was com- 
 ing home from Asia, and expected shortly at 
 Rome ; whence Cicero sent an express to meet 
 him on the road, or at his landing in Italy, with a 
 most earnest and pressing letter to engage him to 
 Milo's interest. 
 
 A. Urb. 701. Cic S5. 
 
 " M. T. Cicero, to C. Curio. 
 
 ••' Before we had yet heard of your comins; to- 
 " wards Italy, I sent away S. Villius, Milo's frie nd, 
 " with this letter to you : but when your arrival 
 ^* was supposed to be near, and it was known for 
 " certain that you had left Asia, and were upon 
 " the road to Rome, the importance of the subject 
 " left no room to fear that we should be thouo;ht to 
 " send too hastily, when we were desirous to have 
 " it delivered to you as soon as possible. If my 
 *' services to you. Curio, were really so great as 
 " they are proclaimed to be by you, rather than 
 " considered by me, I should be more reserved in 
 " asking, if I had any great favour to beg of you : 
 *^ for it goes hard with a modest man, to ask any 
 
 O /« fJI.AiVilli.1 OVU, 6T' AViKJeet — 
 
 Qui ludos H. S. CCC. comparei Cujus in hoc iino inconsiderantiam 
 et ego sustinebo, ut potero — Ad Quint. 3. 9. 
 
 Cicero had great reason for the apprehensions which he expresses 
 on account of Milo's extravagance : tor Milo had already wasted three 
 estates in giving plays and shews to the people ; and when he went 
 soon after into exile, was found to owe still above half a raillion of our 
 money. Plin. 1, 36. 15. Ascon. Argum. in JVlilon. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 149 
 
 A. Urb. 701. Cic 55. 
 
 '' thing considerable of one whom he takes to be 
 " obliged to him ; lest he be thoui^lit to demand, 
 " rather than to ask ; and to look upon it as a debt, 
 *' not as a kindness. But since your services to me, 
 " so eminently displayed in my late troubles, are 
 '' known to all to be the greatest ; and it is the part 
 " of an ingenuous mind, to wish to be more oblig- 
 '' ed to those to whom we are already much oblig- 
 *' ed ; I made no scruple to beg of you, i)y letter, 
 *' what of all things is the most important and ne- 
 *' cessary to me. For I am not afraid, lest I should 
 "not be able to sustain the weight of all your fa- 
 *' vours, though ever so numerous ; being confident, 
 " that there is none so great, which my mind is not 
 " able, both fully to contain, and amply to requite 
 " and illustrate. I have placed all my studies, 
 " pains, care, industry, thoughts, and in short, my 
 "very soul, on Milo's consulship ; and have resolv- 
 " ed with myself to expect from it, not only the com- 
 " mon fruit of duty, but the praise even of piety : 
 " nor was any man, 1 believe, ever so solicitous 
 " for his own safety and fortunes, as I am foi* his 
 " honour ; on which I have fixed all my views and 
 " hopes. You, 1 perceive, can be of such service 
 " to him, if you please, that Ave shall have no occa- 
 " sion for any thing farther. We have already with 
 " us the good wishes of all the honest, engaged to 
 " him by his tribunate ; and, as you will imagine 
 " also, I hope, by his attachment to me : of the po- 
 " pulace and the multitude, by the magnificence of 
 " his shews and the generosity of his nature ; of the 
 *' youth and men of interest, by his own peculiar 
 " credit or diligence among that sort : he has all my 
 " assistance, likewise, which tliough of little weight, 
 ''yet being allowed by all to be just and due to 
 
no THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. roi. Cic. 55. 
 
 *' him, may perhaps be of some influence. What 
 " we want, is a captain and leader, or a pilot, as it 
 " were, of all those winds ; and were we to choose 
 " one out of ihe whole city, we could not find a 
 " man so fit for the purpose as you. Wherefore, 
 *' if from all the pains, which I am now taking for 
 " Milo, you can believe me to be mindful of bene- 
 " fits ; if grateful ; if a good man ; if worthy in 
 *' short of your kindness ; I beg of you to relieve my 
 " present solicitude, and lend your helping hand to 
 ^' my praise ; or, to speak more truly, to my safe- 
 " ty. As to T. Annius himself, I promise you, 
 " if you embrace him, that you will not find a man 
 *' of a greater mind, gravity, constancy, or of greater 
 *' affection to you : and as for myself, you will add 
 " such a lustre and fresh dignity to me, that I shall 
 ^' readily own you to have sheAvn the same zeal for 
 " my honour, which you exerted before for my 
 *' preservation. If I was not sure, from what I 
 *' have already said, that you would see how much 
 *' I take my duty to be interested in this affair, and 
 *' how much it concerns me, not only to struggle, 
 ^* but even to fisht for Milo's success, I should 
 ^* press you still farther ; but I now recommend 
 *' and throw the whole cause, and myself also with 
 *' it, into your hands ; and beg of you, to assure 
 " yourself of this one thing ; that if 1 obtain this 
 *' favour from you, I shall be more indebted almost 
 "to you, than even to Milo himself; since my 
 " safety, in which I was principally assisted by him, 
 " was not so dear, as the piety of shewing my gra- 
 " titude will be agreeable to me ; which I am per- 
 " suaded I shall be able to effect by your assis- 
 *' tance. Adieu."=^ 
 
 * Ep. Fara. 2. 6. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 151 
 
 A. Urb. 701. Cic. 55. 
 
 The Senate and the better sort were generally 
 in Milo's interest : but three of the tribunes were 
 violent against him, Q.. Pompeius Rufus, Muna- 
 tius Plancus Bursa, and Sallust the historian ; the 
 other seven were his fast friends, but above all M. 
 Caelius, who, out of regard to Cicero, served him 
 with a particular zeal. But while all things were 
 proceeding very prosperously in his favour, and 
 nothing seemed wanting to crown his success, but 
 to bring on the elect ion,^ which his adversaries, for 
 that reason, were labouring to keep back ; all his 
 hopes and fortunes were blasted at once, by an un- 
 happy rencounter with his old enemy Clodius, in 
 which Clodius was killed by his servants and by his 
 command. 
 
 Their meeting was wholly accidental, on the 
 Appian road, not far from the city; Clodius com- 
 ing home from the country towards Rome ; Milo 
 going out about three in the afternoon ; the first 
 on horseback, with three companions, and thirty 
 servants well armed ; the latter in a chariot, with 
 his wife and one friend, but with a much greater 
 retinue, and among them some gladiators. — The 
 servants on both sides began presently to insult 
 each other; when Clodius, turning briskly to some 
 of Milo's men, who were nearest to him, and threat- 
 ening them with his usual fierceness, received a 
 wound in his shoulder from one of the gladiators ; 
 and, after receivin:^ several more in the general 
 fray, which instantly ensued, finding his life in dan- 
 ger, was forced to liy for shelter into a neighbour- 
 ing tavern. Milo, heated by this success, and the 
 thoughts of revenge, and reflecting that he had 
 already done enough, to give hi« enemy a crrrat 
 
152 THE LIFE OF sect, vi 
 
 A. Urb. 701. Cic. SS. 
 
 advantatre a2;ainst him, if he was Jeft alive to pur- 
 sue it, resolved, whatever was the consequence, to 
 have the pleasure of destroying; him, and so order- 
 ed Ihe house to be stormed, and Clodius to be 
 drasjged out and murdered. The master of the tav- 
 ern was likewise killed, with eleven of Clodius's 
 servants, while the rest saved themselves b\^ fli^jht : 
 so that Clodius's body was left in the road, where 
 it fell, till S. Tedius, a senator, happenino; to come 
 bv, took it up into his chaise, and brou.ojht it with 
 him to Rome ; where it was exposed in that con- 
 dition, all covered with blood and wounds, to the 
 view of the populace, who flocked about it in 
 crowds to lament the miserable fate of their lea- 
 der. The next day, the mob, headed by S. Clo- 
 dius, a kinsman of the deceased, and one of his 
 chief incendiaries, carried the body naked, so as 
 all the wounds might be seen, into the forum, and 
 placed it in the rostra ; where the three tribunes, 
 Milo's enemies, were prepared to harangue upon 
 it in a style suited to the lamentable occasion ; by 
 which they inflamed their mercenaries to such a 
 height o^fury, that, snatching up the body, they 
 ran away with it into the senate-house, and tearing 
 up the benches, tables, and every thing combusti- 
 ble, dressed up a funeral pile upon the spot, and, 
 together with the body, burnt the house itself, 
 with a basilica also, or publick hall, adjoining, call- 
 ed the Porcian ; and, in the same fit of madness, 
 proceeded to storm the house of Milo, and of M. 
 Lepidus, the interrex, but were repulsed in both 
 attacks with some loss.'^ 
 
 * Q.ijoiiq^-a.'n re vera, fuerai pui^na fortuita. Qiiintil. I, 6. c. 5. 
 
 'EATTJcrstc p*ov Tsy <povou riKiv%(rctvioi olvtou >| tow n-^a.v/Lutloc H Treaty lymle 
 A^Swi7^*t. Dio. 1. 40. p. 143. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 153 
 
 A. Urb 701. Cic 55. 
 
 These extrava2;ancies raised great indiirnation in 
 the city ; and gave a turn in favour of Milo ; who, 
 looking upon himself as undone, was meditating 
 nothing before, but a voluntaiy exile: but now 
 taking courage, he ventured to appear in public k, 
 and was introduced into the rostra by Caelius ; 
 where he made his defence to the people ; and to 
 mitigate their resentment distributed through all 
 the tribes, above three pounds a man, to every 
 poor citizen. But all his pains and expense were 
 to little purpose ; for the three tribunes employed 
 all the arts of party and faction to keep up the ill 
 humour of the populace ; and what w^as more fa- 
 tal, Pompey would not be brought into any mea- 
 sures of accommodating the matter ; so that the 
 tumults still increasing, the senate passed a decree, 
 " that 'the interrex, assisted by the tribunes and 
 " Pompey, should take care, that the republick re- 
 " ceive no detriment; and that Pompey, in parti- 
 '* cular, should raise a body of troops for the com- 
 " mon security ;" which he presently drew together 
 from all parts of Italy. In this confusion, the ru- 
 mour of a Dictator Avas again industriously reviv- 
 ed, and gave a fresh alarm to the senate ; who, to 
 avoid the greater evil, resolved presently to create 
 Pompey the single consul ! so that the interrex, 
 Servius Sulpicius, declared his election according- 
 ly, after an interregnum of near two months. "* 
 
 Milo, ut cognovit vulneratiim Clodiiim, cum sibi periculosiiis illud 
 etiam, viro eo. fiiturum iiitelligeret, occiso autem magnum solatium 
 esset habitiirus, etiam si snbennda poena esset, extnrbari tabernara 
 jussit. — Ita Clodius latens cxtractns est, multisque vulueribus cod- 
 fectus, etc. Vid. Ascouii Argiim. In Milon. 
 
 * Vid. Dio. ibid, et Ascon. Argnm. 
 
 VOL. ir. 20 
 
154 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 701, Cic. 55. Coss.— Cn. Porapeius Magnus III. Sine Collega. 
 
 PoMPEY applied himself im mediately to calm 
 the publick disorders, and published several new 
 laws, prepared by him for that purpose : one of 
 them was to appoint a special commission, to en- 
 quire into Clodius's death, the burninof of the se- 
 nate-house, and the attack on M. Lepidus ; and to 
 appoint an extraordinary judge, of consular rank, 
 to preside in it : a second was, against bribery and 
 corruption in elections, with the inflictions of new 
 and severer penalties. By these laws, the method 
 of trials was altered, and the leno^th of them li- 
 mited : three days were allowed for the examina- 
 tion of witnesses, and the fourth for the sentence ; 
 on which the accuser was to have two hours only 
 to enforce the charge ; the criminal three, for his 
 defence :^ which regulation Tacitus seems to con- 
 sider as the first step towards the ruin of the Ro- 
 man eloquence ; by imposing reins, as it were, 
 upon its free and ancient course.f Caelius op- 
 posed his negative to these laws, as being rather 
 privileges, than laws, and provided particularly 
 against Milo : but he was soon obliged to with- 
 draw it, upon Pompey's declaring, that he would 
 support 1:faem by force of arms. The three tri- 
 bunes, all the while, were perpetually haranguing, 
 and terrifying the city with forged stories, of 
 magazines of arms prepared by Milo, for massa- 
 creing his enemies, and burning the city ; and pro- 
 duced their creatures in the rostra, to vouch the 
 truth of them to the people : they charged him 
 particularly, with a design against Pompey's life ; 
 and brought one Licinius, a killer of the victims 
 
 * Dio et Ascon. Argum. 
 
 t Primus tertio consulatu Cn. Pompeins adstrinxit, imposuitque ve~ 
 iuti fraenos eloquentiae, etc. Dialog, de Orator. 38 
 
«EtT. VI. CICERO. 155 
 
 A. Urb. 701. Cic, 55. Coss.—Cn. Pompeius Magiius III. Sine CoUega. 
 
 for sacrifice, to declare that Milo's servants had 
 confessed it to him in their cups, and then en- 
 deavoured to kill him lest he should discover it ; 
 and to make his story the more credible, shewed 
 a slight wound in his side, made by himself, 
 which he affirmed to have been given by the stroke 
 of a gladiator. Pompey himself confirmed this 
 fact, and laid an account of it before the senate ; 
 and, by doubling his guard, affected to intimate 
 a real apprehension of danger.^ Nor were they 
 less industrious to raise a clamour against Cicero ; 
 and, in order to deter him from pleading Milo's 
 cause, threatened him also with trials and prose- 
 cutions, giving it out, every where, that Clodius 
 was killed indeed by the hand of Milo, but by the 
 advice and contrivance of a greater man.f Yet 
 such was his constancy to his friends, says Asconius, 
 that neither the loss of popular favour, nor Pom- 
 pey's suspicions, nor his own danger, nor the ter- 
 rour of arms, could divert him from the resolution 
 of undertaking Milo's defence.J 
 
 But it was Pompey 's influence and authority 
 which ruined Milo.^ He was the only man in 
 
 * Audiendus Popa Liciiiius, nescio quis de Circo maximo, servos 
 >IiIonis apiid se ebrios factos confessos esse, de interficiendo Cn. Pom- 
 peio conjurasse. De amicoruna sententia rem detert ad senatum. Pro 
 Milon. 24. 
 
 I Scitis, judices, fiiisse, qui in hac rogatione siiadenda dicerent, 
 Milonis manii caedera esse factam, consilio vero inajoris aliciijus: 
 videlicet ine latrooem et sicarium abjecti homines describebant. — 
 lb. 18. 
 
 I Tanta tanien cnnstantia ac fides fnit Ciceronis, iit uon popiili a se 
 alicnatione, iion Cn. Pompeii snspicionibiis, non periculi futuri raetu, 
 nee arinis, quae palam in Milonera sumpta erant, deterreri potuerit 
 a defensioue ejus. Argura. Milon. 
 
 $ Milonera reum n )n magis iuvidia facti, quam Pompeii damnavit 
 voluntas. Veil. Pat. 2. 47. 
 
 •? ' 
 
136 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A, Urb. 701. Cic. SS. Coss.— Cn. Pompeius Magnus III. Sine Coll^ga. 
 
 Rome, who had the power either to bring him to 
 a trial, or to get him condemned : not that he was 
 concerned for Clodius's death, or the manner of it, 
 but pleased rather, that the republick was freed, at 
 any rate, from so pestilent a demagogue ; yet he 
 resolved to take the benefit of the occasion for 
 getting rid of Milo too, from whose ambition and 
 high spirit he had cause to apprehend no less 
 trouble. He would not listen, therefore, to any 
 overtures, which were made to him by Milo's 
 friends : and when Milo offered to drop his suit 
 for the consulship, if that would satisfy him, he an- 
 swered, " that he would not concern himself with 
 "any man's suing or desisting, nor give any ob- 
 " struction to the power and inclination of the Ro- 
 "man people." He attended the trial in person, 
 with a strong guard to preserve peace, and pre- 
 vent any violence from either side. There were 
 many clear and positive proofs produced against 
 Milo, though some of them were supposed to be 
 forged : among the rest, the Yestal virgins de- 
 posed, that a woman unknown came to them in 
 Milo's name, to discharge a vow, said to be made 
 by him, 5n the account of Clodius's death.^ 
 
 When the examination was over, Munatius Plan- 
 cus called the people together, and exhorted them 
 to appear in a full body, the next day, when judg- 
 ment was to be given, and to declare their senti- 
 ments in so publick a manner, that the criminal 
 might not be suffered to escape : which Cicero 
 reflects upon in the defence, as an insult on the 
 
 * Vid. Asconii Arsum. in Milon. 
 
SECT. VI. 
 
 CICERO. 157 
 
 A. Urb. 701. Cic. 55. Coss.— Cn. Pompeius Magnus III. Sine Collega. 
 
 liberty of the bench.^ Early in the morning, on 
 the eleventh of April, the shops were all shnt, 
 and the whole city gathered into the Forum, 
 where the avenues were possessed by Pompey's 
 soldiers, and he himself seated in a conspicuous 
 part, to overlook the whole proceeding, and hin- 
 der all disturbance. The accusers, were, young 
 Appius, the nephew of Clodius, M. Antonius, and 
 P. Valerius, who, according to the new law em- 
 ployed two hours in supporting their indictment. 
 Cicero was the only advocate on Milo's side ; but 
 as soon as he rose up to speak, he was received 
 with so rude a clamour by the Clodians, that he 
 was much discomposed and daunted at his first 
 setting out ; yet recovered spirit enough to go 
 through his speech of three hours ; which was 
 taken down in writing, and published as it was de- 
 livered ; though the copy of it now extant is sup- 
 posed to have been re-touched and corrected by 
 him afterwards, for a present to Milo in his exile.f 
 
 In the council of Milo's friends, several were 
 of opinion, that he should defend himself, by avow- 
 ing the death of Clodius to be an act of publick 
 benefit ; but Cicero thought that defence too des- 
 perate, as it would disgust the grave, by opening 
 so great a door to license, and offend the power- 
 ful, lest the precedent should be extended to 
 themselves. But young Brutus was not so cau- 
 tious, who, in an oration which he composed and 
 
 * Ut intelligatis contra liesternam illara concionem licere vobis, 
 quod sentiatis, libere judicare. Pro Mil. 26. Vid. Ascon. lb. 
 
 f Cicero, cum inciperet dicere, acceptus est acclamatione Clo- 
 dianorum, itaquc noii ea, qua solitiis erat, constantia dixit. Manet 
 autem ilia quoque excepta ejus oratio. Ascon. Argum. 
 
158 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 701. Cic. 55. Coss.— Cn. Pompeius Magnus III. Sine CoUega. 
 
 published afterwards, in vindication of Milo main- 
 tained the killing of Clodius to be right and just, 
 and of great service to the republick.^^ It was no- 
 torious, that on both sides they had often threaten- 
 ed death to each other : Clodius especially had de- 
 clared several times, both to the senate and the 
 people, that Milo ought to be killed ; and that, 
 if the consulship could not be taken from him, 
 his life could : and when Favonius asked him 
 once, what hopes he could have of playing his 
 mad pranks, while Milo was living ; he repli- 
 ed, that in three or four days at most, he 
 should live no more : which was spoken just three 
 days before the fatal rencounter, and attested by 
 Favonius.t Since Milo then was charged with 
 being the contriver of their meeting, and the ag- 
 gressor in it, and several testimonies were pro- 
 duced to that purpose, Cicero chose to risk the 
 cause on that issue ; in hopes to persuade, what 
 seemed to be the most probable, that Clodius ac- 
 tually lay in wait for Milo, and contrived the time 
 and place; and that Milo's part was but a ne- 
 cessary act of self-defence. -This appeared plau- 
 sible, from the nature of their equipage, and the 
 circumstances in which they met ; for though Mi- 
 lo's company was the more numerous, yet it was 
 much more encumbered, and unfit for an engage- 
 
 * Cum quibiisdam placuisset, ita dcfendi crimen, interfici Clodium 
 pro Repub fuisse, quara formam M. Brutus secutus est in ea orati- 
 one, quara pro Milone composuit, et edidit, quamvis uon egisset. 
 Ciceroni id non placuit. Ibid. ^ 
 
 f Etenira palam dictitabat, consulatum Miloni eripi non posse, vi- 
 tam posse. Significavit hoc saepe in senatu ; dixit in concione. 
 Quinetiara Favonio, quaereuti ex eo, quae spe fureret, iVlilone vivo ? 
 Respondit, triduo ilium, ad summum quatriduo, periturum. .Pro 
 Mil. 9. 
 
 Post diem tertiumgesta res est, quara dixerat. lb. 16. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 159 
 
 A. Urb. 701. Cic 55. Coss.— Cn. Pompeius Magnus III. Sine Collega. 
 
 ment, than his adversaries; he himself being in a 
 chariot with his wife, and all her women along with 
 him ; while Clodius with his followers was on horse- 
 back ; as if prepared and equipped for fighting.'^ 
 He did not preclude himself, however, by this from 
 the other plea, which he often takes occasion to in- 
 sinuate, that if Milo had really designed and con- 
 trived to kill Clodius, he would have deserved hon- 
 ours instead of punishment, for cutting off so des- 
 perate and dangerous an enemy to the peace and 
 liberty of Rome.f 
 
 In this speech for Milo, after he had shewn the 
 folly of paying such a regard to the idle rumours 
 and forgeries of his enemies, as to give them the 
 credit of an examination, he touches Pompey's con- 
 duct and pretended fears, with a fine and masterly 
 raillery ; and, from a kind of prophetick foresight 
 of what might one day happen, addresses himself 
 
 to him in a very pathetick manner. " I could 
 
 " not but applaud," says he, " the wonderful dili- 
 " gence of Pompey in these inquiries : but, to tell 
 
 * Interim cum sciret Clodius— -Iter solenne — necessariiim — Miloni 
 esse Lanuviuin — Roma ipse profectiis pridie est, ut ante suum fundiim, 
 quod re intellectum est, insidias Miloni collocaret — Milo aiitem cinn 
 in senatu fuisset eo die, quoad senatus diniissus est, donium venit, 
 calceos et vestimenta mutavit : paullisper, dum se uxor, ut fit, com- 
 parat, commoratus est — obviam fit ei Clodius expeditus in equo, nulla 
 rheda, nullis impediinentis, nullis Graecis comitibus, sine uxore, 
 quod nunquam fere ; cum hie insidiator, — (Milo) cum uxore in rbeda 
 veheretur penulatus, nia^no irapedimento, ac muliebri et delicato 
 ancillarum et puerorum coniitatu— Pro Mil. 10. it. 21. 
 
 f Quamobrera si crucntum gladium tenons clamaret T. Annius, Ad- 
 este, quaeso, atque audite civcs : P. Clodiura interfeci : ejus furores, 
 quos uullis jam legibtis, nullis judiciis fraenare poteramus, hoc ferro. 
 atque bar dextra a cervicibus vestris repuli, etc. Vos tanti sceleris 
 u!torem non modo bonoribus nullis afficietis, sed etiam ad supplicium 
 rapi patiemini ' Pro Mil. 28, etc. 
 
160 THE LIFE OF sect, vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 701. Cie. 55. Coss.— Cn. Pompeius Magnus III. Sine Collega. 
 
 " you freely what I think ; those who are charged 
 " with the care of the whole republick, are forced 
 " to hear many thinojs, which they would contemn, 
 " if they were at liberty to do it. He could not 
 "refuse an audience to that paltry fellow, Li- 
 " cinius, who 2^ave the information about Milo's 
 
 *^ servants 1 was sent for amono^ the first of those 
 
 '' friends by whose advice he laid it before the sen- 
 *' ate, and was, I own, in no small consternation, 
 *' to see the guardian both of me and my country 
 " under so great an apprehension ; yet I could not 
 " help wondering that such credit was given to a 
 " butcher, such regard to drunken slaves, and how 
 '* the wound in the man's sides, which seemed to 
 *' be the prick only of a needle, could be taken 
 " for the stroke of a gladiator. But Pompey was 
 " shewing his caution, rather than his fear, and 
 ^^ disposed to be suspicious of every thing, that 
 " you might have reason to fear nothing. There 
 '' was a rumour also, that Caesar's house was at- 
 " tacked for several hours in the night : the neigh- 
 " bours, though in so publick a place, heard no- 
 « thing at all of it; yet the affair was thought fit 
 « to be inquired into. I can never suspect a man 
 " of Pompey's eminent courage of being timor- 
 *' ous ; nor yet think any caution too great in one, 
 " who has taken upon himself the defence of the 
 " whole republick. A senator, likewise, in a full 
 " house, affirmed lately in the Capitol, that Milo 
 " had a dagger under his gown at that very tim^ : 
 " IVlilo slript himself p4-esently in that most sacred 
 " temple, that, since his life and manners would 
 " not give him credit, the thing itself might speak 
 " for him, which was found to be false, and basely 
 "forged. But if, after all, IVJilo must still be fear- 
 
SECT. VI. 
 
 CICERO. 161 
 
 A. Urb. 701. Cic 55. Coss.— Cn. Pompeius Magnus III, Sine CoHega. 
 
 " ed, it is no longer the affairs of Clodius, but your 
 *' suspicions, Pompey, which we dread: your, your 
 " suspicions, I say, and speak it so, that you may 
 ** hear me. — If those suspicions stick so close that 
 "they are never to be removed, if Italy must 
 " never be free from new levies, nor the city from 
 "arms, without Milo's destruction, he would not 
 " scruple, such is his nature and his principles, to 
 " bid adieu to his country, and submit to a volun- 
 "tary exile: but, at taking leave, he would call 
 " upon thee, O thou Great One ! as he now does, 
 "to consider how uncertain and variable the con- 
 " dition of life is ; how unsettled and inconstant a 
 " thing fortune ; wliat unfaithfulness there is in 
 " friends ; what dissimulation suited to times and 
 " circumstances ; what desertion, what cowardice in 
 " oiu' dano^ers, even of those, who are dearest to us : 
 " there will, there will, I say, be a time, and the day 
 " will certainly come, v> hen you, with safety still, 
 " I hope, to your fortunes, though changed per- 
 " haps by some turn of the common times, which, 
 " as experience shew^s, will often ha|)pen to us all, 
 *'may want the affection of the friendliest, the 
 " fidelity of the worthiest, the courage of the brav- 
 " est man living," &c.* 
 
 Of one and fifty judges who sat upon Milo, thir- 
 teen only acquitted, and thirty-eight condemned 
 bim : the votes were usually given by ballot ; but 
 Cato, who absolved him, chose to give his vote 
 openly ; and " if he had done it earlier," says Yel- 
 leius, " would have drawn others after him, since 
 " all were convinced that he, who w as killed was, of 
 
 * Pro. Mil. 24, 25, 26— 
 
 VOL. ir. 21 
 
W2 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 701. Gic. 55. Coss.— Cn. Pompeius Magnus III. Sine CoUega. 
 
 " all who had ever lived, the most pernicious enemj 
 " to his country, and to all good inen."^ Milo went 
 into exile at Marseilles a few days after his con- 
 demnation : his debts were so sr^eat that he was 
 glad to retire the sooner from the importunity of 
 his creditors, for whose satisfaction his whole estate 
 was sold by publick auction. Here Cicero still 
 continued his care for him, and in concert with 
 Milo's friends, ordered one of his wife's freed men, 
 Philotimus, to assist at the sale, and to purchase the 
 greatest part of the effects, in order to dispose of 
 them afterwards to the best advantage, for the bene- 
 fit of Milo and his wife Fausta, if any thing could 
 be saved for them. But his intended service was 
 not so well relished by Milo, as he expected ; for 
 Philotimus was suspected of playhig the knave, and 
 secreting part of the effects to his own use, which 
 gave Cicero great uneasiness, so that he pressed 
 Atticus and Caelius to inquire into the matter very 
 narrowly, and oblige Philotimus " to give satisfac- 
 " tion to Milo's friends, and to see especially that 
 " his own reputation did not suffer by the manage- 
 " ment of his servant."! Through this whole 
 
 * M. Tato palain lata absolvit sententia, quam si raaturius tulisset, 
 non defuissent qui seqnereutur exempliim, probarentque euni civem 
 oecisnm, quo nemo perniciosior Reip. neque bonis inimicior vixerat. — 
 Veil. Pat. 2. 47. 
 
 t Consilium meum hoc luerat, primiim nt in potestate nostra res 
 esset, ne ilium mains emptor et alieniis mancipiis, quae permulta se- 
 cura habet, spoliaret : fleinde nt Faustae. cui cautum ille vohiisset, 
 ratum esset. Erat etiam illud, ut ipsi nos, si quid servari posset, quam 
 facillime servaremus. Nunc rem totam perspicras velim — Si illeque- 
 ritur— Si idem Fausta vult, Philotimus, ut ego ei coram dixeram, mihi- 
 que ille receperat, ne sit invito iMilone in bonis Ad Att. 5. 8. it. 6. 4. 
 
 Quod adPhilotimi liberti officiuin et bona Milonis attinet, dedimus 
 operam ut et Philotimus quam houesti?;sime Miloni absenti, ejusque 
 necessariis satis faceret, et secundum ejus fidem et sedulitatem ex- 
 istimatio tua conservaretur.— — Ep. Earn. 8. 3- 
 
6Ev;t. VI. ClfcERO. 163 
 
 A. Uib. 701, Cic. 55. Coss.— Cn. Pompeius iviagiius IIL Sine Collega. 
 
 dru2:gle about Milo, Pompey treated Cicero with 
 great humanity : he assigned him a " guard at the 
 " trial, forgave all his labours for his friend, though 
 " in opposition to himself; and, so far from resent- 
 *' ing what he did, would not suffer other people'? 
 " resentments to hurt him."* 
 
 The next trial before the same tribunal, and for 
 the same crime, was of M. Saufeius, one of Milo's 
 confidents, charged with being the ringleader, in 
 storming the house, and killing Clodius; he was de- 
 fended also by Cicero, and acquitted only by one 
 vote ; but being accused a second time on the same 
 account, 1 hough for a different fact, and again de- 
 fended by Cicero, he was acquitted by a great ma- 
 jority. But Sex. Clodius, the captain of the other 
 side,' had not the luck to escape so well, but was 
 condemned and banished, witli several others of 
 that faction, to Ihe great joy of the city, for burn- 
 ing the senate-house, and the other violences com- 
 mitted upon Clodius's death.t 
 
 A. Urb. 701. Cic. 55. Coss.— Cn. Pomp. Magnus III. Q. Caecil. Motel. Scipio. 
 
 Pompey no sooner published his new law against 
 bribery, than tlie late consular candidates, Scipio 
 and Hypsaeus were severally impeached upon it ; 
 
 * Uualiumanitate lulit coiitcutioneni nieam pro Milone, adversante 
 interdum actionibus suis ? Quo studio providit. nequae me illius tcm- 
 poris iuvidiaattingeret? Cnra me cousilio, turn auctorilatc, cum armis 
 <lenique texit suis—Ib. 3. 10. 
 
 t Ascon. Argum. pro Mi Ion. 
 
164 ., THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. TOl. Cic. S5, Coss.^C|i> Pomp. Magnus III. Q. Caecil. Metel. Scipio. 
 
 and beint^ both of them notoriously guilty, were in 
 great danger of being condemned : but Pompey, 
 calling the body of the judges together, begged it 
 of them as a favour, that, out of the great number 
 of state criminals, they would remit Scipio to him : 
 whom, after he had rescued from this prosecution, 
 he declared his colleague in the consulship, for the 
 last five months of the year ; having first made him 
 his father-in-law by marrying his daughter Cornelia. 
 The other candidate, Hypsaeus, was left to the 
 mercy of the law ; and being likely to fare the 
 worse for Scipio's escape, and to be made a sacri' 
 lice to the popular odium, he watched an opportu- 
 nity of access to Pompey, as he was coming out 
 of his bath, and throwing himself at his feet, im- 
 plored his protection : but though he had been his 
 quaestor, and ever obsequious to his will, yet Poifi- 
 pey is said to have thrust him away with great 
 haughtiness and inhumanity, telling him coldly, 
 that he would only spoil his supper by detaining 
 him.^ 
 
 Before the end of the ye^r, Cicero had some 
 amends foi'^Hhe loss of his friend Milo, by the con- 
 demnation and banishment of two of the tribunes, 
 the common enemies of them both, Q, PompeiusRu- 
 fus,and T. IVlunatiusPlancus Bursa, for the violences 
 of their tribunate, and burning the senate-house. 
 As soon as their office expired, Caelius accused the 
 
 * Cn. autera Pompciiis quam iiisolenter ? Qui balneo egressiis, ante 
 pedes siios prostratum Hypsaeum' ambitus reum et nobilein virum et 
 sibi ainicuiu, jacentem reliquit, contumeliosa voce prociilcatum. Nihil 
 enim eura aliud agere, quam ut convivinm suura moraretur, respond- 
 it — nieveroP. Scipionem, socerum suum, legibus noxium, quas ipse 
 tulerat, in maxima quidem leorura et illustrium ruina, muueris loco a 
 judicibus deposcere.— Val. Max .9. 5. it. Plutar. in Pomp. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. l^i) 
 
 A. Urb. roi. Cic. 55. Cosi.— Cn. Pomp. Magrnis III. q. Caecil. Metel. Scipio. 
 
 first; and Cicero himself the second; the only 
 cause, excepting that of Verres, in which lie ever 
 acted the part of an accuser. But Bursa had de- 
 served it, both for his publick behaviour in his 
 office, and his personal injuries to Cicero ; who had 
 defended and preserved him in a former trial. He 
 depended on Pompey's saving him ; and had no ap- 
 prehension of danger since Pompey undertook to 
 plead his cause, before judges of his own appoint- 
 ing ; yet, by Cicero's vigour in managing the pro- 
 secution, he was condemned by an unanimous vote 
 of the whole bench.* Cicero w^as highly pleased 
 with this success, as he signifies in a letter to his 
 friend Marius, which will explain tlie motives of 
 his conduct in it. 
 
 " I knoAv very well," says he, " that you rejoice 
 "at Bursa's fate, but you congratulate me too 
 " coldly : you imagine, you tell me, that for the 
 " sordidness of the man, I take the less pleasme in 
 " it : but believe me, I have more joy from this sen- 
 " tence, than from the death of my enemy : for, 
 " in the first place, I love to pursue, ratlier by a 
 " trial, than the sword ; rather with the glory, than 
 " theruin of a friend ; and it pleased me extreme- 
 '' ly, to see so great an inclination of all honest men 
 '' on my side, against the incredible pains of one, the 
 " most eminent and powerful : and lastly, what you 
 *' will scarce think possible, I liated this fellow worse 
 '' than Clodius himself : for I had attacked the one, 
 " but defended the other : and Clodius, when the 
 " safety of the lepublick was risked upon my 
 " head, had something great in view, not indeed 
 
 * Planciim, qui omnibus senteiitiis maximo vestro plaiisu conciemna- 
 tus. Philip 6. 4. 
 
366 THE LIFE OF sect. vi. 
 
 A. Urb. 701. Cic. SS. Coss.— Cn. Pomp. Magnus HI. Q* Caecil. Metel. Scipio. 
 
 " from his own streno;lh, but the help of those, who 
 " could not maintain their ground, whilst I stood 
 " firm : but this silly ape, out of a ^ayety of heart, 
 " chose me particularly for the object of his in- 
 " vectives ; and persuaded those, who envied me, 
 " that he would be always at their service, to insult 
 " me at any warnino;. Wherefore I charge you to 
 " rejoice in good earnest ; for it is a great victory, 
 " w^hich we have won. No citizens were ever 
 '' stouter than those who condemned him, against 
 " so great a power of one, by whom themselves 
 " were chosen judges : which they would never 
 '^ have done, if they had not made my cause and 
 " grief their own. We are so distracted here by a 
 '^ multitude of trials and new lawc, that our daily 
 ^' prayer is against all intercalations, that we may 
 " see you as soon as possible."^ 
 
 Soon after the death of Clodius, Cicero seems 
 to have written his treatise on hrvs ;t after the ex- 
 ample of Plato, whom of all writers he most loved 
 to imitate : for as Plato, after he had written on 
 government in general, drew up a body of laws, 
 adapted to that particular form of it, which he had 
 been delineating ; so Cicero chose to deliver his 
 political sentiments in the same method ;t not by 
 translating Plato, but imitating his manner in the 
 explication of them. This w^ork being designed 
 then as a supplement, or second volume, to his 
 other upon the repuhlick, was distributed probably, 
 as that other was, into six books : for we meet 
 
 *Ep. Fam. 7. 2. f Vid. tie Legib. 2. 17. 
 
 I Sed ut vir doctisssimus fecit Plato, atqiie idem gravissimus phi- 
 losophorura omnium, qui princeps de Repub. conscripsit, ideraque 
 
 separatim de legibus ejus id niihi credo esse faciundnm De Le- 
 
 ffib. 2. C. 
 
8ECT. VI. CICERO. 167 
 
 A. Urb. 701. Cic. SS. Coss.— Cn. Pomp. Magnus III. Q. Caecil. Metel. Scii«o. 
 
 with some quotations amon^ the ancients, from the 
 fourth and fifth; though there are but tliree now 
 remaining, and those in some places imperfect. In 
 the first of these, he lays open " the origin of law 
 " and the source of obligation ; which he derives 
 " from the universal nature of things, or, as he ex- 
 " plains it, from the consummate reason or will 
 " of the supreme God :"* in the other two books, 
 he oives a body of laws conformable to his own 
 plan and idea of a well ordered city :t first, those 
 which relate " to religion and the worship of the 
 "gods;" secondly, those which prescribe "the du- 
 " ties and powers of the several magistrates," from 
 which the peculiar form of each government is de- 
 nominated. These laws are generally taken " from 
 " the old constitution or custom of Rome ;"J with 
 some little variation and temperament, contrived 
 to obviate the disorders to which that republick 
 was liable, and to give it a stronger turn towards 
 the aristocratical side :^ in the other books which 
 are lost, he had treated, as he tells us, " of the 
 " particular rights and privileges of the Roman 
 " people."|| 
 
 * Haiic igitiir video sapientissimoiT.ra fuisse sententiain, legem iie- 
 qiie honiinuin ingeniis excogifatam, nee scituni al quod esse populo- 
 FUin, sed aeternuni qiiiddam, quod universuui iniinduiii regeret, inipe- 
 randi prohibendique sapientia. Ita principein legem illam et ultimam 
 mentem esse dicebant, omnia ratione aut cogentis aut vetantis Dei. — 
 
 Quamobrem lex vera atque princeps ratio est recta summi Jovis. 
 
 lb. 2. 4. 
 
 I Nos antem quoniam — quae de optima Rcpnb. sentiremus. in sex 
 libris ante diximus, accommodabimus hoc tempore leges ad ilium, 
 quern probamus, civitatis slatum. lb. 3. 2. 
 
 I Et si quae forte a me hodie rogabuntur, quae non sint in nostra 
 Repub. nee luerint, tamen erunt fere in more majorum, qui turn, ut 
 lex valebat. lb. 2. 10. 
 
 $ Nihil habui ; sane non multum, quod putarem novandum in legf- 
 bus. lb. 3. 5. II lb. 3. 20. 
 
168 THE LIFE OF sect, vr, 
 
 A. Urb, 701. Cic. SS. Coss.— Cn. Pomp. Magnus III, Q. Caecil. Metel. Scipio. 
 
 Pompey was preparing an inscription this sum- 
 mer for the front of the new temple, which he had 
 lately built to Yenus the Conqueress, containing, 
 as usual, the recital of all his titles ; but, in draw- 
 ing it up, a question happened to be started, about 
 the manner of expressing his third consulship ; 
 whether it should be by consul tertium^ or tertio. 
 This was referred to the principal criticks of Rome, 
 who could not, it seems, agree about it ; some of 
 them contending for the one, some for the other ; 
 so that Pompey left it to Cicero to decide the 
 matter, and to inscribe what he thought the best. 
 But Cicero, being unwilling to give judgment on 
 either side, when there were great authorities on 
 both, and Yarro among them, advised Pompey to ab- 
 breviate the word in question, and order Tert. 
 only to be inscribed, which fully declared the things 
 without determining the dispute. From this fact 
 we ,may observe, how nicely exact they were in 
 this age, in preserving a propriety of language in 
 their public k monuments and inscriptions.^ 
 
 AmongJ^he other acts of Pompey, in this third 
 consulship, there was a new law against bribery, 
 contrived to streno;then tlie old ones that were al- 
 ready subsisting against it, " by disqualifying all 
 *' future consuls and praetors from holding any 
 " province, till five years after the expiration of 
 " their magistracies :" for this was thought likely 
 to give some check to the eagerness of suing and 
 bribing for those great offices, when the chief 
 fruit and benefit of them was removed to such a 
 
 * This story is told by Tiro, a favourite slave and freedman of 
 Cicero, in a letter preserved by A. Gellius, 1. 10. 1. 
 
SECT. VI. CICERO. 169 
 
 A. Urb. 701. Cic. S5. Cosj.— Cn. Pomp. Magnus III. Q. Caecil. Metel. Scipio. 
 
 distance.^^ Bui before the law passed, Pompey 
 took care to provide an exception for liimself, 
 " and to </et the government of Spain conlinu- 
 " ed to him for five years longer ; with an appoint- 
 " ment of money for the payment of his troops :" 
 and, lest this should give offence to Caesar, if some- 
 thing also of an extraordinary kind was not provided 
 for him, he proposed a law, to dispense with Cae- 
 sar's absence in suing for the consulship ; of which 
 Caesar at that time seemed very desirous. Caelius 
 was the promoter of this law, engaged to it by 
 Cicero, at the joint request of Pompey and Cae- 
 sar ;t and it was carried with the concurrence of 
 all the tribunes, though not without difficulty and 
 obstruction from the senate : but this unusual fa- 
 vour, instead of satisfying Caesar, served only, as 
 Suetonius says, to raise his hopes and demands still 
 higher.J 
 
 By Pompey 's law, just mentioned, it was provid- 
 ed, that for a supply of governours for the interval 
 '' of five years, in which the consuls and praetors 
 " were disqualified, the senators of consular and 
 " praetorian rank, who had never held any foreign 
 " command, should divide the vacant provinces 
 " among themselves by lot :" in consequence of 
 which, Cicero, who was obliged to take his chance 
 with the rest, obtained the government of Cilicia, 
 
 * Dio, p. 142. 
 
 t Rogatus ab ipso Ravennae de Caelio tribuno pleb. ab ipso autem? 
 Etiam a Cnaeo nostro. Ad Att. 7. 1. 
 
 |Egit cum tribunis pleb. ut absenti sibi potitio serundi 
 
 Gonsuiatus daretiir Qiiod ut adeptus est, altiora jam intditans et 
 
 spei plenus, nullum largitionis, aut officiorum in quemquam genus 
 publice pjivatimque omisit. Suet. J. Caes. 20. 
 
 VOL. IT. 22 
 
170 THE LIFE OF sect, vi, 
 
 A. Urb. TOl Cic 55. Coss.— Cn. Pomp. Magnus III. Q. Caecil. Metel. Scipio. 
 
 now ill the hands of Appius, the late consul : this 
 province included also Pisidia, Pamphilia, and three 
 dioceses, as they were called, or districts of Asia, 
 together with the island of Cyprus ; for the guard 
 of all which, " a standing army was kept up, of 
 "two legions, or about twelve thousand foot, with 
 " two thousand six hundred horse :"* and thus one 
 of those provincial governments, which were with- 
 held from others by law, to correct their inordinate 
 passion for them, was, contrary to his will and ex- 
 pectation, obtruded at last upon Cicero, whose bu- 
 siness it had been through life to avoid them.f 
 
 The city began now to feel the unhappy effects, 
 both of Julia's and Crassus's death, from the mutu- 
 al apprehensions and jealousies which discovered 
 themselves more and more every day between Pom- 
 pey and Caesar ; the senate was generally in Pom- 
 pey's interest ; and, trusting to the name and autho- 
 rity of so great a leader, were determined to hum- 
 ble the pride and ambition of Caesar, by recalling 
 him from his government ; whilst Caesar, on the 
 other hand, trusting to the strength of his troops, 
 resolved''to keep possession of it in defiance of all 
 their votes ; and, by drawing a part of his forces 
 into the Italick or Cisalpine Gaul, so as to be rea- 
 dy at any warning to support his pretensions, be- 
 gan to alarm all Italy with the melancholy pros- 
 pect of an approaching ( ivil war : and this was the 
 situation of aifairs, when Cicero set forward towards 
 his government of Cilicia. 
 
 * Ad Att. 5. 15. 
 
 t Cum et contra voluntatem mfiam et praeter opinionem accidisseU 
 ut mihi eum imperio in provinciaiu proficisci iiecesse esset.- Ep 
 Fam. 3. 2. 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. in 
 
 SECTION vn 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 50. Coss.-— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 This year opens to us a new scene in Cicero's life, 
 and presents him in a character which he had never 
 before sustained, of the governour of a promnce, and 
 general of an army. These preferments were, of 
 all others, the most ardently desired by the great, 
 for the advantages which they afforded, both of ac- 
 quiring power and amassing wealth : for their com- 
 mand, though accountable to the Roman people, 
 was absolute and uncontrollable in the province ; 
 where they kept up the state and pride of sove- 
 reign princes, and had all the neighbouring kings 
 paying a court to them, and attending their orders. 
 If their genius was turned to arms, and fond of 
 martial glory, they could never want a pretext for 
 war, since it was easy to drive the subjects into re- 
 bellion, or the adjoining nations to acts of hostility, 
 by their oppressions and injuries, till, from the de- 
 struction of a number of innocent people, they had 
 acquired the title of emperour, and with it the pre- 
 tension to a triumph ; without which, scarce any 
 proconsul was ever known to return from a remote 
 and frontier province.* Their opportunities of 
 
 * While the ancient discipline of the republick subsisted, no g-jne- 
 ral could pretend to a triumph, who had not enlari^ed Ihe bounds of 
 the empire, by his conquests, and killed, at least five thousand ene- 
 raies in battle, without any considera])le loss of his own soldiers. . 
 
172 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 raising money were as immense as their power, and 
 bounded only by their own appetites : the appoint- 
 ments from the treasury, for their equipage, plate, 
 and necessary furniture, amounted, as it appears 
 from instances, to near a hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand pounds :^ and, besides the revenues of king- 
 doms and pay of armies, of which they had the 
 arbitrary management, they could exact what con- 
 tributions they pleased, not only from the cities of 
 their own jurisdiction, but from all the states and 
 princes around them, who were under the protec- 
 tion of Rome. But while their primary care was 
 to enrich themselves, they carried out with them 
 always a band of hungry friends and dependents, as 
 their lieutenants, tribunes, praefects, with a crew 
 of freedmen and favourite slaves, who were all 
 likewise to be enriched by the spoils of the pro- 
 vince, and the sale of their master's favours. Hence 
 flowed all those accusations and trials for the plun- 
 der of the subjects, of which we read so much in 
 the Roman writers : for, as few or none of the pro- 
 consuls behaved themselves with that exact justice, 
 as to leave no room for complaint, so the factions 
 of the cit}^ and the quarrels of families, subsi-ting 
 from former impeachments, generally excited some 
 
 This was expressly enacted by an old law : in support of which a se- 
 cond was afterwards provided, that made it penal for any of their tri- 
 nmphant commanders to give a false account of the number of slain, 
 either on the enemy's side, or their own ; and obliged them, upon 
 their entrance into the city, to take an oath before the quaestors or 
 publick treasurers, that the accounts which they had sent to the se- 
 nate of each number, were tru^. [Val. Max. 2. 8.] But these laws 
 had long been neglected and treated as obsolete ; and the honour of a 
 triumph usually granted, by intrigue and faction, to every general of 
 any credit, who had gained some little advantage against pirates or 
 fugitives, or repelled the incursions of the wild barbarians, who bor- 
 dered upon the distant provinces. 
 
 ^ * Nonne H. S. centies et octagies — quasi vasarii nomine — ex aerario 
 tibi attributum, Romae in quaestu reliquisti ? In Pisoo. 35. 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 17;i 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellus- 
 
 or other to revenge the affront in kind, by un- 
 dertaking the cause of an injured province, and 
 dressing up an ioipeachment against their enemy. 
 
 But whatever benefit or glory this governtnent 
 seemed to offer, it had no charms for Cicero : the 
 thins; itself was disagreeable to his temper, nor 
 worthy of those talents which were formed to sit 
 at the helm, and shine in the administration of the 
 whole republick : so that he considered it only as 
 an honourable exile, or a burthen imposed by his 
 country, to which his duly obliged him to submit. 
 His first care, therefore, was to provide, that iiis 
 command might not be prolonged to him beyond 
 the usual term of a year , which was frequently 
 done, when the necessities of the province, the 
 character of the man, the intrigues of parties, or 
 the hurry of other business at home, left the se- 
 nate neither leisure nor inclination to think of 
 changing the governour: and tliis was the more 
 likely to happen at present, through the scarcity of 
 magistrates, who were now left capable by the late 
 law of succeeding him. Before his departure, there- 
 fore, he solicited all his friends, not to suffer such 
 a mortification to fall upon him ; and, after he was 
 gone, scarce wrote a single letter to Rome, with- 
 out Urging the same request in tlie most pressing 
 terms : in his first to Atticus, within three days 
 from their parting : " Do not imaiiine," says he, 
 ^'that.I have any other consolation in this great 
 
 * Totura negotinm non est dignum viribiis nostris, qui inajora 
 ouera in Hep. snstinc re et possim et soleani. ¥.]>■ Pani. 2. 11. 
 
 O rem miniine aptam ineis moribus, etc. Ad Att. .'). 10. 
 
 Sed est incredibile, qnam me negotii toedeat, non hahet satis mag- 
 num campum ille tibi non ignotus cursus animi mei. lb. D. 
 
174 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 56. C!oss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcdlus. 
 
 ^' trouble, than the hopes that it will not be con- 
 " tinned beyond the year : many, who judge of me 
 " by others, do not take me to be in earnest ; but 
 " you, who know me, will use all your diligence, 
 " especially when the affair is to come on."* 
 
 He left the city about the first of May, attended 
 by his brother and their two sons: for Q,uintus 
 had quitted his commission under Caesar, in order 
 to accompany him into Cilicia, in the same capa- 
 city of his lieutenant. Atticus had desired him, 
 before he left Italy, to admonish his brother, to 
 shew more complaisance and affection to his wife 
 Pomponia, who had been complaining to him of 
 her husband's peevishness and churlish carriage ; 
 and, lest Cicero should forget it, he put him in 
 mind again, by a letter to him on the road, that, 
 since all the family were to be together in the 
 country, on this occasion of his going abroad, he 
 would persuade Quintus to leave his wife, at least, 
 in good humour at their parting: in relation to 
 w^hich, Cicero sends him the following account of 
 what passed. 
 
 " When I arrived at Arpinum, and my brother 
 " was come to me, our first and chief discourse 
 " was on you ; which gave me an opportunity of 
 "falling upon the affair of your sister, which you 
 " and I had talked over together at Tusculum : I 
 " never saw any thing so mild and moderate as my 
 " brother was, without ^giving the least hint of his 
 
 * Noli putare mihi aliam consolatiouem esse hiijus iogeutis mo- 
 lestiae, nisi quod spero nou longiorem anno fore. Hoc me ita velle 
 multj non credunt ex consuetudine aliorum. Tii, qui scis, oranem 
 diligentiama dhibebis ; tuin vscilicet, cum id agi debebit. lb. 3. 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. i7i 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Coss.-SerT. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 " ever having had any real cause of offence from 
 " her. The next morning we left Arpinum ; and 
 " that day being a festival, Qiiintiis was obliged to 
 " spend it at Arcanum, where I dined with him, 
 " but went on afterwards to Aqqinum : You know 
 "this villa of his: as soon as we came thither, 
 " duintus said to his wife, in the civilest terms, 
 " ' Do you, Pomponia, invite the women, and I will 
 " send to the men :' — (nothing, as far as I saw, 
 '« could be said more obligingly, either in his words 
 " or manner) — to which she replied, so as we all 
 *' might hear it, ' I am but a stranger here myself :' 
 " referring, I guess, to my brother's having sent 
 " Statins before us to order the dinner : upon which, 
 " — ' See,' says my brother to me, « what I am 
 " forced to bear every day.' This, you will say, 
 " was no great matter. Yes, truly, great enough 
 "to give me much concern; to see her reply so 
 " absurdly and fiercely, both in her words' and 
 " looks : but 1 dissembled my uneasiness. When 
 "we sat down to dinner, she would not sit down 
 " with us : and when Quintus sent her several 
 " things from the table, she sent them all back : in 
 " short, nothing could be milder than my brother, 
 " or ruder than your sister : yet I omit many par- 
 "ticulars, which gave more trouble to me than to 
 " (iuintus himself. I went away to Aquinum ; he 
 " staid at Arcanum : but when he came to me early 
 " the next morning, he told me, tliat she refused to 
 " lye with him that night ; and, at their parting, 
 " continued in the same humour in which I had 
 "seen her. In a word, you may let her know 
 " from me, that, in my opinion, tlie fault was all on 
 " her side that day. I have been longer, perhaps, 
 '* than was necessary, in my narrative, to let you 
 
ire THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Coss.— Sei-v. Sulpieius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellas. 
 
 " see that there is occasion also on your part for 
 " advice and admonition."* 
 
 One cannot help observing from this little in- 
 cident, what is confirmed by innumerable instan- 
 ces in the Roman story, that the freedom of a di- 
 vorce, which was indultred without restraint at 
 Eome, to the caprice of either party, gave no ad- 
 vanta .^e of comfort to the matrimonial state ; but, 
 on the contrary, seems to have encouraged rather 
 a mutual perverse ness and obstinacy ; since, upon 
 any little disgust, or obstruction given to their 
 follies, the expedient of a change was ready always 
 to flatter them with the hopes of better success in 
 another trial : for there never was an age or coun- 
 try, where there was so profligate a contempt and 
 violation of the nuptial bond, or so much lewd- 
 ness and infidelity in the great of both sexes, as at 
 this time in Rome . 
 
 Cicero spent a few days as he passed forward, at 
 his Cuman villa, near Baiae, where there was such 
 a resort of company to him,^ that he had, he says, 
 a kind ofra little Rome about him : Hortensius 
 came among the rest, though much out of health, 
 to pay his compliments, and wish him a good 
 voyage, and, at taking leave, when he asked, what 
 commands he had for him in his absence, Cicero 
 begged of him only to use all his authority, to hin- 
 der his government from f>einf!: prolonged to him.f 
 
 * Ad Att. 5. 1. 
 
 f In Cumano cum es<5em, veiiit ad me, quod mihi pergratiim iuit, 
 noster Mortt;nsius : cni, deposcenti mea mandata, caeiera universe 
 mandavi ; liliid proprie, ne pat'MTtur, quantum esset in ipso, proro- 
 gari nobis proviuriam. — ha!>u mus in Cumano quasi pusiliara Homaa) : 
 tanta erat in his locis multitudo. — lb. 2, 
 
SECT. VH. CICERO. 177 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic 56. Coss,— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 In sixteen days from Rome, he arrived at Tar- 
 entum, where he had promised to make a visit to 
 Pompey, who was taking the benefit of that soft 
 air, for the recovery of his health, at one of his 
 villas in those parts ; and had invited and pressed 
 Cicero to spend some days with him upon his jour- 
 ney : they proposed great satisfaction on both sides 
 from this interview, for the opportunity of con- 
 ferring together with all freedom, on the present 
 state of the republick, which was to be their sub- 
 ject : though Cicero expected also to get some 
 lessons of the military kind from this renowned 
 commander. He promised Atticus an account of 
 this conference ; but the particulars being too deli- 
 cate to be communicated by letter, he acquainted 
 him only in general, that he found Pompey an ex- 
 cellent citizen, and provided for all events which 
 could possibly be apprehended.* 
 
 After three days stay with Pompey, he proceed- 
 ed to Birundisium ; Avhere he was detained for 
 twelve days by a slight indisposition, and the ex- 
 pectation of his principal officers, particularly of 
 his lieutenant Pontinius, an experienced leader, 
 the same who had triumphed over the Allobroges ; 
 and on whose skill he chiefly depended in his mar- 
 
 * Nos Tarenti, quos cum Pompeio J'tAXoyw; de Kepub. habuerimus, ad 
 te perscribfinius — lb. .5. 
 
 Tarentdiu vcni a. d. xv Kal. Jno. quod Pontiniiiiu statueram expec- 
 tare, comuiodissimiim duxi dies eos— cum Pompeio consumere : coque 
 magis, quod ei gra'um esse id videbam, qui ctiam a me petierit. ut 
 secum et apud se essem quoiidie : quod concessi libeaier mullos cnira 
 ejus praeclaros de Kepub. sermones accipiam : instri;ar etiaui coosi- 
 liis idoneis ad hoc nostriini negotium. — lb. 6. 
 
 Ego, cum triduura cum Pompeio et apud Porapeium fuissem, pro- 
 ficiscebar Brundisium. — Civem iMum egregium relinquebam, et ad 
 haec, quae timentur, propulsanda paratissimum. — lb. 7. 
 
 TOL. II. 2.3 
 
178 THE LIFE OF sect, vii 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 tial affairs. From Brundisium, he sailed to Acti- 
 um, on the fifteenth of .June ; whence, partly by 
 sea, and partly by land, he arrived at Athens on 
 the twenty-sixth.^ Here he lodged in the house of 
 Aristus, the principal professor of the Academy ; 
 and his brother not far from him, with Xeno, an- 
 other celebrated philosopher of Epicurus's school : 
 they spent their time here very agreeably ; at 
 home, in philosophical disquisitions ; abroad, in 
 viewing the buildings and antiquities of the place, 
 with which Cicero was much delighted : there 
 were several other men of learning, both Greeks 
 and Romans, of the party ; especially Gallus Cani- 
 nius and Patro, an eminent Epicurean, and inti- 
 mate friend of Atticus.f 
 
 There lived at this time in exile at Athens, C, 
 Memmius. banished upon a conviction of bribery, 
 in his suit for the consulship ; who, the day before 
 Cicero's arrival, happened to go away to Mity- 
 lene. The figure which he had borne in Rome, gave 
 him great authority in Athens ; and the council of 
 Areopagus had granted him a piece of ground to 
 build upott^ where Epicurus formerly lived, and 
 where there still remained the old ruins of his 
 walls. But this grant had given great offence to 
 the whole body of the Epicureans, to see the re- 
 mains of their master in danger of being destroy- 
 
 * Ad Att. 5. 8, 9. 
 
 t Valde mc Athenae delectarunt : urbs duntaxat, et urbis ornameu- 
 tum, et hominum amores in te, et in nos quaedam benevoleutia ; sed 
 muitum et philosophia — si quid est, est in Aristo apud quera eram, nam 
 Xenoneai tuum — Quinto concesserana — Ad Att. 5. x. Ep. Fam. 2. 8 
 13. 1. 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. ir9 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Coss.— Sei-v. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellm. 
 
 ed. They had written to Cicero at Rome, to beg 
 him to intercede with Memmiiis, (o consent to a 
 revocation of it ; and now at Athens, Xeno and 
 Patro renewed their instances, and prevailed with 
 him to write about it, in the most efiectual man- 
 ner ; for though Memmius had laid aside his de- 
 sign of building, the Areopagites would not recall 
 their decree without his leave.* Cicero's letter is 
 drawn with much art and accuracy : he laughs at 
 the trifling zeal of these philosophers, for the old 
 rubbish and paltry ruins of their founder, yet 
 earnestly presses Memmius, to indulge them in 
 a prejudice, contracted through weakness, not 
 wickedness ; and though he professes an utter dis- 
 like of their philosophy, yet he recommends them, 
 as honest, agreeable, friendly men, for whom he 
 entertained the highest esteem.f From this letter 
 one may observe, that the greatest difference in 
 philosophy, made no difference of friendship among 
 the great of these times. There was not a more de- 
 clared enemy to Epicurus's doctrine than Cicero : 
 he -thought it destructive of morality, and perni- 
 cious to society ; but he charged this consequence 
 to the principles, not the professors of them ; 
 with many of whom he held the strictest intima- 
 cy ; and found them to be worthy, virtuous, gene- 
 rous friends, and loveis of their country : there 
 is a jocose letter to Trebatius, when he was with 
 
 * Visum est Xenoui, et post, ipsi Patroni, me ad Meinmitim srri- 
 bere, qui pridie quam ego Atlienas veni, Mitylenas profecfus erat, 
 — non enim dubitabat Xeno, quia ab Areopagitis invilo xMemmio 
 impetrari non posset. IVlemmius auleni aedifioandi consilium ahje- 
 cisset, sed erat Patroni iratus, itaque scrips! ad funi accurate — Ad 
 Att. .'>. II. 
 
 + Fp. Fain. l.T. 1- 7- 
 
180 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cjc. 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 Caesar in Gaul, upon his turning Epicurean, which 
 will help to confirm this reflection. 
 
 " CacERo TO Trebatius. 
 
 " I was wondering, why you had given over 
 *' writing to me ; till Pansa informed me that you 
 " were turned Epicurean. O rare camp ! what 
 " would you have done if I had sent you to Ta- 
 ** renlum, instead of Samarobriva ? J began to think 
 " the worse of you, ever since you made my friend 
 " Seius your pattern. But with what face will 
 " you now pretend to practise the law, when you 
 " are to do every thing for your own interest, and 
 " not for your client's ? and what will become of 
 " that old form, and test of fidelity ; That true men 
 " ought to act truly with one another ? what Jaw 
 " will you allege for the distribution of common 
 " right, when nothing can be common with those 
 " who measure all things by their pleasure ? with 
 " what face can you swear by Jupiter ; when Ju- 
 "piter, you know, can never be angry with any 
 " man ? and what will beconie of your people of 
 " Ulubrae ; since you do not allow a wise man to 
 " meddle with politicks ? wherefore, if you are re- 
 " ally gone off from us, I am sorry for it ; but if it 
 " be convenient to pay this compliment to Pansa, 
 " I forgive you ; on condition, however, that you 
 " write me word what you are doing, and what you 
 " would have me do for you here."^ The change 
 of principles in Trebatius, though equivalent in 
 effiect to a change of religion with us, made no al- 
 
 * Ep. Fam. 7. 12. 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 181 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 teration in Cicero's affection for him. This was 
 the dictate of reason to the best and wisest of the 
 heathens ; and may serve to expose the rasliness of 
 those zealots, who, with the light of a most divine 
 and benevolent religion, are perpetually insuhino- 
 and persecuting their fellow Christians, for difte- 
 rences of opinion, which, for the most part, are 
 merely speculative, and without any influence on 
 life, or the good and happiness of civil society. 
 
 After ten days spent at Athens, where Pontinius 
 at last joined him, Cicero set sail towards Asia. 
 Upon leaving Italy, he had charged his friend Cae- 
 lius with the task of sending him the news of 
 Rome ; which Caelius performed very punctually, 
 in a series of letters, which make a valuable part in 
 the collection of his familiar epistles: they are 
 polite and entertaining ; full of wit and spirit ; yet 
 not flowing with that easy turn, and elegance of ex- 
 pression, which w^e always find in Cicero's. The 
 first of them, with Cicero's answer, will give us a 
 specimen of the rest. 
 
 "M. Caelius to M. Cicero. 
 
 " According to my promise at parting, to send 
 'you an account of all the news of the town, I 
 have provided one to collect it for you so punc- 
 *' tually, that I am afraid lest you think my diligence 
 *' at last too minute : but 1 know how curious you 
 " are ; and how agreeable it is to all, wlio are 
 " abroad, to be informed of every thing that passes 
 " at home, though ever so trifling, I l)eg of you, 
 "however, not to condemn nie of arrogance, for 
 
 i( 
 
182 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 ** deputing another to this task : since, as busy as I 
 *'novv am, and as lazy as you know me to be in 
 " writing, it would be the greatest pleasure to me, 
 " to be employed in any thing that revives the re- 
 " membrance of you : but the packet itself, which 
 " 1 have sent, will, 1 imagine, readily excuse me : 
 " for what leisure would it require, not only to 
 " transcribe, but to attend even to the contents of 
 ^'it ? there are all the decrees of the senate, edicts, 
 " plays, rumours : if the sample does not please you, 
 "pray let me know it, that I may not give you 
 " trouble, at my cost. If any thing important hap- 
 "pens in the republick, above the reach of these 
 " hackney writers, I will send you an account of it 
 " myself ; in what manner it was transacted ; what 
 " speculations are raised upon it ; what effects ap- 
 " prehended : at present, there is no great expecta- 
 "tion of any thing: as to those rumours, which 
 *' were so warm at Cumae, of assembling the colo- 
 " nies beyond the Po, when I came to Rome, I 
 " heard not a syllable about them. Marcellus, too, 
 '' because he has not yet made any motion for a 
 " successor to the two Gauls, but puts it off, as he 
 " told me^'himself, to the first of June, has revived 
 "the same talk concerning him, which was stirring 
 " when we were at Rome together. If you saw 
 " Pompey, as you designed to do, pray send me 
 " word, in what temper you found him ; what con- 
 " versation he had with you ; what inclination he 
 " shewed : for he is apt to think one thing, and say 
 "another, yet has not wit enough to conceal what 
 " he reallymeans. As for Caesar, there are many 
 " ugly reports about him ; but propagated only in 
 " whispers : some say, that he has lost all his horse ; 
 " which I take indeed to be true : others, that the 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. W3 
 
 A, Urh. 702. Cic. 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 " seventh legion has been beaten ; and that he him- 
 " self is besieged by the Bellovaci ; and cut off 
 " from the rest of his army. There is nothing yet 
 " certain ; nor are these uncertain stories publickly 
 "talked of; but among the few, whom you know, 
 " told openly, by way of secrets : Domitius never 
 " mentions them, without clapping his hand to his 
 " mouth. On the twenty-first of May, the mob un- 
 " der the rostra sent about a report, (may it fall on 
 " their own heads) which was warmly propagated 
 "through the forum and the whole city, that you 
 *' were killed upon the road by Q. Pompeius : but 
 " I, who knew him to be then at Bauli, and in such 
 " a starving condition that I could not help pitying 
 " him, being forced to turn pilot for his bread, was 
 " not concerned about it ; and wished only, that if 
 " any real dangers threatened you, we might be 
 " quit for this lie : your friend Plancus Bursa, is at 
 " Ravenna ; where he has had n large donative from 
 " Caesar ; but is not yet easy, nor Avell provided. 
 " Your books on government are applauded by all 
 « people."^ 
 
 - " M. T. Cicero, Proconsul, to M. Caelius. 
 
 " How ! was it this, think you, that T charged 
 "you with ; to send me the matches of gladiatois ; 
 " the adjournments of causes; and Chrestus's news- 
 -letter; and what nobody dares mention to me 
 "when at Rome? See, how much I ascribe to you 
 "in my judgment : nor indeed without reason, for 
 " I have never yet met with a better head for poli- 
 
 ^ Epist. Fam. 8. 1. 
 
184 / THE LIFE OF si:ct. vif. 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Ck. 56. Coss.— Serv. Snipicius Rufas. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 " ticks : I would not have you write what passes 
 " every day in publick, though ever so important, 
 " unless it happen to affect myself: others will write 
 '* it ; many bring accounts of it ; and fame itself 
 '* conveys, a great part to me : I expect from you, 
 *' neither the past, nor the present; but as from 
 " one, who sees a great way before him, the future 
 *' only ; that when I have before me in your letters 
 "the plan of the republick, I may be able to judge 
 " what a sort of edifice it will be. Nor have I 
 ^" hitherto indeed any cause to complain of you : 
 " for nothing has yet happened, which you could 
 " foresee better than any of us ; especially myself, 
 " who spent several days with Pompey, in convers- 
 " ing on nothing else but the republick ; which it is 
 " neither possible nor proper for me to explain by 
 " letter : take this only from me : that Pompe)^ is 
 " an excellent citizen, prepared, both with courage 
 '* and counsel, for all events which can be foreseen : 
 "wherefore, give yourself up to the man; believe 
 " me, he will embrace you ; for he now holds the 
 " same opinion with us, of good and bad citizens. 
 " After I had been ten days at Athens where our 
 " friend Gallus Caninius was much with me, I left it 
 " on the sixth of July, when I sent away this letter : 
 •' as I earnestly recommend all my affairs to you, so 
 ••nothing more particularly, than that the time of 
 *'my provincial command be not prolonged: thi^ 
 " is every thing to me ; which, when, and how, and 
 "by whom it is to be managed, you will be the best 
 '' able to contrive. Adieu."=^ 
 
 * p:p. Fam. 2. 8. 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 183 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic 56. Coss.— Senr. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Maicelliu. 
 
 He landed at Ephesus on the twenty-second of 
 July, after a slow hut safe passage of fifteen days ; 
 the tediousness of wliich was atrreeably relieved by 
 touching on the way at several of the islands of the 
 Aegean sea, of which he sends a kind of journal 
 to Atticus."^ Many deputations from the cities of 
 Asia, and a great concourse of people, came to 
 meet him as far as Samos ; but a much greater 
 still was expecting his landing at Ephesus: the 
 Greeks flocked eagerly from all parts, to see a 
 man so celebrated through the empire, for the 
 fame of his learning and eloquence ; so that all his 
 boastings, as he merrily says, of many years past, 
 were now brought to the test.f After reposing 
 himself for three days at Ephesus, he marched 
 forward towards his province ; and on the last of 
 July, arrived at Laodicea, one of the capital cities 
 of his jurisdiction. From ttiis moment the date of 
 his government commenced ; which he bids Atti- 
 cus take notice of, that he might know how to 
 compute the precise extent of his annual term.J 
 
 It was Cicero's resolution in this provincial com- 
 mand to practise those admirable rules which he 
 had drawn up formerly for his brother ; and from 
 an employment wholly tedious and disagreeable 
 
 * Ephesuin veiiiiniis a. d. xi. Kal. Sext.— Ad Att. 5. 13. vid. it. 
 lb. 12. 
 
 f De concrirsii Jegationum, privatorum, et de incredibili miiltitu- 
 dine, quae mihi jam Saini, sed mirabilem in moduin Kphesi praesto 
 
 fuit, aiit te aiidisse puto ex quo te intelligere cerlo scio niulto- 
 
 rum annorum ostcntationes meas nunc in discrimen esse adductas — 
 lb. 13. 
 
 X Laodiceam veni prid. Kal. Sextiles. Ex hoe die olavuin aoni 
 movebis. lb. 16. 
 
 VOL. II. 24 
 
1G6 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 to him, to derive fresh glory upon his character, 
 by leaving the innocence and integrity ot his ad- 
 ministration, as a pattern of governing to all suc- 
 ceeding proconsuls. It had always been the cus- 
 tom when any governours went abroad to their 
 provinces, that the countries, through which they 
 passed, should defray all the charges of their jour- 
 ney : but Cicero no sooner set his foot on foreign 
 ground, than he forbade all expense whatsoever^ 
 publick or private, to be made either upon him- 
 self, or any of his company ; which raised a great 
 admiration of him in all the cities of Greece.^ In 
 Asia, he did the same ; not suffering his officers 
 to accept what was due to them even by law ; 
 forage and wood for firing, nor any thing else, but 
 mere house-room, with four beds ; which he re- 
 mitted also, as often as it was practicable, and 
 obliged them to lodge in their tents ; and by his 
 example, and constant exhortations, brought his 
 lieutenants, tribunes, and praefects, so fully into 
 his measures, that they all concurred with him, 
 he says, wonderfully, in a jealous concern for his 
 
 honour.f 
 
 ^^ 
 
 * Ego — quotidie meditor, praecipio meis ; faciam denlque ut sum- 
 ma modestia et summa abstinentia munus hoc extraordiuarium tra- 
 ducaiTius. — lb. 9. 
 
 Adhuc sumplas nee in me aiit publice aut privatira, nee in quera- 
 quam comitum. JVihil accipitiir lege Julia, nihil ab hospite, per- 
 suasnm est omnibus meis sorviendimi esse famae meae. Belle ad- 
 huc. Hoc animadversum Graecorura laude et multo sermone cele- 
 bratur. lb. 10. 
 
 Nos adhuc iter per Graeciam surama cum admiralione fecinius. 
 
 lb. II. ; 
 
 f Levantur miserae civitates, quod nullus sit sumptus in nos, ne- 
 que Legalos, neque in Quaestorem, neque in queraquam. Scito, non 
 modo nos foenum. aut quod lege Julia dari soiet non accipere, sed 
 ne ligna qiiidem, nee praeter quatuor lertos, et tectum, quemquara 
 acripj're quidqnam : multis locis ne tectum quidem, et in tabernaculo 
 manere pleruraque. Ad Att. 516. 
 
SECT. VII. CfCERO. ISr 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Coss.—Serv, Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Maitellug. 
 
 Bein^ desirous to put liimself at the head of 
 his army, before the season of action was over, he 
 spent but little time in visiting the cities of his 
 jurisdiction, reserving the winter months for set- 
 tling the civil affairs of the province.* He went 
 therefore to the camp, at Iconium in Lycaonia, 
 about the twenty-fourth of August; where he had 
 no sooner reviewed the troops, than he received 
 an account from Antioclius, kin^j^ of Comairene, 
 which was confirmed from the other princes of 
 those parts, that the Partliians had passed the Eu- 
 phrates with a mighty force, in order to invade the 
 Roman territory under the conduct of Pacorus the 
 king's son. Upon this news, he marched towards 
 Cilicia, to secure his province from the inroads of 
 the enemy, or any commotions within : but as all 
 access to it was difficult, except on the side of 
 Cappadocia, an open country, and not well pro- 
 vided ; he took his route through that kingdom, 
 and encamped in that part of it which bordered 
 upon Ciiicia, near to the town of Cybistra, at the 
 foot of mount Taurus. His army, as it is said 
 above, consisted of about twelve thousand foot, 
 and two thousand six hundred hoise, besides the 
 auxiliary troops of the neighbouring states, and 
 especially of Deiotarus, king of Galatia, the most 
 faithful ally of Rome, and Cicero's particular 
 friend ; whose whole forces he could depend upon 
 at any warning.f 
 
 Ut luillus tt-nincius insuraatur ii» qnemqiiam ; id sit etiam et le- 
 gatoruin el tribiinormn ct praeCectormn dilij^eiitia. Nam oiiiries mi- 
 rifice avfxcpiKoio^.uatv gloriae ineac — lb. 17. 
 
 * Erat mihi in animo recta proficisci ad exercitiiin, acstivos mtii- 
 ses reliquos rei militari dare, hibernos jurisdiclioni— lb. 14. 
 
 t In castra veni. a. d. vii. Kal. Sept. ad d. iii. exercitum lustrari. 
 
188 THE LIFE OF sect. vn. 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 While he lay m this camp, he had an opportuni- 
 ty of executing a special commission with which 
 he was charged by the senate ; to take Ariobar- 
 zanes, king of Cappadocia, under his particular 
 protection ; and provide for the security of his 
 person and government : in honour of w^hom the 
 senate had decreed, what they had never done be- 
 fore to any foreign prince, that his safety was of 
 great concern to the senate and people of Rome. 
 His father had been killed by the treachery of his 
 subjects, and a conspiracy of the same kind was 
 apprehended a<jjainst the son : Cicero, therefore, in 
 a council of his officers, ^ave the king an account 
 of the decree of the senate, and that, in conse- 
 quence of it, he was then ready to assist him with 
 his troops and authority in any measures that 
 should be concerted for the safety and quiet of his 
 kingdom. — The king, after great professions of his 
 thanks and duty to the senate for the honour of 
 their decree, and to Cicero himself for his care in 
 the execution of it, said, that he knew no occasion 
 for giving him any particular trouble at that time ; 
 nor had any suspicion of any design against his 
 life or ci»own : Upon which Cicero, after con- 
 gratulating him upon the tranquillity of his affairs, 
 advised him however, to remember his father's fate, 
 and, from the admonition of the senate, to be par- 
 Ex his castris cum graves de Parthis uuncii venirent, perrexi in CiJi- 
 ciam, per Cappadociae partem earn, quae Ciliciam altingit — 
 
 IJegis Antiochi Comageui legati primi raihi nunciarunt Parthoriim 
 
 magnas copias Euphratem trausire coepisse. Cum exercilnm in 
 
 Ciliciam diiccrera— raihi litcrac redditae sunt aTarcondimoto, qui fide- 
 lissimns socius trans Taurum Populi Rom. existimatur. Pacorum 
 Orodi Regis Parthorum filium, mm permagno equitatu transisse 
 Euphratem, etc. Kp. Fam. 15. 1. 
 
 todera die ab Jamblicho, Pbylarcho Arabum— lillerae de eisdem 
 rebus, etc. 
 
SECT. VII. CrCERO. 189 
 
 A. Urhu 702. Cie. 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 ticularly vigilant in the care of his person ; and so 
 they parted. But the next morninir the kinir re- 
 turned early 1o the camp, attended hy his brother 
 and counsellors, and with many tears implored the 
 protection of Cicero, and the benefit of the se- 
 nate's decree ; declaring, ^' that he had received un- 
 *' doubted intelligence of a plot, which those who 
 " were privy to it, durst not venture to discover till 
 " Cicero's arrival in the country, but, trusting to 
 " his authority, had now given full information of 
 " it ; and that his brother, who was present, and 
 ** ready to confirm what he said, had been solicited 
 " to enter into it by the offer of the crown : he beg- 
 " ged, therefore, that some of Cicero's troops 
 " might be left with him for his better guard and 
 " defence. Cicero told him, that, under the pre- 
 " sent alarm of the Parthian war, he could not pos- 
 " sibly lend him any part of his army ; that since 
 ^' the conspiracy was detected, his own forces would 
 ** be sufficient for preventing the effects of it ; that 
 " he should learn to act the king, by shewing a pro- 
 '* per concern for his own life, and exert his regal 
 " power in punishing the authors of the plot, and 
 " pardoning all the rest ; that he need not appre- 
 ** hend any farther danger, when his people were 
 " acquainted with the senate's decree, and saw a 
 " Roman army so near to them, and ready to put it 
 " in execution :" and, having thus encouraged and 
 comforted tlie king, he marched towards Cilicia, 
 and gove an account of this accident, and of the 
 motions of the Parthians, in two puhlick letters to 
 the consuls and the senate : he added a private let- 
 ter also to Cato, who was a particular favourer and 
 patron of Ariobarzanes, in which he informed him, 
 " that he had not only secured the king's person 
 
190 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 702 Cic. 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcdlus. 
 
 "from any attempt, but had taken care tliat he 
 " should reign for the future with honour and dig- 
 " nity, by restoring to his favour and service his 
 " old counsellors, whom Cato had recommended, 
 " and who had been disgraced by the intrigues of 
 " his court ; and by obliging a turbulent young 
 " priest of Bellona, who was the head of the male- 
 " contents, and the next in power to the king him- 
 " self, to quit the country."^' 
 
 This king, Ariobarzanes, seems to have been 
 poor even to a proverb : 
 
 Mancipiis loaiples, eget aeris Cappadocum rex. 
 
 Hor. Ep. I. 6. 
 
 For he had been miserably squeezed and drained 
 by the Roman generals and governours ; to whom 
 he owed vast sums, either actually borrowed, or 
 stipulated to be paid for particular services. It 
 was a common practice with the great at Rome, 
 to lend money at exhorbitant interest, to the 
 princes and cities dependent on the empire, which 
 was thougliTTan useful piece of policy to both sides ; 
 to the princes, for the opportunity of engaging to 
 their interests the most powerful men of the re- 
 publick, by a kind of honourable pension ; to the 
 Romans, for the convenience of placing their mo- 
 ney where it was sure to bring the greatest return 
 of profit. The ordinary interest of these provin- 
 cial loans was, one per; cent, by the month, with 
 interest upon interest : this was the lowest ; but, 
 in extraordinary or hazardous cases, it was fre- 
 
 Ep. Fam. 15. 2, 3, 4. 
 
SECT. vii. CICERO. 191 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 quently four times as much. Pompey received 
 monthly from this very king above six thousand 
 pounds Sterling, which yet was short of his full 
 interest. Brutus also had lent him a very large 
 sum, and earnestly desired Cicero to procure the 
 payment of it, with the arrears of interest: but 
 Pompey's agents were so pressing, and the king so 
 needy, that though Cicero solicited Brutus's affair 
 \evy heartily, he had little hopes of getting any 
 thing for him : when Ariobarzanes came, therefore, 
 to offer him'the same present of money, which he 
 had usually made to every other governour, he 
 generously refused it and desired only, that, in- 
 stead of giving it to him, it might be paid to Bru- 
 tus ; but the poor prince was so distressed, that he 
 excused himself, by the necessity which he was 
 imder of satisfying some other more pressing de- 
 mands ; so that Cicero gives a sad account of his 
 negotiation, in a long letter to Attic us, who liad 
 warmly recommended Brutus's interests to him. 
 
 " I come now," says he, " to Brutus ; whom by 
 '' your authority I embraced with inclination, and 
 ** began even to love : but* what am I going to 
 
 " say? I recall myself, lest I offend you do not 
 
 " think, that I ever entered into any tliin<r more 
 " willingly, or took more pains, than in what he 
 " recommended to me. He gave me a memorial 
 " of the particulars, which you had talked over 
 " with me before : I pursued your instructions ex- 
 " actly : in the first place, I pressed Ariobarzanes, 
 "to give that money to Brutus, which he pro- 
 *' mised to me : as long as the king continued witli 
 '• me, all thino^s looked well, but he was afterwards 
 ** teazed by six hundred of Pompey's airents ; and 
 
192 THE LIFE OF sect, vii 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcdlus. 
 
 " Pompey, for other reasons, can do more with him 
 " than all the world besides ; but especially, when it 
 " is imagined that he is to be sent to the Parthian 
 " war : they now pay Pompey thirty-three Attick ta- 
 " lents per month, out of the taxes, though this falls 
 ^' short of a month's interest : but our friend Cnaeus 
 '' takes it calmly ; and is content to abate some- 
 " what of the interest, without pressing for the 
 " principal. As to others, he neither does, nor can 
 " pay any man : for he has no treasury, no reve- 
 " nues ; he raises taxes by Appius's methud of ca- 
 " pitation : but these are scarce sufficient for Pom- 
 " pey's monthly pay : two or three of the king's 
 " friends are very rich ; but they hold their own 
 " as closely as either you or I — I do not forbear, 
 " however, to ask, urge, and chide him by let- 
 " ters : king Deiotarus also told me, that he had 
 " sent people to him on purpose to solicit for Bru- 
 " tus ; but they brought him word back, that he 
 " had really no money : which 1 take indeed to be 
 " the case ; that nothing is more drained than his 
 *' kingdom ; nothing poorer than the king."^ But 
 Brutus had recommended another affair of the 
 same natur'^ to Cicero, which gave him much more 
 trouble. The city of Salamis in Cyprus owed to 
 two of his friends, as he pretended, Scaptius and 
 Matinius, about twenty thousand pounds Sterling, 
 upon bond, at a most extravagant interest ; and he 
 begged of Cicero to take their persons and con- 
 cerns under his special protection. Appius, who 
 was Brutus's father-in-law, had granted every thing 
 which was asked to Scaptius ; a praefecture in Cy- 
 prus, with some troops of horse, with which he 
 
 f^^ Ad Att. 6. 1. 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 19ii 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Coss.— Sen'. Sulpic'us Rufus. M. Claudius Matcellus. 
 
 miserably harassed the poor Salamniians, in order 
 to force them to comply with his unreasonable de- 
 mands ; for he shut up their whole senate in the 
 council-room, till five of them were starved to 
 death with huni^er.'* Brutus laboured to place 
 him in the same de2;ree of favour with Cicero : but 
 Cicero, being informed of this violence at Ephe- 
 sus, by a deputation from Salamis, made it the 
 first act of his orovernment to recall the troops 
 from Cyprus, and put an end to Scaptius's prae- 
 fecture, having laid it down for a rule, to grant no 
 command to any man, who was concerned in trade, 
 or negociating money in the province : to give sa- 
 tisfaction however to Brutus, he injoined the Sala- 
 minians to pay off Scaptius's bond, whicli tliey 
 were ready to do according to the tenour of his 
 edict, by w'hich he had ordered, that no bonds in 
 his province should carry above one per cent, by 
 the month. Scaptius refused to take the money 
 on those terms, insisting on four per cent, as the 
 condition of his bond expressed ; wdiich by com- 
 putation almost doubled the principal sum ; while 
 the Salaminians, as they protested to Cicero, could 
 not have paid the original debt, if they had not 
 been enabled to do it by his help, and out of his 
 own dues that he had remitted to them ; which 
 amounted to somewhat more than Scaptius's legal 
 demand. t 
 
 * Fuerat enira praefectus Appio, ct quidem hahuerat turmas equi- 
 tiira, quibus inclusum iu curia senatuin Salamiiie obsederat, nt lame 
 senatores qiiinque inorereiitur. — Ibid. 
 
 t Itaqiie ego, quo die tetisji proviiiciam, cuin milii Cyprii Icgati 
 Ephesuiu obviam vcuisseut, literas iiiisi, iit eqiiites ex insula statiiu 
 decederent — Ad Att. 6. 1. confeceram, ut solvercnt centesimis — at 
 
 VOL. ir, 25 
 
194 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Uib. 702. Cic 55. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marc ellus. 
 
 Tliis extortion raised Cicero's indignation ; and 
 notwithstanding the repeated instances of Brutus 
 and Atticus, he was determined to overrule it ; 
 though Brutus, in order to move him the more ef- 
 fectually, thought proper to confess, Avhat he had 
 all along dissembled, that the debt was really his 
 own, and Scaptius only his agent in it.^ This sur- 
 prised Cicero still more, and though be had a 
 warm inclination to oblige Brutus, yet he could 
 not consent to so flagrant an injustice, but makes 
 frequent and heavy complaints of it in his letters 
 to Atticus — '' You have now, (says he, in one of 
 « them,) the ground of my conduct ; if Brutus 
 "does not approve i1, I see no reason why we 
 " should love ; but I am sure, it will be approved 
 " by his uncle, Cato."t In another : " If Brutus 
 '^ thinks that I ought to allow him four per cent, 
 »^when by edict 1 have decreed but one through 
 "all the province, and that to the satisfaction of 
 " the keenest usurers ; if he complains, that I de- 
 '* nied a praefecture to one concerned in trade, 
 " which I denied, for that reason, and to your 
 "friend Lenius, and to Sex. Statins, though Tor- 
 " quatus solicited for the one, and Pompey him- 
 " self for the other, yet without disgusting either 
 
 Scaptius quaternas postulabat — lb. homines non modo non recusare, 
 sted etiam dicere, se a me solvere. Quod enim praetori dare coiisues- 
 seut, quoriiam ego non acceperam, se a me quodam raodo dare ; atque 
 etinm minus esse aliquanto in Scaptii nomine, qiiani in vectigali prae- 
 torio— lb. 5. 21. 
 
 * Atque hoc tempore ipso injpingit raihi epistolara Scaptias Bruti, 
 rem illam sno periculo esse : quod nee m.hi iinquam Brutus dixerat, 
 
 nee tibi lb. nunquam ex illo audivi illam pecuniam esse suara 
 
 —lb. 
 
 t Habes raeam rausara : quae si Bruto non probatur, nescio cur 
 ilium amemus : sedavuuculo ejuscerte probabitur.— -lb. 5. 21. 
 
)SECT. VII. 
 
 CICERO. I9b 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Coss.— Seiv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 '^ of them ; if he takes it ill that I recalled the 
 " troops of horse out of Cyprus, I shall he sorry, 
 " indeed, that he has any occasion to be ano^ry with 
 " me ; but much more, not to find him the man 
 
 " that I took him to be. 1 would have you to 
 
 '' know, however, that I have not fori^ot what you 
 " intimated to me in several of your letters, that if 
 '' I brout^ht back nothing else from the province, 
 " but Brutus's friendship, that would be enou<j;h : 
 '' let it be so, since you will have it so ; yet it must 
 " always be Avith this exception ; as far as it can be 
 " done, without my committing; any wrono;." — ^ 
 In a third : " How, my dear Atticus ? you who ap- 
 '* plaud my integrity and good conduct, and are 
 '^ vexed sometimes, you say, that you are not with 
 '' me ; how can such a thing, as Ennius says, come 
 " out of your mouth, to desire me to grant troops 
 '* to Scaptius, for the sake of extorting money ? 
 " could you, if you were with me, suffer me to do 
 
 "it, if I would? if I really had done such a 
 
 " thing, with what face could I ever read again, or 
 " touch those books of mine, with which you are 
 *' so much pleased ?"t He tells him likewise, in 
 
 * Si Brutus putabat me quaternas centesiraas oportuisse decernere, 
 qui ill tola provincia singulas observarem, itaque edixissem, idque 
 etiara acerbissimis loeneratoribus probaretur ; si praefecturam iiego- 
 tiatori denegatam queretur, quod ego Torquato noslro in tuo Lenio, 
 Pompeio ipsi in S. Statio negavi, et iis probavi ; si equites deductos 
 inoleste feret ; accipiara equidem dolorem, mihi ilium irasci, sed 
 multo raajorera, non esse eum talem, qualem putassem— Sed plane te 
 intelligere volui, milii non excidisse illud quod tu ad rae quibusdam 
 Jitteris scripsisses, si nihil aliud de hac Provincia nisi illiu? benevolen- 
 tiam dcportassem, niihi id satis esse. Sit sane, qiioniam ita tu vis sed 
 tamen cum eo credo, quod sine peccato meo fiat — lb. 6. 1. 
 
 f Ain' tandem Attice, laudator integritatis et elegantiae nostrac? 
 ausus es hoc ex ore tuo, inquit Fn.uius, ut equites Hcaptio ad pecuni- 
 ara cogendam darcm. me rogare ? an tu, si mecum esses, qui scribis 
 aiordcri te interdum quod non simul sis, paterere rae id iacere, si 
 
196 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Ci^o 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 confidence, that all Brutus's letters to him, even 
 when he was asking favours, " were unmannerly, 
 " churlish, and arrogant ; without regarding either 
 " what or to whom he was writing ; and if he con- 
 '' tinned in that humour ; you may love him alone," 
 says he, " if you please, you shall have no rival 
 " in me; but he will come, I believe, to a better 
 '* mind."^ But to shew, after all, what a real in- 
 clination he had to oblige him, he never left urging 
 king Ariobarzanes, till he had squeezed from him a 
 hundred talents, in part of Brutus's debt, or about 
 twenty thousand pounds ; the same sum probably, 
 which had been destined to Cicero himself.f 
 
 While he lay encamped in Cappadocia, expect- 
 ing what way the Parthians would move, he receiv- 
 ed an account, that they had taken a different route, 
 and were advanced to Antioch in Syria, where they 
 held C. Cassius blocked up ; and that a detachment 
 of thetu had actually penetrated into Cilicia, but 
 were routed and cut off by those troops which were 
 left to guard the country. Upon this he presently 
 decamped, and by great journies over mount Tau- 
 rus, marcheii in all haste to possess himself of the 
 passes of Amanus ; a great and strong mountain, 
 
 vellem ? et ego andebo legere iinqiiara, aut atUngere, eos iibros 
 
 qiips til dilaudas ? si tale quid fecero — Ad Att. 6. 2. 
 
 * Ad me etiam, cum rogat aliquid, contumaeiter, arroganter, euoiv- 
 muTUJiSolet scribere lb. 6. 1. 
 
 Oranitio (soli enim suraiis) nullus unquam ad me litteras misit Bru- 
 tus — in quibus non esset arrogates, oiKoivaiv»Tov aliquid —in quo tamen 
 ille mihi risuin magis quam stora'achura movere solet. Sed plane pa- 
 rum cogitat, quid scribat, aut ad quern — lb. 6. 3. 
 
 f Brnti tui causa, ut saepe ad te scripsi, feci omnia — Ariobarzanes ' 
 
 non in Pompcium prolixior per ipsura, quam per me in Brutuin 
 
 pro ratione pecuniae liberius est Brutus tractatus, quam Pompeins, 
 Bruto ciirata hoc anno talenta circiter c. Pompeio in sex mensibus 
 promissa cc. Ibid. 
 
SECT. vii. CICERO. 197 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 lying between Syria and Cilicia, and the common 
 boundary of them both. By this march, and the 
 approach of liis army to the neighbourhood of Sy- 
 ria, the Parthians being discouraged, retired from 
 Antioch ; which gave Cassius an opportunity of fall- 
 ing upon them in their retreat, and gaining a con- 
 siderable advantage, in which one of their principal 
 commanders, Osaces, was mortally wounded.^ 
 
 In the suspense of the Parthian war, which the 
 late disgrace of Crassus had made terrible at Rome, 
 Cicero's friends, who had no great opinion of his 
 military talents, were in some pain for his safety 
 and success : but now that he found himself engag- 
 ed, and pushed to the necessity of acting the gene- 
 ral, he seems to have wanted neither the courage 
 nor conduct of an experienced leader. In a let- 
 ter to Atticus, dated from his camp ; " We are 
 " in great spirits," says he '' and as our councils 
 " are good, have no distrust of an engagement : 
 *' we are securely encamped, with plenty of pro- 
 " visions, and in sight ahaost of Cilicia ; with a 
 " small army indeed, but, as I have reason to be- 
 " lieve, entirely well affected lo me ; which I shall 
 '* double by the accession of Deiotarus, who is 
 " upon the road to join me : I have the allies more 
 '* firmly attached to me than any governour ever 
 " had : they are wonderfully taken Avith my easi- 
 " ness and abstinence : we are making new levies 
 
 * Itaqiie confestiin iter in Ciliciam feci per Tauri pylas. Tarsurn 
 veni a. d. ill. Non. Oct. inde ad Ainanuiu eontcndi, qui Syriain a Ci- 
 licia in aquarum divortio dividit — rumore adventiis nosti i, et Cassio, 
 qui Antiochia teuebatur, animus accessit, et Partliis timor ijijectus 
 est. Itaque eos cedentes ab oppido Cassius inseciitiis rem bene ges- 
 sit. Qua in fuga magna auctoritate Osaces, dux Parthorum, vuTnus 
 accepit, eoque interiil paucis post diebus. Ad Att. 5. 20. 
 
THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A, Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Coss,— SeiT. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudixis Marccllus. 
 
 ^' of citizens, and establishing magazines : if there 
 ^* be occasion for fighting, we shall not decline it ; if 
 " not, shall defend ourselves by the strength of our 
 " posts : wherefore be of good heart, for I see as 
 *' much as if you were with me, the sympathy of 
 "your love for me."'* 
 
 But the danger of the Parthians being over for 
 this season, Cicero resolved that his labour should 
 not be lost, and his army dismissed, without at- 
 tempting sometliing of moment. The inhabitants 
 of the mountains, close to which he now lay, were 
 a fierce, untamed race of banditti or freebooters, 
 who had never submitted to the Roman power, 
 but lived in perpetual defiance of it, trusting to 
 their forts and castles, which were supposed to be 
 impregnable from the strength of their situation. 
 He thought it^ therefore, of no small importance to 
 the empire to reduce them to a state of subjec- 
 tion ; ' and, in order to conceal his design, and 
 lake them unprovided, he drew off his forces on 
 pretence of marching to the distant parts of Cili- 
 cia ; but after a day's journpy stopt short, and 
 having refreshed his army, and left his baggage 
 behind, turned back again in the night with the 
 utmost celeiity, and reached Amanus before day 
 on the thirteenth of October. He divided his 
 troops among his four lieutenants, and himself ac- 
 companied by his brother, led up one part of 
 them, and so coming upon the natives by sur- 
 prise, they easily killed, or made them all prison- 
 ers : they took six strong forts, and burned many 
 more ; but the capital of the mountain, Erana, 
 made a brave resistance, and held out from break 
 
 *AdAtt. 5. 18. 
 
SECT. VII. 
 
 CICERO. 199 
 
 A. Ufb. 702. Cic. 36. Coss.—Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellos. 
 
 of day, to four in the afternoon. Upon this suc- 
 cess, Cicero was saluted Kmperour, and sat down 
 aj^ain at the foot of the hills, where he spent five 
 days, in demolishing the other strong holds, and 
 wasting the lands of these mountaineers. In this 
 place his troops were lodged in the same camp 
 which Alexander the Great had formerly used, 
 when he beat Darius at Issus ; and where there re- 
 mained three altars, as the monument of his victo- 
 ry, which bore his name to that day : a circum- 
 stance, which furnished matter for some pleasant- 
 ry, in his letters to his friends at Rome.^ 
 
 From Amanus, he led his array to another part 
 of the highlands, the most disaffected to the Roman 
 name, possessed by a stout and free people, who 
 had never been subject even to the king of that 
 country. Their chief town was called Pindenissum, 
 situated on a steep and craggy hill, strongly fortified 
 by nature and art, and provided with every thing 
 
 * Qui mons erat hostium plenus serapiternorum. Hie. a. d. Ill, 
 idus Octob. magnum numerum hostium occidimus. Castella muoi- 
 tissima, nocturno Pontinii adventu, uostro matutino cepiraus, inceu- 
 dimus, Iniperatores appellati sumus. Castra paucos dies habui- 
 mus. ea ipsa, quae contra Darium babueiat apud Issum Alexander, 
 Imuerator baud paullo melior, qiiam aut tu aut ego. Ibi dies quin- 
 que morati, direpto et vastato Amauo, inde discessimus. — Ad Att. 
 5. 20. 
 
 Expedite exercitu ita nortu iter feci, ut ad 111. Id. Octob. cum 
 lucisceret, in Air.anum ascenderem, distributisque cobortibus et aux- 
 iliis, cum aliis Quinius iValer legatus, mecum simul, aliis C. Pontinius 
 Legatus, reliquis AJ. Anneius, et M. Tullius Jegati praeessent : pier- 
 ostjue- nee opiuantes oppressimus — Eianam auteni, quae t'uit non viri 
 in-tar. sed nrbi*^ quod erat Amana caput — acritcr et diu repugnanli- 
 bus, Pon.inio illam partem Amani tenente, ex antelucano tempore 
 usque ad linram diei decimam, magna raultitndine hostium occisa, 
 ce^umus, castellaque sex capta : complura inceudimus. His rebus 
 ita gestis. casira in radinbus Aujaiii habuimus apud aras Alexandri 
 quacriduum ; et in reliquiis Aniani deiendis, agrisque vastandis — id 
 tempus omne consumsimus — Kp. Fam. 15. 4. vid. Ibid. 2. 10, 
 
200 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Coss.— Ser\% Sulpicius Kufus. M. CJaudius Mareellus. 
 
 necessary for defence : it was the constant refuge 
 of all deserters, and the harbour of foreign ene- 
 mies, and at that very time was expecting and pre- 
 pared to receive the Parthians : Cicero, resolving 
 therefore to chastise their insolence, and bring them 
 under the Roman yoke, laid seige to it in form ; and 
 though he pushed it on with all imaginable vigour, 
 and a continual battery of his engines, yet it cost 
 him above six weeks to reduce it to the necessity 
 of surrendering at discretion. The inhabitants 
 were sold for slaves, and when Cicero was writing 
 the account from his tribunal, he had already raised 
 about a hundred thousand pounds by that sale : all 
 the other plunder, excepting the horses, was given 
 to the soldiers. In his letter upon it to Atticus, 
 " the Pindenissians," says he, " surrendered to me 
 " on the Saturnalia, after a seige of seven-and-forty 
 " days : but what the plague, you will say, are 
 "these Pindenissians? I never heard of their name 
 " before. — How can I help that ? could I turn Cilicia 
 " into Aetolia or Macedonia ? take this however for 
 " certain, that no man could do more than I have 
 " done, W'ith such an army, &c."* After this action, 
 another neighbouring nation^ of the same spirit 
 
 * Confectis his rebus ad oppidum Eleutherociliciim, Pindenissum, ex- 
 ercituin addiixi : quod cum esset altissiiiio et rnunitissimo loco, ab 
 iisque incoleretur, qui ue regibus quidera unquam paruissent ; cura et 
 fugitivos reciperent, et Parthorum adventum acerriine expectarent : 
 ad existiraationem imperii pertiuere arbitratus sura comprimere 
 eorum audaciam — vallo et fossa circumdedi, sex castellis, castrisque 
 raaximis sepsi, aggere, vineis, turribus oppugnavi, ususque tormentis 
 multis, multis sagittariis, magno labore meo — septimo quad rage siino 
 dieremconfeci. Ep. Fam. 15, 4. 
 
 Qui (malum) isti Pindenissae ? qui sunt ? inquies : nomen audivi 
 nunquam. Quid ego i'aciam ? potui Ciliciam, Aetoliam aut Macedo- 
 niam reddere ? hoc jam sic habeto, nee hoc exercitu hie tanla nego- 
 tia geri potuisse, etc. Ad Att. 5. 20. 
 
 Mancipia vaenibant Saturnalibus tertiis, cum haec scribebara in tri- 
 bunali, res erat ad JI. S. cxx. lb. 
 
SECT. VII. 
 
 CICERO. 201 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 and fierceness, called Tiburani, terrified by the fate 
 of Pindenissum, voluntarily submitted, and gave 
 hostages; so that Cicero sent his army into winter 
 quarters under the command of his brother, into 
 those parts of the province which were thought the 
 most turbulent.^ 
 
 While he was engaged in this expedition, Papi- 
 rius Paetus, an eminent wit and Epicurean, with 
 whom he had a particular intimacy and correspond- 
 ence of facetious letters, sent him some military in- 
 structions in the way of raillery ; to which Cicero 
 answered in the same jocose manner : " Your let- 
 '* ter," says he, " has made me a complete command- 
 " er : I was wholly ignorant before of your oreat skill 
 " in the art of war ; but perceive that you have read 
 "Pyrrhiis and Cineas. — Wherefore I intend to fol- 
 " low your precepts, and, withal, to have some ships 
 "in readiness on the coast; for they deny that 
 "there can be any better defeiice against the Par- 
 " thian horse. But, raillery apart : — you little think 
 " what a general you have'to deal with : for, in this 
 "government, I have reduced to practice, what I 
 " had worn out before with reading, the whole in- 
 " stitution of Cyrus," &c.t These martial exploits 
 spread Cicero's fame into Syria, where Bibulus was 
 just arrived to take upon him the command ; but 
 kept himself close within the gates of Antioch,till 
 the country was cleared of all the Parthians : his 
 envv of Cicero's success, and title of empermr. 
 
 * His erant finitimi pari scelere et audacia Tiburani: ab his, Piu- 
 denisso capio, obsides accepi, exercitum in hiberna dimisi. Q Fra- 
 trein negotio preposui, ut in vicis aut caplis aiit malo paratis exercitus 
 collocaretur. Ep. Fain. 1.').4. 
 
 t Ep. Fam. 9. 26. 
 
 VOL. II. 26 
 
t02 THE LIFE OF gEci-. vii- 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rtifus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 made him impatient to purchase the same honour 
 bj the same service, on the Syrian side of the 
 mountain Amanus: but he had the misfortune to 
 be repulsed in his attempt, with the entire loss of 
 the first cohort, and several officers of distinction, 
 which Cicero calls an ugly blow, both for the time 
 and the effect of it.* 
 
 Thoufijh Cicero had obtained what he calls a just 
 victory at Amanus, and, in consequence of it, the 
 appellation of emperour, which he assumed from this 
 time ; yet he sent no publick account of it to Rome, 
 till after the affair of Pindenissum, an exploit of 
 more eclat and importance ; for which he expected 
 the honour of a thanksgiving, and began to enter- 
 tain hopes even of a triumph. His publick letter 
 is lost, but that loss is supplied by a particular nar- 
 rative of the whole action in a private letter to 
 Cato : the design of paying this compliment to Cato, 
 was to engage his vote and concurrence to the de- 
 cree of the supplication ; and, by the pains which 
 he takes to obtain it, where he was sure of gaining 
 his point without it, shews the high opinion which 
 he had of^Cato's authority, and how desirous he 
 was to have the testimony of it on his side. But 
 Cato was not to be moved from his purpose by com- 
 pliment, or motives of friendship : he was an enemy 
 by principle to all decrees of this kind, and thought 
 them bestowed too cheaply, and prostituted to oc- 
 casions unworthy of them : so that when Cicero's 
 
 * Frat in Syria nostrum nomen in gratia. Venit interim Bibulus. 
 Credo voluit appellalione hac inani nobis esse par. In eodem Amano 
 coepit laureolam in mustaceo quaerere. At i!le cohortem priniam to- 
 tam perdidit — sane plagam odiosam acceperat, ti m re turn tempore. 
 Ad Att. 5. 20. 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 203 
 
 A. Urb, 702. Cic. 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 letters came under deliberation, thoujrh he spoke 
 with all imaginable honour and respect of Cicero, 
 and highly extolled both his civil and military ad- 
 ministration, yet he voted against the supplication ; 
 which waj* decreed, however, without any other dis- 
 senting voice, except that of Favonius, wlio loved 
 always to mimick Cato, and of Hirrus, who had a 
 personal quarrel with Cicero : yet, when the vote 
 was over, Cato himself assisted in drawing up the 
 decree, and had his name inserted in it ; which was 
 the usual mark of a particular approbation of the 
 thing, and friendship to the person in whose favour 
 it passed. ^^ But Calo's ansAver to Cicero's letter 
 will shew the temper of the man, and the grounds 
 on which he acted on this occasion. 
 
 M. Cato to M. T. Cicero, Emperour. 
 
 " In compliance with what both the republick 
 " and our private friendship require of me, I re- 
 "joicethat your virtue, innocence, diligence, ap- 
 " proved in the greatest affairs, exerts itself every 
 " where w ith equal vigour ; at home in the gown, 
 " abroad in arms. I did all, therefore, that I could 
 " do, agreeably to my own judgment, when, in my 
 " vote and speech, I ascribed to your innocence 
 
 * Nunc publice litteras Romam raittere parabam. Uberiores erunt, 
 quam si ex Amano misissera. Ibid. 
 
 Deinde de triumpho, quern video, nisi Reipub. terapora impedient, 
 vjTrogKTTOv , Ad Att., 7. 1. 
 
 El poiTO assensus est uuus, farailiaris raeus Favonius; alter iratus 
 Hirrus. Cato autem et scribendoaffiiit. lb. 
 
 Res ipsa declarat, tibi ilium lionorem supplicationis jucundum 
 fuisse, quod scribendo affuisti. Haec euira senatus consulta uon ig- 
 noro ab amicissimis ejus, CHJus de honore agitur, scribi selere. Ep, 
 Fam. 15. 6. 
 
204 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 " and 2;ood conduct the defence of your province, 
 *« the safety of the kino;dom and person of Ario- 
 " barzanes ; the recovery of the allies to their du- 
 «' ty and affection to our empire. I am glad, however, 
 «' that a supplication is decreed ; if, where chance 
 «« had no part, but the whole was owing to your 
 *' consummate prudence and moderation, you are 
 " better pleased that we sliould hold ourselves in- 
 <' debted to the gods, than to you. But if you think 
 «* that a supplication will pave the way to a tri- 
 '' umph, and for that reason chose that fortune should 
 '* have the praise, rather than yourself; yet a tri- 
 ** umph does not always follow a supplication, and 
 4' it is much more honourable than any triumph, 
 *' for the senate to decree, that a province is pre- 
 '' served to the empire by the mildness and inno- 
 «' cence of the general, rather than by the force of 
 " arms, and the favour of the gods. This was the 
 " purpose of my vote ; and I have now employed 
 '' more words than it is my custom to do, that you 
 " might perceive, what I chiefly wish to testify, 
 <' how desirous I am to convince you, that, in re- 
 " gard to your glory, I had a mind to do what I 
 " took to b« the most honourable for you ; yet re- 
 " joice to see that done which you are the most 
 " pleased with. Adieu, and still love me ; and, 
 '• agreeably to the course which you have begun, 
 "continue your integrity and diligence to the allies, 
 *' and the republick."^' 
 
 Caesar was deli^iited, to hear of Cato's stiffness, 
 in hopes that it would create a coldness between 
 him and Cicero ; and, in a congratulatory letter to 
 
 * Ep. Fam. 15. 5. 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 205 
 
 A. Urb. 70a €ie. 56. Coss.— Serr. Sulpicius Rufus. ]M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 Cicero, upon the success of his arms, and Ihe sup- 
 plication decreed to him, took care to aggravate the 
 rudeness and ino;ratitude of Cato.* Cicero himself 
 was hii{hl y dissjusted at it ; especially when Cato 
 soon afterwards voted a supplication to his son-in- 
 law, Bibulus, who had done much less to deserve 
 it. " Cato," says he, *' was shamefully malicious ; 
 " he gave me what I did not ask, a character of 
 " integrity, justice, clemency ; but denied me what 
 " I did — yet this same man voted a supplication of 
 " twenty days to Bibulus : pardon me if I cannot 
 " bear this usage — "f vet as he had a good opinion 
 of Cato in the main, and a farther suit to make to 
 the senate, in the demand of a triumph, he chose 
 to dissemble his resentment, and returned him a 
 civil answer, to signify his satisfaction and thanks 
 for what he had thought fit to do.J 
 
 Cicero's campaign ended just so as Caelius had 
 wished in one of his letters to him ; with fi>diting 
 enough to give a claim to the laurel ; yet without 
 the risk of a battle with the Parthians.J During 
 these months of action, he sent away the two young 
 Ciceros, the son and nephew, to king Deiotarus's 
 
 * Itaque Caesar iis litteris, qiiibus mihi gratiilatur, et omnia polli- 
 cetur, quo modo exultat Catonis in me ingratissimi injuria; Ad Att. 
 7. 2. 
 
 f Aveo scire — Cato quid agat : qui qiiidem in me turpiter fuit male- 
 volus. Dedit integritatis, justitiae, clementiae, fidei, testimonium, 
 
 quod non quaerebarn, quod postulaham, negavit at hie idem 
 
 Bibulo dierum viginti. Ignosee mihi, non possum haec ferre 
 
 ibid. 
 
 JEp. Fam. 15.6. 
 
 $ Ut optasti, ita est ; velles enim, ais, tantummodo ut haberem 
 ucgotii quodesset ad laiireolum «atis. Partbos times, quia diffidis co^ 
 piis uostris. Ep. Fam. 2. 10. 3. 5. 
 
206 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 court, under the conduct of the kinor's son, who 
 came on purpose to invite them : they were kept 
 strictly to their books and exercises, and made 
 great proficiency in both ; though the one of them, 
 as Cicero says, wanled the bit, the other the spur. 
 Their tutor Dionysius attended them, a man of i^reat 
 learning and probity, but, as his young pupils com- 
 plained, horribly passionate.* Deiotarus himself 
 was setting forward to join Cicero with all his for- 
 ces, upon the first news of the Parthian irruption : 
 he had with him thirty cohorts, of four hundred 
 men each, armed and disciplined after the Roman 
 manner, with two thousand horse ; but the Parthian 
 alarm being over, Cicero sent couriers to meet him 
 on the road, in order to prevent his marching to no 
 purpose so far from his own dominions if the old 
 king however seems to have brought the children 
 back again in person, for the opportunity of pay- 
 ing his compliments, and spending some time with 
 his friend ; for by what Cicero intimates, they ap- 
 pear to have had an interview.J 
 
 The remaining part of Cicero's government was 
 employed^^n the civil affairs of the province: 
 
 * Cicerones nostros Deiotarus filius, qui Rex a senatu appellatus est, 
 secum in regnura. Dura in aestivis nos essemus, ilium pueris locum 
 esse bellissimum duximus. Ad Att. 5. 17, 
 
 Cicerones pueri amant inter se, discunt, exercentur : sed alter — 
 fraenis eget, alter calcaribus — Dionysius mihi quidem in anioribus 
 est- Pueri autem aiunt eum furenter irasci. Sed homo uec doctior, 
 nee sanctior fieri potest. lb. 6. 1. 
 
 f Mihi tamen cum Deiotaro fconvenit, ut ille in meis castris esset 
 cum omnibus suis copiis. habet autem cohortes quadringenarias nostra 
 armatura triginta; equitum duo millia — ib. 
 
 Deiotarum confestim jam ad me venientem cum magno et firmo 
 equitatu et peditatu, et cum omnibus suis copiis, certiorem feci, non 
 videri esse causam cur abesseta regno — Ep. Fam. 15. 4. 
 
 1 Deiotarus mihi narravit, etc. Ad Att. 6. 1. 5. 21. 
 
8ECT. VII. 
 
 CICERO. 2or 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Riifus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 where his whole care was, to ease the several cities 
 and districts of that excessive load of debts in 
 which the avarice and rapaciousness of former 
 S^overnours had involved them. He laid it down 
 for the fixed rule of his administration, not to suf- 
 fer any money to be expended either upon himself 
 or his officers: and when one of his lieutenants, L. 
 TuUius, in passing through the country, exacted 
 only the forage and firing, which was due by law, 
 and that but once a day, and not, as all others 
 had done before, from every town' and village 
 through which they passed, he was much out of hu- 
 mour, and could not help complaining of it as a 
 stain upon his government, since none of his peo- 
 ple besides had taken even a single farthing. All 
 the wealthier cities of the province used to pay to 
 all their proconsuls large contributions, for being 
 exempted from furnishing winter-quarters to the 
 army : Cyprus alone paid yearly, on this single 
 account, two hundred talents, or about forty thou- 
 sand pounds : but Cicero remitted tliis whole tax 
 to them, which alone made a . vast revenue ; and 
 applied all the customary perquisites of his office 
 to the relief of the oppressed province : yet, for 
 all his services and generosity, which amazed the 
 poor people, he would accept no honours but 
 what were merely verbal ; prohibiting all expen- 
 sive monuments, as statues, temples, biazen horses, 
 &c. which, by the flattery of Asia, used to be 
 erected, of course, to all governours, though ever 
 so corrupt and oppressive. AYhile he was upon 
 his visitation of tlie Asiatick districts, there hap- 
 pened to be a kind of famine in the country ; yet 
 wherever he came, he not only provided for his 
 family at his own expense, but prevailed with the 
 
208 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A, Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 merchants and dealers, who had any quantity of 
 corn in their storehouses, to supply the people 
 with it on easy terms f living himself, all the 
 while, splendidly and hospitably, and keeping an 
 open table, not only for all the Roman officers, 
 but the gentry of the province.f In the following 
 letter to Atticus, he gives him a summary view 
 of his manner of governing. 
 
 ^' I see," says he, " that you are much pleased 
 " with my moderation and abstinence ; but you 
 " would be much more so if you were with me, 
 " especially at Laodicea, where I did wonders at 
 " the sessions, which I have just held, for the af- 
 " fairs of the dioceses, from the thiileenth of Feb- 
 *' ruary to the first of May. Many cities are wholly 
 "freed from all their debts, many greatly eased, 
 "and all, by being allowed to govern themselves 
 " by their own laws, have recovered new life. 
 *^ There are two ways by which I have put them 
 
 * Cave pntcs quicquamhomines magis unquara esse miratos, quara 
 nullum teruiiciuin, me obtinenle provinciam, sumtus factum esse, 
 nee in Uemp>»ec in quemquam meorum, praeterquara in L. Tulli- 
 iim, legatum. Is caeteroqui abstinens (sed Julia lege transitans, semel 
 tanien in diem, r.on nt alii solel-ant omnibus vicis) facit ut mihi 
 excipiendus sit, cum teruncium nego sumtus factum. Fraeter eum 
 accepit nemo. Has sordes a nosJro U. Titinio accepimus. — Ad 
 Alt. .'^.21. 
 
 Civitates locupletcs, ne in hiberna milites reciperent, magnas pe- 
 cunias dabant. Cyprii talenta Attica cc. Qua ex insula (non 
 v7n^0oKi>ta>i sed verissime loquor) nummus nullus me obtinente ero- 
 o-abitur. Ob haec beueficia, quibus obstupescunt, nullos honores 
 mihi, nisi verborum, decerni sino. Statuas, fana, TiQ^tTTTTA, prohi- 
 
 beo. lb. ' . ■ ^ 
 
 Fames, quae erat in liac mea Asia, mihi optanda luerit. Quacun- 
 que iter feci, nulla vi, — auctoritate et cohortatione perfeci, ut et 
 Graeci et cives Romani, qui fiumentum compresserunt, magnum nu- 
 merum populis pollicerentur. lb. 
 
 f Ita vivara ut maximos sumptus facio. Mirlfice delector hoc in- 
 stitiito. Ad Att. 5. \5. 
 
SECT. vit. CICERO. 209 
 
 A. Urb. 703. Cic. 56. Coss.—Senr. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius MarcellUs. 
 
 '*into a capacity of freeins;, or of easing them- 
 " selves, at least, of their debts ; the one is, by 
 " suffering no expense at all to be made on the 
 " account of my government. When I say none 
 " at all, I speak not hyperbolically ; there is not 
 '' so much as a farthing : it is incredible to think 
 " what relief they have found from this single 
 " article. The other is this ; their own Greek 
 ''magistrates had strangely abused and plundered 
 " them. I examined every one of them, who had 
 " borne any office for ten years past : they all 
 " plainly confessed ; and, without the ignominy of 
 " a publick conviction, made restitution of the mo- 
 " ney which they had pillaged : so that the people, 
 " who had paid nothing to our farmers for the pre- 
 " sent lustrum, have now paid the arrears of the 
 '' last, even without murmuring. This has placed 
 *'me in high favour with the publicans ; a grateful 
 '* set of men, you'll say : T have really found them 
 *' such : The rest of my jurisdiction shall be ma- 
 ''naged with the same address; and create the 
 " same admiration of my clemency and easiness. 
 " There is no difficulty of access to me, as there 
 *' is to all other provincial governours ; no intro- 
 '*' duction b}^^ my chamberlain : 1 am always up 
 '-before day, and walking in my hall, with my 
 "' doors open, as I used to do, when a candidate at 
 '^ Rome : this is great and gracious here ; though 
 "not at all troublesome to me, from m}' old habit 
 *' and discipline," kc,^ 
 
 This method of governing gave no small um- 
 brage to Appius ; who considered it as a reproach 
 
 ^ Ad AU. f). 2. 
 VOL» IT, 27 
 
210 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 4. Urb. 702. Cie. 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Rlarcellu* 
 
 upon himself, and sent several querulous letters to 
 Cicero, because he had reversed some of his con- 
 stitutions : " And no wonder," says Cicero, '' that 
 *' he is displeased with my manner, for what can be 
 " more unlike, than his administration and mine ? 
 " under him, the province was drained by expen- 
 " ses and exactions ; under me, not a penny levied 
 " for publick or private use : what shall I say of 
 '' his praefects, attendants, lieutenants ? of their 
 *' plunders, rapines, injuries ? Avhereas now, there 
 " is not a single family governed with such order, 
 " discipline, and modesty, as my province. This 
 '^ some of Appius's friends interpret ridiculously ; 
 " as if I was taking pains to exalt my own cha- 
 " racter, in order to depress his ; and doing all this, 
 " not for the sake of my own credit, but of his dis- 
 " grace."* But the truth was, that, from the time 
 of his reconciliation with Appius, he had a sincere 
 desire to live on good terms with him; as well 
 out' of regard to the splendour of his birth, and 
 fortunes, as to his great alliances ; for one of his 
 daughters was married to Pompey's son, and an- 
 other to Brutus :t so that, though their principles 
 and max44?is were totally different, yet he took 
 care to do every thing with the greatest profes- 
 sions of honour and respect towards Appius, even 
 when he found it necessary to rescind his decrees; 
 
 * Quid enim potest esse tarn dissiraile, quam illo imperante, ex- 
 haustam esse sumptibus et jacturis provinciam, nobis earn obtinenti- 
 bus, nummura nullum esse erogatum nee privatira nee publico, etc. — 
 lb. 6. 1. 
 
 f Ego Appium, ut tecum sacpe locutus sum, valde diligo. Mequeab 
 eo diligi statina coeptum esse, ut siaiultalem doposnimus, sensi-jam me 
 Pompeii totum esse scis : Brutuai a me amari intelJigis. Quid est 
 causae, cur mihi non in optatis est complecti hominem, fiorentem 
 aetate, opibus, honoribus, ingenio, liberis. propinquis, affinibus.-ami- 
 cis. Ep. Fam 2. 13, 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 211 
 
 A. Urb, 702. Cic. 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpic'us Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellus- 
 
 considering himself only, he says, as a second phy- 
 sician called in to a case of sickness, where he 
 found it necessary to change the method of cure, 
 and, when the patient had been brought low by 
 evacuations, and bloodletting, to apply all kinds of 
 lenitive and restoring medicines."^' 
 
 As soon as the government of Cilicia was allot- 
 ted to him, he acquainted Appius with it by let- 
 ter, begging of him, that, as no man could succeed 
 to it with a more friendly disposition than himself, 
 so Appius would deliver up the province to him, 
 in such a condition, as one friend would expect to 
 receive it from another :t in answer to which, 
 Appius, having intimated some desire of an inter- 
 view, Cicero took occasion to press it with much 
 earnestness, as a thing of great service to them 
 both ; and that it might not be defeated, gave him 
 an account of all his stages and motions, and of- 
 fered to regulate them in such a manner, as to 
 make the place of their meeting the most agreea- 
 ble to Appius's convenience : but Appius being 
 disgusted by the first edicts which Cicero pub- 
 lished, resolved, for that reason, to disappoint him ; 
 and as Cicero advanced into the province, retired 
 still to the remoter parts of it, and contrived to 
 come upon him at last so suddenly, that Cicero 
 
 * Ut si iMedicus, cum aegrotus alii medico traditus sit, iiasci velit 
 ei medico, qui sibi successerit, si quae ipse in curando constituent 
 mutet ille. Sic Appius, cum «| a.<^xi^i<7ia); provinciam curarit, sau- 
 guinem miserit, etc. Ad Att. 6. 1. 
 
 t Cum contra voluntatem meara — accidisset, ut mihi cjira imperio 
 in Provinciam ire necessc esset — haec una consolatiooccunebat, quod 
 neque tibi amicior, quam ego sum, quisquam posset succedere, nequc 
 ego ab ullo Provinciam accipere, qui mallet eam mihi quam maxirae 
 aptara explicataraqiic tradere, etc. E'p. Fam. 3. 2. 
 
212 THE LIFE OF sect. vh. 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Kufus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 had not warning enough given to go out and meet 
 him ; which Appius laid hold of, as a fresh ground 
 of complaint against Cicero's pride, for refusing 
 that common piece of respect to him.^ 
 
 I'his provoked Cicero to expostulate with him, 
 
 with great spirit " I was informed," says he, 
 
 " by one of my apparitors, that you complained of 
 *' me for not coming out to meet you : 1 despised 
 "you, it seems, so as nothing could be prouder 
 
 '^ when your servant came to me near mid- 
 
 " night, and told me, that you would be with me 
 *' at Iconium before day, but could not say by 
 '' which road, when there were two ; I sent out 
 " your friend Yarro by* the one, and Q.. Lepta, 
 "the commander of my artillery, by the other, 
 " with instructions to each of them, to bring me 
 '^ timely notice of your approach, that I might 
 *' conie out in person to meet you. Lepta came 
 "running back presently in all haste to acquaint 
 " me, that you had already passed by the camp ; 
 " upon which I went directly to Iconium, where 
 " you know the rest. Did T -then refuse to come 
 '' out to you ? to Appius Claudius ; to an empe- 
 " rour ; then, according to ancient custom ; and 
 " above all to my friend? I, who of all men am apt 
 '' to do more in that way than becomes my dignity ? 
 *^ but enough of this. The same man told me, like- 
 " w'ise, that you said. What ! Appius w^ent out to 
 "meet Lentulus; Lentulus to Appius; but Ci- 
 " cero would not come ^ out to Appius. Can you 
 
 f — me libenter ad earn partem provinciae primum esse venturum, 
 quo te raaxime velle arbitrarer, etc. — lb. 5. 
 
 Appius noster, ciim me adventarc videt, profectns est TarsHm 
 usque Laodicea— Ad Att. 5. 17. 
 
SECT. VII. CIGERO. 213 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic 56. Cosi.— S«T. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 " then be guilty of such impertinence ? a man, in 
 "my judgment, of the greatest prudence, learn- 
 '' ing, experience ; and I may add, politeness too, 
 " which the Stoicks rightly judge to be a virtue ? 
 "Do you imagine, that your Appius's and Len- 
 " tulus's are of more weight with me than the orna- 
 " ments of virtue ? Before I had obtained those 
 " honours, which, in the opinion of the world, are 
 " thought to be the greatest, I never fondly ad- 
 " mired those names of yours: I looked indeed 
 " upon those, who had left them to you, as great 
 " men ; but after I had acquired, and borne the 
 " highest commands, so as to have nothing more 
 " to desire, either of honour or glory, I never in- 
 *' deed considered myself as your superiour, but 
 " hoped that I was become your equal : nor did 
 "Pompey, whom I prefer to all men who ever 
 " lived, nor Lentulus, whom I prefer to myself, 
 «' think otherwise : if you, however, are of a differ- 
 "ent opinion, it will do you no harm to read, with 
 " some attention, what Athenodorus says on this 
 " subject, that you may learn wherein true nobility 
 " consists. But to return to the point : I desire 
 " you to look upon me, not only as your friend, 
 " but a most affectionate one : it shall be my care 
 " by all possible services, to convince you, that I 
 " am truly so : but if you have a mind to let peo- 
 " pie see that you are less concerned for my in- 
 " terests, in my absence, than my pains for yours 
 " deserved, I free you from that trouble ; 
 
 ♦• For I have friends enough to serve and love 
 " Both me and mine, and above all, Great Jove. 
 
 lb. 1. 174. 
 
214 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 46. Coss<— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 " but if you are naturally querulous, you shall not 
 " still hinder my good offices and wishes for you : 
 " all that you will do, is to make me less solicitous 
 *'how you take them. I have written this with 
 " more than my usual freedom, from the conscious- 
 " ness of my duty and affection, which being con- 
 "tracted by choice and judgment, it will be in 
 " your power to preserve, as long as you think 
 " proper. Adieii.""* 
 
 Cicero's letters to Appius make one book of his 
 familiar epistles, the greatest part of which are of 
 the expostulatory kind, on the subject of their 
 mutual jealousies and complaints : in this slippery 
 state of their friendship, an accident happened at 
 Rome, which had like to have put an end to it. His 
 daughter Tullia, after parting from her second 
 husband Crassipes, probably as it is thought, by 
 divorce,t was married in her father's absence to a 
 third, P. Cornelius Dolabella : several parties had 
 been offered to her, and among them Ti. Claudius 
 Nero, who afterwards married Livia, whom Au- 
 gustus took away from him; Nero made his pro- 
 posals to ^cero in Cilicia, who referred him to the 
 women to whom he had left the management of 
 that affair; but before those overtures reached 
 them, they had made up the match with Dola- 
 bella, being mightily taken with his complaisant 
 and obsequious address.J He was a nobleman of 
 
 * Ep. Fam. 3. 7. 
 
 t What confirms this notion is, that Crassipes appears to have been 
 alive at this time, and under Cicero's dispJeasure, who mentions him 
 as the only senator, besides Hirrus, to whom he did not think fit to 
 write about the affair of his supplication. Ad Att. 7. 1. 
 
 I Ego dura in provincia omnibus rebus Appium orno, subito sum 
 factus accusatoris ejus socer — sed crede raihi nihil minus putaram 
 
SECT. VII. 
 
 CICERO. 215 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 46. Com.— Servi Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 Patrician descent, and of great parts and politeness, 
 but of a violent, daring, ambitious temper, warmly 
 attached to Caesar ; and, by a life of pleasure and 
 expense, which the prudence of Tullia, it was 
 hoped, would correct, greatly distressed in his 
 fortunes, which made Cicero very uneasy, when 
 he came afterwards to know it.'^ Dolabella, at 
 the time of this marriage, for which he made way 
 also by the divorce of his first wife,t gave a proof of 
 his enterprising genius, by impeaching Appius 
 Claudius of practices against the state., in his go- 
 vernment of Cilicia, and of bribery and corrup- 
 tion in his suit for the consulship. This put a 
 great difficulty upon Cicero, and made it natural 
 to suspect that he privately favoured the impeach- 
 ment, where the accuser was his son-in-law : but, 
 in clearing himself of it to Appius, though he dis- 
 sembled a little perhaps in disclaiming any part or 
 knowledge of that match, yet he was very sincere 
 in professing himself an utter stranger to the im- 
 peachment, and was in truth, greatly disturbed at 
 it. But, as from the circumstance of his succeed- 
 ing to Appius in his government, he was of all 
 men the most capable of serving or hurting him 
 
 ego, qui de Ti. Nerone, qui mecuna egerat, certos homines ad raa- 
 lieres luiserara, qui Romam veiierunt factis sponsalibus. Sed hoc 
 spero melius. Mulieres quidem valde iutelligo delectari obsequio et 
 comitate adolescentis. — Ad Att. 6. 6. 
 
 * Gener est suavis — quanturavis vel ingenii, vel humanitatis ; satis. 
 Reliqua, quae nosti, fercnda. Ad Att. 7. 3. 
 
 Dolabellara a te gaudeo primura laudari, deinde etiam amari. Nam 
 ea quae speras Tulliae meae prudentia posse tcmperari, scio cni 
 tuae epistolae respondeant. Kp. Fam. 2. 15. it. {>. 13. 
 
 Hac oblectabar specula, DolabeJIam meum fore ab iis molestiis. 
 quas libertate sua contiaxerat, liberum — lb. 16. 
 
 t IHud mihi occurrit, quod inter postnlationcm, ot jjominis dcht- 
 tionem, uxor a DoIabeIJa disccssit — lb. <l. H. 
 
216 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Cuss— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudiui Marcellus. 
 
 at the trial, so Pouipey, who took great pains to 
 skreen Appius, was extremely desirous to engage 
 him on their side, and had thoughts of sending one 
 of his sons to him for that purpose : but Cicero 
 saved them that trouble, by declaring early and 
 openly for Appius, and promising every thing 
 from the province that could possibly be of service 
 to him, which he thought himself obliged to do 
 the more forwardly, to prevent any suspicion of 
 treachery to his friend, on the account of his new 
 alliance :^ so that Appius, instead of declining a 
 trial, contrived to bring it on as soon as he could ; 
 and, with that view, having dropped his preten- 
 sions to a triumph, entered the city, and offered 
 himself to his judges, before his accuser was pre- 
 pared for him, and was acquitted, without any 
 difficulty, of both the indictments. 
 
 In a little time after his trial, he was chosen 
 censor, together with Piso, Caesar's father-in-law, 
 the last who bore that office during the freedom 
 of the republick. Clodius's law, mentioned above, 
 which had greatly restrained the power of these 
 magistrates, was repealed the last year by Scipio, 
 the consul, and their ancient authority restored to 
 them,t which was now exercised with great rigour 
 by Appius : who, though really a libertine, and 
 
 * Pompeius dicitur valde pro Appio laborare, ut etiam puteat al- 
 teratrum de filiis ad te raissurum. Ibid. — 
 
 Post hoc negotium auteni et teraeritatem nostri JDolabellae depre- 
 catorem me pro illius perieulo praebeo U). 2. 13. 
 
 Tamen hac inihi affinitate uuhciata, non majore equidem studio, sed 
 acrius, apertius, significantius dignitatem tuam defendissera— nam ut 
 vetus nostra simultas antea stimulabat me, ut caverera ne cui suspi- 
 cionera ficte recouciliatae gratiae darem : sic affinitas noTam curam 
 affert cavendi. lb. 3. 12. 
 
 f Dio, p. 147. 
 
SECT. VII. 
 
 CICERO. 217 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 remarkable for indula;ing himself in all the luxury 
 of life, yet, by an affectation of severity, hoped to 
 retrieve his character, and pass for an admirer of 
 that ancient discipline, for which many of his ances- 
 tors had been celel)rated. Caelius o;ives a pleasant 
 account of him to Cicero : *^ Do you know," says he, 
 " that the censor Appius is doing wonders amono;st 
 " us, about statues and pictures, the number of our 
 "acres, and the payment of debts: he takes the 
 " censorship for soap or nitre, and thinks to scour 
 " himself clean with it ; but he is mistaken ; for 
 " while he is labouring to wash out his stains, he 
 " opens his very veins and bowels, and lets us see 
 " him the more intimately : run away to us, by all 
 "the gods, to laugh at these things: Drusus sits 
 "judge upon adultery, by the Scantinian law : Ap- 
 " pius on statues and pictures."* But tliis vain and 
 unseasonable attempt of reformation, instead of 
 doing any good, served only to alienate people from 
 Pompey's cause, with whom Appius was strictly 
 allied, whilst his colleague Piso, who foresaw^ that 
 effect, chose to sit still, and suffer him to disgrace 
 the knights and senators at pleasure, which he did 
 with great freedom ; and, among others, turned 
 Sallust, the historian, out of the senate, and was 
 hardly restrained from putting the same affiont upon 
 Curio, wliicli added still more friends and strength 
 to Caesar.f 
 
 * Scis Appinm Censorem hicostenta facere ? de sigriis et tabulis, de 
 agri inodo, et aere alieno acerrirae agere ? persiiasuni est ei. rensiiram 
 lomeDtiim ant uitruin esse. Errare iiiilii videtnr. Nam sondes eluere 
 vult, venas sibi oinnes et viscera aperit. Curre per Ceos, et quam 
 primura haec risum venl. Legis Scantiniae judicium apdd Drusum 
 fieri. Appium de tabulis et sigois agere Ep. Earn. S. 14. 
 
 fDio. I. 40. p. 150. 
 VOL. TT. 28 
 
218 THE LIFE OF sect. vn. 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Coss.--Serv. Sulpicius Ruftis. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 As to the publick news of the year, the grand af- 
 fair, that engaged all peoples thoughts, was the ex- 
 pectation of a breach between Caesar and Pompey, 
 which seemed now unavoidable, and in which all 
 men were beginning to take part, and ranging them- 
 selves on the one side or tlie other. On Pompey's, 
 there was '' a great majority of the senate and the 
 " magistrates, with the better sort of all ranks : on 
 " Caesar's, all the criminal and obnoxious, all who 
 " had suffered punishment, or deserved it ; the great- 
 " est part of the youth, and the city mob ; some of 
 " the popular tribunes, and all who were oppressed 
 " with debts ; who had a leader fit for their purpose, 
 " daring, and well provided, and wanting nothing 
 *'but a cause." This is Cicero's account; and 
 Caelius's is much the same: "I see," says he, 
 " that Pompey will have the senate, and all who 
 "judge of things ; Caesar, all who live in fear and 
 " uneasiness : but there is no comparison between 
 ** th^ir armies."^ Caesar had put an end to the 
 Gallick war, and reduced the whole province to the 
 Roman yoke : but, though his commission was near 
 expiring, he seemed to have no thoughts of giving 
 it up, ancrTeturning to the condition of a private 
 subject: he pretended, that he could not possibly 
 be safe, if he parted with his army, especially while 
 Pompey held the province of Spain, prolonged to 
 
 * Hoc video, cum homine aiidacissirao, paratissimoqiie negotiuin 
 esse : omof'S damnatos, omnes, ignominia afFectos, omnes damnatione 
 ignominiaque digiios iliac facere. Omnem fere jiivenlutem, omnem 
 illam urbanairi ac perditam p^lebem ; tribnnos valentes — omnes, qui 
 aere alieno premantur — causam solara ilia causa iion liabet, caeteris 
 rebus abundat Ad Att. 7. 3. 
 
 In hac discoidia video, Cn. Pompeium senatum, quique res judicant, 
 secum habiturum : ad Caesarrm omnes qui cum timore aut mala spp 
 vivant ad Caesarera, accessuros. Ksercitum conrerendnm nonesse. 
 Ep. Fara. 8. 14. 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 219 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Ularcelltis. 
 
 him for five years."^ The senate, in the mean while, 
 in order to make him easy, had consented to let him 
 take the consulship, without coming to sue for it 
 in person : but when that did not satisfy him, the 
 consul, M. Marcellus, one of his fiercest enemies, 
 moved them to abrogate his command directly, and 
 appoint him a successor; and since the war was at 
 an end, to oblige hiai to disband liis troops, and to 
 come likewise in person to sue for the consulship, 
 nor to allow the freedom of the city to his colonies 
 beyond the Po : this related particularly to a fa- 
 vourite colony, which Caesar, when consul, had set- 
 tled at Comum, at the foot of the Alps, with the 
 freedom of the city granted to it by the Yatinian 
 law.f All the other colonies on that side of the Po 
 had before obtained from Pompey's father the 
 rights of Latium, that is, the freedom of Rome to 
 those who had borne an annual magistracy in them : 
 but M. Marcellus, out of a singular enmity to Cae- 
 sar, would allow no such right to his colony of Co- 
 mum ; find having caught a certain Comensian ma- 
 gistrate, who was acting the citizen at Rome, he 
 ordered him to be seized, and publickly whipt ; an 
 indignity from which all citizens were exempted by 
 law ; bidding the man go and shew those marks of 
 his citizenship to Caesar.J Cicero condemns this 
 act as violent and unjust; "Marcellus," says he, 
 " behaved shamefully in the case of the Comensian : 
 " for if the man had never been a magistrate, he 
 " was yet of a colony beyond the Po ; so that Pom- 
 
 * Caesari aiitem persuasum est, se salvura esse nou posse, si ab ex- 
 crcitii reeesserit. Fert illam tamen conditionein, ut ambo exercitus 
 tradant. Ibid. 
 
 fSueton. J. Caes. c. 2^. Strabo, 1. T;. 326. \ Appian. 2. 443. 
 
220 THE LIFE OF sect, mu 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 "pey will not be less shocked at it than Caesar 
 " himself."^ 
 
 The other consul, Serv. Sulpicius, was of a more 
 caniHd and moderate temper ; and, beino^ unwilling 
 to «;ive such a handle for a civil war, opposed and 
 overruled the motions of his collea^ijue, by the help 
 of some of the tribunes : nor was Pompey him- 
 self disposed to proceed so violently, or to break 
 with Caesar on that foot; but thouij^ht it more plau- 
 sible to let his term run out, and his command ex- 
 pire of itself, and so throw upon him the odium of 
 turning his arms aorainst his country, if he should 
 resolve to act against the senate and the laws. 
 This counsel prevailed, after many warm contesta- 
 tions, in which the summer was chiefly spent, and a 
 decree was offered on the last of September, " That 
 '•the consuls elect, L. PauUus and C. Marcellus 
 " should move the senate on the first of March, to 
 " settle the consular provinces ; and if any magis- 
 " trate should interpose to hinder the effect of their 
 " decrees, that he should be deemed an enemy to 
 " the republick ; and if any one actually interposed, 
 "that this'^n^ote and resolution should be entered 
 "into the journals, to be considered some other time 
 " by the senate, and laid also before the people." 
 But four of the tribunes gave tlieir joint negative 
 to this decree, C. Caelius, L. Yinicius, P. Corne- 
 lius, and C. Vibius Pansa. In the course of these 
 debates, Pompey, who affected great moderation in 
 whatever he said of Caesar, was teazed and urged 
 on all sides to make an explicit declaration of his 
 
 * Marcellus foede de Comensi : csti ille magistralura iion gesserit, 
 erat tameii Tran«!padaniis. Ita luihi videtur non minus stomachi nos- 
 tro, ac Caesari inovisse. Ad Alt. 5. 11. 
 
SECT. vii. CICERO. 221 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 sentiments. When he called it unjust to determine 
 any thins: about ( -aesar's government, before the 
 first of Maich, the term prescribed to it by law, 
 being asked, " What, if any one should then put 
 " a neg;ative upon them," he said, ** there was no 
 " difference whether Caesar refused to obey the 
 "decrees of the senate, or provided men to ob- 
 ^' struct them :" '' What," says another, " if he 
 " should insist on being consul, and holding his 
 '' province too ? What," replied Pompey, "• if my 
 " son should take a stick and cudgel me ?"* inti- 
 mating the one to be as incredible and as impious 
 also as the other. 
 
 Cicero's friend Caelius obtained the aedileship 
 this summer from his competitor Hirrus, the same 
 who had opposed Cicero in the augurate, and 
 whose disappointment gave occasion to many 
 jokes between them in their letters.f In this mag- 
 istracy, it being customary to procure wild beasts 
 of all kinds from different parts of the empire, for 
 the entertainment of the city, Caelius begged of 
 Cicero to supply him with panthers from Cilicia, 
 and to employ the Cybarites, a people of his pro- 
 vince famed for hunting, to catch them : " for it 
 " would be a reflection upon you," says he, *' when 
 " Curio had ten panthers from that country, not 
 *' to let me have many more." He recommends 
 to him, at the same time, M. Feridius, a Ro- 
 
 ■*• Cum inteiTogaretur, si qui turn iutercederent : dixit hoc nihil 
 interesse, utrura C. Caesar senatui dicto audiens futurus non esset, 
 an pararet, qui senatum decernere non pateretur. Quid si, inquit 
 alius, et consul esse et exercitiim habere volet? At ille quain cle- 
 inenter, Quid sifilius mens fustem inihi impingere volet ? Ep. Fam. 
 n. 8. 
 
 t Ep. Fara. 2. 9, 10. it. 8. 2, 3, ». 
 
522 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. "Claudius Slarcellus. 
 
 man knight, who had an estate in Cilicia, charged 
 with some services or quit-rents to the neighbour- 
 ing cities, which he begs of him to get discharged, 
 so as to make the lands free ;^ he seems also to 
 have desired Cicero's consent to his levying certain 
 contributions upon the cities of his province, to- 
 wards defraying the expense of his shews at Rome ; 
 a prerogative which the aediles always claimed, 
 and sometimes practised ; though it was denied to 
 them by some governours, and particularly by 
 Quintus Cicero in Asia, upon the advice of his 
 brother if in answer to all which, Cicero replied, 
 '' that he was sorry to find that his actions were so 
 ''much in the dark, that it was not yet known at 
 '' Rome, that not a farthing had been exacted in 
 "his province, except for the payment of just 
 " debts : that it was neither fit for him to extort 
 " money, nor for Caelius to take it, if it were de- 
 " signed for himself: and admonished him, who had 
 " undertaken the part of accusing others, to live 
 " himself with more caution — and, as to panthers, 
 " that it was not consistent with his character to im- 
 ^' pose the charge of hunting them upon the poor 
 " people."}r But though he would not break his 
 rules for the sake of his friend, yet he took care to 
 
 * Fcrc litteris omnibus tibi de Pantheris scrip.>i. Tiirpe tibi erit, 
 Patiscura Curioni decern Pantheras misisse, te non raultis partibus 
 plures, etc. Ep. Fam. 8, 9. 
 
 M. Feridium, tibi commendo. Agros, quos fructuarios habent civi- 
 tates, vult tuo beneficio, quod tibi facile et honestum factu est, ira- 
 munes esse. lb. 
 
 t AdQuint. Frat. 1. 1. $9. ' 
 
 t Ptescripsi, me moleste ferre, si ego in tenebris laterem, nee an- 
 diretur Romae, nullum in mea provincia nummura nisi inaes alienum 
 erogari ; docuique nee mihi conciliare pecuniam licere, nee illi cape- 
 re; raonuique eura, etc. Ad Att. 6. 1. 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 223 
 
 A. Urb. 702. Cic. 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcdlus. 
 
 provide panthers for him at his own expense, and 
 says pleasantly upon it, that the beasts made a sad 
 complaint against him, and resolved to quit the 
 country, since no snares were laid in his province 
 for any other creature but themselves.^ 
 
 Curio likewise obtained the tribunate this summer, 
 which he sought with no other design, as many 
 imagined, than for the opportunity of mortifying 
 Caesar, against whom he had hitherto acted with 
 great fierceness.t But Cicero, who knew from 
 the temper and views of them both, how easy it 
 would be to make up matters between them, took 
 occasion to w^rite a congratulatory letter to him 
 upon this advancement, in which he exhorts him w^ith 
 great gravity, " to consider into what a dangerous 
 " crisis his tribunate had fallen, not by chance, but 
 " his own choice ; what violence of the times, what 
 " variety of dangers hung over the republick, how 
 " uncertain the events of thino^s were, how chanore- 
 '' able men's minds, how much treachery and false- 
 " hood in human life — he begs of him, therefore, 
 "to beware of entering into any new councils, but 
 "to pursue and defend what he himself thought 
 " right, and not suffer himself to be drawn away 
 ''by the advice of others," — referring, ivithout 
 doubt, to M. Antony, the chief companion and 
 corrupter of his youth : In the conclusion, he con- 
 jures him, to " employ his present power to hin- 
 
 * De Pantheris, per eos, qui venari solent, agitiir mandato meo 
 (liligeuter: sed mira paiicitas est: et eas, quae sunt, valde aiiint 
 queri quod nihil cuiquam insidiarnm in mea provinria nisi sibi fiat. 
 Kp. Fara. 2. 11. 
 
 f Sed ut spero et volo, et ut se fert ipse Curio, bonos et senatun* 
 malet. Totus ut nunc est, lioc scaturit. lb. 8. 4. 
 
224 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urbi 702. Cic. 56. Coss.— Serv. Sulpicius Rufus. M. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 " der to provincial trouble from being prolons^ed 
 " by any new act of the senate."^ — Cicero's sus- 
 picions were soon confirmed by letters from Rome ; 
 whence Caelius sent him word of Curio's chang- 
 ing sides, and declaring himself for Caesar : in an- 
 swer to which, Cicero says, ''the last page of your 
 '' letter, in your own hand, really touched me. — 
 " What do you say ? is Curio turned advocate for 
 " Caesar ? who would have thought it besides my- 
 " self? for, let me die if I did not expect it ! Good 
 " gods, how much do I long to be laughing with 
 "you at Rome!"t 
 
 A. Urb. 703. Cic. 57. Coss.— L. Aemilius Paullus C. Claudius Maroellus. 
 
 The new consuls being Cicero's particular 
 friends, he wrote congratulatory letters to them 
 both, upon their election, in which he begged the 
 concurrence of their authority to the decree of his 
 supplication ; and, what he had more at heart, that 
 they woufJ not suffer any prolongation of his an- 
 nual term ; in which they readily obliged him, 
 and received his thanks also by letter for that fa- 
 vour.! It was expected, that something decisive 
 would now be done in relation to the two Gauls, 
 and the appointment of a successor to Caesar, 
 since both the consuls were supposed to be bis ene- 
 mies : but all attempts; of that kind were still frus- 
 
 Ep. Fam. 2. 7. 
 
 I Extrema pagella pupiigit me tuo chirographo. Quid ais ? Cae- 
 sarem nunc defendit Curio? quis hoc putaret praeter ine ? nam ita 
 
 vivara, putavi. lb. 13 
 tEp. Fam. 15. 7. 10, 11, 12, 13. 
 
SECT. VII. 
 
 CICERO. 225 
 
 A. Urb. 703. Cic. 57. Coss.— L. Aemilius Paulliis. C. Claudius Maicelhu* 
 
 trated by the intrigues of Caesar ; for when C. 
 Marcellus be«;an to renew the same motion, which 
 his kinsman had made the year before, he was ob- 
 structed by his colleaorue Paullus, and the tribune 
 Curio, whom Caes-^.r had privately gained by im- 
 mense bribes, to suffer nothing prejudicial to his in- 
 terest to pass during their magistracy.* He is 
 said to have given Paullus about three hundred 
 thousand poiuids, and to Curio much more.f The 
 first wanted it to defray the charges of those splen- 
 did buildings which he had imdertaken to raise at 
 his own cost : the second, to clear himself of the 
 load of his debts, which amounted to about half a 
 million:! for he had wasted his great fortunes so 
 effectually in a few years, that he had no other 
 revenue left, as Pliny says, but in the hopes of 
 a civil w^ar.^ These facts are mentioned by all the 
 Roman w^riters : 
 
 Momentumquefuit mutatvs Curio rerum, 
 
 GaUormn capius spoliis et Caesaris auro. — 
 
 Lucan. 4. 819. 
 
 Caught by the spoils of Gaul, and Caesar's gold, 
 
 Curio turn'd traitor, and his country sold. 
 
 and Servius applies that the passage of Yirgil, ven- 
 didit hie auro patrlam, to the case of Curio's sell- 
 in c Rome to Caesar. 
 
 Cicero in the meantime was expecting with im- 
 patience, the expiration of his annual term, but, 
 
 * Suetoo. J. Caes. 29. \ Appian. I. ii. p. 443. 
 
 I Sexcenties sestertium aeris alieni. Val. Max. 9. 1. 
 $ Qui nihil in censu habuerit, praeter discordiain prlncipum. Plin. 
 Hist. I. 36. 15. 
 
 VOL. II. 29 
 
22G THE LIFE OF sect. vif. 
 
 A. Urb. 703. Cic. 57. Coss.— L. Aemilius PauUus. C. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 before he could quit the province, he was obliged 
 to see the account of all the money, which had pass- 
 ed through his own or his officers hands, stated and 
 balanced ; and three fair copies provided, two to 
 be deposited in tv/o of the principal cities of his 
 jurisdiction, and a third in the treasury at Rome. 
 That his whole administration, therefore, miojht be 
 of a piece, he was very exact and punctual in ac- 
 quitting himself of this duty, and would not in- 
 dulge his olficers in the use of any publick money 
 beyond the legal time, or above the sum prescribed 
 by law, as appears from his letters to some of them 
 who desired it.^ Out of the annual revenue, 
 which was decreed to him for the use of the pro- 
 vince, he remitted to the treasury all that he had 
 not expended, to the amount of above eight hun- 
 dred thousand pounds. " This, (says he,) makes 
 " my whole company groan ; they imagined that it 
 " should have been divided among themselves, as 
 " if I ought to have been a better manager for the 
 " treasuries of Phrygia and Cilicia, than for our 
 " own. But they did not move me ; for my own 
 " honour weighed with me the most : yet 1 have 
 " not beerwwanting to do every thing in my pow- 
 " er that is honourable and generous to them 
 " alL"t 
 
 * Laodiceae me praedes acceptiinim arbitror omnis publirae pecu- 
 niae — nihil est, qnod in isto genere cuiquam possira coinmodare, etc. 
 Ep. Fam. 2. 17. 
 
 Illud qiiidera certe factum est, quod lex jubebat, ut apud duas civi- 
 tates, Laodicensem, et Apameenseia, quae nol}is maxiujae videbantiir 
 — rationes conlectas et consoli(3atas depoueremus, etc. Jb. 5. 20. 
 
 f Cum enim rectum et gloriosura putarem ex annuo sumptu, qui 
 mihi decretus esset. Me C Caelio quaestori relinquere annum, re- 
 ferre in aerarium ad IL S. cic. Ingemuit nostra coliors, omne illud 
 puians distribui sibi oporteie ; ut ego amicior invenirer J^hrygum.aut 
 Cilicum aerariis, quam nostro. Sed'me uon moveruut ; nam mea laus 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 2-2? 
 
 A. Urb. 703. Cic. 57. Coss.— L. Aemilius Paullus. C. Claudius >farcellus. 
 
 His last concern was, to what hands he should 
 commit the government of his province upon his 
 leaving it, since tliere was no successor appointed 
 by the senate, on account of the heats among them 
 about the case of Caesar, whicii disturbed all their 
 debates, and interrupted all other business. He 
 had no opinion of his quaestor, C. Caelius, a young 
 man of noble birth, but of no great virtue or pru- 
 dence ; and was afraid, after his glorious adminis- 
 tration, that, by placing so gr^at a trust in one of 
 his character, he should expose himself to some 
 censure. But he had no body about him of supe- 
 riour rank, who was willing to accept it, and did 
 not care to force it upon his brother, lest tliat might 
 give a handle to suspect him of some interest or 
 partiality in the choice.^ He dropt the province, 
 therefore, after some deliberation, into Caelius's 
 hands, and set forward immediately upon his jour- 
 ney towards Italy. 
 
 But before he quitted Asia, he begged of Atti- 
 cus by letter, to send him a particular detail of all 
 the news of the city — " There are odious reports, 
 " (says he,) about Curio and Paullus ; not that I 
 " see any danger, while Pompey stands, or I may 
 " say, indeed, while he sits, if he has but his health ; 
 *^ but in truth, I am sorry for his friends, Curio 
 
 apud me pliirimnm valuit. Nee tamen quicqiiam honorifice in quem- 
 quara fieri potuit, quod praetermiserim. Ad Att. 7. 1. 
 
 * Ego de provincia deeedens quaestorem Caelium pracposui pro- 
 vinciae. Puernra ? inquies. At quaestorem ; at uobiieni adolcscrjn- 
 tem ; at omnium fere exemplo. Ncque erat sup;jriore honore usus. 
 quern praelicerem. Pontinius multo atite discesserat. A Quinto 
 fratre impetrari non potcrat : quern tamcn si reliquissera, dicerent 
 iniqui, non me plau3 post annum, nt senatus voluisset, de provincia 
 decessisse, quoniam alterum m3 reliquissfm. Kp. Fam. 2. 15. vid. 
 it. Ad Att. 6, 5, G. 
 
 m 
 
228 THE LIFE OF sect. vir. 
 
 A. Urb. 703. Cic. 57. Coss.— L. Aemilius Paullus. C. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 " and Paullus. If you are now therefore at Rome, 
 " or as soon as you come thither, I would have you 
 " to send me a plan of the whole republick, which 
 " may meet me on the road, that I may form my- 
 " self upon it, and resolve what temper to assume 
 " on my coming to the city : for it is some advan- 
 " tage not to come thither a mere stranc^er,"* We 
 see what a confidence he placed in Pompey, on 
 whom indeed their whole prospect either of peace 
 with Caesar, or of success against him depended : 
 as to the intimation about his health, it is expressed 
 more strongly in another letter : *' All our hopes," 
 says he, " hang upon the life of one man, who is 
 '' attacked every year by a dangerous fit of sick- 
 " ness."t His constitution seems to have been pe- 
 culiarly subject to fevers; the frequent returns of 
 which, in the present situation of affairs, gave great 
 apprehension to all his party : in one of those fe- 
 vers, which threatened his life for many days suc- 
 cessively, all the towns of Italy put up publick 
 prayers for his safety ; an honour which had never 
 been paid before to any man, while Rome was 
 > free.J 
 
 Upon taking leave of Cilicia, Cicero paid a visit 
 to Rhodes, for the sake, he says, of the children.? 
 
 •'^ Hue odiosa affeiebautnr de Curione, de Paullo: non quo ulluin 
 periculuin videam stante Pompeio, vel etiara sedente, valeat modo. 
 Sed raehercule Curionis et Paulli meorum f'amiliariura vicem doleo. 
 Forniara igitur inihi toliiis Reip. si jam o? Roinae, aut cum eris, 
 velim iiiitlas, quae milii obviaiii veniat. Ex qua me fingere possum, 
 etc. Ad Att. 6. 3. 
 
 f In unius homiiiis, quotannis periculose aegrotantis, anima, positas 
 nmnes nostras spes habemus ibid. 8. 2. 
 
 J Quo quidem tempore universa Italia vota pro salute ejus, prime 
 omnium civium, suscepit V'ell. Pat. 2. 48. Dio, p. 155. 
 
 h Rhodum volo puerorum causa. Ad Att. 6. 7. 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 229 
 
 A. Urb. 703. Cic. 57. Coss.— L. Aemilius Paullus. C. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 His rlesi^n was to ^ive them a view of that flou- 
 rishiiiiij isle, and a little exercise, perhaps, in that 
 celebrated school of eloquence, where lie himself 
 had studied with so much success under Molo. 
 Here he received the news of Hortensius's death,^ 
 which greatly affected him, by recalling to his mind 
 the many glorious struggles that they had sustain- 
 ed together at the bar, in their competition for the 
 prize of eloquence. Hortensius reigned absolute 
 in the Forum, when Cicero first entered it ; and 
 as his superiour fame was the chief spur to Cicero's 
 industry, so the shining specimen, which Cicero 
 soon gave of himself, made Hortensius likewise 
 the brighter for it, by obliging him to exert all 
 the force of his genius to maintain his ground 
 against his young rival. They passed a great 
 part of their lives in a kind of equal contest and 
 emulation of each other's merit : but Hortensius, 
 by the superiority of his years, having first pass- 
 ed through the usual gradation of publick honours, 
 and satisfied his ambition by obtaining the highest, 
 began to relax somewhat of his old contention, 
 and give way to the charms of ease and luxury, to 
 which his nature strongly inclined him,t till he was 
 forced at last by the general voice of the city, to 
 yield the post of honour to Cicero ; who never 
 lost sight of the true point of gloiy, nor was ever 
 diverted by any temptation of pleasure from his 
 steady course and laborious pursuit of virtue. 
 
 * Cum e Cilicia decedens Rhodum venissero, et eo mihl de Q. Hor- 
 tensii morte esset allatum ; opinione oiiiuium majorrm aniiDO repi 
 dolorem Biut» init. 
 
 t Nam is post consulatum — summura illiid suiim studiiim remisit, 
 quo a puero fuerat incensiis ; atque in omnium rtiiim ahiindantia 
 voluit beatius, ut ipse putabat, remissius certe vivere. Brut, p 
 443. 
 
230 THE LIFE OF sect, vii 
 
 A. Urb. 703. Cic. 57. Coss.— L. Aemilius Paullus. C. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 Hortensius published several orations which were 
 extant long after his death ; and it were much to 
 be wished that they had remained to this day, to 
 enable us to form a judgment of the different ta- 
 lents of these two great men : but they are said to 
 have owed a great part of their credit to the ad- 
 vantage of his action, which yet was thought to 
 have more of art than was necessary to an orator, 
 so that his compositions were not admired so much 
 by the reader, as they had been by the hearer;^ 
 while Cicero's more valued productions made all 
 others of that kind less sought for, and conse- 
 quently the less carefully preserved. Hortensius, 
 however, was generally allowed by the ancients, 
 and by Cicero himself, to have possessed every ac- 
 complishment, which could adorn an orator ; ele- 
 gance of stile ; art of composition ; fertility of in- 
 vention J sweetness of elocution ; gracefulness of ac- 
 iion.f These two rivals lived, however, always 
 with great civility and respect towards each other, 
 and were usually in the same w^ay of thinking and 
 aciing in the affairs of the republick ; till Cicero, 
 in the case of his exile, discovered the plain marks 
 of a lurktrrg envy and infidelity in Hortensius : 
 yet his resentment carried him no farther than to 
 some free complaints of it to their common friend 
 Atticus, wlio made it his business to mitigate this 
 disgust, and hinder it from proceeding to an open 
 
 * Mollis et gestiis etiam plus artis habebat quam erat oratori 
 satis. Brut. 42.5. dicebat melius quam scripsit Hortensius. Ora- 
 tor, p. 261. ' 
 
 Ejus scripta tantuin intra famara sunt, qui diu princeps orato- 
 
 rura existimatus est, novissime quoad vixit, secundus ; ut ap- 
 
 pareat placuisse aliquid eo dicente, quod legentes non invenimus — 
 Quint, xi. 3. 
 
 f Erat in verborum splendors elegans, compositions aptus, facul- 
 tate copiosus : — noc praetermittebat fere quicquam quod erat in 
 rausa — tox canora ct suavis — Brut. 425. 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 2'3\ 
 
 A. Urb. 703. Cic. 57. Coss.— L. Aemilius PauUus. C. Claudius Maretllus. 
 
 breach ; so that Cicero, being naturally placable, 
 lived again with him after his return, on the same 
 easy terms as before, and lamented his death at 
 this time with great tenderness, not only as the 
 private loss of a friend, but a publick misfortune 
 to his country, in being deprived of the service 
 and authority of so experienced a statesman at so 
 critical a conjuncture.* 
 
 From Rhodes he passed on to Ephesus, wdience 
 he set sail, on the first of October, and, after a 
 tedious passage, landed at Athens on the four- 
 teenth.f Here he lodged again in his old quar- 
 ters, at the house of his friend Aristus. His pre- 
 decessor, Appius, who passed also through Athens 
 on his return, had ordered a new portico or vesti- 
 bule to be built at his cost to the temple of the 
 Eleusinian Ceres ; wiiich suggested a thought like- 
 wise to Cicero, of adding some ornament of tlie 
 same kind to the academy, as a publick monu- 
 ment of'his name, as w^ell as of his affection for the 
 place : for he hated, he says, those false inscrip- 
 tions of other people's statues,t with w'hich the 
 Greeks used to flatter their new masters, by effac- 
 ing the old titles, and inscribing them anew to the 
 great men of Rome. He acquainted Atticus with 
 
 * Nam et amico amisso cum consuetndine jucunda, turn iniiltoriiin 
 officioriim conjunctinne me privatum videham — angebat etiam mo- 
 lestiam, quod magna sapientium civium bouoriimqiie penuria, vir 
 egregius, . conjunclissimusque mecum consiliorum omnium societate 
 alienissimo Reipnb. tempore extinctus — Brut. init. 
 
 t Prid. Id. Octob. Athenas venimus, cum sane adversis ventis usi 
 essemus. Ep. Fam. 11. r>. 
 
 ^ Audio Appium Tr^iTn/XA/sv Elousine facere. Num incpti fuerimus, 
 si nos quoque academiae lacerimus ? — equidem valde ipsas Athenas 
 amo. Volo esse aliquod monumentum. Odi falsas inseriptiones alir- 
 narum statuarum. J^ed ut tibi placebit. Ad Alt. 6. 1. 
 
232 THE LIFE OF sect, vii 
 
 A. Urb. 703. Cic. 57. Coss.— L. AeraUius Paullus. C. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 his design, and desired his opinion upon it: but, 
 in all probability, it was never executed, since his 
 stay at Athens was now very short, and his thoughts 
 wholly bent on Italy : for, as all his letters con- 
 firmed to him the certainty of a w^ar, in which he 
 must necessarily bear a part, so he was impatient 
 to be at home, that he might have the clearer view 
 of the state of affairs, and take his measures with 
 the greater deliberation.^ Yet he was not still 
 without hopes of peace, and that he should be able 
 to make up the quarrel between the chiefs ; for 
 he was, of all men, the best qualified to effect it, 
 on account, not only of his authority, but of his 
 intimate friendship with them both ; who severally 
 paid great court to him at this time, and reckoned 
 upon him as their own, and wrote to him with a 
 confidence of his being a determined friend.f 
 
 In his voyage from Athens towards Italy, Tiro, 
 one' of his slaves, Avhom he soon after made free, 
 happened to fall sick, and was left behind at Pa- 
 trae to the care of friends and a physician. The 
 mention of such an accident will seem trifling to 
 those wh^are not acquainted with the character 
 and excellent qualities of Tiro, and how much we 
 
 * Cognovi ex misltoriim amicornm litteris — ad arrna rem spectare. 
 Lit luilii ciim venero, dissiimilaie uon liceat, quid seiitiam. ISed 
 quum siibeiinda fortnna est, eo citius dabimiis operam ut veniamus, 
 quo iaciliiis de tola re deliberemus. Ep. Fam. 14. 5. 
 
 JSive enim ad couconliam res addiici potest, sive ad bouorum vic- 
 toriain, utriiisve rei me aut adjutorcm esse velim, aut certe non 'ex- 
 pertem. Ad Att. 7. 3. ; 
 
 j Ipsura tamen Pompeium separatim ad concordiam hortabor. lb. 
 
 Me autem uterque numerat suum. Nisi forte simulat alter. Nam 
 Pompeiiis non dubitat (vere enim judicat) ea, quae de Repub. nunc 
 sentiat, raihi valde probari. IJtriusque autem accepi litteras ejus- 
 modi — ut neuter quemquam omnium pluris facere quam me videre- 
 tur. lb. 7. 1. 
 
SECT. VII. CTCERO. 233 
 
 A. Urb. 703. Cic. 57. Coss.—L. Aemilius PauUus. C. Claudius Mareellus. 
 
 are indebted to him for preservino; and transmitting 
 to posterity the precious collection of Cicero's let- 
 ters, of which a great part still remain, and one 
 entire book of them written to Tiro himself; se- 
 veral of which relate to the subject of this very ill- 
 ness. Tiro was trained up in Cicero's family, 
 among the rest of his young slaves, in every kind 
 of useful and polite learning, and, being a youth 
 of singular parts and industry, soon became an 
 eminent scholar, and extremely serviceable to his 
 master in all his affairs both civil and domestick. 
 " As for Tiro," says he to Atticus, *' I see you 
 " have a concern for him : though he is wonder- 
 " fully useful to me, when he is well, in every 
 " kind both of my business and studies, yet I wish 
 " his health, more for his own humanity and modesty, 
 "than for any service which I reap from him."^ 
 But his letter to Tiro himself will best shew what 
 an affectionate master he was : for from the time 
 of leaving him, he never failed writing to him by 
 every messenger or ship which passed that w^ay, 
 though it w^ere twice or thrice a day, and often 
 sent one of his servants express to bring an ac- 
 count of his health : the first of these letters will 
 give us a notion of the rest. 
 
 " M. T. Cicero to Tiro. 
 
 " I thought that I should have been able to bear 
 the want of you more easily ; but in truth I can- 
 not bear it : and though it is of great importance 
 
 * De Tirone video tibi cnrae esse. Quem qnidem ego, et sJ mi- 
 rabiles utilitates mihi praebet, cum valet, in omni genere vel nego- 
 tiorum vel stiidiorum meoriim, tameo propter humanitatem et mo- 
 destiam raalo salvum, quara propter usum ineum. Ad Att. 7. 5, 
 VOL. IT. 30 
 
234 THE LIFE OF sect. vir. 
 
 A. Urb. 703. Cic. 57. Coss.— L. Aemilius PauUus. L. Clandius Marcellus. 
 
 " to my expected honour, to be at Rome as soon as 
 '' possible, yet I seem to have committed a sin when 
 " I left you. But since you were utterly against 
 " proceeding in the voyage till your health was con- 
 *' firmed, I approved your resolution; nor do I 
 " now think otherwise, if you continue in the same 
 "mind. But after you have begun to take meat 
 " again, if you think that you shall be able to over- 
 " take me, that is left to your consideration. I have 
 "sent Mario to you with instructions, either to 
 " come with you to me as soon as you can, or if 
 " you should stay longer, to return instantly without 
 "you. Assure yourself, however, of this, that, as 
 " far as it can be convenient to your health, I wish 
 *' nothing more than to have you with me : but if it 
 " be necessary for the perfecting your recovery, to 
 " stay a while longer at Patrae ; that I wish nothing 
 " more than to have you well. If you sail immedi- 
 " ately, you will overtake me at Leucas : but if you 
 " stay to establish yoiu' health, take care to have 
 " good company, good weather, and a good vessel. 
 " Observe this one thing, my Tiro, if you love me, 
 " that neither Mario's coming, nor this letter, hurry 
 " you. By doing what is most conducive to your 
 "health, you will do what is most agreeable to me : 
 "weigh all these things by your own discretion. I 
 " want you ; yet so as to love you ; my love makes 
 *'me wish to see you well ; my want of you, to see 
 " you as soon as possible : the first is the better ; 
 " take care, therefore, above all things, to ^ei well 
 "again: of all your innumerable services to me, 
 " that will be the most acceptable. — The third of 
 *' November."* 
 
 * Ep. Fara. 16. 1 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 235 
 
 A. Urb. 703. Cic. 57. Coss.— L. Aemilius Paullus. L. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 ■ r ■ . 
 
 By the honour that he mentions in the letter, he 
 means the honour of a triumph, which his friends 
 encouraged him to demand for his success at Ama- 
 nus and Pindenissum : in writing upon it to Atticus, 
 he says, " consider what you would advise me with 
 " regard to a triumph, to which my friends invite 
 " me : for my part, if Bibulus, who, while there was 
 " a Parthian in Syria, never set a foot out of the 
 ** gates of Antioch, any more than he did, upon a 
 " certain occasion, out of his own house, had not 
 "solicited a triumph, I should have been quiet; 
 *' but now it is a shame to sit still."* Again, " as 
 " to a triumph, I had no thoughts of it before Bibu- 
 " lus's most impudent letters, by which he obtained 
 "an honourable supplication. If he had really 
 '' done all that he has wTitten, 1 should rejoice at it, 
 " and wish w^ell to his suit ; but for him, who never 
 " stirred beyond the walls, while there was an enemy 
 "on this side the Euphrates, to have such an hon- 
 " our decreed ; and for me, whose arm inspired all 
 " their hopes and spirits into his, not to obtain the 
 " same, will be a disgrace to us ; I say to us : joining 
 " you to myself : wherefore I am determined to 
 " push at all, and hope to obtain all."t 
 
 After the contemptible account which Cicero 
 gives of Bibulus's conduct in Syria, it must appear 
 strange to see him honoured with a supplication, and 
 
 * Ad Att. 6. 8. 
 
 f De triumpho, nulla me cupiditas unqnain tennit ante Bibuli impn- 
 dentissimas litteras, qiias amplissima supplicatio consccuta est. A 
 quo si ea i^esta sunt, quae scrip«it, gauderem et bonori faverera. Nunc 
 ilium, qui pedem porta, quoad hostis cis Euphrateni fuit, non extulerii, 
 honore augeri, me, in cujus cxercitu spem illius cxercitus habuit, idem 
 non assequi, dedccus est nostrum ; nostrum, inquam, te conjungens. 
 Itaque omnia experiar, et, ut spero, assequar. Ad Att. 7.2. 
 
236 THE LIFE OF sect, vii 
 
 A. Urb. 703. Cic. 57. Coss.— L. Aemilius Paullus. C. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 aspiring even to a triumph : but this was not for 
 any thinor that he himself had done, but for what 
 his lieutenant Cassius had performed in his absence, 
 against the Parthians, the success of the lieutenants 
 being ascribed always to the auspices of the ge- 
 neral, who reaped the reward and glory of it : and 
 as tlie Parthians were the most dangerous enemies 
 of the republick, and the more particularly dreaded 
 at this time, for their late defeat of Crassus ; so any 
 advantage gained against them was sure to be well 
 received at Rome, and repaid with all the honours 
 that could reasonably be demanded. 
 
 Whenever any proconsul returned from his pro- 
 vince, with pretensions to a triumph, his fasces, or 
 ensigns of magistracy, were wieathed with laurel: 
 wdth this equipage Cicero landed at Brundisium on 
 on the twenty-lifth of November, where his wife 
 Terentia arrived at the same moment to meet him ; 
 so that tlieir first salutation was in the great square 
 of the city. From Brundisium he marched for- 
 ward by slow stages towards Rome, making it his 
 business on the road, to confer with all his friends 
 of both paVties, who came out to salute him, and 
 to learn their sentiments on the present state of 
 affairs : from which he soon perceived, what of all 
 things he most dreaded, an universal disposition to 
 war. But as he foresaw the consequences of it 
 more coolly and clearly than any of them, so his 
 first resolution was to apply all his endeavours and 
 authority to the mediation of a peace. He had not 
 yet declared for either side ; not that he was irreso- 
 lute which of them to choose, for he was determined 
 within himself to follow Pompey ; but the diffi- 
 culty was, how to act in the mean time towards 
 
SECT. vn. 
 
 CICERO. 23r 
 
 A. Urb. 703. Cic. 57. Coss.-— L. Aeniilius Paullus C. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 Caesar, so as to avoid taking any part in the pre- 
 vious decrees which were prepared against him, 
 " for abrogating his command, and obliging him to 
 " disband his forces, on pain of being declared an 
 " enemy :" here he wished to stand neuter a while, 
 that he might act the mediator with the better 
 grace and effect.* 
 
 In this disposition he had an interview with 
 Pompey on the tenth of December, of which he 
 gives the following account : " we were together," 
 says he, " about two hours. He seemed to be 
 *' extremely pleased at my return ; he exhorted 
 "me to demand a triumph, promised to do his 
 " part in it, advised me not to appear in the se- 
 " nate before I had obtained it, lest I should dis- 
 " gust any of the tribunes, by declaring my mind : 
 " in a word, nothing could be more obliging than 
 " his whole discourse on this subject. But as to 
 " publick affairs, he talked in such a strain as if a 
 " w^ar was inevitable, without giving the least hopes 
 " of an accommodation. He said that he had long 
 " perceived Caesar to be alienated from him, but 
 '' had received a very late instance of it ; for that 
 '' Hirtius came from Caesar a few days before, and 
 " did not come to see him ; and when Balbus 
 *' promised to bring Scipio an account of his busi- 
 *' ness the next morning before day, Hirtius was 
 " gone back again to Caesar in the night : this he 
 
 * Brundisium venimus vii Ka I. Decern!). — Tcreiitia vero, quae qui- 
 dein eodera tempore ad portarn Brundisinam veuit, quo ego in portura, 
 mibi obvia in foro (uit. Ibid. 
 
 Mihi (r)cx<po!: uniira erit. quod a Pompeio gubernabitur— die M. Tulli 
 Cuvlof^cu. Cu. Pompeio assentio — lb. 3. 
 
 Nunc incido in discriraen ipsiim, — dabunt operam, ut eliciant sen- 
 tentiam meam — tu autera de nostio statu cogitabis ; priraum quoarti- 
 ficio tueaaiiir benevolentiam Caesaris — lb. 1. 
 
238 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 703. Cic. 57. Coss.— L. Aemilius PauUus. C; Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 " takes for a clear proof of Caesar's resolution to 
 " break with him. In short, I have no other com- 
 <* fort but in imao;ining that he, to whom even his 
 " enemies have voted a second consulship, and for- 
 «' tune given the greatest power, will not be so 
 " mad as to put all this to hazard : yet if he be- 
 ^* gins to rush on, I see many more things to be 
 *' apprehended than I dare venture to commit to 
 " writing : at present I propose to be at Rome on 
 "the third of January. "=^ 
 
 There is one little circumstance frequently 
 touched in Cicero's letters, which gave him a par- 
 ticular uneasiness in his present situation, viz. his 
 owing a sum of money to Caesar, which he imagin- 
 ed might draw some reproach upon him, since he 
 thought it " dishonourable and indecent," he says, 
 "to be a debtor to one against whom we were 
 ''acting in publick affairs: yet to pay it at that 
 ''time would deprive him of a part of the mo- 
 " ney which he had reserved for his triumph."t 
 He desires Atticus, however, very earnestly, to 
 see it paid, which was done,, without doubt, ac- 
 cordingly, ""Since we meet with no farther men- 
 tion of it : it does not appear, nor is it easy to 
 guess, for what occasion this debt was contract- 
 ed, unless it was to supply the extraordinary ex- 
 pense of his buildings, after his return from exile, 
 when he complained of being in a particular want 
 
 * Ad Att. 7. 4. 
 
 t llliid taraen non desinam, dura adesse te piitabo, de Caesaris 
 nomine rogare, ut confectum rclinquas. lb. 5. 6. 
 
 Milii autera molestissiraum est, quod solvendi sunt nummi Cae- 
 sari, et instruraentura triumphi eo conterendura. Est enim «tywog<j.ov, 
 
 if.vliTnKiTi-jofAivw ;tgs59s/^sTw esse. — lb. 7. 8. 
 
SECT. VII 
 
 CICERO. 239 
 
 A. Urb. 703. Cic 57. Coss.— L. Aanilius PauUus. C. Claudius Marcellus. 
 
 of money, from 4,hat general dissipation of his 
 fortunes. 
 
 Pompey, finding Cicero \^hol]y bent on peace, 
 contrived to have a second conference with him, 
 before he reached the city, in hopes to alJay his 
 fears, and beat him off from that vain project of 
 an accommodation, which might help to cool the 
 zeal of his friends in the senate : he overtook him, 
 therefore, at Lavernium, and came on with him to 
 Formiae, where they spent a whole afternoon in 
 close conversation. Pompey strongly discouraged 
 all thoughts of a pacification, declaring, " that there 
 " could be none but what was treacherous and 
 " dangerous ; and that if Caesar should disband 
 " his army, and take the consulship, he would throw 
 " the republick into confusion : but he was of 
 "opinion, that when he understood their prepa- 
 " rations against him, he would drop the consul- 
 " ship, and hold fast his army : but if he was mad 
 " enough to come forward, and act offensively, he 
 " held him in utter contempt, from a confidence in 
 *' his own troops, and those of the republick. They 
 *' had got with them the copy of a speech which 
 *' Antony, one of the new tribunes, made to the 
 *' people four days before: it was a perpetual in- 
 "vective on Pompey 's conduct, from his first ap- 
 " pearance in publick, with great complaints against 
 " the violent and arbitrary condemnation of citi- 
 *' zens, and the terrour of his arms. After reading 
 " it over together," * what think you,' says Pom- 
 " pey, ' would Caesar himself do, if in possession 
 "of the republick, when this paltry, beggarly 
 " fellow, his quaestor, dares to talk at this rale V 
 
240 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 703. Cic. 57. Coss.—L. Aemilius PauUus. C. Clandiiu Marcellus. 
 
 " On the whole, Pompey seemed not only not to 
 " desire, but even to dread a peace.""^ 
 
 Cicero, however, would not still bq driven from 
 the hopes and pursuit of an accommodation : the 
 more he observed the disposition of both parties, 
 the more he perceived the necessity of it : the 
 honest, as they were called, were disunited among 
 themselves: many of them dissatisfied with Pom- 
 pey ; all fierce and violent ; and denouncing no- 
 thing but ruin to their adversaries; he clearly 
 foresaw what he declared without scruple to his 
 friends, "that which side soever got the better, 
 *' the war must necessarily end in a tyranny ; the 
 "only difference was, that if their enemies con- 
 " quered, they should be proscribed, if their friends, 
 " be slaves." Though he had an abhorrence, there- 
 fore, of Caesar's cause, yet his advice was to grant 
 him his own terms, rather than try the experi- 
 ment of arms, " and prefer the most unjust condi- 
 " tions to the justest war : since, after they had 
 '* been arming him against themselves for ten years 
 " past, it was too late to think of fighting, when 
 " they hath made him too strong for them."t 
 
 * lb. 7. 8. 
 
 f De Repub. quotidie magis tiiiieo. Non enim boni, ut putant« 
 consentinnt. Uuos ego equitcs Konianos, quos senatores vidi, qui 
 acerrime turn caetera, turn hoc iter Pompeii vituperarent. Pace 
 opus est, ex victoria cum raulta mala, turn certe tyrannus existet. — 
 lb. 7. 5. 
 
 Ut si victus eris, proscribare ; si viceris, tamen servias. lb. 7. 7. 
 
 Ad paoem hortari non de^ino, quae vel injusta utilior est, quara 
 #^ justissiraum bellura. — lb. 7. 14. 
 
 Mallem tantas ei vires non dedisset, quam nunc tara valenti re- 
 sisteret. lb. 7. 3. 
 
 Nisi forte liaec illi turn arma dedimus, ut nunc cum bene paratn 
 pugnareraus. lb. 7. G. 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 241 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 5S. Coss.— G. Claudius Marcellus. L. Corn. I^ntulus Cms. 
 
 This was the sum of his thoughts and counsels, 
 when he arrived at Rome on the fourth of January ; 
 where he found the two new consuls entirely de- 
 voted to Pompey's interests. On his approach to- 
 wards the city, great multitudes came out to meet 
 him with all possible demonstrations of honour: 
 his last stage was from Pompey's villa near Alba, 
 because his own at Tusculum lay out of the great 
 road, and was not commodious for a publick entry : 
 on his arrival, as he says, he fell into the very flame 
 of civil discord, and found the war in effect proclaim- 
 ed :^ for the senate, at Scipio's motion, had just 
 voted a decree, " that Caesar should dismiss his ar- 
 " my by a certain day, or be declared an enemy ; 
 "and when M. Antony and Q,. Cassius, two of the 
 " tribunes, opposed their negative to it," as they 
 had done to every decree proposed against Caesar, 
 and could not be persuaded by the entreaties of 
 their friends, to give way to the authority of the 
 senate, they proceeded to that vote, which was the 
 last resort in cases of extremity, " that the consuls, 
 " praetors, tribunes, and all who were about the 
 " city with proconsular power, should take care 
 '' that the republick received no detriment." As 
 this was supposed to arm the magistrates with an 
 absolute power, to treat all men as they pleased, 
 whom they judged to be enemies, so the two tri- 
 bunes, together with Curio, immediately withdrew 
 themselves upon it, and fled in disguise to Caesar's 
 camp, on pretence of danger and violence to their 
 
 * Ego ad urbem access! prid. iion. Jan. obviara inihi sic est prodi- 
 tuiii, ut nihil possit fieri ornatius. Sed incidi in ipsam flammara ci- 
 vilis discordiae vel potius belli Ep. Fam. 10 11. 
 
 Ego in Tusculanum nihil hoc tempore, Deviiim est tj;,- ttvuvlies-i, 
 etc. Ad Att. 7. /). 
 
 TOL. II. .31 
 
"242 THE LIFE OF sect. tii. 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Com. Lentulus Crus. 
 
 persons, though none was yet offered or designed 
 to them.* 
 
 M. Antony, who now began to make a figure 
 in the affairs of Rome, was of an ancient and noble 
 extraction ; the grandson of that celebrated states- 
 man and orator, w ho lost his life in the massacres of 
 Marius and Cinna : his father, as it is already re- 
 lated, had been honoured with one of the most im- 
 portant commissions of the republick ; but, after 
 an inglorious discharge of it, died with the charac- 
 ter of a corrupt, oppressive, and rapacious com- 
 mander. The son, trained in the discipline of such 
 a parent, whom he lost when he was very young, 
 launched out at once into all the excess of riot and 
 debauchery, and wasted his whole patrimony be- 
 fore he had put on the manly gown ; shewing him- 
 self to be the genuine son of that father, who was 
 born, as Sallust says, to squander money, without 
 ever- employing a thought on business, till a pre- 
 sent necessity urged him. His comely person, 
 lively wit, insinuating address, made young Curio 
 infinitely fond of him ; so that, in spite of the 
 commandsgaf a severe father,' who had often turn- 
 ed Antony out of doors, and forbidden him his 
 house, he could not be prevailed with to forsake his 
 company ; but supplied him with money for his 
 frolicks and amours, till he had involved himself 
 on his account in a debt of fifty thousand pounds. 
 This greatly afflicted old Curio ; and Cicero w^as 
 called in to heal the distress of the family, whom 
 
 * Antoniiis quidem noster et Q. Cassius, nulla vi e.xpuisi, ad Cae- 
 sarem cum Curione profedi erant ; postea quam senatus consulibus, 
 praetoribus, tribunis plebis et nobis, qui proconsules sumus, negotium 
 
 dedeiat, ut curaremus, ne quid Resp. detrinienti caperet Ep. Pam^ 
 
 IG. 11. 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 243 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic *8. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Corn. Lentulus Crus. 
 
 the son entreated, with tears in his eyes, to inter- 
 cede for Antony, as well as for himself, and not 
 suffer them to be parted : but Cicero having pre- 
 vailed with the father to make his son easy, by dis- 
 charging his debts, advised him to insist upon it as 
 a condition, and to enforce it by his paternal pow- 
 er, that he should have no farther commerce with 
 Antony.^ This laid the foundation of an early 
 aversion in Antony to Cicero, increased still by 
 the perpetual course of Antony's life, which for- 
 tune happened to throw among Cicero's inveterate 
 enemies : for, by the second marriage of his mother, 
 he became son-in-law to that Lentulus, who was 
 put to death for conspiring with Catiline, by 
 whom he was initiated into all the cabals of a trai- 
 torous faction, and infected with principles perni- 
 cious to the liberty of Rome. To revenge the 
 death of this father, he attached himself to Clodius, 
 and, during his tribunate, was one of the ministers 
 of all his violences ; yet was detected at the same 
 time in some criminal intrigue in his family, in- 
 jurious to the honour of his patron.f From this 
 
 * Tenesne meraoria praetextatum te decoxisse ? nemo unquam 
 
 puer emptus libidinis causa tarn fuit in domini potestate, quam tu in 
 
 Curionis. Quoties te pater ejus domo suo ejecit ? scisne me de 
 
 rebus mihi notissimis dicere ? recordare tempus illud, cum pater Cu- 
 rio moerens jacebat in lecto ; filius se ad pedes meos prosternens, 
 lacrymans te mihi commendabat, orabat, ut te contra patrera suura, 
 si H. S. sexagies peteret defenderem : tantum enim se pro te inter- 
 cessisse : ipse an tern amore ardens confirmabat, quod desiderium tui 
 
 discidii ferre non posset quo ego tempore tanta mala florentissi- 
 
 raae familiae sedavi vel potius sustuli : patri persuasi, ut aes alienum 
 filii dissolvent, etc. (Philip. 2. 18.) M. Antonius, perdundae pecuniae 
 genitus, vacuusqiie curls, nisi instantibus. Sallust. Histor. Fragra. 
 1. iii. 
 
 fTedomiP. Lentnli educatum (Phil. 2. 7.) Intimus erat iu 
 
 tribunatu Clodio ejus omnium iucendiorum fax — cnjiis etiara do- 
 
 mi quiddara jam turn raolitus est, etc. ib. 19. 
 
244 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcdlus. L. Corn. Lentulus Cras. 
 
 education in the city, he went abroad to learn the 
 art of war under Gabinius, the most profligate of 
 all generals ; who gave him the command of his 
 horse in Syria, where he signalized his courage in 
 the restoralion of king Ptolemy, and acquired the 
 first taste of martial glory, in an expedition under- 
 taken against the laws and religion of his country.* 
 From Egypt, instead of coming home, where his 
 debts would not suffer him to be easy, he went to 
 Caesar into Gaul, the sure refuge of all the needy, 
 the desperate, and the audacious : and, after some 
 .stay in that provi.nce, being furnished with money 
 and credit by Caesar, he returned to Rome to sue 
 for the quaestorship.f Caesar recommended him in 
 a pressing manner to Cicero, " entreating him to 
 " accept Antony's submission, and pardon him for 
 " what was past, and to assist him in his present 
 " suit : with which Cicero readily complied," and 
 obliged Antony so highly by it, that he declared war 
 presently against Clodius, ***whom he attacked 
 " with great fierceness in the forum, and would cer- 
 '' tainly have killed, if he had not found means to 
 " hide himself under some stairs." Antony openly 
 gave.outj'-'^that he owed all this to Cicero's generosi- 
 " ty, to whom he could never make amends for for- 
 '' mer injuries, but by the destruction of his ene- 
 " my Clodius."} Being chosen quaestor, he went 
 
 * Inde iter Alexandriam, contra senatus auctoritatein, contra Rem- 
 pub. et religiones : sed habebat ducem Gabinium, etc. ib. 
 
 t Prius in ultimara Galliara ex Aegypto quam domum — venisti e 
 Gallia ad quaesturam petendaqa. — ib. — vid. Plutar. in Anton. 
 
 I Acceperam jam ante Caesaris litteras, ut niihi satisfieri paterer 
 a te — postea nistoditus sura a te, tu a ine observatus in petitione 
 quaesturae, quo qnidein tempore P. Clodium — in foro es coiiatus oc- 
 cidere — ita praedicabas, te non existiraare nisi ilium interCecisses, un- 
 quam mihi pro tuis in me injuriis satis esse facturura — Ib. 20. 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 245 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic, 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Maroellus. L. Corn. Lentnius Ctvm. 
 
 back immediately to Caesar, without expecting his 
 lot, or a decree of the senate, to appoint liim hi^ 
 province : where, though he had all imaginable op- 
 portunities of acquiring money, yet by squander- 
 ing, as fast as he got it, he came a second lime 
 empty and beggarly to Rome, to put in for the 
 tribunate; in which office, after the example of 
 his friend Curio, having sold himself to Caesar, he 
 was, as Cicero says, as much the cause of the en- 
 suing war, as Helen was of ihat of Troy.^ 
 
 It is certain, at least, that Antony's flight gave 
 the immediate pretext to it, as Cicero had foretold : 
 " Caesar," says he, " will betake himself to arms, 
 " either for our want of preparation, or if no re- 
 " gard be had to him at the election of consuls ; 
 " but especially, if any tribune, obstructing the 
 " deliberations of the senate, or exciting the peo- 
 " pie to sedition, should happen to be censured or 
 *' overruled, or taken off, or expelled, or, pre- 
 ''tending to be expelled, run away to him.^f In 
 the same letter, he gives a short but true state of 
 the merit of his cause : " What," says he, " can be 
 "more impudent? You have held your govern* 
 " ment ten years, not granted to you by the senate. 
 
 Cum se ille fugieos in scalarum tenebras abdidisset, etc. Pro Mil. 
 15. 
 
 * Deinde sine senatus consiilto, sine sorte, sine lege ad Caesarem 
 cucurristi. Id enira iini.'in in terris egestatis, aeris alieni, neqnitiae, 
 perditis vitae rationibiis perfngiura esse ducebas — advolasti egen*- ad 
 tribiinatnm, ut in eo magistratu, si posses, viri tui siniilis esses—ut 
 
 Helena Trojanis, sic iste huic Reipub. causa belli, etc. Phil. 2 
 
 21, 22. 
 
 f Aut addita causa, si forte tribunus pleb. senatum iinpedirns, 
 aut populum incitans, notatns, aut senatus consulto circunif^niptus, 
 aut sublatus aut expulsus sit, dicensve se expulsnm ad se conlugerit 
 Ad Att. 7. 9. 
 
246 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Com: Lentulus Cms. 
 
 — ■ — — — ■■ ' ■ ■ ■ ■ .<r 
 
 " but extorted by violence and faction : the full 
 " term is expired, not of the law, but of your li- 
 " centious will : but, allow it to be a law ; it is now 
 '* decreed that you must have a successor : you re- 
 " fuse, and say, have some regard to me : do you 
 " first shew your regard to us : will you pretend 
 »* to Ivcep an army longer than the people ordered, 
 '' and contrary to the will of the senate ?"=^ but 
 Caesar's strength lay not in the goodness of his 
 cause, but of his troops ;t a considerable part of 
 which he was now drawing together towards the 
 confines of Italy, to be ready to enter into action 
 at any warning : the flight of the tribunes gave 
 him a plausible handle to begin, and seemed to 
 sanctify his attempt ; but " his real motive," says 
 Plutarch, " was the same that animated Cyrus and 
 ** Alexander before him to disturb the peace of 
 ^'mankind; the unquenchable thirst of empire, 
 " and the wild ambition of being the greatest man 
 " in the world, which was not possible, till Pom- 
 '* pey was first destroyed."} Laying hold, there- 
 fore, of the occasion, he presently passed the 
 Rubicon, which was the boundary of his prov- 
 ince on tiat side of Italy, and marching forward 
 in an hostile manner, possessed himself, without 
 resistance, of the next great towns in his way, Ari- 
 minum, Pisaurum, Ancona, Aretium^^ &c. 
 
 * Ibid. it. Ep. Fam. 16. 11. 
 
 I Alterius ducis causa melior videbatur, alterius erat firmior. Hie 
 omnia speciosa, illic valentia. Pompeiura senatus auctoritas, Cae- 
 sarein milituin armavit fiduci<^. Veil. Pat. 2. 49. 
 
 I Plutar. in Anton. 
 
 ^ An ille id faciat, quod paullo ante decretum est, ut exercitum 
 citra Uubiconera, qui finis est Galliae, educeret ? Philip. 6. 3. 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 247 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Com. Lentulus Crus. 
 
 In this confused and disordered state of the city, 
 Cicero's friends were soliciting the decree of his 
 triumph, to which the whole senate signified their 
 ready consent : but " the consul Lentulus, to make 
 "the favour more particularly his own, desired 
 '* that it might be deferred for a while, till the pub- 
 " lick affairs were better settled, giving his word, 
 " that he would then be the mover of it himself."* 
 But Caesar's sudden march towards Rome put an 
 end to all farther thoughts of it, and struck the 
 senate with such a panick, that, as if he had been 
 already at the gates, they resolved presently to 
 quit the city, and retreat towards the southern 
 parts of Italy. All the principal senators had 
 particular districts assigned to their care, to be 
 provided with troops, and all materials of defence 
 against Caesar. Cicero had Capua, with the in- 
 spection of the seacoast from Formiae : he would not 
 accept any greater charge, for the sake of pre- 
 serving his authority in the task of mediating a 
 peace ;t and, for the same reason, when he per- 
 ceived his new province wholly unprovided against 
 an enemy, and that it was impossible to hold Ca- 
 
 - Ttaque cura Caesar, amentia quadam raperetur, et Arirainium, 
 Pisaunira, Anconain, Arretium occupavisset, urbera reliqnimiis. Ep. 
 Fam. 16. 12. 
 
 * Nobis tamen inter has turbas senatiis frequens flagitavit triuni- 
 phum : sed Lentulus consul, quo majus suuin beneficium faceret, si- 
 mul atque expedisset quae essent necessaria de Ilepub. dixit se rela- 
 tnrura. Ep. Fam. IG. 11. 
 
 t Ego negotio praesum non turbulento : vult enira me Pompeius 
 esse, quern tota haec Campana et maritima ora habeat s^/o-xoTcr, ad 
 quera delectus et summa negotii referatur. Ad Att. 7. 11. 
 
 Ego adhnc orae raaritimae praesum a Formiis. Nullum majus ne- 
 gotium suscipere volui, quo plus apud ilium raeae litlerae cohorta- 
 tionesque ad pacem valerent. Ep. P'am. 16. 12. 
 
248 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. Li Com. Lentalus Cnis. 
 
 pua without a stroiii^ orari ison, he resigned his em- 
 ployment, and chose not to act at all.'* 
 
 Capua had always been the common seminary 
 or place of educating Gladiators for the great men 
 of Rome ; where Caesar had a famous school of 
 them at this time, which he had long maintained 
 under the best masters for the occasions of his 
 publick shews in the city ; and, as they w^ere very 
 numerous and well furnished with arms, there was 
 reason to apprehend that they would break out, 
 and make some attempt in favour of their master, 
 which might have been of dangerous consequence 
 in the present circumstances of the republick : so 
 that Pompey thought it necessary to take them 
 out of their school, and distribute them among the 
 principal inhabitants of the place, assigning two 
 to each master of a family, by which he secured 
 them from doing any mischief.f 
 
 While the Pompeian party was under no small 
 dejection on account of Pompey's quitting the city, 
 ^^ 
 
 * Nam certe neque turn peccavi, cum imparatam jam Capuam, non 
 solum ignav'iae delectus, sed etiam perfidiae suspicionem lugiens, ac- 
 cipere nohii Ad Att. 8. 12. 
 
 Quod tibi ostenderam, cum a me Capuam rejiciebara : quod feci 
 non vitaudi oneris causa, sed quod videbam teneri illam urbem sine 
 exercitu non posse. Ep. Cic. ad Pomp. Ad Att. 8. 11. 
 
 As Cicero, when proconsul of Cilicia, often mentions the dioceses 
 that were annexed to his government, (Ep. Fam. 13. 67.) so in this 
 command of Capua he calls himself the Episcopus of the Campanian 
 coast ; which shews, that these names, which were appropriated af- 
 terwards in the Christian cHurch to characters and powers ecclesias- 
 tical, carried with them in their original use, the notion of a real au- 
 thority and jurisdiction. 
 
 t Gladiaiores Caesaris, qui Capuae sunt — sane commode Pompeius 
 distribuit, binos singulis patrihus familiarum. Scutorum id ludo ba 
 liierunt eruptionem facturi fuisse dicebantur — sane multumineo Reip. 
 provisum est. Ad Att. 7. H. 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 249 
 
 A. Urb. 704 Cic. 58. Co«s.— C, Claudius Marcellus. L. Com. Lentulus Cn«. 
 
 and retreatino- from the approach of Caesar, T. 
 Labienus, one of the chief commanders on the 
 other side, deserted Caesar, and came over to them, 
 which added some ncAV life to their cause, and raised 
 an expectation, that many more would follow his 
 example. Labienus had eminently distins^uished 
 himself in the Gallick war, where, next to Caesar 
 himself, he had borne the principal part ; and, by Cae- 
 sar's favour, had raised an immense fortune : so that 
 he was much caressed, and carried about every 
 where by Pompey, who promised himself great 
 service from his fame and experience, and especially 
 from his credit in Caesar's army, and the knowledge 
 of all his counsels : but his account of things, like 
 that of all deserters, was accommodated ralher to 
 please than to serve his new friends ; representing 
 the weakness of Caesar's troops, their aversion to 
 his present designs, the disaffection of the two 
 Gauls, and disposition to revolt, the contrary of all 
 which was found to be true in the experiment : and 
 as he came to them single, without bringing with 
 him any of those troops with which he had acquired 
 his reputation, so his desertion had no other effect 
 than to ruin his own fortunes, without doing any 
 service to Pompey.^ 
 
 *Maximain auteiii plagam accepit, qnod is, qui summam aiictorita- 
 tem in illiis extrcitu habebat, T. Labienus, sociiis sceleris esse noluit : 
 reliquit ilium, et nobiscuin est: multiqne idem facturi dicuutur. Ep. 
 Fam. )6. 12. 
 
 Ajiqiiantum animi videtur attulisse nobis Labienus — Ad Att. 7. 13. 
 
 Labienum secnm habet (Pompeius) non dubitantemde irabecillitate 
 Caesaris copiarnm : cujus adventu Cnaeus noster multo animi plus 
 habet. lb. 7. 16. 
 
 -fortis in armis 
 
 Caesaris Labienus erat .- nunc transfuga vilis 
 
 Luran. 5. 34.5. 
 
 VOL. II. ^2 
 
250 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Maicellus. L. Com. Lentulus Cms. 
 
 But what gave a much better prospect to all 
 honest men, was the proposal of an accommodation, 
 which came about this time from Caesar; who, 
 while he was pusliing on the war with incredible 
 vigour, talked of nothing but peace, and endeavour- 
 ed particularly to persuade Cicero, ''that he had 
 **no other view than to secure himself from the in- 
 " suits of his enemies, and yield the first rank in 
 ''the state to Pompey."* The conditions were, 
 "that Pompey should go to his government of 
 " Spain, that his new levies should be dismissed, 
 "and his garrisons withdrawn, and that Caesar 
 " should deliver up his provinces, the farther Gaul 
 " to Domitius, the hither to Considius, and sue for 
 " the consulship in person, without requiring the 
 " privilege of absence." I'hese terms were readily 
 embraced in a grand council of the chiefs at Capua, 
 and young L. Caesar, who brought them, w^as sent 
 back with letters from Pompey. and the addition 
 only of one preliminary article, '^ that Caesar in 
 " the mean while should recall his troops from the 
 '* towns, w4iich he had seized beyond his own juris- 
 " diction, so that the senate might return to Rome, 
 " and settle the whole affair with honour and free- 
 "dom."t Cicero was present at this council, of 
 which he gave an account to ^tticus ; " I came to 
 " Capua," (says he,) " yesterday, the twenty-sixth 
 
 * Balbus major ad me scrihit, nihil malle Caesarem, quam principe 
 Pompeio, sine metu vivere. Tu, piito, haec ciedis. Ad Att. 8. 9. 
 
 t Feruntur omnino couditionqs ab illo, ut Pompeius eat in Ilispaniam ; 
 dilectns, qui sunt habiti, et pr'aesidia nostra diinittantur : se ulterio- 
 rera Galliam Doraitio, citeriorem Coiisidio xXoniano — traditurum. Ad 
 consulatus petitionem se veiiturum : ueque sejam velle, absente se, 
 rationem sui haberi. Ep. Fain. 16. 12. Ad Att. 7. 14. 
 
 Accepimns conditiones ; sed ita, ut removeat praesidia ex iis Joels 
 quae occupavit, ut sine metu de iis ipsis conditiouibus iloiuae senatus 
 haberi possit. Ibid. 
 
SECT. VII. 
 
 CICERO. 251 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Corn. Lentulus Cms. 
 
 " of January, where I met the consuls, and many 
 " of our order : they all wished that Caesar would 
 " stand to his conditions, and withdraw his troops : 
 " Favonius alone was ao;ainst all conditions imposed 
 " by Caesar, but was little reoarded by the council : 
 " for Cato himself would now rather live a slave, 
 " than fi^ht ; and declares, that if Caesar recall his 
 " garrisons, he will attend the senate, when the con- 
 *' ditions come to be settled, and not go to Sicily, 
 " where his service is more necessary, which I am 
 " afraid will be of ill consequence : — there is a 
 " strange variety in our sentiments ; the greatest 
 "part are of opinion, that Caesar will not stand to 
 " his terms, and that these otfers are made only to 
 " hinder our preparations : but I am apt to think 
 " that he will withdraw his troops : for he gets the 
 " better of us by being made consul, and with less 
 " iniquity, than in the way which he is now pur- 
 " suing; and we cannot possibly come off without 
 " some loss ; for we are scandalously unprovided 
 " both with soldiers, and with money, since all that 
 " which was either private in the city, or public k in 
 " the treasury, is left a prey to him."^ 
 
 During the suspense of this treaty, and the ex- 
 pectation of Caesar's answer, Cicero began to con- 
 ceive some hopes that both sides were relenting, and 
 disposed to make up the quarrel : Caesar, from a 
 reflection on his rashness, and the senate, on their 
 w^ant of preparation : but he still suspected Caesar, 
 and the sending a message so important by a person 
 so insignificant as young Luctus Caesar, looked, 
 (he says,) as if he had done it by way of contempt, 
 
 * Ad Att. 7. 15. 
 
252 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Com. Leutulus Crus. 
 
 or with a view to disclaim it, especially when, after 
 offering conditions, which were likely to be accept- 
 ed, he would not sit still to wait an answer, but con- 
 tinued his march with the same dilio;ence, and in 
 the same hostile manner, as before.^ His suspi- 
 cions proved true ; for by letters which came soon 
 after from Furnius and Curio, he perceived, that 
 they made a mere jest of the embassy .f 
 
 It seems very evident, that Caesar had no real 
 thoughts of peace, by his paving no regard to 
 Pompey's answer, and the trifling reasons which 
 he gave for slighting it :$ but he had a double 
 view in offering those conditions ; for, by Pompey's 
 rejecting them, as there was reason to expect 
 from his known aversion to any treaty, he hoped to 
 load him with the odium of the war ; or, by his em- 
 bracing them, to slacken his preparations, and re- 
 tard his design of leaving Italy ; whilst he him- 
 self, in the mean time, by following him with a 
 celerity that amazed every body,? might chance to 
 
 * Spero in praesentia pacena dos habere. Nam et ilium turoris, et 
 hunc nostrum c8^iarum suppoenitet. Ibid. 
 
 Tamen vereor ut his ipsis (Caesar) contentus sit. Nam cum ista 
 mandatadedisset L. Caesari, debuit esse paulo quietior, dum respousa 
 referrentur. lb. 7. 17. 
 
 Caesarem quidem, L, Caesare euro mandatis de pace misso, taraea 
 aiunt acerrirae loca occnpare — lb. 18. 
 
 L. Caesarem vidi — ut id ipsum mihi ille videatur irridendi causa 
 fecisse, qui tautis de rebus huic mandata dederit, nisi forte non dedit, 
 et hie serraone aliquo arrepto pro mandatis abusus est — lb. 13. 
 
 t Accepi litteras tuas, Philotimi, Furnii, Curionis ad Furnium, qui- 
 bus irridet L. Caesaris legationeYn lb. 19. 
 
 I Caes. Comment, de Bell. civ. 1. 1. 
 
 §0 celeritatem incredibilem ! — Ad Att. 7. 22. Cicero calls him 
 a monster of vigilance and celerity (lb. 8. 9.) for, from his pas- 
 sage of thp Rubicon, though he was forced to take in all the great 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 253 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus C. Corn. Lentulus Crus. 
 
 come up with him before he could embark, and 
 give a decisive blow to the war ; from wliich he 
 had nothing to apprehend, but its being drawn 
 into length. "I now plainly see," says Cicero, 
 " though later indeed than I could have wished, on 
 "account of the assurances given me by Balbus, 
 "that he aims at nothing else, nor has ever aimed 
 *' at any thing from the beginning, but Pompey's 
 " life."^ 
 
 If we consider this famous passage of the Ru- 
 bicon, abstractedly from the event, it seems to 
 have been so hazardous and desperate, that Pom- 
 pey miti^ht reasonably contemn the thought of it, 
 as of an attempt too rash for any prudent man to 
 venture upon. If Caesar's view indeed had been 
 to possess himself only of Italy, there could have 
 been no difficulty in it : his army was undoubtedly 
 the best which was then in the world ; flushed with 
 victory, animated with zeal for the person of their 
 general, and an over-match for any which could be 
 brouo;ht against it into the field ; but this single 
 army was all that he had to trust to ; he had uo re- 
 source : the loss of one battle was certain ruin to 
 him ; and yet he must necessarily run the risk of 
 many, before he could s^ain his end : for the whole 
 empire was armed against him ; every province 
 offered a fresh enemy, and a fresh field of action, 
 
 towns on his road, and spent seven days before Corfinium, yet in less 
 than two months he marched through the whole length of Italv, and 
 came before the gates of Brundisiura before Pompev could elnbirk 
 on the 9th of March. Ad Att. 9. 13. 
 
 * Intelligo serins equidem quam vellem, propter epi^tolas sermo- 
 nesque Baibi, sed video plane, nihil aliiid agi, nihil actum ab initio, 
 quam ut huDC occideret. Ad Att. 9. f^ 
 

 254 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. C. Com. Lentulus Crus. 
 
 where he was like to be exposed to the same dan- 
 ger as on the plains of Pharsalia. But above all, 
 his enemies were masters of the sea, so that he 
 could not transport his forces abroad, without the 
 hazard of their being destroyed by a superiour 
 fleet, or of being starved at land by the diflSculty 
 of conveying supplies and provisions to them : 
 Pompey relied chiefly on this single circumstance, 
 and was persuaded, that it must necessarily de- 
 termine the war in his favour:^ so that it seems 
 surprizing, how such a superiority of advantage, 
 in the hands of so great a commander, could pos- 
 sibly fail of success ; and we must admire rather 
 the fortune than the conduct of Caesar, for car- 
 rying him safe through all these difficulties to the 
 possession of the empire. 
 
 Cicero seldom speaks of his attempt, but as a 
 kind of madness,t and seemed to retain some 
 hopes to the last, that he would not persist in it : 
 the same imagination made Pompey and the senate 
 so resolute to defy when they were in no condi- 
 tion to oppose him. Caesar, on the other hand, might 
 probably imagine, that their stifliiess proceeded 
 from a vain conceit of their strength, which would 
 induce them to venture a battle with him in Ita- 
 ly ; in which case he was sure enough to beat them : 
 so that both sides were drawn farther, perhaps, than 
 they intended, by mistaking each other's views. 
 Caesar, I say, might well apprehend that they de- 
 
 * Existimat, (Poinpeius) qui mare teneat, eiim necesse reruiii po- 
 tiri — itaque navalis apparatus ei semper antiquissima cura fuit. lb. 
 10. 8. 
 
 f Cum Caesar amentia quadam raperetur — Ep. Fam. 16. 12. 
 
SECT. VII. 
 
 CICERO. 255 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcelln*. C. Com. Lentulus Crus. 
 
 signed to tny their strength with him in Italy : for 
 that was the constant persuasion of the whole par- 
 ty, who thought it the best scheme which could be 
 pursued: Pompey humoured them in it, and al- 
 ways talked big to keep up their spirits; and 
 though he saw from tlie first, the necessity of quit- 
 ting Italy, yet he kept the secret to himself, and 
 wrote word at the same time to Cicero, that he 
 should have a firm army in a few days, with which 
 he would march against Caesar into Picenum, so 
 as to give them an opportunity of returning to the 
 city.* The plan of the war, as it was commonly 
 understood, was to possess themselves of the prin- 
 cipal posts of Italy, and act chiefly on the defen- 
 sive, in order to distress Caesar by their different 
 armies, cut off his opportunities of forage, hinder 
 his access to Rome, and hold him continually em- 
 ployed, till the veteran army from Spain, under 
 Pompey's lieutenants, Afranius, Petreius, and Yar- 
 ro, could come up to finish his overthrow.! This 
 was the notion which the senate entertained of 
 the war ; they never conceived it possible that 
 Pompey should submit to the disgrace of flying 
 
 * Omnes nos a7rgs<roav«Tct/c, expertes sui tanti et tarn inusitati consilii 
 relinqiiebat. Ad Alt 6. 8. 
 
 Pompeius — ad ine scribit, paucis diebiis se firmum exercitum ha- 
 biturum. speraque aflert, si in Picciiuin agrum ipse venerit, nos Ro- 
 inam redituros esse. lb. 7. 16. 
 
 f Siiscepto aiitem bello, ant teneuda sit nrbs, aut ea relicta, ille 
 commeatu et reliqnis copiis intercliidendus — Ad Alt. 7.9. 
 
 Sin autem ille snis conditionibns stare noluerit, bellum paratura 
 €st : — tantunimodo nt eiim intercludamus, ne ad nrbeni possit ac- 
 cedere : quod sperabamus fieri posse : dilectus enim inagnos habeba- 
 mns— ex Hispaniaque sex legiones et magna auxilia, Afranio et Pe- 
 treio ducibus. habet a tergo. Videtur, si insauiet, posse oppriuii, 
 modo ut urbe salva — Hp. Fain. 16. 12. 
 
 Siimma autem spes Afranium cum magnis copiis adventare — Ad. 
 Att. 8. 3. * . 
 
256 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. C. Com. Lentulus Crus. 
 
 before Caesar, and 2;iving up Italy a prey to his 
 enemy : in this confidence Domitius, with a very 
 considerable force, and some of the principal sen- 
 ators, threw himself into Corfinium, a strong' town 
 at the foot of tiie Apennine, on the Adriatick side, 
 where he proposed to make a stand a<>;ainst Cae- 
 sai, and stop the progress of his march; but he 
 lost all his troops in the attem})t, to the number of 
 three lei^ions, for want of knowing Pompey's se- 
 cret. Pompey, indeed, when he saw what Domi- 
 tius intended, pressed him earnestly, by several 
 letters, to come away and join with him, telling 
 him, " that it was impossible to make any oppo- 
 " sition to Caesar, till their whole forces were unit- 
 '' ed ; and that as to himself, he had with him only 
 "the two legions, which were recalled from Cae- 
 " sar, and were not to be trusted against him; 
 " and if Domitius should entangle himself in Cor- 
 "finium, so as to be precluded by Caesar from a 
 " retreat, that he could not come to his relief with 
 " so weak an army, and bade him therefore not to 
 " be surprised to hear of his retiring, if Caesar 
 " should persist to march towards him :"'^ yet 
 Domitius, prepossessed with the opinii n, that Ita- 
 ly was to be the seat of the w^ar, and that Pompey 
 would never suffer so good a body of troops, and 
 so many of his best friends, to be lost, would not 
 quit the advantageous post of Corfinium, but de- 
 pended still on being relieved ; and when he was 
 actually besieged, sent Pompey word, how easily 
 i — . — __. 
 
 * Nos disjecta maiiu pares adversariis esse non possuinus. 
 
 QnaiJiobrera nolito coiiunoveii, si audieris me regredi, si forte Cae- 
 sar ad m ' voiiiet. — eliam aique etiam te horlor, uL c»im oicni copia 
 quam priraum ad me venias. — vid. Lpist. Pomp, ad Domit. Ad Att. 
 8. 12. 
 
SECT. vn. CICERO. 257 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic, 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Corn. Lentulus Crus. 
 
 Caesar might be intercepted between tlieir two 
 
 armies 
 
 * 
 
 Cicero was as much disappointed as any of the 
 rest ; he had never dreamt of their being oblio;ed 
 to quit ftaly, till by Pompey's motions he perceiv- 
 ed at last his intentions ; of which he speaks with 
 great severity, in several of his letters, and begs 
 Atticus's advice upon that new face of their affairs ; 
 and, to enable Atticus to give it the more clearly, 
 he explains to him, in short, what occurred to his 
 own mind on the one side and the other. " The 
 " great obligations," says he, " which I am under 
 " to Pompey, and my particular friendship with 
 " him, as well as the cause of the republick itself, 
 " seem to persuade me, that I ought to join my 
 " counsels and fortunes with his. Besides, If I 
 " stay behind, and desert that band of the best and 
 " most eminent citizens, I must fall under the pow- 
 " er of a single person, who gives me many proofs, 
 " indeed, of being my friend, and whom, as you 
 '' know, I had long aoo taken care to make such, 
 " from a suspicion of this very storm, which now 
 ** hangs over us ; yet it should be well considered, 
 " both how far I may venture to trust him, and 
 " supposing it clear, that I may trust him, whether 
 " it be consistent with the character of a firm and 
 " honest citizen to continue in that city, in which 
 " he has borne the greatest honours, and performed 
 " the greatest acts, and where he is now invested 
 " with the most honourable priesthood, when it is 
 
 * Domitius ad Pompeium — mittit, qui petant atque orent, ut sibi 
 subveniat . Caesareni diiobus exercitibus, et loconim angnstiis later- 
 cliidi posse, IVu mm toque prohiberi, etc. 
 
 Caes. Comment, de Bell. civ. I. i. 
 
 VOL. If. .3:^ 
 
258 THE LIFE OF sect, yiu 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Corn. Lentulus Crus. 
 
 " to be attended with some danger, and perhaps 
 " with some disorrace, if Fompey should ever re- 
 " store the republick. These are the difficulties 
 " on the one side ; let us see what there are on the 
 " other : Nothing has hitherto been done by our 
 " Pompey, either with prudence or courage ; I may 
 " add also nothing but what was contrary to my 
 " advice and authority : I will omit those old sto- 
 " ries ; how he first nursed, raised and armed this 
 "man against the republick; how he supported 
 " him in carrying his laws by violence, and with- 
 " out regard to the auspices ; how he added the 
 " farther Gaul to his government, made himself his 
 " son-in-law, assisted as augur in the adoption of 
 " Clodius, was more zealous to restore me, than to 
 " prevent my being expelled ; enlarged the term of 
 ** Caesar's command, served him in all his affairs in 
 *' his absence, nay, in his third consulship, after he 
 '' began to espouse the interests of the republick, 
 " how he insisted, that the ten tribunes should 
 "jointly propose a law to dispense with his absence 
 " in suing for the consulship, which he confirmed 
 " afterwards by a law of his? own, and opposed the 
 " consul Marcellus, when he moved to put an end 
 " to his government on the first of March : but to 
 " omit, I say, all this, what can be more dishonour- 
 " able, or shew a greater want of conduct than this 
 " retreat, or rather shameful flight from the city ? 
 " what conditions were not preferable to the neces- 
 " sity of abandoning our country ? the conditions, 
 " I confess, were bad; yet what can be worse than 
 " this ? but Pompey, you'll say, will recover the 
 " republick : when ? or what preparation is there 
 "for it? is not all Picenum lost? is not the way 
 " left open to the city ? is not all our treasure both 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 259 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L..Corn. Laitulus Crus. 
 
 " publick and private ^iven up to the enemy ? in 
 " a word, there is no party, no forces, no places of 
 " rendezvous for the friends of the republick to 
 " resort to : Apulia is chosen for our retreat ; the 
 " weakest and remotest part of Italy, which im- 
 " plies nothing but despair, and a design of flying 
 " by the opportunity of the sea," &c.^ In another 
 letter, " there is but one thing wanting," says he, 
 " to complete our friend's disgrace ; his failing to 
 " succour Domitius : nobody doubts but that he 
 " will come to his relief; yet I am not of that 
 " mind. Will he then desert such a citizen, and 
 " the rest, whom you know to be with him ? espe- 
 " cially when he has thirty cohorts in the town : 
 " yes, unless all things deceive me, he will desert 
 " him : he is strangely frightened ; means nothing 
 " but to fly ', yet you, for I perceive what your 
 *^ opinion is, think that I ought to follow this man. 
 " For my part, I easily know whom I ought to fly, 
 " not whom I ought to follow. As to that saying 
 ** of mine, which you extol, and think worthy to 
 " be celebrated, that I had rather be conquered 
 *^ with Pompey, than conquer with Caesar ; it is 
 " true, I still say so ; but w^ith such a Pompey as 
 '" he then was, or as I took him to be : but as for 
 " this man, who runs away, before he knows from 
 ^'whom, or whither; who has betrayed us and 
 " ours, given up his country, and is now leaving 
 "Italy; if I had rather be conquered with him, 
 " the thing is over, I am conquered, &c."t 
 
 There was a notion, in the mean while, that uni- 
 versally prevailed through Italy, of Caesar's cruel 
 
 * Ad Att. 8. 5. i Ad Att. 8. 7. 
 
260 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Com, I^ntulus Crus. 
 
 and revengeful temper, from which horrible effects 
 were apprehended : Cicero himself was stron^^ly 
 possessed with it, as appears from many of his 
 letters, where he seems to take it for granted that 
 he would be a second Phalaris, not a Pisistratus ; 
 a bloody, not a gentle tyrant. This he inferred 
 from the violence of his past life ; the nature of 
 his present enterprise ; and, above all, from the 
 character of his friends and followers ; who were, 
 generally speaking, a needy, profligate, audacious 
 crew; prepared for every thing that was despe- 
 rate.^ It was affirmed, likewise, with great confi- 
 dence, that he had openly declared, that he was 
 now coming to revenge the deaths of Cn. Carbo, 
 M. Brutus, and all the other Marian chiefs, whom 
 Pompey, when acting under Sylla, had cruelly 
 put to death for their opposition to the Syllan 
 cause.t But there was no real ground for any of 
 these suspicions : for Caesar, who thought tyranny, 
 as Cicero says, the greatest of goddesses, and whose 
 sole view it had been through life to bring his 
 affairs to this crisis, and to make a bold pusii for 
 empire, had, from the observation of past times, 
 and the fat^e of former tyrants, laid it down for a 
 maxim, that clemenc}' in victory was the best 
 means of securing the stability of it.J Upon the 
 
 * Istum ciijus cfuMgia-fxcv times, omnia teterrime facturum puto. 
 Ad Att. 7. 12. 
 
 Incertura est Phalaiimae an Pisistratum sit iraiiaturus. lb. 20. 
 
 Nam caedein video si vicerit — et regnura non modo Romana ho- 
 mini sed ne Persae quidem tolerabile. lb. 10. 8. 
 
 Qui hie potest se gerere non^ perdite ? vita, mores ante facta, ra- 
 tio suscepti negotii, socii. lb. 9. 2. it. 9. 19. 
 
 f Atque eum loqiii qiiidam «u9sv7<Ha? narrabant ; Cn. Carbonis, M, 
 Bruti se poenas perseqni, etc. Ad Att. 9. 14. 
 
 X Tw ^tov juiyKTrw uxri* iX^iv Tv^a.vyii'A. Ad Att. 7. 11. 
 
 Tentemiis hoc modo, si possumus, omnium voluntates recuperare. 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 261 
 
 A. Urb. r04. Cic 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Com. Lentulus Crus. 
 
 surrender, therefore, of Corfinium, where he had 
 the first opportunity of givin^j; a publick specimen 
 of himself, he shewed a noble example of mo- 
 deration, by the generous dismission of Domitius, 
 and all the other senators who fell into his hands ; 
 among whom was Lentulus Spinther, Cicero's par- 
 ticular friend.* This made a great turn in his fa- 
 vour, by easing people of the terrours which they 
 had before conceived of him, and seemed to con- 
 firm what he affected every where to give out, 
 that he sought nothing by the war but the security 
 of his person and dignity. Pompey, on the other 
 hand, appeared every day more and more despi- 
 cable, by fiyino; before an enemy, whom his pride 
 and perverseness were said to have driven to the 
 necessity of taking arms — " Tell me, 1 beg of you," 
 says Cicero " what can be more wretched, than for 
 " the one to be gathering applause from the worst 
 " of causes, the other giving offence in the best ? 
 " the one to be reckoned the preserA^er of his ene- 
 " mies, the other the deserter of his friends ? and, 
 " in truth, though I have all the afTection w hich 
 '' I ought to have for our friend Cnaeus, yet I 
 " cannot excuse his not coming to the relief of 
 '"■ such men : for if he was afraid to do it, what can 
 •*be more paltry ? or if, as some think, lie thought 
 *' to make his cause the more popular by their 
 "destruction, what can be more unjust ?"t &;c. 
 
 et diuturna Tictoria iiti : qiioniam reliqui crudelitate odium effiigere 
 non potuerunt, neque victoriam diutius tenere, praeter unum L Syf- 
 lam, quem imitaturiis non sum. Haec nova sit ratio vincendi ; ut 
 misericordia et liberalitate nos muniamus. Ep, Caesaris Ad Opp. 
 Att. 9. 7. 
 
 * Caes. Comment. I. i. Plutar. in Caes. 
 
 f Sed obsecro te, quid hoc miserius, quara alterum plausus in 
 foedissima causa quaere re ; alterum offensiones in optima? alterum 
 
262 THE LIFE OF sect. vn. 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Co8s.—C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Cora. Lentulus Crus. 
 
 From this first experiment of Caesar's clemency, 
 Cicero took occasion to send him a letter of com- 
 pliment, and to thank him particularly for his 
 generous treatment of Lentulus, who, when con- 
 sul, had been the chief author of his restoration ; 
 to which Caesar returned the following answer : 
 
 Caesar, Emperour, to Cicero, Emperour. 
 
 " You judge rightly of me, for I am thoroughly 
 " known to you, that nothing is farther removed 
 "from me than cruelty; and, as I have a great 
 " pleasure from the thing itself, so I rejoice and 
 " triumph to find my act approved by you : nor 
 " does it at all move me, that those who were dis- 
 " missed by me, are said to be gone away to re- 
 " new the war against me : for I desire nothing 
 ^' more, than that I may always act like myself; 
 "they like themselves. I wish that you would 
 " meet me at the city, that I may use your coun- 
 " sel and assistance as I have hitherto done in all 
 '* things, INothing, 1 assure you, is dearer to me 
 *' than D^ttbella; I will owe this favour therefore 
 " to him : nor is it possible for him indeed to be- 
 " have otherwise, such is his humanity, his good 
 " sense, and his affection to me. Adieu."^ 
 
 When Pompey, after the unhappy affair of 
 Corfinium, found himself obliged to retire to 
 
 existimari conservatorem infraicorum, alterum desertoreiu amico- 
 runi ? et raehercule quamvis araemiis Cnaeuin nostrum, ut et faciraiis 
 ct debemus, tamen hoc, quod talibus viris non subvenit, landare non 
 possum. Nam sive tirauit quid ignavius? sive, ut quidara putant, 
 fneliorem suam causam illorum caede tore putavit, quid injustius ? Ad 
 Att. 8. 9. 
 
 * Ad Att. 9. 16. 
 
SECT. VII. 
 
 CICERO. 263 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Corn. Lentulus Crus. 
 
 Brundisiiim, and to declare, what he had never 
 before directly owned, his design of quitting Italy, 
 and carrying the war abroad ;^ he was very desi- 
 rous to draw Cicero along with him, and wrote 
 two letters to him at Formiae, to press him to 
 come away directly ; but Cicero, already much 
 out of humour with him, was disgusted still the 
 more by his short and negligent manner of writing, 
 upon an occasion so important :t the second of 
 Pompey's letters with Cicero's answer, will ex- 
 plain the present state of their affairs, and Cice- 
 ro's sentiments upon them. 
 
 On. Pompeius Magnus Proconsul, to M. Cicero. Emperour. 
 
 "If you are in good health, I rejoice : I read 
 "your letter with pleasure: for I perceived in it 
 " your ancient virtue by your concern for the com- 
 " mon safety. The consuls are come to the army, 
 " which I had in Apulia : I earnestly exhort you, 
 " by your singular and perpetual affection to the 
 '' republick to come also to us, that by our joint 
 " advice we may give help and relief to the afflict- 
 "ed state. I would have you make the Appian 
 " way your road, and come in all haste to Brundi- 
 " sium. Take care of your health." 
 
 " M. Cicero, Emperour, to Cn. Magnus. Proconsul. 
 
 " When I sent that letter which was delivered to 
 "you at Canusium, I had no suspicion of your 
 
 * Qui ainisso Cornfinio denique me certiorem cousilii sui fecit^ 
 Ibid. 9. 2. 
 
 t Kpistolarura Pompeii diianira, qiias ad me misit, negligentiam 
 
264 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius aiarcellus. L. Com. Lentulus Crua. 
 
 " crossing the sea for the service of the republick, 
 " and was in great hopes that we should be able, 
 " either to bring about an accommodation, which 
 "to me seemed the most useful, or to defend the 
 "republick with the greatest dignity in Italy. In 
 "the mean time, before my letter reached you, 
 '' being informed of your resolution, by the in- 
 " structions which you sent to the consuls, I did 
 " not wait till I could have a letter from you, but 
 '' set out immediately towards you with my brother 
 "and our children for Apulia. When we were 
 *' come to Theanum, your friend C. Messius, and 
 "many others, told us, that Caesar was on the road 
 ''to Capua, and would lodge that very night at Ae- 
 " sernia : I was much disturbed at it, because, if it 
 '' was true, I not only took my journey to be pre- 
 " eluded, but myself also to be certainly a prisoner. 
 " I went on therefore to Cales with intent to stay 
 " there, till I could learn from Aesernia the certain- 
 '' ty of my intelligence : at Cales there was brought 
 " to me a copy of the letter, which you wrote to 
 " the consul Lentulus, with which you sent the copy 
 «' also of one that you had received from Domitius, 
 "dated tluf eighteenth of February, and signified, 
 " that it was of great importance to the republick, 
 "that all the troops should be drawn together, as 
 " soon as possible, to one place ; yet so as to leave 
 "a sufficient garrison in Capua. L^pon reading 
 " these letters, I was of the same opinion with all 
 "the rest, that you were resolved to march to Cor- 
 **finium with all your forces, whither, when Caesar 
 «' lay before the town, I thou^ ht it impossible for 
 
 iiH.amque in scribendo dilisentiam, voiui tibi notam esse : earum ex- 
 empla ad te raisi. lb. 8. 11- 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 265 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. C. Com. Lentulus Cms. 
 
 " me to come. While this affair was in the utmost 
 " expectation, we were infoimed at one and the same 
 " time, both of what had happened at Corfinium, 
 "and that you were actually marching towards 
 " Brundisium : and when I and my brother resolved, 
 " without hesitation, to follow you thither, we were 
 "advertised by many, who came from Samnium, 
 " and Apulia, to take care that we did not fall into 
 " Caesar's hands, for that he was upon his march to 
 " the same places where our road lay, and would 
 " reach them sooner than we could possibly do. 
 " This being the case, it did not seem advisable to 
 " me, or my brother, or any of our friends, to run 
 " the risk of hurting, not only ourselves, but the 
 " republick, by our rashness : especially when we 
 " could not doubt, but that, if the journey had been 
 " safe to us, we shou.ld not then be able to overtake 
 " you. In the mean while I received your letter 
 " dated from Canusium the twenty-first of Febru- 
 " ary, in which you exhort me to come in all haste 
 " to Brundisium : but as I did not receive it till the 
 " tw^enty-ninth, I made no question but that you 
 " were already arrived at Brundisium, and all that 
 " road seemed wholly shut up to us, and we our- 
 " selves as surely intercepted as those who were 
 " taken at Corfinium : for we did not reckon them 
 " only to be prisoners, who were actually fallen into 
 " the enemy's hands, but those too not less so, who 
 " happen to be enclosed within the quarters and 
 "garrisons of their adversaries. Since this is our 
 " case, I heartily w^ish, in the first place, that I had 
 " always been with you, as I then told you when I 
 " relinquished the command of Capua, which I did 
 " not do for the sake of avoiding trouble, but be- 
 •• cause I saw that the town could not he held wit h- 
 
 TOL. TT. /51 
 
266 THE LIFE OF sect, vii, 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius MarceJlus. L. Com. Lentulus Crus. 
 
 " out an army, and was unwilling that the same ac- 
 " cident should happen to me, which to my sorrow 
 " has happened to some of our bravest citizens at 
 " Corfinium : but since it has not been my lot to be 
 " with you, I wish that 1 had been made privy to 
 *' your counsels : for I could not possibly suspect, 
 " and should sooner have believed any thing, than 
 '^that, for the good of the republick, under such a 
 " leader as you, we should not be able to stand our 
 "ground in Italy: nor do I now blame your con- 
 " duct , but lament the fate of the republick ; and 
 " though I cannot comprehend what it is which you 
 " have followed, yet I am not the less persuaded, 
 " that you have done nothing but with the greatest 
 ''reason. You remember, I believe, what my 
 " opinion always was ; first, to preserve peace, even 
 '' on bad conditions ; then about leaving the city ; 
 " for as to Italy, you never intimated a tittle to me 
 " about it : but I do not take upon myself to think 
 " that my advice ought to have been followed : I 
 "followed yours ; nor that for the sake of the re- 
 " publick, of which I despaired, and which is now 
 " overturned, so as not to be raised up again with- 
 "out a '^vil and most pernicious war: I sought 
 " you ; desired to be with you ; nor will 1 omit the 
 " first opportunity which offers of effecting it. I 
 "easily perceived, through all this affair, that I did 
 " not satisfy those who are fond of fighting : for 1 
 "made no scruple to own, that I wished for noth- 
 " ing so much as peace ; not but that I had the 
 " same apprehensions, from it as they ; but I thought 
 " them more tolerable than a civil war ; then, after 
 " the war was begun, when I saw that conditions of 
 " peace were offered to you, and a full and honour- 
 " able answer given to them, I began to weigh and 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 267 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. C. Com. Lentulus Cnis. 
 
 " deliberate well upon my own conduct, which, con- 
 " sideling your kindness to me, I fancied that I 
 *' should easily explain to your satisfaction : I re- 
 " collected that I was the only man, who, for the 
 " greatest services to the publick, had suffered a 
 " most wretched and cruel punishment : that I was 
 "the only one, who, if I offended him, to whom, at 
 " the very time when we were in arms against him, 
 *' a second consulship and most splendid triumph 
 " was offered, I should be involved again in all the 
 '' same struggles ; so that my person seemed to stand 
 " always exposed as a publick mark to the insults 
 " of profligate citizens : nor did I suspect any of 
 "these things till I was openly threatened with 
 " them, nor was I so much afraid of them, if they 
 " were really to befall me, as I judged it prudent 
 " to decline them, if they could honestly be avoid- 
 " ed. You see, in short, the state of my conduct 
 '' while we had any hopes of peace ; what has 
 " since happened deprived me of all power to do 
 *' any thing : but to those whom I do not please I 
 " can easily answer, that I never was more a friend 
 ''to C. Caesar than they, nor they ever better 
 "friends to the republick than myself: the only 
 " difference between me and them, is, that as they 
 " are excellent citizens, and I not far removed from 
 "that character, it was my advice to proceed by 
 " way of treaty, which I understood to be ap- 
 " proved also by you ; theirs by way of arms ; and 
 " since this method has prevailed, it shall be my 
 " care to behave myself so, that the republick may 
 " not want in me the spirit of a true citizen, nor you 
 " of a friend. Adieu."^' 
 
 * Ad Att. 8. 11. 
 
260 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. C. Corn. Lentulus Crus. 
 
 The disgust which Pompey's manaojement had 
 given him, and which he gently intimates in this 
 letter, was the true reason why he did not join 
 him at this time : he had a mind to deliberate a 
 while longer before he took a step so decisive : 
 this he owns to Atticus, where, after recounting 
 all the particulars of his own conduct, which were 
 the most liable to exception, he adds, " I have 
 " neither done nor omitted to do any thing, which 
 *' has not both a probable and prudent excuse — 
 " and, in truth, was willing to consider a little lon- 
 " ger what was light and fit for me to do."=^ The 
 chief ground of his deliberation was, that he still 
 thought a peace possible, in which case Pompey 
 and Caesar would be one again, and he had no 
 mind to give Caesar any cause to be an enemy to 
 him, when he was become a friend to Pompey. 
 
 While things were in this situation, Caesar sent 
 young Balbus after the consul Lentulus, to en- 
 deavour to persuade him to stay in Italy, and re- 
 turn to the city, by the offer of every thing that 
 could tempt him : he called upon Cicero on his 
 way, wha^ives the following account of it to At- 
 ticus : " Young Balbus came to me on the twenty- 
 " fourth in the evening, running in all haste by 
 '^private roads, after Lentulus, with letters and 
 ''instructions from Caesar, and the offer of any 
 *' government, if he will return to Rome ; but it 
 " will have no effect unless they happen to meet : 
 " he told me that Caes9.r desired nothins: so much 
 
 * Nihil praetermissum est, quod non habeat sapientem exciisatio- 
 nem, et plane quid rectum, etquid faciendum mihi esset, diutius cosi- 
 tare raalui. lb. 8. 12. 
 
SECT. VI 
 
 CICERO. 269 
 
 A. Urb< 704i Cie. 58. Cos8.-^C. ClaudiQs Marcellus. L. Corn. Lentulns €rns. 
 
 " as to overtake Pompey ; which I believe ; and to 
 ** be friends with him again ; which I do not be- 
 " lieve ; and begin to fear, that all his clemency 
 " means nothin^: else at last but to give that one 
 " cruel blow. The elder Balbus writes me word, 
 *' that Caesar wishes nothing more than to live in 
 " safety, and yield the first rank to Pompey. You 
 *' take him, 1 suppose, to be in earnest."* 
 
 Cicero seems to think, that Lentulus might have 
 been persuaded to stay, if Balbus and he had met 
 together ; for he had no opinion of the firmness 
 of these consuls, but says of them both, on an- 
 other occasion, that they were more easily moved 
 by every wind, than a feather or a leaf. He re- 
 ceived another letter soon after from Balbus, of 
 which he sent a copy to Attic us, '* that he might 
 " pity him," he says, " to see w^hat a dupe they 
 " thought to make of him."t 
 
 Balbus to Cicero, Emperour. 
 
 " I conjure you, Cicero, to think of some me- 
 " thod of making Caesar and Pompey friends again, 
 " who by the perfidy of certain persons are now 
 " divided : it is a work highly worthy of your vir- 
 *' tue : take my word for it, Caesar will not only 
 " be in your j)ower, but think himself infinitely 
 "obliged to you, if you would charge yourself 
 
 * Ad. Att. 8. 9. 
 
 t Nee me consoles movent, qui ipsi pluma aut folio facilius mo- 
 ventur, nt vicem meam doleres, cum me deridcri videres. lb. 8. 
 15. 
 
170 THE LIFE OF sect. vir. 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus C. Com. Lentulus Cms. 
 
 *'with this affair. I should be glad if Pompey 
 " would do so too ; but in the present circumstan- 
 *' ces, it is what I wish rather than hope, that he 
 " may be brought to any terms : but whenever he 
 " gives over flying and fearing Caesar, I shall not 
 *' despair, that your authority may have its weight 
 " with him. Caesar takes it kindly, that you were 
 "for Lentulus's staying in Italy, and it was the 
 " greatest obligation which you could confer upon 
 " me : for I love him as much as I do Caesar him- 
 "self: if he had suffered me to talk to him as 
 *' freely as we used to do, and not so often shun- 
 "ned the opportunities which I sought of confer- 
 " ring with him, I should have been less unhappy 
 *' than I now am : for assure yourself that no man 
 '* can be more afflicted than I, to see one, who is 
 " dearer to me than myself, acting his part so ill 
 " in his consulship, that he seems to be any thing 
 " rather than a consul : but, should he be dispos- 
 " ed to follow your advice, and take your word 
 ''for Caesar's good intentions, and pass the rest 
 " of his consulship at Rome, I should begin to 
 ''hope, that, by your authority, and at his mo- 
 "tion, PoEhpey and Caesar may be made one 
 "again, with the approbation even of the sen- 
 "ate. Whenever this can be brought about, I 
 " shall think that I have lived long enough : you 
 ''will entirely approve, I am sure, what Caesar 
 " did at Corfinium ; in an affair of that sort, 
 " nothing could fall out better, than that it should 
 "be transacted without blood. I am extremely 
 "glad, that my nephew's visit was agreeable to 
 "you; as to what he said on Caesar's part, and 
 '* what Caesar himself wrote to you, I know Cae- 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 2ri 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Com. Lentulus Crus. 
 
 " sar to be very sincere in it, whatever turn his af- 
 " fairs may take."^ 
 
 Caesar, at the same time, was extremely solici- 
 tous, not so much to gain Cicero, for that was 
 not to be expected, as to prevail with him to 
 stand neuter. He wrote to him several times to 
 that effect, and employed all their common friends 
 to press him with letters on that head :t who, by 
 his keeping such a distance at this time from Pom- 
 pey, imagining that they had made some impres- 
 sion, began to attempt a second point with him, 
 viz. to persuade him to come back to Rome, and 
 assist in the councils of the senate, which Caesar 
 designed to summon at his return from following 
 Pompey : with this view, in the hurry of his 
 march towards Brundisium, Caesar sent him the 
 following letter. 
 
 Caesar, Emperour, to Cicero, Emperour. 
 
 " When I had but just time to see our friend 
 " Furnius, nor could conveniently speak with, or 
 " hear him, was in haste, and on my march, having 
 " sent the legions before me, yet I could not pass 
 " by without writing, and sending him to you with 
 " my thanks ; though I have often paid this duty 
 " before, and seem likely to pay it oftener, you 
 " deserve it so well of me. I desire of you in a 
 " special manner, that, as I iiope to be in the city 
 
 * Ad Att. 8. 1^. 
 
 f Quod qiiaeris quid Caesar ad me scripserit. Quod saepe : gratis- 
 simum sibi esse quod qiiierim : oratque ut in eo perseverein. Balbus 
 iQiDor haec eadeiu mandata. lb. 8. 11. 
 
272 THE LIFE OF sect. vn. 
 
 A. Utb. 704. Cic 58. Coss — C. Claudius Marcdlus. L. Com. Lentidus Crus. 
 
 *' shortly, I may see you there, and have the bene- 
 ^' fit of your advice, your interest, your authority, 
 " your assistance in all things. But to return to 
 " the point : you will pardon the haste and brevity 
 " of my letter, and learn the rest from Furnius." 
 To which Cicero answered. 
 
 Cicero, Emperour, to Caesar, Emperour. 
 
 " Upon reading your letter, delivered to me by 
 " Furnius, in which you pressed me to come to the 
 *' city, 1 did not so much wonder at what you there 
 " intimated, of your desire to use my advice and 
 " authority, but was at a loss to find out what you 
 " meant by my interest, and assistance : yet 1 flat- 
 " tered myself into a persuasion, that, out of your 
 " admirable and singular wisdom, you are desirous 
 " to enter into some measures for establishing the 
 " p^ace and concord of the city ; and in that case, 
 " I looked upon my temper and character as fit 
 " enough to be employed in such a deliberation. If 
 " the case be so, and you have any concern for the 
 *' safety 5f our friend Pompey, and of reconciling 
 " him to yourself, and to the republick, you will 
 '* certainly find no man more proper for such a work 
 " than I am, who, from the very first, have always 
 " been the adviser of peace, both to him and the 
 " senate ; and, since this recourse to arms, have not 
 '' meddled with any part of the war, but thought 
 " you to be really injured by it, while your ene- 
 " mies and enviers were attempting to deprive you 
 " of those honours which the Roman people had 
 " granted you. But as, at that time, I was not 
 *' only a favourer of your dignity, but an en- 
 
SECT, vir, CICERO. 273 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Corn. Lentulus Crus. 
 
 " courao^er also of others to assist you in it ; so now 
 " the dignity of Pompey greatly affects tne : for 
 *' many years ago, I made choice of you two, with 
 " whom to cultivate a particular friendship, and to 
 *' be, as I now am, most strictly united. Where- 
 " fore I desire of you, or rather beg and implore 
 '^ with all my piayers, that in the hurry of your 
 " cares you would indulge a moment to this thought, 
 '' how by your generosity, I may be permitted to 
 " shew myself an honest, grateful, pious man, in 
 " remembering an act of the greatest kindness to 
 " me. If this related only to myself, 1 should 
 " hope still to obtain it from you : but it con- 
 " cerns, I think, both your honour and the re- 
 " publick, that by your means, I should be allow- 
 "• ed to continue in a situation the best adapted to 
 " promote the peace of you two, as well as the 
 " general concord of all the citizens. After I had 
 " sent my thanks to you before on the account of 
 " Lentulus ; for giving safety to him who had given 
 "it to me; yet, upon reading his letter, in which 
 '' he expresses the most grateful sense of your 
 " liberality, I took myself to have received the 
 " same grace from you, which he had done : to- 
 " wards whom, if by this you perceive me to be 
 " ungrateful, let it be your care, I beseech you, 
 " that I may be so too towards Pompey."^ 
 
 Cicero was censured for some passages of this 
 letter, which Caesar took care to make publick, 
 viz. the compliment on Caesar's admirable ivisdom ; 
 and above all, the acknowledgment of his be- 
 ing injartd by his adversaries in the present war : 
 
 ■ Ad Att. 9: 6. 11 
 VOL. IT. .^f) 
 
274 THE LIFE OF sect, mu 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Maieellus. L. Com. Lentulus Crus. 
 
 in excuse of which, he says, "that he was not sor- 
 " ry for the publication of it, for he himself had 
 *' 2;iven several copies of it ; and, considering what 
 '^ had since happened, was pleased to have it known 
 *' to the world how much he had always been in- 
 *' clined to peace ; and that, in urging Caesar to save 
 '' his country, he thought it his business to use 
 *' such expressions as were the most likely to gain 
 " authority with him, without fearing to be thought 
 *' guilty of flattery, in urging him to an act for 
 *' which he would gladly have thrown himself even 
 '' at his feet."^ 
 
 He received another letter, on the same subject, 
 and about the same time, written jointly by Bal- 
 bus and Oppius, two of Caesar's chief confidents. 
 
 Balbus and Opptus to M. Cicero. 
 
 '^ The advice, not only of little men, such as we 
 '' are, but even of the greatest, is generally weighed, 
 " not by the intention of the giver, but the event ; 
 *' yet, relying on your humanity, we will give you 
 " what we take to be the best, in the case about 
 " which you wrote to us ; w hich, though it should 
 " not be found prudent, yet certainly flows from 
 *' the utmost fidelity and affection to you. If we 
 " did not know from Caesar himself, that, as soon 
 
 * Epistolam raeam quod pcrvulgatam scribis esse non fero moleslc. 
 Quin etiara ipse multis dedi describeirdam. Ea enim et acciderunt 
 jam et impendent, ut testatum esse velim de pace qnid senserira. 
 Cum autera eum hortarer, cum praesertim hominem, non videbar uUo 
 raodo facilius moturus, quam si id, quod eum hortarec convenire ejus 
 sapientiae dicerem. Earn si adrairabilem, dixi, cum eum ad sahitem 
 patriae hortarer, uon sum veritus, ne viderer assentiri, cuitaliin re 
 Jubenter me ad pedes abjecissem, etc. lb. 8. 9. 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 275 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Corn. Lentulus Crus. 
 
 ^' as he comes to Rome, he will do what in our 
 "judgment we think he ought to do, treat about a 
 " reconciliation between him and Pompey, we 
 " should give over exhorting you to come and 
 "take part in those deliberations; that by your 
 '' help, who have a strict friendship with them both, 
 "the whole affair may be settled with ease and 
 " dignity : or if, on the contrary, we believed that 
 " Caesar would not do it, and knew that he was re- 
 " solved upon a war with Pompey, we should 
 " never try to persuade you to take arms against 
 " a man to whom you have the greatest obliga- 
 " tions, in the same manner as we have always en- 
 " treated you not to fight against Caesar. But 
 " since, at present, we can only guess rather than 
 ** know what Caesar will do, we have nothing to 
 " offer but this, that it does not seem agreeable to 
 " your dignity, or your fidelity, so w^ell known to 
 " all, when you are intimate with them both, to 
 "take arms against either: and this we do not 
 ^' doubt but Caesar, according to his humanity, will 
 " highly approve : yet if you judge proper, we 
 " will write to him, to let us know what he will 
 " really do about it ; and if he returns us an an- 
 " swer, will presently send you notice, what we 
 " think of it, and give you our word, that we will 
 " advise only what we take to be most suitable to 
 " your honour, not to Caesar's views ; and are 
 " persuaded, that Caesar, out of his indulgence 
 " to his friends, will be pleased with it."* This 
 joint letter was followed by a separate one from 
 Balbus. 
 
 * Ad Att. 9. 8. 
 
276 THE LIFE OF sect. tii. 
 
 A. Urb. 704. CIc 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Com. lientulus Crus. 
 
 Balbus to Cicero, Emperour. 
 
 " Immediately after I had sent the common 
 ' letter from Oppius and myself, I received one 
 ' from Caesar, of which I have sent you a copy ; 
 ' whence you will perceive how desirous he is 
 ' of peace, and to be reconciled with Pompey, 
 ' and how far removed from all thoughts of cruel- 
 ' ty. It gives me an extreme joy, as it certainly 
 ' ought to do, to see him in these sentiments. As 
 ' to yourself, your fidelity, and your piety, I am 
 'entirely of the same mind, my dear Cicero, with 
 ' you, that you cannot, consistently with your 
 
 * character and duty, bear arms against a man to 
 ' whom you declare yourself so greatly obliged : 
 ' that Caesar will approve this resolution, I cer- 
 ' tainly know, from his singular humanity ; and 
 ' that you will perfectly satisfy him, by taking no 
 'part in the war against him, nor joining your- 
 ' self to his adversaries : this he will think suffi- 
 ' cient not only from you, a person of such dig- 
 ' nity and splendour, but has allowed it even to 
 ' me, not to be found in that camp, which is like- 
 
 * ly to be'^formed against Lentulus and Pompey, 
 'from whom I have received the greatest obliga- 
 ' tions : ' It was enough,' he said, ' if I perform- 
 'ed my part to him in the city and the gown, 
 'which I might perform also to them iff thought 
 'fit:' wherefore I now manage al] Lentulus's af- 
 ' fairs at Rome, and discharge my duty, my fideli- 
 ' ty, my piety, to them both : yet in truth, I do 
 ' not take the hopes of an accommodation, though 
 'now so low, to be quite desperate, since Caesar 
 ' is in that mind in which we ought to wish him : 
 ' one thing would please me, if you think it pro- 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 2rr 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Com. Lentulus Crus. 
 
 " per, that you would write to him, and desire a 
 " guard from him, as you did from Pompey, at the 
 *' time of Miio's trial, with my approbation : 1 will 
 " undertake for him, if I rightly know Caesar, that 
 " he will sooner pay a regard to your dignity, than 
 '' to his own interest. How prudently I write 
 " these tilings, I know not ; but this 1 certainly 
 " know ; that whatever I write, I write out of a sin- 
 " gular love and affection to you : for let me die, 
 " (so as Caesar may but live) if I have not so great 
 '' an esteem for you, that few are equally dear to 
 '* me. When you have taken any resolution in 
 "this affair, I wish that you would let me know it, 
 " for 1 am exceedingly solicitous that you sliould 
 " discharge your duty to them both, which in truth 
 '' I am confident you will discharge. Take care 
 " of your health."* 
 
 The offer of a guard was artfully insinuated; 
 for while it carried an appearance of honour and 
 respect to Cicero's person, it must necessarily 
 have made him Caesar's prisoner, and deprived him 
 of the liberty of retiring, when he found it proper, 
 out of Italy : but he was too wise to be cauo;lit 
 by it, or to be moved in any manner by the let- 
 ters themselves, to entertain the least thought of 
 going to Rome, since, to assist in the Senate, when 
 Pompey and the consuls were driven out of it, was 
 in reality to take part against them. What gave 
 him a more immediate uneasiness was the daily 
 expectation of an interview with Caesar himself, 
 who was now returning from Brundisium by the 
 road of Formiae, where he then resided : for 
 though he would gladly have avoided him if he 
 
 ■ Ad Att. 9. 8. 
 
278 THE LIFE OF sect. vu. 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Mareellus. L. Corn. Lentulus Crus. 
 
 could have contrived to do it decently, yet to 
 leave the place just when Caesar was cominoj to 
 it, could not fail of bein^ interpreted as a par- 
 ticular affront : he resolved, therefore, to wait for 
 him, and to act on the occasion with a firmness 
 and gravity which became his rank and character. 
 
 They met, as he expected, and he sent Atticus 
 the following account of what passed between 
 them : " My discourse with him," says he, '' was 
 " such, as would rather make him think well of 
 " me, than thank me. I stood firm in refusing to 
 " go to Rome ; but was deceived in expecting to 
 *' find him easy ; for T never saw any one less so ; 
 " he w^as condemned, he said, by my judgment ; 
 " and if I did not come, others would be the more 
 *' back w ard : I told him that their case was very 
 ^' different from mine. After many things said on 
 " both sides, he bade me come however and try to 
 " make peace :" ' Shall I do it,' says I, ' in my 
 " own way V ' Do you imagine,' replied he, 
 " ' that I will prescribe to you V ' I will move the 
 *' senate, then,' says I, ' for a decree against your 
 " going ta^pain, or transporting your troops into 
 " Greece, and say a great deal besides in bewailing 
 " the case of Pompey :' ' I will not allows' re- 
 *' plied he, ' such things to be said :' 'So I 
 " thought,' says I, ' and for that reason will not 
 " come ; because I must either say them, and many 
 " more, which I cannot help saying, if I am there, 
 "or not come at all.' The result was; that, to 
 " shift off the discourse, he wished me to consider 
 " of it; which I could not refuse to do, and so we 
 " parted. I am persuaded, that he is not pleased 
 ^' with me ; but 1 am pleased with myself; which 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 279 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Com. Lentulus Cr:i$. 
 
 " I have not been before of a long time. As for 
 "the rest; good gods, what a crew he has with 
 " him ! what a hellish band, as you call them ! — 
 " what a deplorable affair ! what desperate troops ! 
 '* what a lamentable thing, to see Servius's son, 
 '' and Titinius's, with many more of their rank in 
 " that camp, which besieged Pompey ! he has six 
 " legions ; wakes at all hours ; fears nothing ; I see 
 " no end of this calamity. His declaration at the 
 " last, which I had almost forgot, was odious ; that 
 " if he was not permitted to use my advice, he 
 " would use such as he could get from others, and 
 " pursue all measures which were for his service."^ 
 From this conference, Cicero went directly to Ar- 
 pinum, and tliere invested his son, at the age of 
 sixteen, with the manly gown ; he resolved to carry 
 him along with him to Pompey's camp, and thought 
 it proper to give him an air of manhood before he 
 enlisted him into the war ; and, since he could not 
 perform that ceremony at Rome, chose to oblige 
 his countrymen, by celebrating this festival in his 
 native city.f 
 
 While Caesar was on the road towards Rome, 
 young Quintus Cicero, the nephew, a fiery giddy 
 youth, privately wrote to him to offer his service, 
 with a promise of some information concerning his 
 uncle ; upon which, being sent for, and admitted to 
 an audience, he assured Caesar, that his uncle was 
 utterly disaffected to all his measures, and determin- 
 ed to leave Italy and go to Pompey. The boy was 
 
 * Ad Att. 9. 18. 
 
 t Ego meo Ciceroni, quoniam Roma caremus, Arpini potissimum 
 togara piirain dedi, idque municipibus iiostris luitgratnm — lb. 19. 
 
2S0 
 
 THE LIFE OF sect, vii 
 
 irurbr704. Cic. 58. COSS.-C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Corn. Lentulus Crus^ 
 
 tempted to this rashness by the hopes of a considera- 
 ble present, and gave much uneasiness by it both 
 to the father and the uncle, who had reason to fear 
 some ill consequence from it:* But Caesar, desn- 
 ino- still to divert Cicero from declaring; against him, 
 anil to quiet the apprehensions which he might en- 
 tertain for what was past, took occasion to signity 
 to him, in a kind letter from Rome, "that he re- 
 "tained no resentment of his refusal to come to tne 
 " city, though Tullus and Servius complained that 
 « he had noit shewn the same indulgence to them,— 
 « ridiculous men," says Cicero, " who, after send- 
 « ing their sons to besiege Pompey at Brundisium, 
 "pretend to be scrupulous about going to the 
 « senate."t 
 
 Cicero's behaviour, however, and residence in 
 those villas of his, which were nearest to the sea, 
 gave rise to a general report, that he was waiting 
 only for a wind to carry him over to Pompey ; upon 
 which Caesar sent him another pressing letter, to 
 try, if possible, to dissuade him from that step. 
 
 ♦' Caesar, Emi)eiour, to Cige-ro, Emperour. 
 
 ''Though I never imagined that you would do 
 « any thing rashly or imprudently, ye t, moved by 
 
 * Litteras ejus ad Caesarcin missas ita graviter tulimiis, ut te qui- 
 dem celar.mns. taotiun scito post Hirtium conventuni, arcesi^num 
 ab Caesare; cum eo de mep animo ab suis consili.s alien.ssiiiio, et 
 consilio relinqijpudi Ilaliam. lb. 10.4, ^^ f tc. 
 
 Quintum punrum accepi vehementer Avaritiara video fuisse, et 
 spem luagni conoiarii. Magnum hoc malum est. lb. 10. /• 
 
 I Caesar mihi i-noscit per litleras, quod non Romam venerim. se se- 
 que in opiiraam partem id accipere dicit. Facile pat.or, quod scnbit. 
 
SECT. VII. CJCERO. , 281 
 
 A. Uib. 704. Cic. 88. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. C. Com. Lentulus Cms. 
 
 *' common report, I thought proper to write to you, 
 " and beg of you, by our mutual affection, that you 
 ** would not run to a declining cause, whither you 
 " did not think fit to go while it stood firm. For 
 " you will do the greatest injury to our friendship, 
 " arid consult but ill for yourself, if you do not 
 '* follow where fortune calls : for all things seem to 
 '' have succeeded most prosperously for us, most 
 *' unfortunately for them : nor will you be thought 
 *' to have followed the cause, (since that was the 
 " same, when you chose to withdraw yourself from 
 " their counsels) but to have condemned some act 
 " of mine ; than which you can do nothing that 
 ** could affect me more sensibly, and what I beg, 
 ** by the rights of our friendship, that you would 
 '' not do. Lastly, what is more agreeable to the 
 '' character of an honest, quiet man, and good citi- 
 *' zen, than to retire from civil broils ? from which 
 " some, who would gladly have done it, have been 
 " deterred by an apprehension of danger : but you, 
 " after a full testimony of my life, and trial of my 
 " friendship, will find nothing more safe or more 
 " reputable, than to keep yourself clear from all 
 "this contention. The 16th of April, on the 
 *' road."* 
 
 Antony also, whom Caesar left to guard Italy in 
 his absence, wrote to him to the same purpose, and 
 on the same day. 
 
 secum Tiillum et Servium questos esse, quianou idem sibi, quod inihi 
 remisiset. Homines ridiculos, qui cum filios misissent ad Cn. Pompei- 
 um clrcurasidendum, ipsi in senatum venire dubitareut. lb. 10. 3. 
 
 * Ad Att. y. 8. 
 
 VOL. ir. 36 
 
28-2 THE LIFE OF sect. tii. 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. C. Com. Lentulus Crus. , 
 
 Antonius, Tribune of the People, and Propraetor, to 
 Cicero, Emperour. 
 
 " If I had not a great esteem for you, and much 
 " greater indeed than you imagine, 1 should not be 
 " concerned at the report which is spread of you, 
 " especially when I take it to be false. But, 
 " out of the excess of my affection, I cannot dis- 
 "semble, that even a report, 1 hough false, makes 
 " some impression on me. I cannot believe that you 
 " are preparing to cross the sea, when you have 
 " such a value for Dolabella, and your daughter 
 " Tullia, that excellent woman, and are so much 
 " valued by us all, to whom in truth your dignity 
 " and honour are almost dearer than to yourself; 
 " yet I did not think it the part of a friend not to 
 " be moved by the discourse even of ill-designing 
 '' men, and wrote this with the greater inclination, 
 " as'l take my part to be the more difficult on the 
 " account of our late coldness, occasioned rather 
 " by my jealousy, than any injury from you. For 
 " I desire you to assure yourself, that nobody is 
 " dearer t«wme than you, excepting my Caesar, and 
 "that I know also that Caesar reckons M. Cicero 
 " in the first class of his friends. Wherefore, I beg 
 "of you, my Cicero, that you will keep yourself 
 " free and undetermined, and despise the fidelity of 
 " that man who first did you an injury, that he 
 " might afterwards do you a kindness ; nor fly from 
 " him, who, though he should not love you, which 
 " is impossible, yet will always desire to see you in 
 " safety and splendour. I have sent Calpurnius to 
 " you with this, the most intimate of my friends. 
 
^ECT. VII. CICERO. 283 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus, C. Corn. Lentulus Cms. 
 
 ••' that you mii^ht perceive the o;reat concern which 
 " I have for your life and dignity."^ 
 
 Caelius also wrote to him on the same subject ; 
 butfindinor, by some hints in Cicero's answer, that 
 he was actually preparing to run away to Pompey, 
 he sent him a second letter, in a most pathetick, or, 
 as Cicero calls it, lamentable strain,t in hopes to 
 work upon him by alarming all his fears. 
 
 Caelius to Cicero. 
 
 ** Being in a consternation at your lettter, by 
 *' which you shew that you are meditating nothing 
 " but what is dismal, yet neither tell me directly 
 " what it is, nor wholly hide it from me, I presently 
 " write this to you. By all your fortunes, Cicero, 
 " by your children, I beg and beseech you, not to 
 " take any step injurious to your safety : for I call 
 " the gods and men, and our friendship, to witness, 
 " that what I have told, and forewarned you of, 
 "was not any vain conceit of my own, but after I 
 " had talked with Caesar, and understood from him, 
 *' how he resolved to act after his victory, I inform- 
 " ed you of what I had learnt. If you imagine 
 " that his conduct will always be the same, in dis- 
 " missing his enemies, and offering conditions, you 
 "are mistaken: he thinks and even talks of no- 
 " thing but what is fierce and severe, and is gone 
 " away much out of humour with the senate, and 
 "thoroughly provoked by the opposition which he 
 
 * Ad Att. X. 8. 
 T M. Caelii epistolam scriptam miserabiliter. lb. x. 9. 
 
284 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. C. Corn. Lentulus Cnis. 
 
 " has met with, nor will there be any room for 
 ''mercy. Wherefore, if you yourself, your only 
 "son, your house, your remaining hopes, be dear 
 " to you : if I, if the worthy man, your son-in-law, 
 " have any weight with you, you should not de- 
 *' sire to overturn our fortunes, and force us to 
 '* hate or to relinquish that cause in which our 
 " safety consists, or to entertain an impious wish 
 " against yours. Lastly, reflect on this, that you 
 " have already given all the offence which you c^an 
 '' give, by staying so long behind ; and now to de- 
 " dare against a conqueror, whom you would not 
 " offend, while his cause was doubtful, and to fly 
 " after those who run away, with whom you would 
 " not join, while they were in condition to resist, 
 **is the utmost folly. Take care, that, while 
 " you are ashamed not to approve yourself one of 
 " the best citizens, you be not too hasty in deter- 
 '* mining what is the best. But if I cannot wholly 
 " prevail with you, yet wait at least till you know 
 " how we succeed in Spain, which 1 now tell you 
 " will be ours as soon as Caesar comes thither. 
 " What hopes they may haye when Spain is lost, 
 '' I know '^ot ; and what your view can be, in ac- 
 " ceding to a desperate cause, by my faith I cannot 
 '' find out. ^ s to the thing, which you discover 
 " to me by your silence about it, Caesar has been 
 " informed of it ; and, after the first salutation, told 
 ^' me presently, what he had heard of you : I de- 
 " nied that I knew any thing of the matter, but 
 " begged of him to write to you in a manner the 
 *' most effectual to make you stay. He carries me 
 " with him into Spain, if he did not, I would run 
 ** aw ay to you wherever you are, before I came 
 '* to Rome, to dispute this point with you in per- 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 285 
 
 A. Vtb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Corn. Leniulus Crus. 
 
 " son, and hold you fast even by force. Consider, 
 " Cicero, again and as^ain, that you may not ut- 
 " terly ruin both you and yours ; that you do 
 " not knowingly and willingly, throw yourself into 
 " difficulties, whence you see no way to extricate 
 "yourself. But if either the reproaches of the 
 ''better sort touch you, or you cannot bear the 
 " insolence and haughtiness of a certain set of men, 
 " I would advise you to choose some place re- 
 "mote from the war, till these contests be over, 
 " which will soon be decided : if you do this, I 
 *' shall think that you have done wisely, and you 
 " will not offend Caesar."^^ 
 
 Caelius's advice, as well as his practice, was 
 grounded upon a maxim, which he had before 
 advanced in a letter to Cicero, ''that in a pub- 
 " lick dissension, as long as it was carried on by 
 '' civil methods, one ought to take the honester 
 "side; but when it came to arras, the stronger; 
 " and to judge that the best which was the safest."t 
 Cicero was not of his opinion, but governed him- 
 self in this, as he generally did, in all other cases, 
 by a contrary rule; "that where our duty and 
 " our safety interfere, we should adhere always 
 " to what is right, whatever danger w^e incur 
 " by it." 
 
 Curio paid Cicero a friendly visit of two days 
 about this time on his way towards Sicily, the com- 
 
 * Ep. Fara. 8. 16. 
 
 t Ilhid te non arbitror fiigere ; quin homines, in dissensioncs do- 
 mesticas, debeant, qiiaradiii civiliter sine aiinis cernemr, lioneslio- 
 rem sequi partem : ubi ad belhim et castra venlura sit, firmiorem; 
 et id melius statuere, quod tutius sit. Ep. Fam. 8. 14. 
 
286 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Corn. Lentulus Crus. 
 
 mand of which Caesar had committed to him. 
 Their conversation turned on the unhappy con- 
 dition of the times, and the impending miseries of 
 the war, in which Curio was open, and without 
 any reserve, in talking of Caesar's views : " He 
 " exhorted Cicero to choose some neutral place 
 " for his retreat ; assured him, that Caesar would 
 '* be pleased with it ; offered him all kind of ac- 
 " commodation and safe passage through Sicily ; 
 " made not the least doubt, but that Caesar would 
 " soon be master of Spain, and then follow Pom- 
 " pey with his whole force ; and that Pompey's 
 " death would be the end of the war : but confess- 
 "ed withal, that he saw no prospect or glim- 
 " mering of hope for the republick : said, that 
 *« Caesar was so provoked by the tribune Metellus 
 " at Rome, that he had a mind to have killed him, 
 "as many of his friends advised; that if he had 
 "done it,* a great slaughter would have ensued; 
 '' th^t his clemency flowed, not from his natural 
 " disposition, but because he thought it popular ; 
 " and if he once lost the affections of the people, 
 " he would be cruel : that he was disturbed to see 
 " the pedple so disgusted by his seizing the pub- 
 " lick treasure ; and though he had resolved to 
 " speak to them before he left Rome, yet he durst 
 " not venture upon it for fear of some affront ; 
 " and went away at last much discomposed."^ 
 
 The leaving the publick treasure at Rome a 
 prey to Caesar, is censured more than once by 
 Cicero, as one of tlie blunders of his friends :t 
 but it is a common case in civil dissensions, for 
 
 * Ad Att. X. 4. t lb. 7. 12. 15. 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 287 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellm. L. Com. Lentulus Crus. 
 
 the honester side, through the fear of discredit- 
 ing their cause by any irregular act, to ruin it by 
 an unseasonable moderation. The publick money 
 was kept in the temple of Saturn ; and the con- 
 suls contented themselves with caiTying away the 
 keys, fancying, that the sanctity of the place 
 would secure it from violence ; especially when 
 the greatest part of it was a fund of a sacred kind, 
 set apart by the laws for occasions only of the 
 last exigency, or the terrour of a Gallick inva- 
 sion.* Pompey was sensible of the mistake, when 
 it was too late, and sent instructions to the con- 
 suls to go back and fetch away this sacred trea- 
 sure : but Caesar was then so far advanced, that 
 they durst not venture upon it ; and Lentulus 
 coldly sent him word, Ihat he himself should first 
 march against Caesar into Picenum, that they 
 might be able to do it with safety .f Caesar had 
 none of these scruples; but, as soon as became 
 to Rome, ordered the doors of the temple to be 
 broken open, and the money to be seized for his 
 own use ; and had like to have killed the tribune 
 Metellus, who, trusting to the authority of his 
 office, was silly enough to attempt to hinder him. 
 He found there an immense treasure, both in coin 
 and wedges of solid gold, reserved from the spoils 
 of conquered nations from the time even of the 
 Punick war : " for the republick," as Pliny says, 
 •' had never been richer than it was at this day."J 
 
 * Dio, p. 161. 
 
 I C, Cassius — attulit mandata ad consules, ut Romam venirent. 
 pecuniam de sanctiore aerario auferrent. Cousul reseripsit, ut priiis 
 ipse in Picenum. Ad Att. 7. 21. 
 
 t Nee fiiit aliis temporibns Respub. lociipletior. PJin. Hist. 33. .3 
 
288 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Com. Lentulus Cms, 
 
 Cicero was now impatient to be gone, and the 
 more so, on account of the inconvenient pomp of 
 his laurel, and lictors, and stile of emperour; 
 which, in a time of that jealousy and distraction, 
 exposed him too much to the eyes of the publick, 
 as well as to the taunts and raillery of his ene- 
 mies.* He resolved lo cross the sea to Pompey : 
 yet, knowino; all his motions to be narrowly watch- 
 ed, took pains to conceal his intention, especially 
 from Antony, who resided, at this time in his 
 neii>hbourhood, and kept a strict eye upon him. 
 He sent him word therefore by letter, that he had 
 "no desio;n a^^ainst Caesar; that he remembered 
 " his friendship, and his son-in-law Dolabella ; 
 " that if he had other thoughts, he could easily 
 « have been with Pompey ; that his chief reason 
 " for retiring was to avoid the uneasiness of ap- 
 " pearing in publick with the formality of his 
 "lictors."t But Antony wrote him a surly an- 
 swer ; which Cicero calls a laconick mandate, and 
 sent a copy of it to Atticus, "• U let him see," he 
 says, " how tyrannically it was drawn." 
 
 *' How^'^sincere is your Avay of acting ? for he, 
 "who has a mind to stand neuter, stays at home ; 
 " he, wlio goes abroad, seems to pass a judgment 
 " on the one side or the other. But it does not 
 ''belono; to me to determine, whether a man may 
 
 * Accedit etiara molcsta haec pompa lictorurn meorum, nomen- 
 qiie imperii quo appylior — sed inciirnt haec nostra laurus non solum 
 in oculos, sed jam etiam in roculas .Dalevolorum. Ep. Fam. 2. 16. 
 
 t Cum ego saepi«sirae srripsissera, nihil me contra Caesaris ratio- 
 nes cooitare ; mi^minisse me generi mei, merainisse amicitiae, potu- 
 issesiaiiter sentiifm. esse Vnn> Pompeio, me antem, quia cum iic- 
 toribus invitus cursarem, abesse velle. Ad Att. x. 10. 
 
SECT. vii. CICERO. 289 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Corn. Lentulus Crus. 
 
 " go abroad or not. Caesar has imposed this task 
 " upon me, not to suffer any man to iro out of Italy. 
 " W here fore, it sionities nothing for me to approve 
 " your resolution, if 1 have no power to indulge 
 " you in it. I would have you write to Caesar, 
 '* and ask that favour of him : I do not doubt but 
 " you will obtain it, especially since you promise 
 ''to retain a regard for our friend ship."^^ 
 
 After this letter, Antony never came to see 
 him, but sent an excuse, that he was ashamed to 
 do it, because he took him to be angry with him, 
 giving him to understand at the same time by Tre- 
 batius, that he had special orders to observe his 
 motions.f 
 
 These letters give the most sensible proof of 
 the high esteem and credit in which Cicero flour- 
 ished at this time in Rome : when, in a contest 
 for empire, which force alone was to decide, we 
 see the chiefs on both sides so solicitous to gain a 
 man to their party, who had no pecidiar skill in 
 arms or talents for war : but his name and authori- 
 ty was the acquisition which they sought ; since, 
 whatever was the fate of their arms, the world, 
 they knew, would judge better of the cause which 
 Cicero espoused. The same letters will confute 
 likewise in a great measure the common opinion 
 of his want of resolution in all cases of difficulty, 
 since no man could shew a greater than he did on 
 
 * Ad Att. X. 10. 
 
 f IVomiuatim de me sibi impcratam dicit Antonius, nrc mo lamen 
 ipse adhuc viderat, scd hoc Trebatio narravit, lb. \. \2 
 
 AntoDius — ad me misit, se piidorc detrrritura, ad mc non veoisse, 
 ijuod me sibi siiccensere putaret — lb. x. 15. 
 
 VOL. II. 3*7 
 
290 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cico 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Corn. Lentulus Crus.^ 
 
 the present occasion, when, against the importuni- 
 ties of his friends, and all the invitations of a suc- 
 cessful power, he chose to follow that cause which 
 he thought the best, though he knew it to be the 
 weakest. 
 
 During Caesar's absence in Spain, Antony, who 
 had nobody to control him at home, gave a free 
 course to his natural disposition, and indulged him- 
 self without reserve in all the excess of lew^dness 
 and luxury. Cicero, describing his usual equi- 
 page in travelling about Italy, says, " he carries 
 " with him in an open chaise the famed actress Cy- 
 " theris ; his wife follows in a second, with seven 
 " other close litters, full of his whores and boys, 
 " See by what base hands we fall ; and doubt, if 
 " you can, whether Caesar, let him come van- 
 " quished or victorious, will not make cruel work 
 " amongst us at his return. For my part, if 1 can- 
 " not get a ship, I will take a boat to transport 
 " myself out of their reach ; but I shall tell you 
 " more after I have had a conference with Anto- 
 ''ny."* Among Antony's other extravagancies, 
 he had tli^e insolence to appear sometimes in pub- 
 lick, with his mistress Cytheris in a chariot drawn 
 by lions. Cicero, alluding to this, in a letter to 
 Atticus, tells him jocosely, that he need not 
 be afraid of Antony's lions ;t ^or though the 
 
 * Hie tamen Cytheridera secura lectica aperta portat, altera iixo- 
 rem : septem praeterea coDjiu]^;tae lecticae sunt amicarnin, an amico- 
 ruin ? vide quam turpi leto pereamus : et dubita, si potes, quin ille, 
 sen victus sen victor redierit, caedera facturus sit. Ego vero vel 
 lintriculo, si navis non erit, eripiara me ex istorum parricidio. Sed 
 plura scribam cum ilium convenero — lb. x. 10. 
 
 fTu Antonii leones pertimescas, cave. Nihil est illo horaine ju- 
 lundius. lb. x. 13. 
 
SECT. vii. CICERO. 291 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.--C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Com. Lentiilus Crus- 
 
 beasts were so fierce, the master himself was very 
 tame. 
 
 Pliny speaks of this fact, " as a designed insult 
 "on the Roman people; as if, by the emblem of 
 " the lions, Antony intended to give them to un- 
 " derstand, that the fiercest spirits of them would 
 " be forced to submit to the yoke :"^ Plutarch 
 also mentions it ; but both of them place it after 
 the battle of Pharsalia, though it is evident, from 
 this hint of it oriven by Cicero, that it happened 
 long before. 
 
 •» 
 
 Whilst Cicero continued at Formiae, deliberating 
 on the measures of his conduct, he formed several 
 political theses, adapted to the circumstances of 
 the times, for the amusement of his solitary hours : 
 ^' Whether a man ought to stay in his country, 
 " when it was possessed by a tyrant ? whether one 
 " ought not by all means to attempt the dissolution 
 " of the tyranny, though the city on that account 
 ** was exposed to the utmost hazard? whether there 
 " was not cause to be afraid of the man Avho should 
 ** dissolve it, lest he should advance himself into the 
 "other's place? whether we should not help 
 " our country by the methods of peace, rather than 
 " war ? whether it be the part of a citizen to sit still 
 " in a neutral place, while his country is oppressed, 
 " or to run all hazards for the sake of the common 
 ••'liberty ? whether one ought to bring a war upon 
 
 * Jugo subdidit eos, primusqne Romae ad oiirnim jiinxit Anfoniiis; 
 et qaidein civili bcllo cum dimicatum esset in riiarsali'. is campis ; non 
 sineostento qiiodam temporum. generosos spiritusjiigum subire illopro- 
 dlgio siguilicante : nam quod ita vectus est cum miraa Cytheride, su- 
 pra monstra etiam illaruna calamitatum I'uit. — Plin Hist. 8. 16. 
 
292 THE LIFE OF sbct. vn 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Com. liCntulus Cms. 
 
 « his city, and besiege it, when in the hands of a ty- 
 "rant? whether a man, not approving the dissolu- 
 « tion of a tyranny by war, ought not to join him- 
 "self however to the best citizens? whether one 
 " ought to act with his benefactors and friends, 
 "though they do not in his opinion take right mea- 
 " sures for the publick interest ? whether a man, 
 " who has done great services to his country, and 
 " for that reason has been envied and cruelly treat- 
 " ed, is still bound to expose himself to fresh dan- 
 " gers for it, or may not be permitted at last to take 
 " care of himself and his family, and give up all 
 "political matters to the men of power? — by exer- 
 " cising myself, says he, in these questions, and ex- 
 " amining them on the one side and the other, I re- 
 " lieve my mind from its present anxiety, and draw 
 " out something which may be of use to me."* 
 
 From the time of his leaving the city, together 
 with Pompey and the senate, there passed not a 
 single day in which he did not write one or more 
 letters to* Atticus,t the only friend whom he trusted 
 with the s^ret of his thoughts. From these letters 
 it appears, that the sum of Atticus's advice to him 
 agreed entirely with his own sentiments, that if Pom- 
 pey remained in Italy, he ought to join with him ; 
 if not, should stay behind, and expect what fresh 
 
 * In bis ego me consultationibiis exercens, disserens in utramque 
 partem, turn Graece turn Latine, abduco parumper animuma moles- 
 tiis etTcv Tr^ivpyou ti dclibero. , Ad Alt. 9. 4. 
 
 t Hujus autem epistolac non solum ea causa est, lit no quis a me 
 dies inteimittetnr, qiiindem ad te litteras, sed— lb. 8. 12. 
 
 Alteram tibi eodem die banc epistolam dictavi et pridie dederans 
 mea mami Jonjriorcm— lb. x. 3- 
 
SECT. VII. 
 
 CICERO. 293 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Corn. Lentulus Crui. 
 
 accidents Dii«;ht produce.^ This was what Cicero 
 had hitherto followed ; and as to his future conduct, 
 thoui^h he seems sometimes to be a little wavering 
 and irresolute, yet the result of his deliberations 
 constantly turned in favour of Pompey. His per- 
 sonal adection for the man, preference of his cause, 
 the reproaches of the better sort, who began to 
 censure his tardiness, and above all, his gratitude 
 for favours received, which had ever the greatest 
 weight with him, made him resolve at all adventures 
 to run after him ; and though he w^as displeased 
 with his management of the w^ar, and without any 
 hopes of his success ;t though he knew him before 
 to be no politician, and now perceived him, he says, 
 to be no general ; yet, with all his faults, he could 
 not endure the thought of deserting him, nor hard- 
 ly forgive himself for staying so long behind him ; 
 *' For as in love," says he, " any thing dirty and in- 
 " decent in a mistress will stifle it for the present, 
 " so the deformity of Pompey's conduct put me out 
 " of humour with him, but now that he is gone, my 
 " love revives, and I cannot bear his absence, &;c."J 
 
 What held him still a while longer, was the tears 
 of his family, and the remonstrances of his daughter 
 
 * Ego quidera tibi non sim aiictor, si Pompeius Italiam relinquit, 
 tequoque profusjere. sumrao enim periculo facies, nee Heipub. pro- 
 deris ; cui quidem posterius poteris prodesse, si manseris,etc — lb. 9. 10. 
 
 f Ingrati animi crimen horreo — lb. 9. 2. 5. 7. 
 
 Nee mehercule hoe lacio Reipub. causa, quam funditus deletam 
 puto, sed iiequis me putet ingratum in eum, qui me leyavit iis incom- 
 modis, quibus ipse affecerat — lb. 9. 19. 
 
 Fortunae sunt comraittenda omnia. Sine spe conamur ulla. Si 
 melius quid acciderit niirabinuir — lb. x. 2. 
 
 I Sicut iv Toii igulwAi', alienant iramundae, insulsae, iudecorae : sic me 
 illius lugae, negligentiaequedefbrmitasavertit ab amore — nunc emer- 
 git amor, nunc dc«iderium ferre non possum. lb. 9; 10. 
 
294 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Corn. Lentulus Crus. 
 
 Tullia ; who entreated him to wait only the issue 
 of the Spanish war, and urged it as the advice of 
 Atticus.^ He was passionately fond of this daugh- 
 ter ; and with great reason ; for she was a woman 
 of singular accomplisments, with the utmost affec- 
 tion and piety to him : speaking of her to Attic us, 
 " how admirable," says he, " is her virtue ? how 
 "does she bear the publick calamity! how, her 
 " domestick disgusts ? what a greatness of mind 
 " did she shew at my parting from them ! in spite 
 " of the tenderness of her love, she wishes me to 
 " do nothing but what is right, and for my honour."t 
 But as to the affair of Spain, he answered, " that 
 *' whatever was the fate of it, it could not alter the 
 "case with regard to himself; for if Caesar should 
 " be driven out of it, his journey to Pompey would 
 " be less welcome and reputable, since Curio him- 
 " self would run over to him : or if the war was 
 " drawn into length, there would be no end of wait- 
 " ing : or lastly, if Pompey 's army should be beaten, 
 " instead of sitting still, as they advised, he thought 
 "just the contrary, and should choose the rather to 
 " run away from the violence of such a victory. 
 " He resolved, therefore," he says, " to act nothing 
 " craftily : but whatever became of Spain, to find 
 " out Pompey as soon as he could, in conformity 
 
 * Sedcum ad ine mea Tullia scribat, orans, utquid in Hispania ge- 
 raturexpectera, et semper adscribat idem videri tibi — lb. x. 8. 
 
 Lacryraae meorum me interdum molliunt, precantium, iit de His- 
 paniis expectemus — lb. x. 9. 
 
 f Cujus quidom virtus mirifi?'a. Quomodo ilia fert publicamcladera ? 
 qunmodo domesticas tricas ? quantus autem auimus in discessu nostro ? 
 su a-ro^yn, sit summa <ryv7»^/f ; tamen nos recte tacere et bene audire vult. 
 Jb. X.8. 
 
 i 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 295 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Com. Lentulus Crus. 
 
 " to Solon's law, who made it capital for a citizen 
 " not to take part in a civil dissension."* 
 
 Before his going off, Servius Sulpiciiis sent him 
 word from Rome, that he had a great desire to 
 have a conference with him, to consult in common 
 what measures they ought to take. Cicero con- 
 sented to it, in hopes to find Servius in the same 
 mind with himself, and to have his company to 
 Pompey's camp : for, in answer to his message, he 
 intimated his own intention of leaving Italy : and 
 if Servius was not in the same resolution, advised 
 him to save himself the trouble of the journey, 
 though, if he had any thing of moment to'commu- 
 nicate, he would wait for his coming.f But at 
 their meeting he found him so timorous and de- 
 sponding, and so full of scruples upon every thing 
 which was proposed, that, instead of pressing him 
 to the same conduct with himself, he found it ne- 
 cessary to conceal his own design from him : " Of 
 " all the men," says he, "whom I have met with, 
 "he is alone a greater coward than C. Marcellus, 
 
 * Si pelletur, quara gratus aut quam honestus turn erit ad Pom- 
 peiiira iioster adventus, cum ipsum Curionem ad ipsum transiturum 
 piitem? si trahitur bellum, quid expectera, aut quam diu ? relinqui- 
 tur, ut si vincimur in Hispania, quiescamus. Id ego contra puto : 
 istum enim victorem relinquendum magisputo, qnam victum ibid.— 
 
 Astute nihil sum acturus ; fiat in Hispania quidlibet. ?b. x. G. 
 
 Ego vero Solonis— legem negligam, qui capite sanxit, si qui in se- 
 ditiono npn alterius utrius partis fuisset — lb. x. 1. 
 
 t Sin autcm tibi homini prudentissimo videtur utile esse, nos col- 
 loqui, quanquara longius etiam cogitabara ab urbe discedere, oujus 
 jam etiam nomen iuvitus audio, tamen propius accedam — Kp. Fam 
 4. 1. 
 
 Resfat ut discedendum putem ; in quo reliqua videtur esse deli- 
 beratio, quod consilium in discessu, quae loca sequamur— si habes jam 
 stalntum, quid tibi agendum putes, in quo uon sit conjrmctum con- 
 silium tuum cum meo, supersedeas hoc labore itincris — ib. 4. 2. 
 
296 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb, 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Corn. Lentulus Crus, 
 
 " who laments his having been consul ; and uro^es 
 " Antony to hinder my going, that he himself may 
 *' stay with a better grace."^ 
 
 Cato, whom Pompey had sent to possess himself 
 of Sicily, thought fit to quit that post, and yield 
 up the island to Curio, who came likewise to seize 
 it on Caesar's part, with a superiour force. Cicero 
 was much scandalized at Cato's conduct, being per- 
 suaded that he might have held his possession with- 
 out difficulty, and that all honest men would have 
 flocked to him, especially when Pompey's fleet 
 was so near to support him : for if that had but 
 once appeared on the coast, and begun to act. Cu- 
 rio himself, as he confessed, would have run away 
 the first. " I wish," says Cicero, '' that Cotta may 
 " hold out Sardinia, as it is said he will : for if so, 
 " how base will Cato's act appear. "t 
 
 In these circumstances, while he was preparing 
 all things for his voyage, and waiting only for a fair 
 wind, he removed from his Cuman to his Pompeian 
 villa beyond Naples, which, not being so commo- 
 dious forTln embarkment, would help to lessen the 
 
 * Servii consilio nihil expeditur. Omnes captinnes in orani sen- 
 tentia occurrunt. Unum C. Marcello cognovi tiraidiorem. quem con- 
 sulein fuisse poenitet — qui etiam Antoniiim confiruiasse dicitur, ut 
 me irapediret, quo ipse, credo, honestius. — Ad Alt. x. 15. 
 
 f Curio mecura vixit — Siciliae diffidens, si Pompeius navigare coe- 
 pisset. lb. X. 7. 
 
 Curio — Pompeii classem timebat : quae si esset, se de Sieilia abi- 
 turura. lb. x. 4. ^ 
 
 Cato qui Siciliam tenere nullo negotio potuit, et si tenuisset, om- 
 nes boni ad eura se contulissent, Syracusis profectus est a. d. 8. Kal. 
 Mail — utinam, quod aiunt, Cotta Sardiniara teneat. Estenim rumor. 
 O, si id fuerit, turpem Catonera ! lb. x. 16. 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 297 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic 58. Coss.— C. Claudius :Marcellus. L. Com. Lentulus Cms. 
 
 suspicion of his intended flight.* Here he receiv- 
 ed a private message from the officers of three co- 
 horts, which were in garrison at Pompeii, to beg 
 leave to wait upon him the day following, in order 
 to deliver up their troops and the town into his 
 hands ; but, instead of listening to the overture, 
 he slipt away the next morning before day, to avoid 
 seeing them; since such a force, or a greater, could 
 be of no service there ; and he was apprehensive 
 that it was designed only as a trap for him.f 
 
 Thus, pursuing at last the result of all his de- 
 liberations, and preferring the consideration of duty 
 to that of his safety, he embarked to follow Pom- 
 pey ; and though, from the nature of the war, he 
 plainly saw and declared, *' that it was a contention 
 " only for rule ; yei he thought Pompey the mo- 
 " dester, honester, and juster king of the two ; and, 
 " if he did not conquer, that the very name of the 
 " Roman people would be extinguished ; or, if 
 " he did,- that it would still be after the manner 
 " and pattern of Sylla, with much cruelty and 
 " blood."j With these melancholy reflections he 
 
 * Ego ut minuerim suspicionem profectiouis — profectus sum ia 
 Pompeianum a. d. iiii fd. Ut ibi esseru, dum quae ad naviganduua 
 opus essent, paraientur. lb. v/f.^-j^i^ 
 
 fCum ad villam veuisseoi, ventum est ad me centuriones triura 
 cohortium, quae Porapeiis sunt, me velle postridie ; haec mecum 
 Ninius noster, velle eos mihi se, et oppidum tradere. At ego tibi 
 postridie a villa ante lucem, ut me omnino illi non viderent Quid 
 enira erat in tribus cohortibus ? quid si plures, quo apparatu ? — et 
 simul fieri poterat, ut tentaremur. Omnem igitur suspicionem sustu- 
 !i. Ibid. 
 
 I Dominatio quaesita ab utroque est. lb. 3. 11. 
 
 Regnandi contentio est ; in qua pulsus est modestior rex et pro- 
 bior et integrior ; et is, qui nisi vineit, nomen populi Romani delea- 
 tur necesse est ; siu autem vineit, Syllano more, cxemploque vincet- 
 lb. K. 7. 
 
 TOL. ir. 38 
 
298 THE LIFE OF sect, vi 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. C. Corn. Lentulus Cms. 
 
 set sail on the eleventh of June,^ " rushing," as 
 he tells us, " knowingly and willingly into volunta- 
 " ry dest^uction, and doing just what cattle do, 
 *' when driven by any force, running after those of 
 " his own kind : for as the ox," says he, " follows 
 " the herd, so I follow the honest, or those at least 
 " who are called so, though it be to certain ruin."t 
 As to his brother Q^uintus, he was so far from de- 
 siring his company in this flight, that he pressed 
 him to stay in Italy on account of his personal ob- 
 ligations to Caesar, and the relation that he had 
 borne to him : yet Quintus would not be left be- 
 hind ; but declared, " that he would follow his 
 " brother, v^hithersoever he should lead, and 
 ''think that party right which he should choose 
 '* for him."J 
 
 * A. d. III. Id. Jiin. Ep. Fam. 14. 7. It is remaikahle, that among 
 Uie reasons which detained Cicero in Italy longer than he intended, 
 he mentions the tejnpesiuous wealher of the equinox, and the calms that 
 succdeded it; yet this was about the end of May [Ad Att. x. 17, 18.] 
 which shews what a strange confusion there was at this time in the 
 Roman Kalendar ; and what necessity for that reformation of it 
 which Caesar soon after effected, in order to reduce the computation 
 of their months to the regular course of the seasons, from which 
 they had so ^ideiy varied. .Some of the commentators, for want of 
 attending to^his cause, are strangely puzzled to account for the 
 difficulty; and one of them ridiculously imagines, that, by the 
 equinox, Cicero covertly means Antony, who used to make his days 
 and nights equal, by sleeping, as much as he waked. 
 
 f Ego prudens ac sciens ad pestera ante oculos positam turn profec- 
 tus. Fp. Fam. 6. 6. 
 
 Prudens et sciens tanquam ad interitum ruerem voluntariura. [Pro 
 M. Marcel. 5.] quid ergo acturus es ? idem, quod pecudes, quae dis- 
 pulsae sui generis sequuntur greges. I't bo= armenta, sic ego bonos 
 viros, aut eos, quicunque dic^ntur boni, sequar, etiara si ruent. Ad 
 Att. 7. 7. 
 
 I Fratrera — socium hujus fortunae esse non erat aequum : cui ma- 
 gis etiam Caesar irascetur. ISed impetrare non possum, ut maneat 
 [ib. 9. l.J frater, quioquid mihi placeret, id rectum se putare aiebat. 
 lb. 9. 6. 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 299 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cie. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Corn. Lentulus Crus. 
 
 What gave Cicero a more particular abhor- 
 rence of the war into which he was entering, was, 
 1o see Pompey, on all occasions, affecting to imi- 
 tate Sylla, and to hear him often say, with a supe- 
 riour air, " could Sylla do such a thing, and can- 
 " not I do it ?" — as if determined to make Sylla's 
 victory the pattern of his own. He was now in 
 much the same circumstances in which that con- 
 queror had once been ; sustaining the cause of 
 the senate by his arms, and treated as an enemy by 
 those who possessed Italy ; and, as he iiattered 
 himself with the same good fortune, so he was 
 meditating the same kind of return, and threat- 
 ening ruin and proscription to all his enemies. 
 This frequently shocked Cicero, as we find from 
 many of his letters, to consider with what cruelty 
 and effusion of civil blood, the success, even of his 
 friends, would certainly be attended.* 
 
 We have no account of the manner and circum- 
 stances of' his voyage, or by what course he steer- 
 ed towards Dyrrhachium : for, after his leaving 
 Italy, all his correspondence with it was in great 
 measure cut off, so that from June, in which he 
 sailed, we find an intermission of about nine months 
 in the series of his letters, and not more than 
 four of them written to Atticus during the continu- 
 ance of the war.t He arrived however safely in 
 Pompey's camp with his son, his brother, and 
 
 * Qiiam crel)ro illud. Sj/Ua potuit., ego non polero 7 
 Ila Sjfllaturit animus ejus, et proscripiuril diu. [Ad Att. 9. x.] 
 Cnaeus nostor Sijllani regni sirailitudinem concupivit, iKfa; <roi y.iyu), 
 lb. 7.] ut uon nominatira sed gencr.atim proscriptio esset intbnuata. 
 Ib.xi. 6. 
 
 f Vid. Ad Att. xi. 1, 2, 3, 4. 
 
300 THE LIFE OF sect, vir 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. C. Com. Lentulus Cms. 
 
 nephew, committins^ the fortunes of the whole, 
 family to the issue of that cause : and, that he 
 might make some amends for comino; so late, and 
 gain the greater authority with his party, he fur- 
 nished Pompey, who was in great want of money, 
 with a large sum, out of his owii stock, for the pub- 
 lick service.^ 
 
 But, as he entered into the war with reluctance, 
 so he found nothing in it but what increased his dis- 
 gust : he disliked every thing which they had done, 
 or designed to do ; saw nothing good amongst 
 them but their cause ; and that their own councils 
 would ruin them : for, all the chiefs of the party, 
 trusting to the superiour fame and authority of 
 Pompey, and dazzled with the splendour of the 
 troops, which the princes of the East had sent to 
 their assistance, assured themselves of victory ; 
 and, without reflecting on the different characters 
 of, the two armies, would hear of nothing but fight- 
 ing. It was Cicero's business, therefore, to dis- 
 courage this wild spirit, and to represent the haz- 
 ard of the war, the force of Caesar, and the proba- 
 bility of Jiis beating them; if ever they ventured 
 a battle with him : but all his remonstances were 
 slighted, and he himself reproached as timorous 
 and cowardly, by the other leaders; though noth- 
 ing afterwards happened to them but what he had 
 often foretold.f This soon made him repent of 
 
 * Etsi egeo rebus omnibus, quod is quoque in angustiis est, quicum 
 suinus. cui n>agnam dedimu^ pecnniaiTj mutuam, oj)inantes nobis, con- 
 stitutis rebus, earn rem etiam honori tore, [lb. xi. .3.] si quas habui- 
 mus facultates, eas Fompeio turn, cum id videbamur sapienter face- 
 re, detulimus. lb. 13. 
 
 f Quippe mihi nee quae accidunt, nee quae aguntur, ullo modo pro- 
 bantur, [lb, xi. 4.] nihil boni praeter causam, [Ep. Fam. 7. 3.j itaque 
 
SECT. VII. CTCERO. 301 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Maroellus C. Com. Lentalus Cms. 
 
 embarkinor in a cause so imprudently conducted; 
 and it added to his discontent, to find himself even 
 blamed by Cato for coming to them at all ; and de- 
 serting that neutral post, which might have given 
 him the better opportunity of bringing about an 
 accommodation.* 
 
 Tn this disagreeable situation he declined all em- 
 ployment, and finding his counsels wholly slighted, 
 resumed his usual way of raillery, and, what he 
 could not dissuade by his authority, endeavoured 
 to make ridiculous by his jests. This gave oc- 
 casion, afterwards, to Antony, in a speech to the 
 senate, to censure the levity of his behaviour in 
 the calamity of a civil war, and to reflect, not only 
 upon his fears, but the unseasonableness also of his 
 jokes : to which Cicero answered " that though 
 " their camp indeed was full of care and anxiety, 
 "yet, in circumstances the most turbulent, there 
 " were certain moments of relaxation, which all 
 "men, who had any humanity in them, were glad 
 " to lay hold on : but Avhile Antony reproached 
 " him both with dejection and joking at the same 
 "time, it was a sure proof that he had observ- 
 " ed a proper temper and moderation in them 
 " both."t 
 
 ego qiiem tiiin fortes illi viri, Domitii et Lentuli. timulum esse di- 
 cebant, etc. [lb. fi. 21.] quo qnidem in hello, nihil adversi accidit 
 noil praedicente me. lb. 6. 
 
 '■'■ Ciijiis -me inei laeta poenitiiit, non tarn propter pericuhim meiim 
 qnam propter vitia iniilla, quae ibi oflendi, quo vcneram. lb. 7. 3. 
 Plutar. in Cic. 
 
 J Ipse fugi adbuc omne munus, eo magis, qnod ita nihil potcrat agi, 
 ut mihi et meis rebus aptuin esset. [Alt. xi. 4.] Quod autem idem 
 moestitiam meani reprehendit idem Jocum ; mag:io argumento est, 
 nie in utroquc fuisse moderatum. Phil. 2. 16. 
 
 ./^.. 
 
302 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Corn. Lentulus Cms. 
 
 Young Brutus was also in Pompey's camp, 
 where he distincruished himself by a peculiar zeal : 
 which Cicero mentions as the more remarkable, 
 because he had always professed an irreconcilea- 
 ble hatred to Pompey, as to the murderer of his 
 father.^ But he followed the cause, not the man ; 
 sacrificing all his resentments to the service of his 
 country, and lookino; now upon Pompey as the 
 general of the republick, and the defender of their 
 common liberty. 
 
 During the course of this w^ar, Cicero never 
 speaks of Pompey's conduct but as a perpetual 
 succession of blunders. His first step of leaving 
 Italy was condemned indeed by all, but particu- 
 larly by Atticus ; yet to us at this distance, it 
 seems not only to have been prudent, but necessa- 
 ry.f What shocked people so much at it, was 
 
 Some of Cicero's sayings on this occasion are preserved by different 
 writers. When Pompey put him in mind of his coming so late to 
 them; " how can I come late," said he, "when I find nothing in 
 ♦' readiness among you ?" and upon Pompey's asking him sarcastical- 
 ly, where his son-in-law Dolabella was ; "he is with your father-m- 
 ♦'law," repU^ he. To a person newly arrived IVom Italy, and in- 
 forming thpm of a strong report at Home, that Pompey was blocked 
 up by Caesar; " and you sailed hither, therefore," said he " that you 
 "might see it with your own eyes." And even after their defeat, 
 when Nonnius was exhorting them to courage, because there were 
 seven eagles still left in Pompey's camp : " You encourage well," 
 said he, " if we were to fight with jack-daws." By the frequency of 
 these splenetick jokes, he is said to have provoked Pompey so far as 
 to tell him, " I wish that you would go over to the other side, that 
 you may begin to fear us." Vid. Macrob. Saturn. 2. 3. Plutar. in 
 Cicero. 
 
 * Brutus amicus in causa versatur acriter. Ad Att. xi. 4. 
 Vid. Plutar. in Brut, et Pomp. 
 
 I Quorum dux quara cta-r^^Tnynrosy tu quoque animadvertis, cui ne 
 Picena quidem nota sunt: quara autem sine consilio, res testis. Ad 
 Att. 7. 13. 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. 303 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus, C. Com. Lentulus Cms. 
 
 the discovery that it made of his weakness and 
 want of preparation ; and, after the security which 
 he had all lon^r affected, and the defiance so oft 
 declared ai^ainst his adversary, it made him appear 
 contemptible to run away at last on the first ap- 
 proach of Caesar : " Did you ever see, (says Cae- 
 " lius,) a more silly creature than this Pompey of 
 " yours ; who, after raising all this bustle, is found 
 " to be such a trifler ? or did you ever read or 
 " hear of a man more vio^orous in action, more 
 " temperate in victory, than our Caesar ?"^ 
 
 Pompey had left Italy about a year before Cae- 
 sar found it convenient to go after him ; during 
 which time, he had gathered a vast fleet from all 
 the maritime states and cities dependent on the 
 empire, without making any use of it to distress 
 an enemy who had no fleet at all: he suffered 
 Sicily and Sardinia to fall into Caesar's hands 
 without a blow ; and the important town of Mar- 
 seilles, after having endured a long siege for its af- 
 fection to his cause: but his capital errour was 
 the giving up Spain, and neglecting to put him- 
 self at the head of the best army that he had, in a 
 country devoted to his interests, and commodious 
 for the operations of his naval force. When Cicero 
 first heard of this resolution, he thought it mon- 
 strous ;t and in truth, the committing that war to 
 
 Si iste Italiam relinquet, faciei oranino male, et ut ego existimo 
 AKcyi<rra>g, etc. lb. 9. 10. 
 
 * Ecquando tu hominem iueptiorem quain tiiiim Cn. Pompfiium 
 vidisti ? qui tantas tiirbas, qui tain nugax esset coiuinorit ^ ecquem 
 autera Caesare nostro acriorein in rebus agendis, eodein in victoria 
 temperatiorem, aut legisti aut audisti ? Ep. Fara. 3. 15. 
 
 * Omnis haec classis Alexandria, Colchis, Tyrio, Sidone, Cypro. 
 
304 THE LIFE OF sect. \u, 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Marcellus. L. Com. Lentulus Cms. 
 
 his lieutenants against the superiour genius and 
 ascendant of Caesar, was the ruin of his best troops 
 and hopes at once. 
 
 Some have been apt to wonder, why Caesar, af- 
 ter forcing Pompey out of Italy, instead of cross- 
 ing the sea after him, when he was in no condi- 
 tion to resist, should leave him for the space of a 
 year to gather armies and fleets at his leisure, and 
 strengthen himself with all the forces of the east. 
 But Caesar had good reasons for what he did : he 
 knew, that all the troops, which could be drawn 
 together from those countries, were no match for 
 his ; that if he had pursued him directly to Greece, 
 and driven him out of it, as he had done out of 
 Italy, he should have driven him probably into 
 Spain, where of all places, he desired the least to 
 meet him ; and where in all events Pompey had a 
 sure resource, as long as it w^as possessed by a firm 
 and veteran army ; which it was Caesar's business, 
 therefore, to destroy, in the first place, or he could 
 expect no success from the war ; and there was no 
 opportunity of destroying it so favourable, as when 
 Pompe^'^Hiimself was at such a distance from it. 
 This was the reason of his marching back wdth so 
 much expedition to find, as he said, "an army 
 '' without a general, and return to a general with- 
 '• out an army."* The event shewed, that he 
 
 Pamphilia, Lycia, Rhodo, etc. Ad intercludendos, Italiae coramea- 
 tus — comparatur — Ad Att. 9. 9. 
 
 Nimciaiit Aegyptum — cogkare : nispaniara abjecisse. Monstra nar- 
 rant Ad Att. 9. 11. 
 
 * Ire se ad excrcitum sine duce, et inde revcrsurum ad ducem sine 
 exercitii. Sueton. J. Caes. 31. 
 
 I 
 
SECT. vii. CICERO. 305 
 
 A. Urb. 704. Cic. 58. Coss.— C. Claudius Maicellus. L. Com. Lentulus Crus. 
 
 judged riorht ; for within forty days from the first 
 sight of his enemy in Spain, he made himself mas- 
 ter of the whole province.^ 
 
 A. Urb. 705. Cic. 5Q. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar II. P. Servilius Vatia Isauricus. 
 
 After the reduction of Spain, he was created 
 Dictator by M. Lepidus, then praetor at Rome, 
 and by his dictatorial power declared himself con- 
 sul, with P. Servilius Isauricus; but he was no 
 sooner invested with this office, than he marched 
 to Brundisium, and embarked on the fourth of 
 January, in order to find out Pompey. Tlie car- 
 rying about in his person the supreme dii>;nity of 
 the empire, added no small authority to his cause, 
 by making the cities and states abroad the more 
 cautious of acting against him, or giving them a 
 better pretence at least for opening their gates to 
 
 the consul of Rome.f Cicero, all this while, 
 
 despairing of any good from the war, had been 
 using all his endeavours to dispose his friends to 
 peace, till Pompey forbade any farther mention 
 of it in council, declaring, " that he valued neither 
 "life nor country, for which he must be indebted 
 " to Caesar, as the world must take the case to 
 *• be, should he accept any conditions in his pre- 
 '' sent circumstances."! He was sensible that he 
 
 * Ca.es. Comment. 1. 2. 
 
 f Illi se daturos negare, neque portas cousiili praeclusuros. Caes. 
 Coram. I. 3. 590. 
 
 I Desperans victoriam, primiira coepi suadere pacem, ciijiis fueram 
 semper auctor ; deinde cum ab ea sententia Pompeius valde abhor- 
 reret. — Ep. Fam. 7. 3. 
 
 TOL. II. 39 
 
306 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 70f. Cic 59. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar II. P. Sti-vilius Vatia Isaurieus. 
 
 had hitherto been acting a contemptible part, and 
 done nothing; equal to the ^reat name which he 
 had acquired in the world ; and was det» rmined 
 therefore, to retrieve his honour before he laid 
 down his arms, by the destruction of his adversa- 
 ry, or to perish in the attempt. 
 
 During the blockade of Dyrrhachium, it was a 
 current notion in Caesar's army, that Pompey would 
 draw off his troops into his ships, and remove the 
 war to some distant place. Upon this Dolabella, 
 who w^as with Caesar, sent a letter to Cicero into 
 Pompey's camp, exhorting him, " that if Pompey 
 " should be driven from these quarters, to seek 
 " some other country, he would sit down quietly 
 " at Athens, or any city remote from the war : 
 '' that it was time to think of his own safety, and 
 " be a friend to himself, rather than to others : 
 '' that he had now fully satisfied his duty, his friend- 
 " ship, and his engagements to that party, which 
 " he had espoused in the republick : that there 
 " was nothing left, but to be where the republick 
 "itself now was, rather than by followinir that an- 
 
 " cient oTie to be in none at all and that Cae- 
 
 "sar would readily approve this conduct:"^ but 
 the war took a quite different turn ; and, instead 
 of Pompey's running away from Dyrrhachium, 
 
 VibulliuR de Caesaris mandatis agere instituit ; eum ingressum 
 
 in serinon< m Pompeiiis interpellavit, et loqui pliira prohibuit. Uuid 
 mihi, inquit, aiit vita aiit civitate opus est, quam beneficio Caesari? 
 habere videbor ? Caes. Comifl. 596. 
 
 * Illud autem a te peto, ut, si jam ille evitaverit hoc pericnhira, 
 et se abdiderit in classem, tu tuis rebus cou'^ulas ; et aliquaiido tibi 
 potiiis quara cuivis sis amicus. Salis factum est jam a tc- vel officio, 
 vel familiaritati ; satis i'acium etiam partibus, et ei lieipub. quam tu 
 probabas. Keiiquuni est, ubi nunc est Hespub. ibi simuspotius, quam 
 dum veterem illam sequaraur, simus in nulla. Ep. Fam. 9. 9. 
 
SECT. VII. CICERO. . nor 
 
 A. Urb. 705. Cic. 59. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar. II, P. Sjrvilius Vatia Isauricus. 
 
 Caesar, by an unexpected defeat before it, was 
 forced to retire the first, and leave to Pompey the 
 credit of pursuing him, as in a kind of jiight to- 
 wards Macedonia. 
 
 While the two armies were thus employed, Cae- 
 lius, now praetor at Rome, trusting 1o his power, 
 and the success of his party, began to publish seve- 
 ral violent and odious laws, especially one for the 
 cancelling of all debts.* This raised a great flame 
 in the city, till he was overruled and deposed from 
 his magistracy by the consul Servilius, and the 
 senate : but being made desperate by this affront, 
 he recalled Milo from his exile at Marseilles, whom 
 Caesar had refused to restore ; and, in concert with 
 him, resolved to raise some publick commotion in 
 favour of Pompey. In this disposition he wrote 
 his last letter to Cicero ; in which, after an account 
 of his conversion, and the service which he was 
 projecting, '' You are asleep," says he, " and do 
 *' not know how open and weak we are here : what 
 " are you doing ? Are you waiting for a battle, 
 " which is sure to be against you ? I am not 
 " acquainted with your troops ; but ours have been 
 " long used to fight hard ; and to bear cold and 
 " hunger with ease."t But this disturbance, which 
 began to alarm all Italy, was soon ended by the 
 death of the authors of it, Milo and Caelius, who 
 perished in their rash attempt, being destroyed by 
 the soldiers whom they were endeavouring to de- 
 
 * Cacs. Corainent. 3. GOO. 
 
 f Vos dormitis, nee haec adhue mihi videmini intelli^ere, qnam nos 
 pateamus, et quam siraiis imbecilli — quid istic i'acitis ? praeliiira ex- 
 pec tatis, quod firmissiinum est ? vestras copias non novi. Nostri vaide 
 depugnare, et facile algere et esurire, consueverint. Ep. Fam. 8 17. 
 
308 THE LIFE OF sect, vii 
 
 A. Urb. 705. Cic. S9i Coss.— C. Julius Caesar. II. P. Senilius Vatia Isauricus. 
 
 bauch. They had both attached themselves very 
 early to the interests and the authority of Cicero, 
 and were qualified, by their parts and fortunes, to 
 have made a principal fii^ure in the republick, if 
 they had continued in those sentiments, and adhered 
 to his advice; but their passions, pleasures, and am- 
 bition f(ot the ascendant, and, through a factious 
 and turbulent life, hurried them on to this wretched 
 fate. 
 
 All thoughts of peace being now laid aside, Ci- 
 cero's next advice to Pompey was, to draw the w ar 
 into len£;th, nor ever to give Caesar the opportunity 
 of a battle. Pompey approved this counsel, and 
 pursued it for some time, till he gained the advan- 
 tage abovemenlioned before Dyrrhachium ; w hich 
 gave him such a confidence in his own troops, and 
 such a contempt of Caesar's, " that from this mo- 
 " ment," says Cicero, " this great man ceased to be 
 " a general ; opposed a raw, new-raised army, to 
 " the most robust and veteran legions ; w^as shame- 
 " fully beaten; and, with the loss of his camp, 
 " forced to fly away alone.''* 
 
 Had Cicero's advice been followed, Caesar must 
 inevitably have been ruined : for Pompey's fleet 
 would have cut off all supplies from him by sea; 
 and it was not possible for him to subsist long at 
 land; while an enemy, superiour in number of 
 troops, was perpetually harassing him, and wasting 
 
 * Cum ab ea sententia Pompeius valde abhorreret, suadere institui, 
 ut bellnm diieeret : hoc interdnm probabat, et in ea sententia videbatnr 
 fore, et fiiisset fortasse, nisi qjiadam ex pi)gna coepisset inilitibns suis 
 confidere. Ex eo tempore vir ille siimmiis niilliis Imperator fiiit : 
 rictus tiirpissime, amissis etiam castris, solus f'ligit. Ep. Fam. 7. 3. 
 
SECT. vn. CICERO. 309 
 
 A Urb. 705. Cic 59. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar. II. P. Servilius Vatia Isauricus. 
 
 the country : and the report every where spread 
 of his flyino^ from [hrrhachium before a victorious 
 army, which was pursuing him, made his march 
 every way the more difficult, and the people of the 
 country more shy of assisting him ; till the despica- 
 ble figure that he seemed to make, raised such an 
 impatience for fighting, and assurance of victory in 
 the Pompeian chiefs, as drew them to the fatal reso- 
 lution of giving him battle at Pharsalia. There 
 was another motive likewise suggested to us by Ci- 
 cero, which seems to have had no small influence in 
 determining Pompey to this unhappy step ; his 
 superstitious regard to omens, and the admonitions 
 of diviners, to which his nature was strongly ad- 
 dicted. Tlie haruspices were all on his side, and 
 flattered him with every thing that was prosperous : 
 and, besides those in his own camp, the whole fra- 
 ternity of them at Rome were sending him per- 
 petual accounts of the fortunate and auspicious 
 significations which they had observed in the en- 
 trails of their victims.* 
 
 But after all, it must needs be owned, that Pom- 
 pey had a very difficult part to act, and much less 
 liberty of executing what he himself approved, 
 than in all the other wars in which he had been en- 
 gaged. In his wars against foreign enemies, his 
 power Avas absolute, and all his motions depended 
 on his own will ; but in this, besides several kings 
 and princes of the east, who attended him in per- 
 son, he had with him in his camp almost all the 
 chief magistrates and senators of Rome ; men of 
 
 * Hoc civili hello, Dii imraortales ! quae nohi<5 in Graeciam 
 
 Roma responsa Haruspiciim mis«a sunt ? quae dicta Pompcio ? 
 
 etenira ille admodura extis et ostentis inovebatur. De Div. 2..24. 
 
310 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 705. Cic. 59. Coss,— C- Julius Caesar. II. P. Servilius Vatia Isauricus. 
 
 equal dignity with himself, who had commanded 
 armies, and obtained triumphs, and expected a share 
 in all his councils, and that, in their common dan- 
 ger, no step should be taken, but by their common 
 advice : and as they were under no engaojement to 
 his cause, but what was voluntary, so they were 
 necessarily to be humoured, lest through disgust 
 they should desert it. iNovv these were all uneasy 
 in their present situation, and longed to be at home 
 in the enjoyment of their estates and honours ; and 
 having a confidence of victory from the number of 
 their troops, and the reputation of their leader, were 
 perpetually teazing Pompey to the resolution of a 
 battle ; charging him wdth a design to protract the 
 war, for the sake of perpetuating his authority; 
 and calling him another Agamemnon, who was 
 proud of holding so many kings and generals under 
 his command ;^ till, being unable to withstand their 
 reproaches any longer, he was driven, by a kind of 
 shame, and against his judgment, to the experiment 
 of a decisive action. 
 
 Caesar was sensible of Pompey's difficulty, and 
 persuaded that he could not support the indignity 
 of shewing himself afraid of fighting ; and from 
 that assurance exposed himself often more rashly 
 than prudence would otherwise justify: for his 
 besieging Pompey at Dyrrhachium, who was mas- 
 ter of the sea, which supplied every thing to him 
 that was wanted, while his own army was starving 
 at land; and the attempt to block up entrench- 
 
 <J/flt Tov 7roKifA.ov «g;^ev ; i^iO-TH rm oiMtav, xcryta-fAcev, kai ividuKiv uvroti. A pp. p. 
 470. 
 
 Milites otium, socii moram, principes ambitum ducis increpabant. 
 Flor. 1. 4. 2. Dio. p. 185. Plut. inPorap. 
 
SECT. VII. 
 
 CTCERO. 311 
 
 A. Urb. 705. Cic, 59. Coss,— C. Julius Caesar II. P. Servilius Vatia Isauricus. 
 
 merits so widely extended, with much smaller num- 
 bers than were employed to defend them, must 
 needs be thought rash and extravagant, were it not 
 for the expectation of drawing Pompey by it to a 
 general engagement : for when he could not gain that 
 end, his perseverance in the seige had like to have 
 ruined him, and would inevitably have done so, if 
 he had not quitted it, as he himself afterwards 
 owned."^ 
 
 It must be observed, likewise, that, while Pom- 
 pey had any walls or entrenchments between him 
 and Caesar, not all Caesar's vigour*, nor the courage 
 of his veterans, could gain the least advantage 
 against him ; but, on the contrary, that Caesar was 
 baffled and disappointed in every attempt. Thus 
 at Brundisium he could make no impression upon 
 the town, till Pompey at full leisure had secured 
 his retreat, and embarked his troops : and at Dyr- 
 rachium, the onlv considerable action, which hap- 
 peried between them, was not only disadvantageous, 
 but almost fatal to him. Thus far Pompey cer- 
 tainly shewed himself the greater captain, in not 
 suffering a force, which he could not resist in the 
 field, to do him any hurt, or carry any point against 
 him ; since that depended on the skill of the ge- 
 neral. By the help of entrenchments, he knew 
 how to make his new raised soldiers a match for 
 Caesar's veterans ; but when he was drawn to en- 
 counter him on the open plain, he fought against 
 
 * Cae«ar pro natura ierox, ct conficiendae rei cnpidus, ostentarc 
 aciein, provocarc, lacessere ; nunr obsiilioiie castronim, quae sedecim 
 railliiim vallo obduxerat ; (sed quid his obesset obsidio, qui palente 
 mari omnibus copiis abuudarent ?) nunc expugnatione Dyrrhacliii 
 irrita, etc. F'lor. 1. 4. e. 2. 
 
 ^/uojioytl T» fxtloLytYctoTiuv Trgn; Avpp*;:^/^ «rT§3i7c7rf/£V!rjt?, Cte. A pp. p. 468. 
 
312 THE LIFE OF sect. vii. 
 
 A. Urb. 705. Cic. 59. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar II. P. Servilius Vatla Isauricus. 
 
 insuperable odds, by deserting " his proper arms," 
 as Cicero says, "■ of caution, council, and authority, 
 '• in which he was superiour, and committing his fate 
 " to swords and spears, and bodily strength, in which 
 *' his enemies far excelled him.""^ 
 
 Cicero w^as not present at the battle of Pharsa- 
 lia, but was left behind at Dyrrhachium, much out 
 of humour, as well as out of order : his discontent 
 to see all things going wrong on that side, and con- 
 trary to his advice, had brought upon him an ill 
 habit of body, and weak state of health ; which 
 made him decline all publick command; but he 
 promised Pompey to follow, and continue with him, 
 as soon as his health permitted ;t and, as a pledge 
 of his sincerity, sent his son in the mean while 
 along with him, who, though very young, behaved 
 himself gallantly, and acquired great applause by 
 his dexterity of riding and throwing the javelin, 
 and performing every other part of military disci- 
 pline at the head of one of the wings of horse, of 
 which Pompey had given him the command.:]: Cato 
 staid behind also in the camp at Dyrrhachium, 
 which he ^commanded with fifteen cohorts, when 
 Labienus brought them the news of Pompey 's de~ 
 
 * JVon iis rebus pugnabamus, qnibus valere poterainus, consilio, auc- 
 toritate, causa, quae erant in nobis superiora ; sed lacertis et viribus, 
 quibus pares non fuimns. Ep. Faiii. 4. 7. 
 
 Dolebamque piiis et gladiis, non consiliis neque auctoritatibus nos- 
 tris, de jure publico disceptari — Ep. Fam. 6. 1. 
 
 f Ipse fiigi adhuc omnc murjus, eo magis, quod nihil ita poterat agi, 
 lit raihi et mcis rebus aptuin esset — me conficit solicitudo, ex qua 
 etiam summa inlirmitas corporis ; quo levata, ero cum eo, qui nego- 
 tium gerit, estque in magna spe — Ad Att. xi. 4. 
 
 I Uuo tamen in bello cum te Pompeius alae alteri praefeejsset, 
 magnam laudem et a summo viro et ab exerritu consequebare, equi- 
 tando, jaculando, omni militari labore tolerando : atque ea quidem 
 tua laus pari ter cum Repub. cecidit- De Offic, 2. 13. 
 
SECT. VII. 
 
 CICERO. 313 
 
 A. Urb. 705. Cic. 59. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar II. P. Senilius Vatia Isauricus. 
 
 feat : upon which Cato offered the command to 
 Cicero as the superiour in dignity ; and, upon his 
 refusal of it, as Plutarch tells us, young Pompey 
 was so enraged, that he drew his sword, and would 
 hav^e killed him upon the spot, if Cato had not 
 prevented it. This fact is not mentioned by Cice- 
 ro, yet seems to be referred to in his speech for 
 Marcellus, where he says, that in the very war, 
 he had been a perpetual asserter of peace, to the 
 hazard even of his life.^ But the wretched news 
 from Pharsalia threw^ them alJ into such a conster- 
 nation, that they presently took shipping, and dis- 
 persed themselves severally, as their hopes or incli- 
 nations led them, into the diflerent provinces of 
 the empire.f The greatest part who were deter- 
 mined to renew the war, went directly into Africk, 
 the general rendezvous of their scattered forces; 
 w hilst others, who were disposed to expect the far- 
 ther issue of things, and take such measures as for- 
 tune offered, retired to Achaia: but Cicero was 
 resolved to make this the end of the war to him- 
 self; and recommended the same conduct to his 
 friends ; declaring, tiiat as they had been no match 
 for Caesar, when entire, they could not hope to 
 beat him, when shattered and broken:! and so, 
 after a miserable campaign of about eighteen 
 months, he committed himself without hesitation 
 to the mercy of the conqueror, and landed again 
 at Brundisium about the end of October. 
 
 * Miilta de pace dixi, et in ipso bello, eadem etiam cum capitis mei 
 periculo sensi. Pro Marcell. 5. 
 
 t Faucis sane post diebus ex Pharsalica fuga venisse I.abjpnum : qui 
 cum interitum exercitus nunciavisset — naves subito perterriti con- 
 scendistis. De Divin. 1. 32. 
 
 I Hunc ego belli mihi finem feci, nee putavi, cura integri pares non 
 liiissemus, fractos superiores fore. Ep. Fam. 7, 3. 
 VOL. IT. 40 
 
314 THE LIFE OF sect. viii. 
 
 SECTION VIII. 
 
 A. Urb. 706, Cic. 60. Coss.— C. Jul. Caesar Dictat. II. M. Antonius Mag. Equit, 
 
 Cicero no sooner returned to Italy, than he be- 
 gan to reflect, that he had been too hasty in com- 
 ini^ home, before the war was determined, and 
 without any invitation from the conqueror ; and, 
 in a time of that general license, had reason to ap- 
 prehend some insult from the soldiers, if he ven- 
 tured to appear in publick with his fasces and 
 laurel ; and yet to drop them, would be a diminu- 
 tion of that honour which he had received from 
 the Roman people, and the acknowledgment of 
 a power superiour to the laws : he condemned 
 himself, therefore, for not continuing abroad, in 
 some convenient place of retirement, till he had 
 been sent for, or things were- better settled.^ Wliat 
 gave himlhe greater reason to repent of this step 
 was, a message that he I'eceived from Antony, 
 who governed ail in Caesar's absence, and with the 
 same churlish spirit with which he would have 
 held him before in Italy against his will, seemed 
 
 * Ego vero et incaute, ut scribis, et celeriiis qnarn oportuit, feci, 
 etc. Ad Att. xi. 9. 
 
 Quare vohmtatis me nieae dunquam poenitebit, consilii poenitet. In 
 oppido aliquo mallem resedisse, quoad arcesserer. Minus sermonis 
 subiissein : minus accepissem doloris : ipsum hoc non me angeret. 
 Brundisii jacere in omnes partes est niolestum. Propius accedere, 
 ut suades, quomodo sine lictoribus, quos populus dedit, po§sum ? 
 qui mihi incolumi adimi non possunt. Ad Att. xi. 6. 
 
SECT. VIII. CICERO. 315 
 
 A. Urb. 706. Cic. 60. Coss.— C. Jul. Caesar Dictat. II. M. Antonius Mag. Equit. 
 
 now disposed to drive him out of it ; for he sent 
 him the copy of a letter from Caesar, in which 
 Caesar signified, " that he had heard that Cato and 
 " Metellus were at Rome,' and appeared openly 
 " there, which mio;ht occasion some disturbance : 
 " wherefore, he strictly enjoined, that none should 
 " be SLitfered to come to Italy without a special 
 " license from himself. Antony, therefore, desired 
 " Cicero to excuse him, since he could not help 
 " obevinor Caesar's commands : but Cicero sent L. 
 " Lamia to assure him, that Caesar had ordered 
 " Dolabella to write to him to come to Italy as 
 " soon as he pleased ; and that he came upon the 
 " authority of Dolabella's letter :" so that Antony, 
 in the edict which he published to exclude the 
 Pompeians from Italy, excepted Cicero by name ; 
 which added still to his mortification, since all his 
 desire was to be connived at only, or tacitly per- 
 mitted, without being personally distinguished from 
 the rest of his party.^ 
 
 But he had some other grievances of a domes- 
 tick kind, which concurred also to make him un- 
 happy ; his brother (iuintus, with his son, after 
 their escape from Pharsalia, followed Caesar into 
 Asia, to obtain their pardon from him in person. 
 Quint us had particular reason to be afraid of his 
 resentment, on account of the relation which he 
 had borne to him, as one of his lieutenants in Gaul, 
 
 * Sed quid egjo de lictoribus, qui paene ex Italia decedcre sim 
 jiissus ? nam ad me misit Antonius exempliim Caesaris ad se litera- 
 rum; in quibus erat, se andissc, Catonem et L. Metelium in Ita- 
 liain venisse, Horaac nt essent palam, etc. Turn ille edixit. jta, ut 
 ine exciperet et Laelirim noniinatim. Quod sane nollem. Poterat 
 enira sine nomino, re ipsa excipi. O muilas graces offcnsiones ! — 
 lb. 7. 
 
816 THE LIFE OF sect. vin. 
 
 A. Ui-b. 706. Cic. fiO. Coss.— C. Jul. Caesav Dictat. U. M. Antonius Mag. Equit. 
 
 where he had been treated by him with great ge- 
 nerosity ; so that Cicero himself would have dis- 
 suaded him from going over to Pompey, but 
 could not prevail ; yet, in this common calamity, 
 Quintus, in order to make his own peace the 
 more easily, resolved to throw all the blame upon 
 his brother, and, for that purpose, made it the sub- 
 ject of all his letters and speeches to Caesar's 
 friends, to rail at him in a manner the most in- 
 human. 
 
 Cicero was informed of this from all quarters, 
 and that young Gtuintus, who was sent befnre to- 
 wards Caesar, had read an oration to his friend^ 
 which he had prepared to speak to him, ao;ain^t tiis 
 uncle. Nothing, as Cicero says, ever happened 
 more shocking to him ; and, though he had no 
 small diffidence of Caesar's inclination, and many 
 enemies labouring to do him ill offices, yet his 
 greatest concern was, lest his brother and nephew 
 should hurt themselves rather than him, by their 
 perfidy :^ for, under all the sense of this 7>rovoca- 
 tion, his behaviour was just the reverse of theirs ; 
 and havilTg been informed that Caesar, in a certain 
 conversation, had charged his brother with being 
 the author of their going away to Pompey, he 
 
 * Quintus misit filium non solum sui deprecatorera, sed etiara ac- 
 eusatorem mei, neque vero desistet, ubicunque est omnia in me raa- 
 ledicta conferre. Niliil mihi unquam tarn incredibile accidit, nihil 
 in his raalis tarn acerbum. lb. 8. 
 
 Epistolas mihi legerunt pl^nas omnium in me probronim, ipsi enira 
 illi putavi perniciosum fore, 'si ejus hoc tautura scelus percrebuisset. 
 lb. 9. 
 
 Quintum filium, voluraen sibi ostendisse orationis, quam apnd Cae- 
 sarem contra me esset habiturus, multa postea patris, consimili sce- 
 !ere secum cjuintum Pj^trera esse locutuiHo lb. 10, 
 
SECT. Vlli 
 
 CJCERO. 317 
 
 A. Uib. 706. Cic. 60. Coss.— C. Jul. Caesar Dictat. H. >L Antonius Mag. Equit. 
 
 took occasion to write to him in the following 
 tenns : 
 
 " As for my brother, 1 am not less solicitous for 
 "his safety than my own; but, in my present 
 " situation, dare not venture to recommend him 
 " to you ; all that I can pretend to, is, to beg that 
 " you will not believe him to have ever dorje any 
 " thing towards obstructing my good offices and 
 " affection to you ; but rather, that he was always 
 "the adviser of our union, and the companion, not 
 '' the leader of my voyage : wherefore, in all 
 " other respects, 1 leave it to you to treat him, as 
 " your own humanity, and his friendsliip witli you, 
 "require; but 1 entreat you, in the most pressing 
 ** manner, that 1 may not he the cause of hurting 
 " him with you, on any account whatsoever."* 
 
 He found himself, likewise, at this time, in some 
 distress for want of money, which, in that season 
 of publick distraction, it was very difficult to pro- 
 cure, either by borrowing or selling : the sum, 
 which he advanced to Pompey, had drained liim : 
 and his wife, by her indulgence to stewards, and 
 favourite servants, had made great waste of what 
 was left at home ; and, instead of saving any thing 
 from their rents, had plunged him deeply into 
 debt; so that Atticus's purse was the chief fund 
 which he had to trust to for his present support.f 
 
 * Cum mihi litterae a Balbo minore missae essent. Caesarem exi?- 
 timare, Uuintiira fratrera liluiiin meae prolectionis luisse, sic eniin 
 scripsit. Ad Att. xi. 12. 
 
 t Velim consideres ut sit, unde nobis snppeditentiir suintus neces- 
 sarii. Si qiias habuinms Caciiltates, eas Poiiipt-io. Uini, cuiu vide- 
 bamur sapienter facere, detiilimiis. lb. 13. 2. 22, etc. 
 
318 THE LIFE OF sect. viii. 
 
 A, Urb. 706. Cic. 60. Coss.— C. Jul. Caesav Dictat. II. M. Antonius Mag. Equit. 
 
 The conduct of Dolabella was a farther mortifi- 
 cation to him ; who, by the fiction of an adoption 
 into a plebian family, had obtained the tribunate this 
 year, and was raising great tumults and disorders 
 in Rome, by a law, which he published, to expunge 
 all debts. Laws of that kind had been often at- 
 tempted by desperate or ambitious magistrates ; 
 but were always detested by the better sort, and 
 particularly by Cicero, who treats them as perni- 
 cious to the peace and prosperity of states, and sap- 
 ping the very foundation of civil society, by des- 
 troying all faith and credit among men.^ No won- 
 der, therefore, that we find him taking this affair so 
 much to heart, and complaining so heavily, in many 
 of his letters to Atticus, of the famed acts of his 
 son-in-law, as an additional source of affliction and 
 disgrace to him.t Dolabella was greatly embar- 
 rassed in his fortunes, and, while he was with Cae- 
 sar abroad, seems to have left his wife destitute of 
 necessaries at home, and forced to recur to her 
 father for her subsistence. Cicero likewise, either 
 through the difficulty of the times, or for want of a 
 sufficient^^ttlement on Dolabella's part, had not 
 yet paid all her fortune ; which it was usual to do 
 at three different payments, within a time limited 
 by law : he had discharged the two first, and was 
 now preparing to make the third payment, which 
 he frequently and pressingly recommends to the 
 
 * Nee enim ulla res veheraentius Rempub. eontinet, quam fides : 
 quae esse nulla potest, nisi etit necessaria soliitio reriim creditarum, 
 etc. de Uffic. 2. 24. 
 
 f Unod rae audis fractiorem esse animo ; quid putas, cum vidcas ac- 
 cessissc ad superiores aegritudines praeclaras generi actiones ? — Ad 
 Att. 11. 12. 
 
 Etsi ouiuiura conspectum horreo, praesertim hoc genero — lb. 14, 
 1,5, etc. 
 
SECT. VIII. CICERO. 319 
 
 A. Urb. 706. Cic. 60, Coss.— C. Jul. Caesar Dietat. II. M. Antonius Mag. Equit. 
 
 care of Alticus.^ But Dolabella's whole life and 
 character were so entirely contrary to the manners 
 and temper both of Cicero and Tullia, that a di- 
 vorce ensued between them not long after, though 
 the account of it is delivered so darkly, that it is 
 hard to say at what time or from what side it first 
 arose. 
 
 In these circumstances Tullia paid her father a 
 visit at Brundisium on the thirteenth of June : but 
 his great love for her, made their meeting only the 
 more afflicting to him in that abject state of their 
 fortunes ; '' I was so far," says he, " from taking 
 " that pleasure which I ought to have done from the 
 "virtue, humanity, and piety of an excellent 
 " daughter, that I was exceedingly grieved to see 
 " so deserving a creature in such an unhappy con- 
 " dition, not by her own, but wholly by my fault : 
 " I saw no reason, therefore, for keeping her longer 
 "here, in this our common affliction; but was wil- 
 " ling to send her back to her mother as soon as she 
 " would consent to it."t 
 
 At Brundisium he received the news of Pom- 
 pey's death, which did not surprise him, as we find 
 from the short reflection that he makes upon it : 
 
 * De dote, quod scribis, per oinnes deos te obtestor, nt totam rem 
 
 suscipias, et illam uiiscram iiiea culpa tueare irieis opibus, si quae 
 
 suut ; tuis, quibus tibi non molestuin erit facnltatibus. lb. 11. 2. 
 
 De pensione altera, oro te, omni cura considera quid faciendum 
 sit.— lb. 11. 4. 
 
 f Tullia mea ad me venit prid. id Juu. — Ego autem ex ipsius virtute, 
 humanitate, pielate non modo earn voluptatem non cepi, quani capere 
 ex siugulari tilia debui, sed etiara incredibili sum dolore aflfectus, tab. 
 ingeuium in tarn miseia furtuna versari. — lb. 11. 17. Ep. Fam 
 14. 11. 
 
320 THE LIFE OF sect, vih 
 
 A. Urb. 706. Cic. 60. Coss.— C. Jul. Caesar Dictat. II. M. Antonius Mag. Equit. 
 
 " As lo Pompey'send," (says he,) '^I never had any 
 " doubt about it : for the lost and desperate state of 
 " his affairs had so possessed the minds of all the 
 " kino;s and states abroad, that vvliithersoever he 
 " went, I took it for 2;ranted that this would be his 
 " fate : I cannot however help grieving at it ; for I 
 " knew him to be an honest, grave, and worthy 
 "man."^ 
 
 This was the short and true character of the 
 man from one who perfectly knew him ; not height- 
 ened, as we sometimes find it, by the shining co- 
 lours of his eloquence ; nor depressed by the dark- 
 er strokes of his resentment. Pompey had early 
 acquired the surname of the Great, by that -sort of 
 merit which, from the constitution of tlie repub- 
 lick, necessarily made him great ; a fame and suc- 
 cess in war, superiour to what Rome bad ever 
 known in the most celebrated of her generals. He 
 had triumphed at three several times over the three 
 different parts of the known world, Europe, Asia, 
 Africa ; and by his victories had almost doubled the 
 extent, as well as the revenues, of the Roman do- 
 minion ; fCTi', as he declared to the people on his re- 
 lurn fiom the Mithridatick war, •' he had found the 
 '^ lesser Asia the boundary, but left it the middle of 
 " their Empire. He was about six years older than 
 " Caesar ;" and while Caesar, immersed in pleasures, 
 oppressed with debts, and suspected by all honest 
 men, was hardly able to shew his head ; Pompey 
 
 * De Pompeii exitu raihi diibiura nunqiiam fnit : tanta enim despe- 
 ratio rsnim ejus omnium regum et popniornm animos ofcuparat, lit 
 quocnnque venisset, hot* putarem fiiturnm. Non possum ejus casnm 
 non dolere . hominem enim integrum et castum et gravem cognovi. 
 AdAtt. 11.6. 
 
SECT. VIII. CICERO. 821 
 
 A. Vrbi 706. Cic. 60. Coss.— C. Jul. Caesar Dictat. II. M. Antonius Mag. Equiu 
 
 was flourishing in the heio;ht of power and i]!;lory, 
 and by the consent of all parties placed at the head 
 of the republick. This was the post that his ambi- 
 tion seemed to aim at, to be the first man in Rome ; 
 the Lender, not the Tyrant of his country : for he 
 more than once had it in his power to have made 
 himself the master of it without any risk ; if his 
 virtue, or his phlegm at least, had not restrained 
 him : but he lived in a perpetual expectation of re- 
 ceiving, from the gift of the people, what he did 
 not care to seize by force ; and, by fomenting the 
 disorders of the city, hoped to drive them to the 
 necessity of creating him Dictator. It is an ob- 
 servation of all the historians, that while Caesar 
 made no difference of power, whether it was con- 
 ferred or usurped : whether over those who loved, 
 or those who feared him : Pompey seemed to 
 value none but what was offered ; nor to have any 
 desire to govern, but with the good will of the 
 governed. What leisure he found from his wars, 
 he employed in the study of polite letters, and 
 especially of eloquence, in which he would have 
 acquired great fame, if his genius had not drawn 
 him to the more dazzling glory of arms : yet he 
 pleaded several causes with applause, in the de- 
 fence of his friends and clients; and some of 
 them in conjunction with Cicero. His language 
 was copious and elevated ; his sentiments just ; his 
 voice sweet ; his action noble, and full of dignity. 
 But his talents were better formed for arms, than 
 the gown : for though, in both, he observed the 
 same discipline, a perpetual modesty, temperance, 
 and gravity of outward behaviour ; yet, in the li- 
 cense of camps, the example w^as more rare and 
 striking. His person was extremely graceful, and 
 
 VOL. 11. 41 
 
322 THE LIFE OF sect, viii, 
 
 A. Urb. 706. Cic. 60. Coss.— C. Jul. Caesar Dictat. II. M. Antonius Mag. Equit. 
 
 imprintinoj respect ; yet with an air of reserve 
 and hau|/htiness, which became the general bet- 
 ter than the citizen. His parts were plausible, 
 rather than great ; specious rather than penetrat- 
 ing ; and his view of politicks but narrow ; for 
 his chief instrument of governing w^as dissimu- 
 lation j yet he had not always the art to conceal 
 his real sentiments. As he was a better soldier 
 than a statesman, so what he gained in the camp he 
 usually lost in the city ; and though adored, when 
 abroad, was often affronted and mortified at home ; 
 till the imprudent opposition of the senate drove 
 him to that alliance with Crassus and Caesar, 
 which proved fatal both to himself and the repub- 
 lick. He took in these two, not as the partners, 
 but the ministers rather of his power ; that, by 
 giving them some share with him, he might make 
 his own authority uncontrollable : he had no rea- 
 son to apprehend that they could ever prove his 
 rivals ; since neither of them had any credit or 
 character of that kind which alone could raise 
 them above the laws ; a superiour fame and ex- 
 perience in war, with the militi* of the empire 
 at their devotion : all this was purely his own ; till, 
 by cherishing Caesar, and throwing into his hands 
 the only thing which he wanted, arms and military 
 command, he made him at last too strong for him- 
 self, and never began to fear him, till it was too 
 late : Cicero warmly dissuaded both his union and 
 his breach with Caesar; and, after the rupture, 
 as warmly still, the thought of giving him battle: 
 if any of these counsels had been followed, Pom- 
 pey had preserved his life and honour, and the re- 
 publick its liberty. But he was urged to his fate 
 by a natujal superstilion, and attention to those 
 vain auguries with which he was flattered by all 
 
SECT. VIII. CICERO. 323 
 
 A. Urb. 706. Cic. 60. Coss.— C. Jul. Caesar Dictat. II. M. Antonius Mag. Equit. 
 
 the baru spices : he had seen the same temper in 
 Marius and Sylla, and observed the happy effects 
 of it : but they assumed it only out of policy, he 
 out of principle. They used it to animate their 
 soldiers, when they had found a probable opportu- 
 nity of fighting ; but he, against all prudence and 
 probability, was encouraged by it to fight to his 
 own ruin. He saw all his mistakes at last, when 
 it was out of his power to correct them ; and in 
 his wretched flight from Pharsalia was forced to 
 confess, that he had trusted too much to his hopes ; 
 and that Cicero had judged better, and seen farther 
 into things than he. The resolution of seeking 
 refuge in Egypt, finished the sad catastrophe of 
 this great man : the father of the reigning prince 
 had been highly obliged to him for his protection 
 at Rome, and restoration to his kingdom : and the 
 son had sent a considerable fleet to his assistance 
 in the present war : but, in this ruin of his fortunes, 
 what gratitude was there to be expected from a 
 court, governed by eunuchs and mercenary Greeks ? 
 all whose politicks turned, not on the honour of 
 the king, but the establishment of their own pow- 
 er ; which was likely to be eclipsed by the admis- 
 sion of Pompey. How happy had it been for him 
 to have died in that sickness, when all Italy was 
 putting up vow s and prayers for his safety ? or, if 
 he had fallen by chance of war on the plains of 
 Pharsalia, in the defence of his country's liberty, 
 he had died still glorious, though unfortunate : but, 
 as if he had been reserved for an example of the 
 instability of human greatness, he, wiio a few days 
 before commanded kings and consuls, and all the 
 noblest of Rome, was sentenced to die by a coun- 
 cil of slaves ; murdered bv a base deserter ; cast 
 
324 THE LIFE OF sect, viii 
 
 A. Urb. 706. Cic. 60. Coss.— C. Jul Caesar. Dictat. II. M. Antonius Mag. Equit. 
 
 out naked and headless on the Egyptian strand ; 
 and when the whole earth, as Yelleius says, had 
 scarce been sufficient for his victories, could not 
 find a spot upon it at last for a grave. His body 
 was burnt on the shore by one of his freedmen, 
 with the planks of an old fishing boat; and his 
 ashes being conveyed to Rome, were deposited pri- 
 vately by his wife Cornelia in a vault of his Alban 
 Villa. The Egyptians, however, raised a monu- 
 ment to him on the place, and adorned it with 
 figures of brass, which being defaced afterwards 
 by time, and buried almost in sand and rubbish, 
 was sought out and restored by the emperour Ha- 
 drian.'^ 
 
 * Hiijiis viri fastiginm tantis auctibiis fortuna extulit, ut primuin ex 
 Africa, iterum ex Europa, tertio ex Asia triumpharet : et quot par- 
 tes terrarum Orbis sunt, totidem faceret monumenta victoriae. [Veil. 
 Pat 2. 40.J Ut ipse in concione dixit. — Asiara ultimam provinciarum 
 accepisse, mediam patriae reddidisse. [Pliii. Hist. 7. 26. Flor. 3. 5.] 
 Potentiae quae honoris causa ad euin deierretur, non ut ab eo occu- 
 paretur, cupidissimus. [Veil. Pat. 2. 29. Dio. p. 178.] Mens autera 
 aequalis Cn. Pompeius, vir ad omnia surama natus, raajorem dicendi 
 gloriam habuisset, nisi eum majoris gloriae cupiditas ad bellicas lau- 
 des abstraxisset. Erat oratione satis amplus : rem prudenter vide- 
 bat : actio vero ejus habebat et in voce magnum splendorem, et in 
 motu summaiH dignitatem. [Brut. 354. vid. it. pro Balbo. 1, 2.] 
 Forma excellens, non ea, qua flos commendatur aetatis, sed ex dig- 
 iiitate constanti. [Veil. Pat. 2. 29.] fllud os probum, ipsumque hono- 
 rem eximiaefrontis. [Plin Hist. 7. 12.] Solet enim aliud sentire et 
 loqui, nequetantum valere ingenio, ut non appareat quid cnpiat. [Ep. 
 Fam. 8. 1.] llle aluit, auxit, armavit ille Galliae ulterioris ad- 
 junctor— ilie provinciae propagator ; ille absentis in omnibus adjutor. 
 [Ad Alt. 8. 3.] Aluerat Caesarem, eundem repente timere coeperat. 
 [lb. 8.] Ego nihil praetermisi, quantum facere, nitique potui, quin 
 Pompeium a Caesaris conjunctione avocarem — —idem ego, cum jam 
 omnes opes et suas et populi Romani Pompeius ad Caesarem detulis- 
 set, seroque ea sentire coepis«et, quae ego a.;te multo providerara— 
 pads, coucordjae, compositionis auctor esse non destiti : meaque ilia 
 vox ex notamultis, Utinara, Pompei, cum Caesare societatem ant nun- 
 quara coisses, aut nunquam diremisses !— haec mea, Antoni, et de Pom- 
 peioetde Repub. cousilia fuerunt : quae si valuissent, Respub. staret. 
 [Phil. 2. 10. j Multi testes, me et initio ne conjungeret se cum Caesare, 
 
SECT. VIII. CICERO. 325 
 
 A. Urb. 706. Cic 60. Coss.— C. Jul. Caesar Dictat. II. M. Ajitonius Mag. Equit. 
 
 On the news of Pompey's death, Caesar was de- 
 clared Dictator the second time in his absence, 
 and M. Antony his master of the horse, who by 
 virtue of that post governed all thin2;s absolutely 
 in Italy. Cicero continued all the while at Brun- 
 disium, in a situation wholly disagjreeable, and 
 worse to him, he says, than any punishment : for 
 the air of the place began to affect his health, and, 
 to the uneasiness of mind, added an ill state of 
 body :* yet, to move nearer towards Rome, with- 
 out leave from his new masters, was not thought 
 advisable; nor did Antony encourage it, being 
 pleased rather, we may believe, to see him well 
 mortified ; so that he had no hopes of any ease or 
 comfort, but in the expectation of Caesar's return : 
 which made his stay in that place tlie more neces- 
 
 monuisse Pompeium, et postea, ne sejnngeret, etc. [Ep. Fam. 6. 6.] 
 Quid vero singiilaris ille vir ac paeoe divinus de mc stiiserit, sciuot, qui 
 euin de Pharsalica fuga Paphum prnseciiti sunt : minqiiam ab eo men- 
 tio de me nisi honorifica — cum me vidisse plus fatrretnr, se speravisse 
 meliora. [lb. 15.] Qui, si mortem turn obissct, in amplissimis i'or- 
 tunis occidisset ; is propagatione vitae quot, quanta^, quam incredi- 
 biles hausit calamitates ? [Tusc. Disp. 1. 35. j In Pelusiaco littore, 
 imperio vilissimi regis, consiliis spadonum, et ne quid malis desit, 
 Septimii desertoris sui gladio, truoidator. [Flor. 4. 2 .52] Ae^yp- 
 tura petere proposuit, memor beueficiorum quae in patrem ^jus 
 Ptolemaei,— qui turn regnabat, contulerat — Princeps Homani nominis, 
 imperio, arbitrioque Aegyptii mancipii jngulatus est~in tantum iii 
 illo viro ase discordante fortuna, ut cui modo ad victoriam terra de- 
 fuerat, deesset ad sepulturam. Veil. Pat. 2. 54. vid. Dio p. 186. it. 
 Appian. 2. 481. 
 
 Provida Porapeio dederat Campania fcbres 
 Optandis. Sed multae urbes, et pn[)lifa vola 
 Vicerunt. Igitur fortuna ipsius et L'rbis 
 Servatum victo caput abstulit. 
 
 Juv. X. 283. 
 
 * Q4iodvis enim supplicium levius est hac permansione. Ad Att. 
 xi. 18. 
 
 Jam enim corpore vix sustineo gravitatem bujns tocli, qui mibi la- 
 borem aflferet, in dolore. ib. 22. 
 
326 THE LIFE OF sect. vhi. 
 
 A. Urb. 706. Cic, 60. Coss.— C. Jul. Caesar Dictat. 11. M. Antonius Mag. Equit. 
 
 saiy, for the opportunity of paying his early com- 
 pliments to him at landing. 
 
 But what gave him the greatest uneasiness was, 
 to be held still in suspense, in what touched him 
 the most nearly, the case of his own safety, and 
 of Caesar's disposition towards him ; for, though 
 all Caesar's friends assured him, not only of par- 
 don, but of all kind of favour ; yet he had receiv- 
 ed no intimation of kindness from Caesar himself, 
 who was so embarrassed in Egypt, that he had no 
 leisure to think of Italy, and did not so much as 
 write a letter thither from December to June ; for, 
 as he had rashly, and out of gayety, as it were, in- 
 volved himself there in a most desperate war, to the 
 hazard of all his fortunes, he was ashamed, as Cice- 
 ro says,^ to write any thing about it, till he had 
 extricated himself out of that difficulty. 
 
 His enemies, in the mean time, had greatly 
 strengthened themselves in Africk, where P. Va- 
 rus, who first seized it on the part of the repub- 
 lick, was supported by all the force of king Juba, 
 Pompey's fast ifriend, and had reduced the whole 
 province to his obedience; for Curio, after he 
 had driven Cato out of Sicily, being ambitious to 
 drive Varus also out of Africk, and having transport- 
 ed thither the best part of four legions, which Caesar 
 had committed to him, was, after some little suc- 
 cess upon his landing, entirely defeated and des- 
 troyed, with his whoje army, in an engagement 
 with Sabura, king Jubk's general. 
 
 * Ille enim ita videtur Alexandriam tenere, ut euni scribere etiam 
 pudeat de illis rebus. lb. xi. 15. 
 
 Nee post idus Decemb. ab illo datas uUus litteras. lb. 17. 
 
3ECT. VIII. CICERO. 32r 
 
 A. Urb. 706. Cic. 60. Coss.— C. Jul. Caesar Dictat. n. M. Antonius Mag. Equit. 
 
 Curio was a young nobleman of shining parts ; 
 admirably formed by nature to adorn that charac- 
 ter in which his father and grandfather liad flour- 
 ished before him, of one of the principal orators 
 of Rome. Upon his entrance into the forum, he 
 was committed to the care of Cicero : but a natu- 
 ral propensity to pleasure, stimulated by the ex- 
 ample and counsels of his perpetual companion 
 Antony, hurried him into all the extravagance of 
 expense and debauchery ; for Antony, who al- 
 ways wanted money, with which Curio abounded, 
 was ever obsequious to his will, and ministering to 
 his lusts, for the opportunity of gratifying his 
 own : so that no boy, purchased for the use of 
 lewdness, was more in a master's power, than An- 
 tony in Curio's. He was equally prodigal of his 
 money and his modesty ; and not only of his own, 
 but of other people's ; so that Cicero, alluding to 
 the infamous effeminacy of his life, calls him, in one 
 of his letteis. Miss Curio. But when the father, 
 by Cicero's advice, had obliged him by his pater- 
 nal authority to quit the familiarity of Antony ; he 
 reformed his conduct, and, adhering to the in- 
 structions and maxims of Cicero, became the fa- 
 vourite of the city ; the leader of the young no- 
 bility ; and a warm asserter of the authority of 
 the senate, against the power of the triumvirate. 
 After his father's death, upon his first taste of pub- 
 lick honours, and admission into the senate, his 
 ambition and thirst of popularity engaged him in 
 so immense a prodigality, that, to supply the 
 magnificence of his shews, and plays, with which 
 he entertained the city, he was soon driven to the 
 necessity of selling himself to Caesar ; having no 
 revenue left, as Pliny says, but from the discord 
 
328 THE LIFE OF sect, mil 
 
 A. Urb. 706. Cic. 60. Coss.— C. Jul. Caesar Dictat. II. M. Antoiiius Mag. Eqult. 
 
 of his citizens. For this he is considered com- 
 monly by the old writers, as the chief instrument, 
 and the trumpet, as it were, of the civil war ; in 
 which he justly fell the first victim : yet, after all 
 his luxury and debauch, fought and died with a 
 courage truly Roman ; which would have merited 
 a better fate, if it had been employed in a better 
 cause : for, upon the loss of the battle, and his 
 best troops, being admonished by his friends to 
 save himself by flight, he answered, that, after 
 losing an army, which had been committed to him 
 by Caesar, he could never shew his face to him 
 again ; and so continued fighting, till he was killed 
 amonof the last of his soldiers.^ 
 
 Curio's death happened before the battle of 
 Pharsalia, while Caesar was engaged in Spain :t 
 
 * Hand aJrum tanta civem tulit indole Roma. Lucan 4. 814. 
 
 Una familia Curionem, in qua ties continua serie oratores extite- 
 rjnt. Plin. Mist. 7. 41. 
 
 IVatnrain habuit admii'abilem ad diceiidum. Brut. 406. 
 
 Xeiuo unqiiam piier, eraptus libidinis causa, tarn fuit in domini po- 
 testate, quam tii in Curionis. (Philip. 2. 18.) duce filiola Curionis. 
 [Ad Att. 1. 14.] 
 
 Vir nobilis, "^loqiBens, audax, suae alienaeqiie et fortunae et pndi- 
 citiae prodigus — cnjus aniino, voluptatibus ve! libidinibus, neque opes 
 nllae neque cupiditatcs sufficere possent. [Veil. Pat. 248.] 
 
 Nisi meis puer oiim fidelissimis atque ainantissiinis consiliis paru- 
 isses. [Ep. Fani 2. 1.] 
 
 Bello anteni rivili — non alius majorcra quam C. Curio subjecit fa- 
 cem— Veil. Pat. 2. 48.) 
 
 Quid nunc Rostra libi prosmit iurbata, forumque. 
 Unde Tribynitia pkbeiiis slgnifer arce 
 Arma dabas populis, etc. 
 
 ' Lucan. 4. 800. 
 
 At Curio, nunquam, amisso exorcitu, quern a Caesare fidei suae 
 commissum acceperat, se in ejus conspectum rcversurum, coufirmat ; 
 atque ita praelians interficitur. Caes. Conim. tie Bell. Civ. 2. 
 
 f Ante jacesy quam dira duces Pharsalia confert, 
 
 Spectandumque tibi belliim civile negalum est. 
 
 Lucan. lb 
 
BECT. VIII. CICERO. 329 
 
 A. Urb. 706. Cic. 60. Coss.— C. Jul. Caesar Dictat. II. M. Antonius Mag. Equit. 
 
 by which means Africk fell enthely into the hands 
 of the Pompeians ; and became the s^eneral ren- 
 dezvous of all that party ; hither Scipio, Cato, and 
 Labienus, conveyed the remains of their scattered 
 troops from Greece, as Afranius and Petreius 
 likewise did from Spain ; till on the whole tliey 
 had broui^ht toorether ao;ain a more numerous army 
 than Caesar's, and were in such high spirits, as to 
 talk of coming over with it into Italy, before Cae- 
 sar could return from Alexandria.^ This was 
 confidently given out, and expected at Rome ; and 
 in that case, Cicero w^as sure to be treated as a de- 
 serter ; for while Caesar looked upon all men as 
 friends, who did not act against him, and pardoned 
 even enemies, w ho submitted to his power ; it 
 was a declared law on the other side, to consider 
 all as enemies, who were not actually in their 
 camp ;t so that Cicero had nothhig now to wish, 
 either for himself, or the republick, but, in the 
 first place, a peace, of which he had still some 
 hopes ;t or else, that Caesar might conquer ; whose 
 victory was like to prove the more temperate of 
 the two : which maRes him often lament the un- 
 happy situation to which he was reduced, where 
 nothing could be of any service to him, but what 
 he had always abhorred.^ 
 
 * li autem ex Africa jam affuturi videntur. Ad Att. xi. 15. 
 
 f Te enim dicere audiebamiis, nos omoes adversarios putare, nisi 
 qui nobiscuin essent ; te omues, qui contra te non essent, tuos. Pro 
 Ligar. xi. it. Ad Att. xi. 6. 
 
 J Est autena, unum, quod mihi sit optandum, si quid asi de pace 
 possit : quod nulla equidem habeo in spe : sed quia tu leviter inter- 
 dum signiticas, cogis me sperare quod optandum vix est— Ad Att. xi. 
 19. it. 12.— 
 
 5 Mihi cum omnia sunt intolerabilia ad dolorem, turn maxime, quod 
 in earn causam venisse me video, ut ea sola utiJia miM esse videantur, 
 quae semper nolui. Ad Att. xi. 13. 
 
 VOL. IT. 42 
 
330 THE LIFE OF sect. viii. 
 
 A. Urb. 706. Cic. 60. Coss.— C. Jul. Caesar Dictat. II. M. Antonius Mag. Equit. 
 
 Under this anxiety of mind, it was an additional 
 vexation to him to hear that his reputation was at- 
 tacked at Rome, for submittin^^ so hastily to the 
 conqueror, or putting himself rather at all into 
 his power. Some condemned him for not follow- 
 ing Pompey ; some more severely for not going to 
 Africk, as the greatest part had done ; others, for 
 not retiring with many of his party to Achaia; 
 till they could see the farther protrress of the war : 
 as he was always extremely sensible of what was 
 said of him by honest men, so he begs of Attic us 
 to be his advocate ; and gives him some hints, which 
 might be urged in his defence. As to the first 
 charge, for not following Pompey he says, '' that 
 *' Pompey's fate would extenuate the omission of 
 " that step : of the second, that though he knew 
 *' many brave men to be in Africk, yet it was his 
 " opinion, that the republick neither could, nor 
 " ought to be defended by the help of so barbarous 
 " and treacherous a nation : as to the third, he 
 '' wishes indeed that he had joined himself to those 
 *' in Achaia, and owns them to be in a better condi- 
 '* tion than himself, because they were many of 
 *' them togetTier ; and whenever they returned 
 *' to Italy, would be restored to their own at once :" 
 whereas he was confined like a prisoner of war to 
 Brundisium, without the liberty of stirring from it 
 till Caesar arrived.* 
 
 * Dicebar debuisse cum Pompeio proficisci. Kxitus illius minult ejus 
 officii praetennissi reprehensioneiH. — sed ex onjoibus nihil inagis de- 
 sideralur, qiiam quod in Afncam non ieriin. Judicio hoc sura usus, 
 Don esse barbaris auxiliis fallacissiinae gentis Rempub. defenden- 
 dam — extremum est eorum, qui in Achaia sunt. li tamen ipsi se hoc 
 melius habent. quam nos, quod et nnilii sunt uno in loco, et cum in 
 Italiara venerint, donjuin statim venerint. Haec tH perge, ut tacis, 
 initigare, et probare quam plunuiis. Ad Att. xi. 7. 
 
SECT. VIII. CICERO. 331 
 
 A. Urb. 706. Cie. 60. Coss.— C. Jul. Caesai- Dictat. II. M. Antonius Mag. Equit. 
 
 While he continued in this uneasy state, some of 
 his friends at Rome contrived to send him a letter 
 in Caesar's name, dated the ninth of February, from 
 Alexandria, encourai^iniy him to lay aside all gloomy 
 apprehensions, and expect every thing that was kind 
 and friendly from him: but it was drawn in terms 
 so slight and general, that, instead of giving him 
 any satisfaction, it made him only suspect, what he 
 perceived afterwards to be true, that it was forged 
 by Balbus or Oppius, on purpose to raise his spirits, 
 and administer some little comfort to him.^ All 
 his accounts, however, confirmed to him the report 
 of Caesar's clemency and moderation, and his grant- 
 ing pardon, without exception, to all who asked it ; 
 and with regard to himself, Caesar sent Quintus's 
 virulent letters to Balbus, with orders to shew them 
 to him, as a proof of his kindness, and dislike of 
 ftuintus's perfidy. But Cicero's present despond- 
 ency, which interpreted every thing by his fears, 
 made him suspect Caesar the more, for refusing 
 grace to hone ; as if such a clemency must needs 
 be affected, and his revenge deferred only to a sea- 
 son more convenient ; and as to his brother's letters, 
 he fancied, that Caesar did not send them to Italy, 
 because he condemned them, but to make his pre- 
 sent misery and abject condition the more notorious 
 and despicable to every body.f 
 
 * Utrae istaepistola nihil consoletiir ; nam et exigue scripta est, et 
 magna*; suspiciones liabet, non esse abillo — Ad Att. xi. 10. 
 
 Ex quo iuteiligis, illud de litteris a. d. v. Id. Feb. datis (quod inane 
 esset, etiam si verum esset) non verum esse. lb. 17. 
 
 t Omninodicitur neraini uegare : quod ipsum est suspectum, notion- 
 em ejus differri. lb. 20. 
 
 Diligenter mihi faseirulura reddidit Balbi tabellariiis — quod ne Cae- 
 sar quidem ad istos videtur iTiississe, quasi quo illius iniprobitateoffen- 
 deretur, sed credo, uti notiora nostra mala essent. — lb. 22. 
 
332 THE LIFE OF sect. viii. 
 
 A. Uib. r06. Cic. 60. Coss.— C. Jul. Caesar Dictat. II. M. Antonius Mag. Equit. 
 
 But, after a long series of perpetual mortifica- 
 tions, he was refreshed at last by a very oblit^ing 
 letter from Caesar, who confirmed to him the full 
 enjoyment of his former state and di2;nity, and bade 
 him resume his fasces and stile of emperour as be- 
 fore.^ Caesar's mind was too great to listen to the 
 tales of the brother and nephew ; and, instead of 
 approving their treachery, seems to have granted 
 them their pardon on Cicero's account, rather than 
 their own ; so that Q^uintus, upon the trial of Cae- 
 sar's inclination, began presently to change his note, 
 and to congratulate with his brother on Caesar's 
 affection and esteem for him.f 
 
 Cicero was now preparing to send his son to wait 
 upon Caesar, who was supposed to be upon his 
 journey towards home ; but the uncertain accounts 
 of his coming, diverted him a while from that 
 thought ;t till Caesar himself prevented it, and re- 
 lieved him very agreeably from his tedious residence 
 at Brundisium, by his sudden and unexpected arri- 
 val in Italy ; where he landed at Tarentum in the 
 month of Sjeptember ; and on the first notice of his 
 coming forward towards Rome, Cicero set oul on 
 foot to meet him. 
 
 * Redditae mihi tandem sunt aCaesare litterae satis liberales. Ep. 
 Fam. 14. 23. 
 
 Qui ad me ex Aegypto litteras misit, lit essem idem, qui fuissem : 
 qui cum ipse imperator in toto imperio populi Romani unus esset, esse 
 rae alterura passus est : a quo — concessos fasces laureates tenui, quoad 
 tenendos putavi. Pro Ligar. 3- 
 
 f Sed mihi valdeQuintus gratulatur. Ad Att. 11. 23. 
 
 X Ego cum Sallustio Ciceronem ad Caesarem mittere cogitabam. 
 lb. 17. 
 
 De illius Alexandria discessu nihil adbtic rumoris ; contraque opinio, 
 itaquenec mitto, ut constitueram, Ciceronem — lb. 18. 
 
iECT. viii. CICERO. 333 
 
 A. Urb. 706. Cic. 60. Coss.— C. Jul. Caesar Dictat. II. M. Antonius Mag. Equit. 
 
 We may easily imagine, what we find, indeed, 
 from his letters, that he was not a little discom- 
 posed at the thouohts of this interview, and the 
 indignity of offering himself to a conqueror, against 
 whom he had been in arms, in the midst of a li- 
 centious and insolent rabble : for though he had 
 reason to expect a kind reception from Cae?ar, 
 yet he hardly thought his life, (he says,) worth 
 begging ; since what was given by a master, miglit 
 always be taken away again at pleasure.^ But, 
 at their meeting, he had no occasion to say or do 
 any thing that was below his dignity : for Caesar 
 no sooner saw him, than he alighted and ran to 
 embrace him ; and walked with him alone, con- 
 versing very familiarly for several furlongs.f 
 
 From this interview, Cicero followed Caesar to- 
 wards Rome : he proposed to be at Tusculum on 
 the seventh or eighth of October ; and wrote to 
 his wife to provide for his reception there, with 
 a large company of friends, who designed to make 
 some stay with him.t From Tusculum he came 
 afterwards to the city, with a resolution to spend 
 his time in study and retreat, till the republick 
 should be restored to some tolerable state ; '' hav- 
 " ing made his peace again, as he writes to Yarro, 
 "with his old friends, his books, who had been 
 " out of humour with him for not obeying their 
 " precepts ; but, instead of living quietly with them, 
 "as Varro had done, committing himself to the 
 
 * Sed non addueor, quemquam bonum ullam salntem milii lanti 
 fuisse putare, iit earn peterem ab illo — Ad Alt. II. 16. 
 
 Sed ab hoc ipso quae dautiir, ut a domino, rursus in ejusdem 
 
 sunt potestate. lb. 20. 
 
 t Plutar. in Cic. t p:p. Fara. 14. 20. 
 
334 THE LIFE OF sect, viu- 
 
 A. Urb, 706. Cic. 60. Coss.— C. Jul. Caesar Dictat. II. M. Antonius Mag. Equit. 
 
 " turbulent counsels and hazards of war, with faith- 
 " less companions."^ 
 
 On Caesar's return to Rome, he appointed P. 
 Yatinius and Q,. Fufius Calenus, consuls for the 
 three last months of the year ; this was a very 
 unpopular use of his new power, which he con- 
 tinued, however, to practise throuj^h the rest of 
 his reiiijn ; creating these first magistrates of the 
 state, without any reg;ard to the ancient forms, or 
 recourse to the people, and at any time of the 
 year ; which ojave a sensible diso;ust to the city, 
 and an early specimen of the arbitrary manner in 
 which he designed to govern them. 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cic. 61. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar III. M. Aemilius Lepidus; 
 
 About the end of the year, Caesar embarked 
 for Africk,^to pursue the war against Scipio, and 
 the other Pompeian generals, who, assisted by 
 king Juba, held the possession of that province 
 with a vast army. — As he was sacrificing for the 
 success of this voyage, the victim happened to 
 break loose and run away from the altar; which 
 being looked upon as an unlucky omen, the harus- 
 pex admonished him not to sail before the winter 
 solstice : but he took ship directly, in contempt 
 
 * Scito enim iiie posteaqiiam in urbem venerim, redisse cum ve- 
 teribus amicis. id est, cum libris nostris, in gratiam — ignoscunt mihi, 
 revocant in consuetudinem pristinam, teque, quod in ea permanseris, 
 sapientiorera, quam me dicunt fuisse, etc. Ep. Fam. 9. 1. 
 
SECT. Tin. CICERO. 335 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cic 61. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar III. M. Aemilius Lepidus. 
 
 of the admonition ; and, by that means, as Cicero 
 says, came upon his enemies unprepared ; and be- 
 fore they had drawn together all their forces.^ 
 Upon his leaviniij the city, he declared himself 
 consul, to2;ether with M. Lepidus, for the year 
 ensuinoj; and gave the government of the Hither 
 Gaul to M. Brutus ; of Greece, to Servius Sul- 
 picius ; the first of whom had been in arms against 
 him at Pharsalia ; and the second was a favourer 
 likewise of the Pompeian cause, and a j^reat friend 
 of Cicero, yet seems to have taken no part in the 
 war.t 
 
 The African war now held the whole empire 
 in suspense ; Scipio's name was thought ominous 
 and invincible on that ground ; but while the ge- 
 neral attention was employed on the expectation 
 ©f some decisive blow, Cicero, despairing of any 
 
 * Quid? Ipse Caesar, a cum summo haruspice moneretnr, ne in 
 Africam ante brurnam transmitteret, nonne fransmisit? quod ni fe- 
 cisset, uno in loco omnes adversariorum copiae convenisset. De 
 Divin. 2. 24. 
 
 Cum immolanti autugisset bostia profectionem adversus Scipionera 
 et Jubam non distulit. Sueton. J. Caes. 59. 
 
 Hirtius. in his account of this war, says, that Caesar embarked at 
 Lilybaeura tor Alrick on the 6th of the kalends of January, [de Bell. 
 Africk. init.] that is, on the 27th of our December : whereas Cice- 
 ro, in the passage just cited, declares him to have passed over be- 
 fore the solstice, or the shortest day. But this seeming contradic- 
 tion is entirely owing to a cause already intimated, the great con- 
 fusion that was introduced at this time into the l«oman kalendar, by 
 which the months were all transposed from their stated seasons ; so 
 that the 27ih of December, on whi«'h, according to their computa- 
 tion, Caesar embarked, was in reality coincident, or the same with 
 our 8th ol October, and consequently above two months before the 
 solstice, or shortest day. All which is clearly and accurately ex- 
 plained in a learned dissertation, published by a person of eminent 
 merit in the Tuiversity ol Cambridge, who chooses to conceal hi? 
 oame. See l3il)lioihec. Literar. i\*^. VIJI. J.ond. 1724. 4to. 
 
 * Brutura Galliae praefecit ; Sulpicium Graeciae. Ep. Fara. 6, 6 
 
336 THE LIFE OF sect, vin 
 
 A. Uib. 707. Cic. 61, Coss.— C. Julius Caesar III. M. Aemilius Lepidus. 
 
 good from either side, chose to liv^e retired and 
 out of si2;ht; and, whether in the city or the 
 country, shut himself up with his books ; which, 
 as he often says, '' had hitlierlo been the diver- 
 '* sion only, but were now become the support of 
 " his life."^ In this humour of study he entered 
 into a close friendship and correspondence of let- 
 ters with M. Terentius Yarro ; a friendship equally 
 valued on both sides, and, at Yarro's desire, im- 
 mortalized by the mutual dedication of their learn- 
 ed works to each other; of Cicero's Academick 
 Questions to Yarro ; of Yarro's Treatise on the 
 Latin Tongue^ to Cicero. Yarro was a senator of 
 the first distinction, both for birth and merit; es- 
 teemed the most learned man of Rome ; and, 
 though now above fourscore yeais old, yet con- 
 tinued still writing and publishing books to his 
 eighty-eighth year.f He was Pompey's lieutenant 
 in Spain, in the beginning of the war ; but, after 
 the defeat of Afranius and Petreius, quitted his 
 arms, and retired to his studies ; so that his pre- 
 sent circumstances were not very different from 
 those of Cicero; who, in all his letters to him, 
 bewails, with great freedom, the utter ruin of the 
 state ; and proposes, " that they should live to- 
 "gether in a strict communication of studies, and 
 "avoid at least the sight, if not the tongues of 
 "men; yet so, that, if their new masters should 
 "call for their help tow^ards settling the repub- 
 " lick, they should run with pleasure, and assist, 
 " not only as architects, but even as masons, to 
 
 * A quibuR antea delectatioiiem modo petebamus, nunc vero etiam 
 salutem. Ep. Fana. 9. 2. 
 
 t Nisi M. Varronein scirem octogesimo octavo vitae anno prodi- 
 disse, etc. Plin. Hist. 29. 4. 
 
SECT. viii. CICERO. 33r 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cic, 61. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar III. A. M. Aemilius Lepidus- 
 
 " build it up ai^ain ; or, if no body would employ 
 " them, should write aiiJ read the best forms of 
 " Sjovernment ; and, as the learned ancients had 
 " done before them, serve their country, if not in 
 ** the senate and forum, yet by their books and 
 " studies, and by composing treatises of morals and 
 « laws."=^ 
 
 In this retreat, he wrote his book of Oraiorial 
 Partitions ; or the art of ordering and distributing 
 the parts of an oration, so as to adapt them in the 
 best manner to their proper end, of moving and 
 persuading an audience. It was written for the 
 instruction of his son, now about eighteen years 
 old, but seems to have been the rude draught only 
 of what he intended, or not to have been finished 
 at least to his satisfaction ; since we find no men- 
 tion of it in any of his letters, as of all his other 
 pieces which were prepared for the publick. 
 
 Another fruit of this leisure w^as his Dialogue 
 on famom Orators, called Brutus ; in which he 
 gives a short character of all who had ever flour- 
 ished, either in Greece or Rome, with any reputa- 
 tion of eloquence, down to his own times : and as 
 he generally touches the principal points of each 
 man's life, so an attentive reader may find in it an 
 epitome, as it were, of the Roman history. The 
 conference is supposed to be held with Brutus and 
 Atticus in Cicero's garden at Rome, under the 
 
 * IVon deesse si qiiis adiiibere volet, non modo ut architectos, 
 Ternm etiain ut fabros, ad aedificandara Rempiib. et potius lihenter 
 accurere : si nemo iitetur opera, tainen et scribere et legere ttoxHum; 
 et si minus in curia atqne in foro. at in litferis et libris, ut dorlis- 
 simi veteres fecerunt, navare lieinpub. et de moribus et Jegibus quae- 
 rere. Mihi haec videntur. Ep. Fain. 9. 2. 
 
 VOL. viT. ^^ 
 
338 THE LIFE OF sect. vui. 
 
 A. Urb, 707. Cic. 61. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar III. M. Aemilius Lepidua. 
 
 statue of Plato f whom he always admired, and 
 usually imitated in the manner of his dialogues; 
 and in this, seems to have copied from him the 
 very form of his double title; Brutus, or of fa- 
 mous orators ; taken from the speaker and the sub- 
 ject, as in Plato's piece, called Phaedon, or of the 
 soul. This work was intended as a supplement, or a 
 fourth book to the three, which he had before pub- 
 lished, on the complete orator. But thouiyh it was 
 prepared and finished at this time, while Cato was 
 living, as it is intimated in some parts of it, yet, as 
 it appears from the preface, it was not made pub- 
 lick till the year following, after the death of his 
 daughter Tullia. 
 
 As, at the opening of the war, we found Cicero 
 in debt to Caesar, so we now meet with several 
 hints in his letters, of Caesar's being indebted to 
 him. It arose probably from a mortgage that 
 Cicero had upon the confiscated estate of some 
 Pompeian, which Caesar had seized : but of what 
 kind soever it was, Cicero was in pain for his mo- 
 ney : '* he saw but three ways, he says, of getting 
 " it ; by purchasing the estate at Caesar's auction ; 
 " or taking an assignment on the purchaser ; or 
 " compounding for half with the brokers or money 
 "jobbers of those times; who would advance the 
 " money on those terms. The first he declares to 
 " be base, and that he would rather loose his debt, 
 " than touch any thing confiscated : the second he 
 " thoui^ht hazardous ;; and that nobody would pay 
 " any thing in such uncertain times : the third 
 
 * Cum idem placnisset illis, turn in pratiilo, propter Platonis sta- 
 tuamconsedimus — Brut. 28. 
 
SECT. viif. CICERO. ij39 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cic. 61. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar III. M. Aeniilius Lepidus. 
 
 ''he liked the best, but desires Atticus's advice 
 " upon it.^ 
 
 He now at last parted with his wife Terentia, 
 whose humour and conduct had long been uneasy 
 to him : this drew upon him some censure ; for 
 putting away a wife, who had lived with him 
 above thirty years, the faithful partner of his bed 
 and fortunes ; and the mother of two children, ex- 
 tremely dear to him. But she was a woman of 
 an imperious and turbulent spirit; expensive and 
 negligent in her private afiairs ; busy and intriij;u- 
 ing in the publick ; and, in the height of her hus- 
 bands's power, seems to have had the chief harid 
 in the distribution of all his favours. He had easi- 
 ly borne her perverseness in the vigour of health, 
 and the flourishing state of his fortunes ; but in a 
 declining life, soured by a continual succession of 
 mortifications from abroad, the want of ease and 
 quiet at home was no longer tolerable to him : the 
 divorce however was not likely to cure the difficul- 
 ties in which her management had involved him : 
 for she had brought him a great fortune, which was 
 all to be restored to her at parting : this made a 
 second marriage necessary, in order to repair 
 the ill state of his affairs ; and his friends of both 
 sexes, were busy in providing a fit match for him. 
 Several parties were proposed to him, and among 
 others, a daughter of Pompey the Great : for 
 whom he seems to have had an inclination : but a 
 prudential regard to the times, and the envy and 
 ruin under which that family then lay, induced 
 
 * Nomen illud, quod a Caesare, tres habet conditiones ; aut era- 
 tionein ab hasta ; (perderc lualo : — ) aut delegationem a mancipe, an- 
 nua die; (quis erit. oui credarn ?) — aut vecteni conditiouem, semisse, 
 <rx4su igitur. Ad Att. 12. 3. 
 
340 THE LIFE OF sect. viii. 
 
 A. Urb. 70T. Cic. 61. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar III. M. Aemilius Lepidus. 
 
 Ihetn probably to drop it.* What gave his ene- 
 mies the greater handle to rally him was, his mar- 
 rying a handsome young woman, named Publilia, 
 of an age disproportionate to his own, to whom 
 he was guardian : but she was well allied, and 
 rich ; circumstances very convenient to him at this 
 time : as he intimates in a letter to a friend, who 
 congratulated with him on his marriage. 
 
 " As to your giving me joy," says he, " for 
 " what I have done, I know you wish it : but I 
 " should not have taken any new step in such 
 " wretched times, if, at my return, I had not found 
 "my private affairs in no better condition than 
 " those of the republick. For when, through the 
 " wickedness of those, who, for my infinite kind- 
 " ness to them, oug^ht to have had the greatest con- 
 "cern for my welfare, I found no safety or ease 
 "from their intri<{ues and perfidy within my own 
 "walls, I thought it necessary to secure myself by 
 " the fidelity of new alliances against the treache- 
 "ry of the old."t 
 
 _ _ '. _ 
 
 * De Pompeii Magni filia tibi rescripsi, nihil me hoc tempore cogi- 
 tare. Alteram vero ijlam, quam tu scribis, puto nosti. Nihil vidi 
 foedius— lb. 12. 11. 
 
 t Ep. Fam. 4 14. 
 
 In cases of divorce, where tiiere were children, it was the custom 
 for each party to make a settlement by will on their common off- 
 spring;, proportionable to their sev'eral estates : which is the mean- 
 ing of Cicoro's pressing Atticns so often, in his letters, to put Tereutia 
 in mind of making her will, and depositing it in safe hands. Ad Att. 
 xi. 21, 22, 24. xii. 18. ; 
 
 Terentia is said to have lived to the age of an hundred and three 
 years : [Val. M. 8. 18. Plin. Hist. 7. 48.] and took, as St. Jerome says, 
 for her second husband, Cicero's enemy. Sal lust ; and .Vlessala for her 
 third. Dio Cassins gives her a fourth. Vibius llufus ; who was consul 
 in the reign of Tiberius, and valued himself for the possession of two 
 things, which had bf'longed to the two greatest men of the age before 
 him, Cicern's w>fe. and Caesar'' f; chair, in which he was killed. Dio. p. 
 612. Hieron. Op. To. 4. par. 2. p. 190. 
 
SECT, VIII. CICERO. 311 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cic. 61. Coss.— C. Juliiis Caesar III. M. Aemilius Lepidus. 
 
 Caesar returned victorious from Africk, about the 
 end of July, by the way of Sardinia, where he spent 
 some days : upon which Cicero says, pleasantly, in a 
 letter to Varro, he had never seen that farm of his 
 before, which, thouo:h one of the worst that he has, 
 he does not yet despise.^ The uncertain event of the 
 African war had kept the senate under some re- 
 serve ; but they now began to push their flattery 
 beyond all the bounds of decency, and decreed 
 more extravagant honours to Caesar, than were 
 ever given before to man ; w^hich Cicero oft rallies 
 with great spirit ; and being determined to bear no 
 part in that servile adulation, was treating about 
 the purchase of a house at Naples, for a pretence 
 of retiring still farther and oftener from Rome. 
 But his friends, who knew his impatience under 
 their present subjection, and the free way of speak- 
 ing which he was apt to indulge, were in some 
 pain, lest he should forfeit the good graces of Cae- 
 sar and his favourites, and provoke them too far 
 by the keenness of his raillery. f They pressed him 
 
 * Illiid enim adhuc praediiim smira non inspexit : nee ullum habet 
 deteriiis, sed tamen non conlemnit. Kp. Fain. 9. 7. 
 
 f Some of his jests on Caesar's administration are still preserved ; 
 which shew, that his friends had reason enough to admonish him to 
 be more upon his guard. Caesar had advanced Laberius, a cele- 
 brated mimick actor, to the order of knights; but when he stept 
 from the stage into the theatre, to take his place on the equestrian 
 benches, none ' f the knights would admit him to a seat ainong them. 
 As he was marching off, therefore, with disgrace, happening to pass 
 near Cicero, *' I would make roou) for you here," says Cicero, "on 
 our b'.-nch, if we were not already too much crowded;" alluding to 
 Caesar's tilling up the senate aI«o with the scum of his creatures, and 
 even with strangers and barbarians. At another time, being desired 
 by a friend, in a publick company, to procure for his son the rank of 
 a senator in one of the corporate towns of Italy, " he shall have it," 
 says he, " if you please, at Rome; but it will he difficult at Pompeii." 
 An acquaintance, likewise, from Laodicea, coming to pay his respects 
 to him, and being asked what business had brought him to Home, said. 
 
342 THE LIFE OF sect. viii. 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cic. 61. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar III. M. Aemilius Lepidus. 
 
 to accommodate himself to the times, and to use 
 more caution in his discourse, and to reside more 
 at Rome, especially when Caesar was there, who 
 would interpret the distance and retreat which he 
 affected, as a proof of his aversion to him. 
 
 But his answers on this occasion will show the 
 real state of his sentiments and conduct towards 
 Caesar, as well as of Caesar's towards him : writing 
 on this subject to Papirius Paetus, he says, '* \ ou 
 " are of opinion, I perceive, that it will not be al- 
 " lowed to me, as I thought it might be, to quit 
 " these affairs of the city : you tell me of Catulus, 
 *' and those times ; but what similitude have they 
 " to these ? I myself was unwilling at that time to 
 *' stir from the guard of the state ; for I then sat at 
 " the helm, and held the rudder ; but am now scarce 
 " thought worthy to work at the pump : would the 
 " senate, think you, pass fewer decrees, if I should 
 " live at Naples ? while I am still at Rome, and 
 " attend the forum, their decrees are all drawn 
 " at our friend's house ; and whenever it comes 
 *' into his heac^ my name is set down, as if pre- 
 " sent at drawing them ; so that I hear from Ar- 
 '* menia and Syria of decrees said to be made at 
 " my motion, of which I had never heard a syl- 
 '' lable at home. Do not take me to be in jest ; 
 '' for I assure you, that I have received letters 
 " from kings, from the remotest parts of the earth, 
 "to thank me for giving them the title of king; 
 " when, so far from knowing that any such title 
 
 that he was sent upoo an embassy to Caesar, to intercede with him 
 lor the liberty of his country ; upon which Cicero replied, " If you 
 succeed, you shall bean ambassadour also for us," Macrob. Saturn. 2. 
 .3. Sueton. e. 76. 
 
SECT. VIII. CICERO. 343 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cic. 61. Coss.-C. Ju ljug Caesar III. M. Aemilius I^pidus. 
 
 ''had been decreed to them, I knew not even 
 " that there were any such men in being. What 
 " is then to be done ? why, as lonor as our master 
 ''of manners continues here, I will follow your 
 " advice ; but as soon as he is gone, I will run away 
 " to your mushrooms," &;c.* 
 
 In another letter ; *' Since you express," says he, 
 '' such a concern for me in your last, be assured' 
 '' my dear Paetus, that whatever can be done bv 
 " art, (for it is not enough to act with prudence, 
 "some artifice also must now be employed) yet 
 " whatever, I say, can be done by art, towards ac- 
 '' quiring their good graces, I have already done it 
 " with the greatest care ; nor, as 1 believe, with- 
 '* out success ; for I am so much courted by all who 
 I' are in any degree of favour with Caesar, that I 
 I* begin to fancy that they love me ; and thoucrh 
 "real love is not easily distinguished from false, 
 " except in the case of danger, by which the sin- 
 *' cerity of it may be tried, as of gold by fire ; for 
 '' all other marks are common to both; yei I have 
 " one argument to persuade me that they really 
 I' love me, because both my condition and theirs is 
 ** such, as puts them under no temptation to dis- 
 ' semble : and as for him who has all power, J see 
 I' no reason to fear any thing ; unless that all things 
 " become of course uncertain, when justice and 
 " right are once deserted : nor can we be sure of 
 " any thing that depends on the will, not to say the 
 " passion, of another. Yet I have not in any in- 
 " stance particularly offended him, but behaved 
 
 * Ep. Fain. 9. 15. Praefeclus morum, or master of the publick 
 manners, was one nf the new titles whivh the senate bad decreed to 
 Caesar. 
 
344 THE LIFE OF sect, viii 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cic. 61. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar IIL M. Aeniilius Lepidus. 
 
 '* myself all along with the greatest moderation : 
 *' for, as once I took it to be my duty to speak my 
 " mind freely in that city, which owed its freedom 
 *' to me, so now, since that is lost, to speak nothing 
 *' that may offend him, or his principal friends. But 
 ''if I would avoid all offence, of things said face- 
 *' tiously or by way of raillery, I must give up all 
 *• reputation of wit ; which I would not refuse to do, 
 ''if I could. But as to Caesar himself, he has a 
 ** very piercing judgment : and as your brother Ser- 
 *^ vius, whom I take to have been an excellent cri- 
 ** tick, would readily say, * this verse is not Plau- 
 ** tus's, that verse is ;' having formed his ears by 
 *' great use, to distinguish the peculiar style and 
 " manner of different poets ; so Caesar, I hear, who 
 '' has already collected some volumes of apoph- 
 *' thegms, if any thing be brought to him for mine, 
 '* which is not so, presently rejects it : which he 
 *^ now does the more easily, because his friends 
 '' live almost continually w ith me ; and in the varie- 
 " ty of discourse, when any thing drops from me, 
 "' which they take to have some humour or spirit in 
 '' it, they ^carry it always to him, with the other 
 *' news of the town, for such are his orders : so that 
 ** if he hears any thing besides of mine from other 
 " persons, be does not reiiard it. 1 have no occa- 
 '*sion, therefore, for your example of Oenomaus, 
 " though aptly applied from Accius : for what is 
 "the envy which you speak of? or what is there 
 " in me to be envied now ; but suppose there was 
 "everything: it has; been the constant opinion of 
 " philosophers, the only men, in my judgment, who 
 "have a right notion of virtue, that a wise man has 
 '* nothing more to answer for, than to keep himself 
 " free from guilt ; of which I take myself to be 
 
SECT. VIII. CICERO. 346 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cic. 61. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar III. M. Aemilius Lepiduj. 
 
 "clear, on a double account; because I both pur- 
 *' sued those measures, which wliere the justest : and 
 ^* when I saw that I had not strength enough to 
 " carry them, did not think it my business to con« 
 " tend by force with those who were too strong for 
 "me. It is certain, therefore, that I cannot be 
 " blamed, ifi what concerns the part of a good citi- 
 "zen : all that is now left, is, not to say or do any 
 "thing foolishly rashly against the men in pow^- 
 ^•er; which I take also to be the part of a wise 
 " man. As for tlie rest, what people may report to 
 " be said by me, or how he may take it, or with 
 "what sincerity those live with me, who now so 
 *' assiduously court me, it is not in my power to 
 " answer. I comfort myself, therefore, with the 
 "consciousness of my former conduct, and the 
 "moderation of my present; and shall apply your 
 "similitude from Accius, not only to the case of 
 "envy, but of fortune; which I consider as light 
 " and weak, and what ought to be repelled by a firm 
 " and great mind, as waves by a rock. For since 
 *'the Greek history is full of examples, how the 
 " wisest men have endured tyrannies at Athens or 
 "Syracuse; and, when their cities were enslaved, 
 " have lived themselves in some measure free ; why 
 " may not I think it possible to maintain my rank 
 "so, as neither to otTend the mind of any, nor hurt 
 " my own dignity ? — &c."^ 
 
 Paetus having heard, that Caesar was going to 
 divide some lands in his neighbourhood to the sol- 
 diers, began to be afraid for his own estate, and 
 writes to Cicero, to know how far that distribution 
 
 * Ep. Fam. 9. 16. 
 
 VOL. ir. 44 
 
;346 THE LIFE OF sect, vm 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cic 61. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar IIL M. AemUius Lepidus. 
 
 would extend : to which Cicero answers : " Are not • 
 "you a pleasant fellow, who, when Balbus has just 
 " been with you, ask me what will become of those 
 "towns and their lands? as if eUher I knew any 
 " tiling, that Balbus does not ; or if, at any time I 
 ** chance to know any thing, I do not know it from 
 ** him : nay, it is your part rather, if you love me, 
 " to let me know what will become of me : for you 
 ** had it in your power to have learnt it from him, 
 " either sober, or at least when drunk. But as for 
 " me, my dear Paetus, I have done inquiring about 
 " those things : first, because we have already lived 
 " near four years, by clear gain, as it were : if that 
 " can be called gain, or this life, to outlive the re- 
 " publick : secondly, because 1 myself seem to 
 " know what will happen ; for it will be whatever 
 " pleases the strongest ; which must always be de- 
 " cided by arms : it is our part, therefore, to be con- 
 " tent with what is allowed to ua : he who cannot 
 " submit to this, ought to have chosen death. They 
 *'are now measuring the fields of Yeiae and Ca- 
 ** penae : this is not far from Tusculum : yet I fear 
 "nothing : I enjoy it whilst 1 may; wish that I al- 
 " ways may ; hut if it should happen otherwise, yet 
 *' since, with all my courage and philosophy, 1 have 
 " thought it best to live, 1 cannot but have an af- 
 " fection for him by whose benefit I hold that life : 
 " who, if he has an inclination to restore the re- 
 " publick, as he himself, perhaps, may desire, and 
 *' we all ought to wish, y et he has linked himself so 
 " with others, that he has not the powei* to do what 
 "he w^ould. But I' proceed too far; for I am 
 " writing to you : be assured, however, of this, that 
 " not only I, who have no part in their counsels, 
 " but even the chief himself^ does not know what 
 
-ECT. vMi. CICERO. 347 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cic. 61. Coss.— C. Julias Caesar IIL M. Aemilius Lepidus. 
 
 *' will happen. We are slaves to him, he to the 
 " times : so neither can he know, what the times 
 " will require, nor we, what he may intend, &c."* 
 
 The chiefs of the Caesarian party, who courted 
 Cicero so much at this time, were Balbus, Oppius, 
 Matius, Pansa, Hirtius, Dolabella : they were all 
 in the first confidence with Caesar, yet professed 
 the utmost affection for Cicero ; were every morn- 
 ing at his levee, and perpetually engaginii; him to 
 sup with them; and the two last employed them- 
 selves in a daily exercise of declaimin<^ at his house, 
 for the benefit of his instruction ; of which he gives 
 the followino; account in liis familiar way to Pae- 
 tus : " Hirtius and Dolabella are my scholars in 
 '' speaking ; my masters in eating : for you have 
 "heard, I guess, how they declaim with me, I sup 
 '* with them." In another letter, he tells him, 
 " that as king Dion>sius, when driven out of Syra- 
 " cuse, turned schoolmaster at Corinth, so he, hav- 
 "ing lost his kingdom of the forum, had now open- 
 " ed a school — to which he merrily invites Paetus, 
 *' with the offer of a seat and cushion next to him- 
 " self, as his usher."t But to Yarro more serious- 
 ly, " I acquainted you," says he, '' before, that I am 
 '' intimate with them all, and assist at their coun- 
 '* sels : I see no reason why I should not — for it is 
 " not the same thing to bear what must be borne, and 
 
 *Ep. Fam. 9. 17. 
 
 f Hlrtiuin eso et Dolabellam diceiidi discipulos Iiaheo, coenandi 
 inajiistros : pnto cniiii te audisse — illos apud me declainitare, me 
 apiid eos cnenilare. lb. 16. 
 
 rt Dioiiysiiis tyrannus. cum Syraciisis pulsus esset, Corinthi dicitur 
 luduin aperuisso, sic ego -amisso rei^no forensi, ludnm quasi habere 
 coepeiim— sella tibi crit in ludo, taiiquara hypodidasculo, proxima : 
 cam pulviDUS soquetur. lb. 18. 
 
34S THE LIFE OF sect. vin< 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cic. (Jl. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar. III. M. Aemilius Lepidus. 
 
 **fo approve what ought not to be approved." 
 And again : "I do not forbear to sup with those 
 " who now rule : what can I do ? we must com- 
 '' ply with the times."^ 
 
 The only use which he made of all this favour 
 was, to screen himself from any particular calami- 
 ty in the general misery of the times ; and to serve 
 those unhappy men, who were driven from their 
 country and their families, for their acfherence to 
 that cause which he himself had espoused. Caesar 
 was desirous indeed to engao:e him in his measures, 
 and attach him insensibly to his interests : hut he 
 would bear no part in an administration establish- 
 ed on the ruins of his country ; nor ever cared to 
 be acquainted with their affairs, or to inquire what 
 they were doing : so that, whenever he eiitered in- 
 to their councils, as he signifies above to Vano, it 
 was only when the case of some exiled friend re- 
 quired it ; for whose service he scrupled no pains 
 of soliciting, and attending even Caesar himself; 
 though he was sometimes shocked, as he com- 
 plains, by the difficulty of access, and the indig- 
 nity of waHin^ in an antichamber ; not, indeed, 
 through Caesar's fault, who was always ready to 
 give him audience ; but, from the multiplicity of 
 his affairs by whose hands all the favours of the 
 empire were dispensed.! Thus, in a letter to Am- 
 
 * Ostentavi tibi, me istis esse familiarem, et consiliis eonini inter- 
 esse. Quod ego cur nolirn nihil video. x\on enira est idem, ferre si 
 quid ferendum est, probare, si quid probandum non est. lb. 6. 
 
 Non desino apud istos, qui nunc dominantur, coenitare. Quid fa- 
 ciam ? tempori serviendum est. lb. 7. 
 
 f Quod si tardius fit quara volumus, magnis occupationibus ejus a 
 quo omnia petuntur, aditus a,d eum difficiliores fuerunt. Ep. Fanio 
 6. 13, 
 
SECT. viii. CICERO. 349 
 
 A. Urb. 707, Cic 61. Coss.— C Julius Caesar III. M. Aemilius Lepidus. 
 
 piijs, whose pardon he iiad procured, — ** I have 
 " solicited your cause," says he, " more ea<j;erly 
 *' than my present situation would well justify: 
 " for my desire to see you, and my constant love 
 "for you, most as^i'^iuously cultivated on your 
 " part, overruled all resi;aid to the present weak 
 '* condition of my power and interest. Every 
 " thinoj that relates to your return and safety is 
 " promised, confirmed, fixed, and ratified : I saw, 
 " knew% was present at every step : for, by ofood 
 '* luck, I have all Caesar's friends en^^a^y^ed to me 
 "by an old acquaintance and friendship: so that, 
 " next to him, they pay the first regard to me : 
 " Pansa, Hirtius, Balbus, Oppius, Matius, Postu- 
 " mius, take all occasions to ^ive me proof of their 
 " sinjrular affection. If this had been sought and 
 " procured by me, I should have no reason, as 
 " thincrs now stand, to repent of my pains : but I 
 " have done nothino- with the view of servins; the 
 " times ; I had an intimacy of Ions; standing with them 
 " all ; and never gave over soliciting them on your 
 '' behalf : I found Pansa, however, tlie readiest of 
 ''them all to serve you, and oblio;e me ; who has 
 " not only an interest, but authority with Caesar,"* 
 Sic, 
 
 But, while he was thus caressed by Caesar's 
 friends, he was not less followed, we may imagine, 
 by the friends of the republick : these had always 
 looked upon him as the chief patron of tlieir li[>er- 
 ty ; whose counsels, if they had been followed, 
 would have preserved it; and whose authoiity 
 gave them the only hopes that were left, of re- 
 
 * Ibid. 6. 12. 
 
350 THE LIFE OF sect. viii. 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cic. 61. Coss.— C. Jolius Caesar UL M. Aemilius L^idm. 
 
 covering it : so that his house was as much fre- 
 quented, and his levee as much crowded, as ever ; 
 " since people now flocked," says he, " to see a 
 *' good citizen, as a sort of rarity."^ In another 
 letter, giving a short account of his way of life, 
 he says, " Early in the morning, I receive the com- 
 " pliments of many honest men, but melancholy 
 " ones ; as well as of these gay conquerors ; who 
 " shew indeed a very officious and affectionate 
 " regard to me. When these visits are over, I shut 
 " myself up in my library, either to write or read : 
 " Here some also come to hear me, as a man of 
 ." learning ; because I am somewhat more learned 
 " than they : the rest of my time I give to the care 
 " of my body : for I have now bewailed my coun- 
 " try longer and more heavily, than any mother 
 " ever bewailed her only son."t 
 
 It is certain, that there was not a man in the re- 
 publi'ck so particularly engaged, both by principle 
 and interest, to wish well to its liberty, or who had 
 so much to lose by the subversion of it as he : for 
 as long as it was governed by civil methods, and 
 stood upon tlie foundation of its laws, he was un- 
 doubtedly the first citizen in it ; had the chief in- 
 fluence in the senate ; the chief authority with the 
 
 * Cum salutation! nos dedimus amicorura ; quae fit hoc etiam fre- 
 quentius, quara solebat, quod quasi avem albam, videntur bene sen- 
 tientem civeni videie. abdo me in Bibliothecam. lb. 7. 28. 
 
 t HiBc igitur est nunc vita nostra. Mane salutamus domi et bonos 
 viros multos, sed tristes, et hos;laetos victores ; qui me quidem per- 
 officiose et peramanter observant. IJbi salutatio defluxit, litterisl me 
 involvo. aut scribo aut lego. Veniuni etiam qui me audiunt, quasi 
 doctum hominem, quia paullo sum, quam ipsi, doctior. Inde corpori 
 omue tenapus datur. Patriam eluxi jam gravius et diutius quam ulla 
 mater unicum filium. Ep. Fam. 9. 20. 
 
SECT. VIII. CICERO. 351 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cic 61. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar III. M. Aemilius Lepidus. 
 
 people : and, as all his hopes and fortunes were 
 grounded on the peace of his country, so all his 
 labours and studies were perpetually applied to the 
 promotion of it : it is no wonder, therefore, in the 
 present situation of the city, oppressed by arms, 
 and a tyrannical power, to find him so particularly 
 impatient under the common misery, and expres- 
 sing so keen a sense of the diminution of his dig- 
 nity, and the disgrace of serving, where he had 
 been used to govern. 
 
 Caesar, on the other hand, though he knew his 
 temper and principles to be irreconcileable to his 
 usurped dominion, yet, out of fiiendship to the man, 
 and a reverence for his character, was determined 
 to treat him with the greatest humanity : and, by 
 all the marks of personal favour, to make his life 
 not only tolerable, but easy to him : yet all that 
 he could do had no other effect on Cicero, than to 
 make him think and speak sometimes favourably 
 of the natural clemency of their master ; and to 
 entertain some hopes from it, that he would one 
 day be persuaded to restore the publick liberty : 
 but, exclusive of that hope, he never mentions his 
 government but as a real tyranny ; or his person in 
 any other style, than as the oppressor of his coun- 
 try. 
 
 But he gave a remarkable proof at this time of 
 his being no temporiser, by writing a book in praise 
 of Cato ; which he published within a few months 
 after Cato's death. He seems to have been left a 
 guardian to Cato's son ; as he was also to young 
 Luculhis, Cato's nephew:* and this testimony of 
 
 * Ad Att. 13. 6. De Finib. 3.2 
 
352 THE LIFE OF sect. vni. 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cic. 61. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar III. M. Aemilius Lcpidus. 
 
 Cato's friendship and judi^ment of him, might in- 
 duce him the more readily to pay this lionour to 
 his memory. It was a matter however of no small 
 deliberation, in what manner he ought to treat the 
 su]>ject : his friends a 'vised him, not to be too ex- 
 plicit and particular, in the detail of Cato's prais- 
 es ; but to content himself with a general enco- 
 mium, for fear of irritating Caesar, by pushing 
 the ariiument too far. In a letter to Atticus, he 
 calls this, " an Archimedean problem ; but I can- 
 " not hit upon any thing, (says he.) that those 
 *' friends of yours will read with pleasure, or even 
 "' with patience ; besides, if I should drop the ac- 
 '' count of Cato's votes and speeches in the senate, 
 " and of his political conduct in the state, and 
 " give a slight commendation only of his constan- 
 " cy and gravity, even this may be more than 
 *' they will care to hear : but tiie man cannot be 
 "praised, as he deseives, unless it be paiticularly 
 " explained how he foretold all that has happened 
 " to us ; how he took arms to prevent its happen- 
 " ing: ; and parted with life rather than see it hap- 
 " pen."* These were the topicks, which he re- 
 solved to display with all his force ; and, from the 
 accounts given of the work by antiquity, it ap- 
 pears that he had spared no pains to adorn it, but 
 extolled Cato's virtue and character to the skies.f 
 
 * Sed de Catone v^-&Kyf/uiet ct^^ifAnSew est. Pvon asseqnor utsrribara, 
 quod tui convivac hod niodo libeiiier, sed etiam aequo aiiiino legere 
 po^'«int. Qiiin etiam si a sententiis ejus dictis, si ab omni voluntate, 
 consiliisqut^ quae de Rf pub |iabuit. recedam ; -^tkag que velim gra- 
 vila'ein consiautiamque ejus faudare. hoc ipsura !tK'.v(r/uci sit ^ed ve- 
 re laudari il!e vir non potpsi, nisi haec ornata sunt, quod ilJe ea, 
 q'lae nunc sunt, et Tulura viderit, el ne Herent conieuderit, et facta 
 ne videret. viram reliquerit. Ad Att. 12. 4. 
 
 i M. Ciceronis libro, quo Catonein coelo aequavit, etc. Tacit* 
 Ann. 4. 34. 
 
SECT. viii. CICERO. 353 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cic, 61. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar III. A. M. Aemilius Lepidus. 
 
 The book was soon spread into all hands ; and 
 Caesar, instead of expressing any resentment, af- 
 fected to be much ])leased witli it ; yet declared 
 that he would answer it : and Hirtius, in the mean 
 while, drew up a little piece in the form of a let- 
 ter to Cicero, filled with objections to Cato's cha- 
 racter, but Avith high compliments to Cicero himself ; 
 which Cicero took care to make publick, and calls 
 it a specimen of what Caesar's work was like to 
 be.^ Brutus also composed and published a piece 
 on the same subject ; as well as another friend of 
 Cicero, Fabius Gallus if but these were but little 
 considered in comparison of Cicero's : and Brutus 
 had made some mistakes in his account of the 
 transactions, in which Cato had been concerned ; 
 especially in the debates on Catiline's plot ; in 
 which he had given him the first part and merit, in 
 derogation even of Cicero himself.J 
 
 Caesar's answer was not published till the next year, 
 upon his return from Spain; after the defeat of Pom- 
 pey's sons. It was a laboured invective : answer- 
 ing Cicero's book, paragraph by paragraph, and ac- 
 
 * Qnalis fiitiira sit Caesaris vituperatio contra laudationem raeam 
 perspexi ex eolibro, qiiein Hirtius ad me misit, in quo colIi2;it vitia 
 Catonis, sed cum inaximis laudibus meis. Itaqne misi librum ad Mns- 
 cara, lit tuis librariis daret. Volo eum divulgari, etc. Ad Att. 12, 
 40. it. 41. 
 
 f Catonem timm mihi mitte. Cupio enim legere. Ep. Vann. 7. 
 24. 
 
 I Catonem primum sententiam putat de animadversionc dixisse, 
 quam oranos ante dixerant praeter Caesarem, etc. Ad Att. 12 21. 
 
 From tbis and other particulars, which are mentioned in the same 
 letter, we may observe, that Salhist had probably taken his account 
 of the debates upon Catiline's Accomplices, from Brvtvs's Lifr of 
 Cato, and chosen to copy even his mistakes, rather than do justice to 
 Cicero on that occasion. 
 
 VOL. IT. 4.5 
 
354 THE LIFE OF sect, viii 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cic. 61. Coss.—C. Julius Caesar III. M. Aemilius Lepidus. 
 
 cusing Cato with all the art and force of his rheto- 
 rick, as if in a publick trial before jucjcres ;^ yet 
 with expressions of great respect towards Cicero ; 
 whom, for his virtues and abilities, he compared to 
 Pericles and Theramenes of Athens :t and, in a 
 letter upon it to Balbus, which w^as shewn by his 
 order, to Cicero, he said, that, by the frequent 
 reading of Cicero's Cato, he was grown more co- 
 pious; but, after he had read Brutus's, thought 
 hi:nself even eloquent.^ 
 
 These two rival pieces were much celebrated 
 in Rome ; and had their several admirers, as dif- 
 ferent parties and interests disposed men to favour 
 the subject or the author of each : and it is certain, 
 that they were the principal cause of establishing 
 and propagating that veneration, which posterity 
 has since paid to the memory of Cato. For his 
 name being thrown into controversy, in that criti- 
 cal period of the fate of Rome, by the patron of 
 liberty on the one side, and the oppressor of it on 
 the other, became, of course, a kind of political 
 test to all succeeding ages y and a perpetual argu- 
 ment of dispute between the friends of liberty, 
 and the flatterers of power. But if we consider 
 his character without prejudice, he was certainly a 
 great and worthy man ; a friend to truth, virtue, 
 liberty : yet, falsely measuring all duty by the ab- 
 
 * Cieeronis libro — quid aliiid Dictator Caesar, quain rescripta ora- 
 tione, velut apud judices respQndit ? I'acit. Ann. 4. 34. it. Quintil. 3. 7. 
 
 f Plutar. in Cic. 
 
 I Legi epistolam : miilta de meo Catone, quo saepissime legendo sc. 
 dicil copiosiorem factum ; JbJruti Catone lecto, se sibi visum disertum 
 AdAtt. 13. 46. 
 
8Ecr. viii. CICERO. 355 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cic. 61. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar III, IVL Aerailius Lepidus. 
 
 surd riirour of the Stoical rule, he was generally 
 disappointed of tlie end which he sought by it, 
 the happiness both of his private and publick 
 life. In his private conduct, he vvas severe, mo- 
 rose, inexorable ; banishing all the softer affections, 
 as natural enemies to justice, and as suggesting 
 false motives of acting, from favour, clemency, 
 and compassion ; in publick affairs he was the 
 same ; and had but one rule of policy, to adiiere to 
 what was right ; without regard to times or circum- 
 stances, or even to a force that could control him : 
 for, instead of managing the power of the great, 
 so as to mitigate the ill, or extract any good from it, 
 he was urging it always to acts of violence by a 
 perpetual defiance ; so that, with the best inten- 
 tions in the world, he often did great harm to the 
 republick. This was his general behaviour ; yet, 
 from some particular facts explained above, it ap- 
 pears that his strength of mind was not always im- 
 pregnable, but had its vreak places of pride, am- 
 bition, and party zeal ; which, when managed and 
 flattered to a certain point, would betray him some- 
 times into measures contrary to his ordinary rule of 
 right and truth. The last act of his life was agree- 
 able to his nature and philosophy : when he could 
 no longer be what he had been ; or when the ills 
 of life overbalanced the good, which, by the prin- 
 ciples of his sect, was a just cause for dying;^^' he put 
 an end to his life, with a spirit and resolution which 
 would make one imagine, that he was glad to have 
 found an occasion of dying in his proper character, 
 
 * fn quo cnim pliira sunt, qtiae seciiiKliim naturain sunt, liujus of- 
 ficium est in vita manere : in quo autein aut sunt plura contraria, aut 
 fore videotur, Imjus officium este vita pxcedere. l)e Fin. 3. 18. 
 
 Vetus est enira ; ubi uon sis, qui I'ueris, uou esse cur velis \rivere. 
 Lp. Fain. 7. 3. 
 
356 THE LIFE OF sect. viii. 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cic. 61. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar III. M- Aemilius Lepidus. 
 
 On the whole, his life was rather admirable, than 
 amiable ; fit to be praised, rather than imitated.* 
 
 As soon as Cicero had published his Cato, he 
 wrote his piece called the Oralor^ at the request 
 of Brutus ; containing the plan or delineation of 
 what he himself esteemed the most perfect elo- 
 quence or manner of speaking. He calls it the 
 fifth part or book, designed to complete the ar<zu- 
 ment of his Brutus, and the other three, on the 
 same subject. It was received with great appro- 
 bation ; and, in a letter to Lepta, who had com- 
 plimented him upon it, he declares, that whatever 
 judgment he had in speaking, he had thrown it 
 all into that work, and was content to risk his re- 
 putation on the merit of it.f 
 
 He now likewise spoke that famous speech of 
 thanks to Caesar, for the pardon of M. iVIarcellus; 
 which was granted upon the intercession of the 
 senate. Cicero had a particular friendship with all 
 the family of the Marcelli ; but especially with 
 this Marcus ; who from the defeat of Pompey at 
 Pharsalia, retirtfd to Mitylene in Lesbos, where he 
 lived with so much ease and satisfaction to him- 
 
 * Cato sic abiit e vita, ut causam moritindi nactnra se esse gau- 
 deret. — cum vera causam justaiii Deus ipse dederit, ut tunc Socrati, 
 nunc Catoni, etc. Tusc. Uuaest. 1. 30. 
 
 Catoni.— moriundum potius, quara Tyranui vultus adspiciendus fuit. 
 De Offic. 1. 31. 
 
 Non immaturus decessit : vixit enim, quantum debuit vivere. Se- 
 nec. Consol. Ad Marc. 20. ^ 
 
 t Ita tres erunt de oratore : quartus Brutus : quintus, orator. De 
 Div. 2. 1. 
 
 Oratorera meum tantopere a te probari, vebementer gaudeo : mi- 
 hi quidem sic persuaded, me quicquid habuerim judicii in dicendo, in 
 ilium librum contulisse. Ep. Fam. 6. 18. 
 
SECT. Vlll. 
 
 CICERO. 357 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cic. 61. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar III. M. Aerailius Lepidus. 
 
 self in a philosophical retreat, that Cicero, as it 
 appears from his letters, was forced to use all his 
 art and authority to persuade him to return, and 
 take the benefit of that grace which they had been 
 labouring to obtain for him.^ But how the af- 
 fair was transacted, we may learn from Cicero's 
 account of it to Serv. Sulpicius, who was then 
 
 proconsul of Greece " Your condition," says 
 
 he, '' is better than ours, in this particular, that you 
 " dare venture to write your grievances : we can- 
 " not even do that with safety: not through any 
 "fault of the conqueror, than whom nothing can 
 "be more moderate, but of victory itself, which 
 " in civil wars is always insolent : we have had the 
 " advantaoe of you however in one thing ; in being 
 "acquainted a little sooner than you, with the 
 "pardon of your colleague Marcellus : or ratlier, 
 "indeed, in seeing how the whole affair passed ; 
 "for I would have you believe, that, from tlie be- 
 ^' ginning of these miseries, or ever since the pub- 
 " lick right has been decided by arms, there has 
 " nothing been done besides this, with any dii^nity. 
 " For Caesar himself, after having complained of 
 " the moroseness of Marcellus, for so he called it, 
 " and praisedy in the strongest terms, the equity 
 *' and prudence of your conduct, presently de- 
 " clared, beyond all our hopes, that whatever of- 
 '• fence he had received from tlie man, he could 
 " refuse nothing to the intercession of the senate. 
 " What the senate did was this : upon the mention 
 " of Marcellus by Piso, his brother Caius having 
 "thrown himself at Caesar's feet, they all rose up, 
 " and went forward in a supplicating manner to- 
 
 * Kp. Fam. 4. 7, 8, 9. 
 
tioS THE LIFE OF sect, viiu 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cic. 61. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar III. M. Aetnilius Lepidus. 
 
 " wards Caesar : in short, this day's work appeared 
 " to me so decent, that I could not help fancying 
 "that 1 saw the image of the old republick reviv- 
 " ing : when all, therefore, who were asked their 
 " opinions before me, had returned thanks to Cae- 
 " sar, excepting Yolcatius, (for he declared, that 
 '' he would not have done it, though he had been 
 " in Marcellus's place,) I, as soon as I was called 
 *' upon, changed my mind ; for I had resolved 
 " with myself to observe an eternal silence, not 
 '' through any laziness, but the loss of my former 
 *' dignity ; but Caesar's greatness of mind, and the 
 " laudable zeal of the senate, got the better of my 
 " resolution. I gave thanks, therefore, to Caesar 
 " in a long speech, and have deprived myself by 
 ''it, I fear, on other occasions, of that honest 
 '' quiet, which was my only comfort in these un- 
 ** happy times : but since I have hitherto avoided 
 '* giving him offence, and if I had always con- 
 " tinned silent, he would have interpreted it per- 
 " haps, as a proof of my taking the republick to 
 " be ruined : I shall speak for the future not often, 
 " or rathei;, very seldom ; so as to manage at the 
 " same time, both his favour, and my own leisure 
 " for study.=^ 
 
 Caesar, though he saw the senate unanimous in 
 their petition for Marcellus, yet took the pains to 
 call for the particular opinion of every senator 
 upon it ; a method never practised, except in cases 
 of debate and where 'the house was divided ; but 
 he wanted the usual tribute of flattery upon this 
 act of grace, and had a mind probably to make an 
 
 * Ep. Fam. 4. 4. 
 
SECT. ViU. 
 
 CICERO. 259 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cic 61. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar III. iL Aemilius Lepidus. 
 
 experiment of Cicero's temper, and to draw from 
 him especially some incense on the occasion ; nor 
 was he disappointed of his aim ; for Cicero, touched 
 by his generosity, and greatly pleased with the 
 act itself, on the account of his friend, returned 
 thanks to him in a speech, which, though made 
 upon the spot, yet, for elegance of diction, viva- 
 city of sentiment, and politeness of compliment, is 
 superiour to any thing extant of the kind in all 
 antiquity. The many fine things which are said 
 in it of Caesar, have given some handle indeed for 
 a charge of insincerity against Cicero ; but it must 
 be remembered, that he was delivering a speech 
 of thanks, not only for himself, but in the name 
 and at the desire of the senate, where his subject 
 naturally required the embellishments of oratory ; 
 and that all his compliments are grounded on a. 
 supposition, that Caesar intended to restore the 
 republick, of which he entertained no small hopes 
 at this time, as he signifies in a letter to one of 
 Caesar's principal friends.* This, therefore, he 
 recommends, enforces, and requires from him in 
 his speech, with the spirit of an old Roman ; and 
 no reasonable man will think it strange, that so 
 free an address to a conqueror, in the height of all 
 his power, should want to be tempered with some 
 few strokes of flattery. But the following pas- 
 sage from the oration itself will justify the truth 
 of what I am saving;. 
 
 " If this, (says he,) Caesar, was to be the end 
 " of your immortal acts, that, after conquering all 
 
 * Sperare tamen videor, Caesari, collegae nostro, fore curae et 
 esse, ut habeaaius aliqnam Rempuhllcain. Kp. Fam. 13. 68 
 
360 THE LIFE OF sect. viii. 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cic. 61. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar III. M. Aemilius Lepidus. 
 
 '' your enemies, you should leave the republick in 
 " the condition in which it now is, consider, I be- 
 " seech you, whether your divine virtue would 
 " not excite rather an admiration of you than any 
 *' real glory ; for glory is the illustrious fame of 
 *' many and great services, either to our friends, 
 " our country, or to the whole race of mankind. 
 " This part, therefore, still remains ; there is one 
 " act more to be performed by you ; to establish 
 " the republick again, that you may reap the be- 
 ''nefit of it yourself in peace and prosperity. 
 " When you have paid this debt to your country, 
 " and fulfilled the ends of your nature by a satiety 
 " of living, you may then*^ tell us, if you please, 
 " that you have lived long enough : Yet what is 
 " it, after all, that we can really call long, of which 
 " there is an end ; for when that end is once come, 
 " all past pleasure is to be reckoned as nothing, 
 " since no more of it is to be expected. Though 
 " your mind, I know, was never content with these 
 " narrow bounds of life which nature has assigned 
 *• to us, but inflamed always with an ardent love 
 " of immortality : Nor is this, indeed, to be con- 
 " sidered as your life, which is comprised in this 
 " body and breath, but that — that, I say, is your 
 " life, which is to flourish in the memory of all 
 '' ages ; whi^^h posterity will cherish, and eternity 
 " itself propagate. It is to this that you must 
 ** attend; to this that you must form yourself; 
 '• which has many things already to admire, yet 
 *' wants something still that it may praise in you. 
 " Posterity will be amazed to hear and read of 
 " your commands, provinces, the Rhine, the ocean, 
 " the Nile ; your innumerable battles, incredible 
 "' victories, infinite monuments, splendid triumphs : 
 
SECT. VIII. CICERO. 361 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cic. 61. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar III. M. Aemilius Lt'pidus. 
 
 " but, unless this city be established again by 
 '* your wisdom and counsels, your name indeed 
 *• will wander far and wide, yet v/ill have no 
 " certain seat or place, at last, where to fix itself, 
 ** There will be also amongst those, who are yet 
 '• unborn, the same controversy tliat has been 
 "amongst us; when some vrill extol your actions 
 "to the skies ; others, perhaps, will find something 
 " defective in them, and that one thing above all, 
 "if you should not extinguish this flame of civil 
 " war, by restoring liberty to your country ; for 
 " the one may be looked upon as the effect of 
 " fate, but the other is the certain act of wisdom. 
 " Pay a reverence, therefore, to those judges, who 
 '' will pass judgment upon you in ages to come, 
 " and with less partiality, perhaps, than we, since 
 *' they will neither be biassed by affection or party, 
 " nor prejudiced by hatreci or envy to you: And 
 " though this, as some falsely imagine, should 
 " then have no relation to you, yet it concerns you 
 " certainly, at tlie present, to act in such a raan- 
 " ner, that no oblivion may ever obscure the lustre 
 " of your praises. Various were the inclinations 
 "of the citizens, and their opinions wholly divi- 
 " ded : Nor did we differ only in sentiments and 
 " wishes, but in arms also and camps : The merits 
 " of the cause were dubious, and the contention 
 " between two celebrated leaders : Many doubted 
 " what was the best ; many what was convenient ; 
 "many what was descent; some also, what was 
 " lawful," &c.^ 
 
 * Pro M. Marcel 1. 8, 9. 10 
 VOL. IT. 46 
 
362 THE LIFE OF sect, viii. 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cjc. 61. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar IIL M, Aemilius Lepidus. 
 
 But, though Caesar took no step towards restor- 
 ing the republick, he employed himself this sum- 
 mer in another work of general benefit to man- 
 kind ; the reformation of the kalendary by accom- 
 modatino; the course of the year to the exact 
 course of the sun, from which it had varied so 
 widely, as to occasion a strange confusion in all 
 their accounts of time. 
 
 The Roman year, from the old institution of 
 Numa, was lunar, borrowed from the Greeks, 
 amongst whom it consisted of three hundred and 
 fifty-four days : Numa added one more to them, 
 to make the whole number odd, which was thought 
 the more fortunate ; and, to fill up the deficiency 
 of his year, to the measure of the solar course, in- 
 serted likewise, or intercalated, after the manner 
 of the Greeks, an extraordinary month of twenty- 
 two days every second year, and twenty-three 
 every fourth, between the twenty-third and twenty- 
 fourth day of February :^ he committed the care 
 of intercalating this month, and the supernumerary 
 day, to the college of priests, who, in process of 
 time, partly by a negligent, partly a superstitious, 
 but chiefly by an arbitrary abuse of their trust, used 
 either to drop or insert them, as it was found 
 most convenient to themselves or their friends, to 
 make the current year longer or shorter.f Thus 
 
 * This was usually called Intercalaris, though Plutarch gives it the 
 name of Mercedonius, which none of the Koinan writers mention, 
 except that Festus speaks of some days under the title of Mercedo- 
 niae, because the Merces or wages of workmen were commonly paid 
 upon them. 
 
 f Quod institutum perite a Numa, posteriorum Pontificum negli- 
 gentia dissolutum est. De Leg. 2. 12. vid. Censorin. de die Nat. c. 
 20. Macrob. Sat. 1. 14. 
 
^ECT. VIII. CICERO. 863 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cic. 61. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar III. M. Aemilius Lepidus. 
 
 Cicero, when harassed by a perpetual course of 
 pleading, prayed, that there might be no interca- 
 lation to lengthen his fatigue ; and, when procon- 
 sul of Cilicia, pressed Atticus to exert all his in- 
 terest to prevent any intercalation within the year, 
 that it might not protract his government, and 
 retard his leturn to Rome.^ Curio, on the con- 
 trary, when he could not persuade the priests to 
 prolong the year of his tribunate, by an intercala- 
 tion, made that a pretence for abandoning the se- 
 nate, and going over to Caesar.f 
 
 This license of intercalating introduced the con- 
 fusion above mentioned, in the computation of 
 their time : so that the order of all their months 
 was transposed from their stated seasons, the win- 
 ter months carried back into autumn, the autumnal 
 into summer, till Caesar resolved to put an end to 
 this disorder, by abolishing the source of it, the 
 use of intercalations ; and instead of the Lunar to 
 establish the Solar year, adjusted to the exact mea- 
 sure of the sun's revolution in the Zodiack^ or to 
 that period of time in which it returns to the point 
 from which it set out ; and as this, according to the 
 astronomers of that age, was supposed to be three 
 hundred and sixty-Jive days and six hours, so he 
 divided the days into twelve artificial months; 
 and, to supply the deficiency of the six hours, by 
 
 * Nos hie in raultitudine et celebritate jiidiciorum — ita destine- 
 mur, ut quotidie vota taciaraus ne intercaletur. Ep. Fam. 7. 2. 
 
 Per fortunas primura illud praetulci atque praemuni quaeso, lit si- 
 raus annul ; ne intercaletur quideoi. Ad Att. 5. 13. it. 9. 
 
 f Levissime enim, quia de intercalando non obtiuuerat, tranfu- 
 git ad populum, et pro Caesare loqui eoepit. Ep. Fam. 8. 6. Dio, 
 p. 148. 
 
364 THE LIFE OF sect. viii. 
 
 A, Urb. 707. Cic. 61. Coss.—C. Julius Caesar. III. M. Aemilius Lepidus. 
 
 which they fell short of the sun's complete course, 
 he ordered a day to be intercalated after every 
 four years, between the twenty -third and twenty- 
 fourth of February.^ 
 
 But to malvc this new year besjin, and proceed 
 regularly, he was forced to insert into the current 
 year two extraordinary months, between Novem- 
 ber and December; the one of thirty three, the 
 other of thirty -four days, besides the ordinary in- 
 tercalary month of tw^enty-three days, which fell 
 into it of course, which were all necessary to fill 
 up the number of days that were lost to the old 
 year, hy the omission of intercalations, and to re- 
 place the months in their proper seasons.f All 
 this was effected by the care and skill of Sosi^^e- 
 pes, a celebrated astronomer of Alexandria, whom 
 Caesar had brought to Rome for that purpose :J 
 and a new kalendar was formed upon it by Flavius, 
 a scribe, di<j^ested according to order of the Ro- 
 man festivals, and the old manner of computing 
 their days, by Kalends, Ides, and Nones, which 
 was published and authorized by the dictator's 
 edict, not long after his return from Africk. This 
 year, therefore, was the longest that Rome had 
 ever known, consisting of fifteen months, or four 
 
 * This day was called Bissertus, from i^s being; a repetition or 
 duplicate of the Sixth of the Kalends nf March, which fell always 
 on the 24th; and hence our Intercalary or Leap-i/ear is still called 
 Bissextile. 
 
 f Quo autena ma2;ls in posferum ex Kalendis Janiiariis nobis tern- 
 poruTii ratio congrneret, inter N^ovembrem ot Decemhr^m iDen«;^m 
 adjecit duos alios : f'uitque is anoiis — xv. men-iurn cum inlercalario, 
 qui ex consuetudine eura annum inciderat. Suet. J. Cats. 40. 
 
 |Piin. Hist.N. 18. 25. 
 
SECT. VIII. 
 
 CICERO. 3ed 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cic. 61. Coss.--C. Julius Caesar. III. M. Aemilius LepMus. 
 
 hundred and forty-five days, and is called the last 
 of the confusion ;* because it introduced the Juli- 
 an, or Solar year, with the commencement of the 
 ensuing January, which continues in use to this 
 day in all Christian countries, without any other va- 
 riation than that of the old and new stile, f 
 
 Soon after the affair of Marcellus, Cicero had 
 another occasion of trying both his eloquence and 
 interest with Caesar, in the cause of Ligarius, who 
 was now in exile, on account of his having been 
 in arms against Caesar in the African war, in which 
 he had borne a considerable command. His two 
 brothers, however, had always been on Caesar's 
 side ; and, being recommended by Pansa, and 
 warmly supported by Cicero, had almost prevailed 
 for his pardon, of which Cicero skives the follow- 
 ing account in a letter to Ligarius himself. 
 
 Cicero to Ligarius, 
 
 '' I would have you to be assured that T employ 
 " my whole pains, labour, care, study, in procuring 
 
 t Adnitente sibi M. Flavio scriba, qui scriptos d es singiilos -ta ad 
 Dictatorem detulit, ut et ordo eornrn invenij i facillirae posset. e\ iii- 
 vento^ certus siatjs perseveraret — eaqne re factum est, ut annus con- 
 fusionis ultimus in quadriugentos quadraginta tres dies tenderetur. 
 Macroh. Sat. 1. 14. Dio 227. 
 
 Macrobius makes this year to consist of 443 days, but he should have 
 said 445, «ince, according to all accounts, 90 days were added to the 
 old year of 355. 
 
 f This difference of the old and new stile was occasioned by a regula- 
 tion made by Pope Gregory A. D. 1582; for it having been observed, 
 that the computation of the Fernal Equinox was faHen back ten days 
 from the i'une of the Council of Nice, when it was found to be on the 
 2]st of March, according to which all the festivals of the church 
 were then solemnly settled, Pope Gregory, by the advice of astrono 
 
366 THE LIFE OF sect. viii. 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cic 61. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar III. M. Aemilius Lepidus; 
 
 " your restoration : for as I have ever had the great- 
 *' est affection for you, so the singular piety and 
 *' love of your brothers, for whom, as well as your- 
 "self, I have always professed the utmost esteem, 
 " never suffer me to neglect any opportunity of 
 " my duty and service to you. But what I am 
 *'now doing, or have done, I would have you 
 *' learn from their letters, rather than mine ; but 
 " as to what I hope, and take to be certain in your 
 " affair, that I choose to acquaint you with my- 
 '^ self : for if any man be timorous in great and 
 " dangerous events, and fearing always the worst, 
 " rather than hoping the best, I am he ; and if this 
 " be a fault, confess myself not to be free from 
 " it ; yet, on the twenty-seventh of November, 
 " when, at the desire of your brothers, I had been 
 "early with Caesar, and gone through the trou- 
 "ble and indignity of getting access and audience, 
 "when your brothers and relations had thrown 
 " themselves at his feet, and I had said what your 
 " cause and circumstances required, I came away, 
 " persuaded that your pardon was certain ; which 
 " I collected, ^not only froto Caesar's discourse, 
 " which was mild and generous, but from his eyes 
 " and looks, and many other signs, which I could 
 " better observe than describe. It is your part, 
 "therefore, to behave yourself with firmness and 
 *' courage ; and as you have borne the more turbu- 
 " lent part prudently, to bear this calmer slate of 
 "things cheerfully.* I shall continue still to take 
 " the same pains in your affairs, as if there was the 
 " greatest difficulty in them, and will heartily sup- 
 
 mers, caused ten days to be entirely sunk and thrown out of the cur- 
 rent year, between the 4th and 15th of October. 
 
SECT. VIII. CICERO. 36r 
 
 A. Uri). 707. Cic. 61. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar III. M. Aemilius Lepidus. 
 
 " plicate in your behalf, as I have hitherto done, 
 " not only Caesar himself, but all his friends, whom 1 
 " have ever found most affectionate to me. Adieu."* 
 
 While Ligarius's affair was in this hopeful way, 
 Q.. Tubero, who had an old quarrel with him, be- 
 ing desirous to obstruct his pardon, and knowin©- 
 Caesar to be particularly exasperated against all 
 those who, through an obstinate aversion to him, 
 had renewed the war in Africk, accused him, in 
 the usual forms, of an uncommon zeal and violence 
 in prosecuting that war. Caesar privately encour- 
 aged the prosecution, and ordered the cause to be 
 tried in the forum, where he sat upon it in person, 
 strongly prepossessed against the criminal, and 
 determined to lay hold on any plausible pretence 
 for condemning him : but the force of Cicero's 
 eloquence, exerted with all his skill, in a cause 
 which he had much at heart, got the better of all 
 his prejudices, and extorted a pardon from him 
 against his will. 
 
 The merit of this speech is too well known, 
 to need to be enlarged upon here : those w^ho read 
 it, will find no reason to charge Cicero with flatte- 
 ry : but the free spirit which it breathes, in the 
 face of that power to which it was suing for mer- 
 cy, must give a great idea of the art of the speak- 
 er, who could deliver such bold truths without 
 offence; as well as of the generosity of thejudo-e, 
 who heard them not only with patience, but appro- 
 bation. 
 
 •^ Rp. Kara. f>. 14. 
 
368 THE LIFE OF sect. viii. 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cic. 61. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar III. M. Aerailius Lepidus. 
 
 " Observe, Caesar," says he ^' with what fidelity 
 " I plead Ligarius's cause, when I betray even my 
 " own by it. O that admirable clemency, worthy 
 " to be celebrated by every kind of praise, letters, 
 '' monuments ! M. Cicero defends a criminal before 
 " you, by proving him not to have been in those 
 " sentiments in which he owns himself to have been : 
 "nor does he yet fear your secret thoughts, or, 
 "while he is pleading for another, what may occur 
 " to you about himself. See, I say, how little he 
 " is afraid of vou. See with what a courao;e and 
 " gayety of speaking your generosity and wisdom 
 " inspire me. I will raise my voice to such a pitch, 
 " thai the whole Roman people may hear me. After 
 " the war was not only begun, Caesar, but in great 
 "measure finished, when I was driven by no neces- 
 " sity, I went by choice and judgment to join my- 
 ^'self with those who had taken arms against you. 
 " Before whom do I say this ? why, before him, 
 '' who, though he knew it to be true, yet restored 
 " me to the republick, before he had even seen me ; 
 " who wrote to me from Egypt, that I should be 
 " the same rQan that T had always been ; and, when 
 "he was the only emperour \^ithin the dominion of 
 " Rome, suffered me to be the other ; and to hold 
 " my laurelled fasces, as long as I thought them 
 *' worth holding.^ Do you then, Tubero, call Li- 
 " garius's conduct wicked ? for w hat reason ? since 
 " that cause has never vet been called by that name : 
 " some indeed call it mistake, others fear ; those who 
 " speak more severely^ hope, ambition, hatred, ob- 
 " stinacy ; or, at the worst, rashness ; but no man, 
 " besides you, has ever called it wickedness. For 
 
 * Pro Ligar. 3. 
 
SECT. VIII. CICERO. 369 
 
 A. Urb 707. Cic. «1. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar III. M. Aeinilius Ltpidus. 
 
 "my part, were I to invent a proper and genuine 
 " name for our calamity, I should take il for a kind 
 "of fatality, tliat had possessed the unwary mirjds 
 " of men ; so that none can think it strani^e, tliat all 
 ''human counsels were overruled by a divine neces- 
 " sity. Call us then, if you please, unhappy ; 
 "though we can never be so, under this conqueror; 
 " but I speak not of us, who survive, but of tliose 
 " who fell ; let them be ambitious ; let them be 
 " anijry ; let them be obstinate ; but let not the 
 '' o uilt of crime, of fury, of parricide, ever be char^- 
 " ed on Cn. Pompey, and on many of those who 
 '' died with him. When did we ever hear any such 
 " thint^ from you, Caesar ? or what other view had 
 " you in the war, than to defend yourself from in- 
 " jury ? — You considered it from the first, not as a 
 " war, but a secession ; not as an hostile, but civil 
 ''dissension: where both sides wished well to the 
 "republick; yet, through a difference, partly of 
 "councils, partly of inclinations, deviated from the 
 " common ^ood : the dio nity of the leaders was al- 
 " most equal ; though not, perhaps, of those who 
 " followed them : the cause was then dubious, since 
 "there was somethinor which one mi^^ht approve on 
 "either side ; but now, th it must needs be thouiJ:;ht 
 "the best, which the Gods have favoured; and, 
 " after the experience of your clemency, who can 
 " be displeased with that victory, in which no man 
 " fell who was not actually in arms ?"* 
 
 The speech was soon made pul)lick, and o;reedily 
 boucrht by all : Atticus was extremely pleased with 
 it, and very industrious in recommendini^ it ; so tliat 
 
 * Pro. Ligar. 6. 
 
 VOL. II. 47 
 
';i70 THE LIFE OF sect, tih, 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cic. 61. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar III. M. AemUios Lepidus. 
 
 Cicero says merrily to him by letter, " You have 
 '* sold my Lii>;arian speech finely : whatever I write 
 '' for the future, I will make you the publisiier." 
 And again, "your authority, I perceive, has made 
 "my little oration famous : for Balbus and Oppius 
 " write me word, that they are wonderfully taken 
 " with it, and have sent a copy to Caesar."^ The 
 success which it met with, made Tubero ashamed of 
 the fi^^ure that he made in it ; so that lie applied 
 to Cicero to have somethini^ inserted in his favour, 
 with the mention of his wife and some of his family, 
 who were Cicero's near relations : but Cicero ex- 
 cused himself, because the speech was got abroad : 
 ** nor had he a mind," he says, '' to make any apo- 
 '' logy for Tu hero's conduct.f 
 
 Lijrarius was a man of distinguished zeal for the 
 liberty of his country : whicli was the reason both 
 of Cicero's pains to preserve, and of Caesar's 
 averseness to restore him. After his return he lived 
 in great confidence with Brutus, who found him a 
 fit person to bear a part in the conspiracy against 
 Caesar; but, happening to be taken ill near the 
 time of its '^execution, when Brutus, in a visit to 
 him, began to lament that he was fallen sick in a 
 very unlucky hour, Ligarius, raising himself pre- 
 sently upon his elbow, and taking Brutus by the 
 hand, replied : " Yet still, Biutus, if you mean to 
 
 * Ligarianam praeclare vendidisti. Postiiac quicquid scripsero, tibi 
 praeconiiim deferam. Ad Att. 13. 12. 
 
 Ligariauam.ut video, praeclare anctoritas tna coinmendavit. Scrip- 
 sit eniin ad me Balbiis et Oopius. mirifire se probare, ob eamquecau- 
 sam ad Caesareraeam se oratiunculam misisse. lb. 19. 
 
 f Ad Ligarianam de uxore Tiiberonis, et privigna, neqne possum 
 jam addere, est enim res pervnlgata, neque Tuberonem volo clet'en- 
 dere. Mirifice est cnim <pt\AiTm. lb. 20, 
 
%L:cr. vni. CICERO. STl 
 
 A. Urb. 707. Cic. 61. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar III. M. Aemilius Lepidus. 
 
 *' do any thing wortliy of yourself, I am well :"* 
 nor did he disappoint Brutus's opinion of him, for 
 we find him afterwards in the list of the conspi- 
 rators. 
 
 In the end of the year, Caesar was called away 
 in i>;reat haste into Spain, to oppose the attempts of 
 Pompey's sons, who, by the credit of their father's 
 name, were become masters ao;ain of all that pro- 
 vince ; and, with the remains of the troops, which 
 Labienus, Varus, and the other chiefs, who escap- 
 ed, had gathered up from Africk, were once more 
 in condition to try the fortune of the field with 
 him : where the great danger, to w hich he was ex- 
 posed from this last effort of a broken party, shews 
 how desperate his case must have been, if Pompey 
 himself, with an entire and veteran army, had first 
 made choice of this country for the scene of the 
 wan 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 62. C. Jul. Caesar Diet. III. M. Aemil. Lepidus. INIag. Equit. 
 
 CiCKRo all this while passed his time with little 
 satisfaction at home, being disappointed of the 
 ease and comfort which he expected from his 
 new marriage : his children, as we may imagine, 
 while their own mother was living, would not easi- 
 ly bear with a young mother-in-law in the house 
 with them. The son, especially, was pressing to 
 
 "^ PJutarch. in Brut. 
 
572 THE LIFE OF sect. vni. 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 62.— C. Jul. Caesar Diet. III. M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 get a particular appointment settled for his mainte- • 
 nance, and to have leave also to go to Spain, and 
 make a campaign under Caesar ; whither his cou- 
 sin (iuintus was already gone : Cicero did not ap- 
 prove this project ; and endeavoured by all means 
 to dissuade him from it ; representing to him, that 
 it would naturally draw a just reproach upon them, 
 for not thinking it enough to quit their former 
 party, unless they fought against it too ; and that 
 he would not be pleased to see his cousin more re- 
 garded there than himself; and promising, withal, 
 if he would consent to stay, to make him an ample 
 and honourable allowance.^ This diverted him 
 from the thoughts of Spain ; though not from the 
 desire of removing from his father, and taking a 
 separate house in the city, with a distinct familv of 
 his own : but Cicero thouirht it best to send Idm 
 to Athens, in order to spend a few years in the 
 study of philosophy, and polite letters ; and to 
 make the proposal ajj^reeable, offered him an ap- 
 pointment that would enable him to live as splen- 
 didly as any of the Roman nobility who then re- 
 sided there, Eibulus, Acidinus, or Messala.f — This 
 scheme was accepted, and soon after executed ; 
 and younir Cicero was sent to Athens, with two of 
 hi< father's freedmen, L. Tullius Montanus, and 
 Tullius Marcianus, as the intendants and counsel- 
 lors of his general conduct, while the particular 
 
 * Pe Ft'ispania duo attnii ; primnm idem, quod tibi, me vereri vi- 
 tuperaticnem : noii sa is esse s: haec arma reliquissrmus ? etiam rou- 
 traiia? deinde lore lit aiiser^liir, nim a fratre familiaritate et oi; ni 
 gratia vincereuir. Velim niagis liberalitate uti raea quam sua liber- 
 tate. Ad Atl. 12. 7. 
 
 f Praestabo noc Bibulnm. nee Acidinnm, nee Messalam, qnos Athe- 
 nis fiiliiros audio, uiajores sumptus facturos, quam quod ex eis naerce- 
 dibus accipietur. lb. 3;J, 
 
SECT. VIII. CTCERO. 3r3 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic 63.— C. Jul. Caesar Diet. UL M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 direction of his studies was left to tl)e principal 
 philosophers of the place ; and, above all, to Cra- 
 tippus, the chief of the Peripatetick sect.=^ 
 
 In this uneasy state both of his private and pub- 
 lick life, he was oppressed by a new and most cruel 
 affliction, the death of liis beloved dau2;hter Tullia; 
 which happened soon after her divorce from Dola- 
 bella ; whose manners and humour were entirely 
 disaj^reable to her. Cicero had lons^ been delibe- 
 ratinsj with himself and his friends, whether Tullia 
 should not first send the divorce ; but a prudential 
 regard to Dolabella's power and interest witii Cae- 
 sar, which was of use to him in these times, seems 
 to have withheld him.f The case was the same 
 with Dolabella, he was willing enough to pnrt with 
 Tullia, but did not care to break with Cicero, 
 whose friendship was a credit to him ; and whom 
 gratitude oblio^ed him to observe and reverence ; 
 since Cicero had twice defended and preserved 
 him in capital causes :J so that it seems most pro- 
 bable that the divorce was of an amicable kind ; 
 and executed at last by the consent of both sides : 
 for it gave no apparent interruption to the friend- 
 
 * L. Tulliiira Montanum iiosti, qui cum Cicerone profectus est. lb. 
 52, 53. 
 
 Quanquam te, IVlarce fill, annum jam audientem Cratippura, etc. 
 De Offic. 1. 1. it. 2. 2. 
 
 f Te oro ut de hac mi«;era cogites — melius qiiidem in pessimis nihil 
 fiiit di'^cidio — nunc qnidcm ipse videtur denunciare — placet mihi 
 igitur, el idem tibi nuncium remitti, etc. Ad Att. xi. 23. vid. 
 ib. 3. 
 
 Quod scripsi de nuncio rcmittendo, quae sit istius vis hoc tempore, 
 et quae concitatio multiludinis, isnoio. Si metuendiis iralus est, 
 quies tamen ab ilia forta^se nascetur. t'p, Fam. 1 1. 13. 
 
 I Cujus e^o salutem duobus capitis judiciis summa contentiooe de- 
 fendi Ep. Fain. 3. x. 
 
374 THE LIFE OF sect, viii 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 62.— C. Jul. Caesar Diet. III. M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 ship between Cicero and Dolabella, which they 
 carried on with Ihe same shew of affection, and 
 professions of respect toward each other, as if the 
 relation had still subsisted. 
 
 Tullia died in childbed, at her husband's house ;^ 
 which confirms the probability of their agreement 
 in the divorce : it is certain, at least, that she died 
 in Rome ; where Cicero " was detained," he says, 
 " by the expectation of the birth, and to receive 
 " the first payment of her fortune back again from 
 '' Dolabella, who was then in Spain : she was de- 
 ^' livered, as it was thought, very happily, and sup- 
 " posed to be out of danger ;" when an unexpect- 
 ed turn in her case put an end to her life, to the 
 inexpressible grief of her father.f 
 
 We have no account of the issue of this birth, 
 which writers confound with that which happened 
 three years before, when she was delivered at, the 
 
 mend of seven months of a puny male child : but 
 V^^^whether it was from the first, or the second time 
 of her lying in, it is evident. that she left a son by 
 Dolabella, whf> survived her, and whom Cicero 
 mentions more than once in his letters to i^Vtticus, 
 by the name of Lentulus :J desiring him to visit 
 the child, and see a due care taken of him, and 
 
 * Plutarch in Cic. 
 
 f Me Roraae tenuit omniao Tulliae meae partus : sed cum ea, 
 queraadmodura spero, satis firma sit, teneor tamen, dura a Dolabella 
 procuratoribus exlgaiu primam pensionem. — Ep. Fam. 6. 18. 
 
 I The father's names were Publius Cornelius Lentulus Dolabella ; 
 the two last being surnames acquired perhaps by adoption, and dis- 
 linguishing the different branches of the Cornelian family. 
 
3ECT. VIII. CICERO. 375 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 62.— C. Jul. Caesar Diet. in. M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 to assign him what number of servants he thought 
 proper.* 
 
 Tullia was about two and thirty years old at the 
 time of her death ; and, by the few hints which 
 are left of her character, appears to have been an 
 excellent and admirable woman : she was most af- 
 fectionately and piously observant of her father ; 
 and, to the usual graces of her sex, having added 
 the more solid accomplishments of knowledge and 
 polite letters, was qualified to be the companion, 
 as well as the delight of his age ; and was justly 
 esteemed not only as one of the best, but the most 
 learned of the Roman ladies. It is not strange, 
 therefore, that the loss of such a daughter, in the 
 prime of her life, and the most comfortless season 
 of his own, should affect him with all that grief 
 which the greatest calamity could imprint on a 
 temper naturally timid and desponding. 
 
 Plutarch tells us, that the philosophers came 
 from all parts to comfort him ; but that can hardly 
 be true, except of those who lived in Rome, or in 
 his own family ; for his first care was, to shun all 
 company as much as he could, by removing to At- 
 
 * Velira aliquando, cum erit tuiiin commodiira, Lentnliim pueruni 
 visas, eique de inancipiis, quae tibi vidcbilur, attribuas — Ad Att. 
 12. 28. 
 
 Quod Lentulura iiivisis, valde gratum. lb. 30 — vid. etiam 18. — 
 N. B. -Mr. Bay le declares himself surprised, to find Asconius Paedia 
 so ill informed of the history of Tnllia, as to tell us. thai, after Pico's 
 death, she was married to P. Lcntulus, and died in childbed at his 
 house : in which short account, there are contained, he says, two or 
 three lies. But Plutarch confirms the same account ; and the mistake 
 will rest at last, pot on Asconius, but on .Mr. Bayle himself, who did not 
 reflect, from the authority of those ancients, that Lentulus was one of 
 Dolabella's names, by which he was called indifferently, as well as bv 
 any of the rest. See Bayl. Diction. Artie. Tullia, note k. 
 
3/6 THE LIFE OF sect. vih. 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 62 —C. Jul. Caesar Diet. IIL M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 ticus's house ; where he lived chiefly in the library ; 
 endeavouring^ to relieve his mind, by turnintr over 
 every book, which he could meet with, on the sub- 
 ject of moderating grief:* but finding his residence 
 here too puhlick, and a greater resort to him than 
 he could bear, he retired to Astura, one of his seats 
 near Antium ; a little island on the Latian shore, at 
 the mouth of a river of the same name, covered 
 with woods and groves, cut out into shady walks ; a 
 scene of all others the fittest to indulge melancholy, 
 and where he could give a free course to his grief. 
 " Here," says he, " I live without the speech of man : 
 " every morning early T hide myself in the thickest 
 *' of the wood, and never come out till the evening : 
 "next to yourself, nothing is so dear to me as this 
 "solitude: my whole conversation is with my 
 V books ; yet that is sometimes interrupted by my 
 "tears, which [ resist as well as I can, but am not 
 '*yet able to do much."t 
 
 Atticus urged him to quit this retirement, and di- 
 vert himself with business, and the company of his 
 friends ; and put him gently in mind, that, by af- 
 flicting himselF^ so immoderately, he would hurt his 
 character, and give people a handle to censure 
 his weakness : to which he makes the following 
 answer. 
 
 * iMe railii non defuisse tu testis es, nihil euim de moerore rainuen- 
 (loabullo scriptum est, quod ego non domi tiiae legerim. Ad. Att. 
 12. 14. 
 
 f In hac solitudine careo orfinium rolloquio, ciiraque mane in silvam 
 me abstrusi densam et asperam, non exeo iude ante vesperuiu. Se- 
 cundum te, niiiil raihi amicius soliuid ne. Id ea mihi omnis sermo est 
 cumlitteris; eum tamen in'erpellat fletus; cui repugno quoad pos- 
 sum, sed adhuc paresnon sumus. lb. 15. 
 
SECT. viii. CICERO. 377 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 62.— C. Jul. Caesar Diet. III. M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 " As to what you write, that you are afraid lest 
 "the excess of my grief should lessen my credit 
 " and autliority ; I do not know what meii would 
 " have of me. Is it, that I should not o;rieve ? that 
 " is impossible : or that I should not be oppressed 
 "with grief? who was ever less so ? when I took 
 ''refuge at your house, was any man ever denied 
 " access to me ? or did any one ever come, who had 
 " reason to complain of me ? I went from you to 
 " Astura? where tbose gay sparks, who find fault 
 "with me, are not able even to read so much as I 
 "have written : how well, is nothing to the pur- 
 "pose: yet it is of a kind which nobody could 
 " write with a disordered mind — I spent a month in 
 " my gardens about Rome, where I received all 
 " who came, with the same easiness as before. At 
 "this very moment, while I am employing my 
 "whole time in reading and writing, those, who 
 " are with me, are more fatigued with their leisure, 
 " than I with my pains. If any one asks, why I am 
 " not at Rome ? because it is vacation time : why 
 " not in some of my villas, more suitable to the 
 "season: because I could not easily bear so much 
 "company. I am, where he, who has the best 
 "house at Baiae, chooses to be, in this part of the 
 "year. When I come to Rome, nobody shall find 
 "any thing amiss, either in my looks or discourse : 
 " as to that cheerfulness, with which we used to 
 " season the misery of these times, I have lost it in- 
 "deed for ever ; but will never part with my con- 
 "stancy and firmness, either of mi/id or speech, 
 " &c."* 
 
 * Ad Att. 12. 40. 
 VOL. VII. 4Pi 
 
jrs THE LIFE OF sect, vih 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 62.— C. Jul. Caesar Diet. III. M. Aeroil. I,epidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 All his other friends were very officious likewise 
 in making their compliments of condolence, and ad- 
 ministering arguments of comfort to him : among 
 the rest, Caesar himself, in the hurry of his affairs 
 in Spain, wrote him a letter on the occasion, dated 
 from Hispalis, the last of April.* Brutus wrote 
 another, so friendly and affectionate, that it greatly 
 moved him if Lucceius also, one of the most es- 
 teemed writers of that age, sent him two ; the first 
 to condole, tlie second to expostulate with him for 
 persevering to cherish an unmanly and useless 
 grief :1: but the following letter of Ser. Sulpicius is 
 thought to be a masterpiece of the consolatory 
 kind. 
 
 " Ser. Sulpicius to M. T. Cicero. 
 
 " T was exceedingly concerned, as indeed I ought 
 " to be, to hear of the death of your daughter 
 " Tullia ; which I looked upon as an affliction com- 
 " mon to us both. If I had been with you, I would 
 " have made it my business to convince you, what 
 "a real share^l take in your grief. Though that 
 " kind of consolation is but wretched and lamenta- 
 " ble, as it is to be performed by friends and rela- 
 " tions, who are overwhelmed with grief, and can- 
 " not enter upon their task without tears, and seem 
 " to want comfort rather themselves, than to be in 
 " condition to administer it to others. I resolved. 
 
 * A Caesare litteras accepi consolatorias, datas prid. Kal. 3Iaii. 
 Hispali. AdAtt. 13. 20. 
 
 t Bruti litterae scriptae et prudenter et amice, multas tameo mihi 
 lacrimas attulerunt. lb. 12. 13. 
 
 I Vid. Ep. Fam. 5. 13. 14. 
 
SECT. Mil. CICERO. 379 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 62.— C. Jul. Caesar Diet. III. M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 " therefore, to write to you in short, what occurred 
 " upon it to my own mind : not that I imajyined 
 *' that the same things would not occur also to you, 
 " but that the force of your ^rief might possibly 
 "hinder your attention to them. What reason is 
 " there then to disturb yourself so immoderately 
 "on this melancholy occasion? Consider how for- 
 " tune has already treated us : how it has deprived 
 " us of what ought to be as dear to us as children ; 
 "our country, credit, dignity, honours. After so 
 " miserable a loss as this, what addition can it possibly 
 *' make to our grief, to suffer one misfortune more? 
 ** or how can amind, after beingexercisedinsuch tri- 
 " als, not grow callous, and think every thing else of 
 "inferiour value? but is it for your daughter's sake 
 '' that you grieve? yet how often must you necessari- 
 " ly reflect, as I myself frequently do, that those can- 
 '* not be said to be hardly dealt with, whose lot it has 
 " been, in these times, without suffering any affliction, 
 '' to exchange life for death. For what is there in 
 " our present circumstances that could give her any 
 " great invitation to live ? what business ? what 
 " hopes ? what prospect of comfort before her ? 
 " was it to pass her days in the married state, with 
 *' some young man of the first quality ? (for you, 
 '' I know, on the account of your dignity, might have 
 " chosen what son-in-law you pleased out of all our 
 "youth, to whose fidelity you might safely have 
 " trusted her,) was it then for the sake of bearing 
 " children, wliom she might have had the pleasure 
 "to see flourishing afterwards, in the enjoyment of 
 " their paternal fortunes, and rising gradually to 
 " all the honours of the state, and using the liberty, 
 " to which they were born, in the protection of 
 
mo THE LIFE OF sect. vih. 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 62.— C. Jul. Caesar Diet. III. M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 " their friends and clients ? but what is there of 
 "all this, which was not taken away before it was 
 " even t^iven to her ? but it is an evil, you will say, 
 "to lose our children. It is so; yet it is much 
 '^ o;reater to sutler what we now endure. I cannot 
 " help mentioninoj one thinsj, which has given me 
 " no small comfort, and may help also perhaps to 
 " miti'<ate your gnef. On my return from Asia, 
 ''as I was sailino from Ae2!;ina towards Megara, I 
 " be2;an to contemplate the prospect of the coun- 
 " tries around me: Aegina was behind, Megara 
 " before me ; Piraeeus on the right ; Corinth on the 
 " left : all which towns, once famous and fiourish- 
 " ing, now He overturned, and buried in their 
 '* ruins : upon this sight, I could not but think pres- 
 " ently within myself, alas ! how do we poor mor- 
 " tals fret and vex ourselves, if any of our friends 
 " happen to die, or to be killed, whose life is yet 
 " so short, when the carcasses of so many noble 
 " cities lie here exposed before me in one view ? 
 *' Why wilt thou not then command thyself, Ser- 
 " vius, and remember, that thou art born a man ? 
 *' Believe me, 1 was not a little confirmed by this 
 " contemplation : try the force of it, therefore, if 
 "you please, upon yourself; and imagine the same 
 " prospect before your own eyes. But to come 
 " nearer home ; when you consider how many of 
 " our greatest men have perished lately at once ; 
 *^ what destruction has been made in the empire ; 
 " what havock in all the provinces; how can you 
 " be so much shocked to be deprived of the fleet- 
 " ing breath of one little woman ? who, if she bad 
 '' not died at this time, must necessarily have died 
 "a few years after, since that was the condition of 
 " her being born. But recall your mind from re- 
 
SECT. VIII. CTCERO. 38i 
 
 A. Urt). 708. Ck. 62.— C. Jal. Caesar Diet. lU. M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 " flections of this kind, to the consideration of 
 *< yourself; and think rather on what becomes 
 " your character and di<Tnity : that your daugh- 
 **ter lived as lons^ as life was worth enjoyinoj, as 
 " lon«: as the republick stood ; had seen her father 
 " Praetor, Consul, Augur ; been married to the 
 " noblest of our youth ; had tasted every good in 
 " life ; and, when the republick fell, then quitted 
 "it: what ground is there then, either for you, 
 " or her, to complain of fortune on this account ? 
 " In short, do not forget that you are Cicero ; one, 
 **who has been used always to prescribe and give 
 " advice to others : nor imitate those paltry phy- 
 *'sicians, who pretend to cure other people's dis- 
 " eases, yet are not able to cure their own ; but 
 " suggest rather to yourself the same lesson, which 
 " you would give in the same case. There is no 
 "grief so great, which length of time will not al- 
 " leviate : but it would be shameful in you to wait 
 '^ for that, time, and not to prevent it by your wis- 
 ^' dom : besides, if there be any sen^e in the dead, 
 " such was her love and piety to you, that she 
 " must be concerned to see how much you afflict 
 " yourself. Give this therefore to the deceased ; 
 " ijive it to your friends ; give it to your country; 
 " that it may have the benefit of your assistance 
 " and advice, whenever there shall be occasion. 
 " Lastly, since fortune has now made it necessary 
 "to us to accommodate ourselves U) our present 
 " situation ; do not give any one a handle to think 
 " that you are not so much bewailing your daugh- 
 " ter, as the state of the times, and the victory of 
 " certain persons. 1 am ashamed to write any 
 "more, lest T should seem to distrust your pru- 
 " dence ; and will add therefore but one thing far- 
 
382 THE LIFE OF sect. viii. 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 58.— C. Jul. Caesar Diet. III. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 "ther, and conclude. We have sometimes seen 
 " you bear prosperity nobly, with great honour and 
 "applause to yourself; let us now see, that you 
 " can bear adversity with the same moderation, and 
 " without thinking it a greater burthen than you 
 " ought to do : lest, in the number of all your 
 " other virtues, this one at last be thought to be 
 " wanting. As to myself, when I understand that 
 " your mind is grown more calm and composed, I 
 " will send you word how all things go on here, 
 " and what is the state of the province. Adieu."^ 
 
 His answer to Sulpicius was the same in effect 
 with w^hat he gave to all his friends ; ** that his 
 " case was different from all the examples which 
 " he had been collecting for his own imitation, of 
 "men, who had borne the loss of children with 
 " firmness ; since they lived in times when their 
 " dignity in the state was able in great measure to 
 " compensate their misfortune : but for me," says 
 he, '' after I had lost all those ornaments which you 
 " enumerate, and which 1 had acquired with the 
 '' utmost pajnsyl have now lost the only comfort 
 *' that was left to me. In this ruin of the repub- 
 ** lick, my thoughts were not diverted by serving 
 " either my friends or my country : I had no in- 
 **' clination to the forum ; could not bear the sig^ht 
 "of the senate; took myself, as the case in truth 
 " was, to have lost all the fruit of my industry and 
 '' fortunes : yet when I reflected that all this was 
 " common to you, arid to many others, as well as 
 "to myself; and was forcing myself therefore to 
 " bear it tolerably ; I had still in TuUia, somewhat 
 
 Ep. Fam. 4. 5. 
 
SECT. VIII. 
 
 CICERO. 383 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 62.— C. Jul. Caesar Diet. III. M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 " always to recur to, in which I could acquiesce ; 
 " and in whose sweet conversation I could drop all 
 " my cares and troubles : but by this last cruel 
 ** wound, all the rest, which seemed to be healed, 
 " are broken out a^ain afresh : for as 1 then could 
 " relieve the uneasiness which the republick gave 
 " me, by what I found at home ; so I cannot now, 
 " in the affliction, which I feel at home, find any 
 ** remedy abroad ; but am driven, as well from my 
 " house, as the forum ; since neither my house can 
 " ease my publick grief, nor the publick my do- 
 "mestick one."* 
 
 The remonstrances of his friends had but little 
 effect upon him ; all the relief that he found, was 
 from reading and writing, in which he continually 
 employed himself ; and did what no man had ever 
 done before him, draw up a treatise of consolation 
 for himself; from which he professes to have re- 
 ceived his greatest comfort ; '^ though he wrote it, 
 " he owns, at a time when, in the opinion of the 
 " philosophers, he was not so wise, as he ought to 
 " have been : but I did violence," says he, " to my 
 " nature ; to make the greatness of my sorrow 
 " give place to the greatness of the medicine ; 
 " though I acted against the advice of Chrysippus, 
 " who dissuades the application of any remedy to 
 " the first assaults of grief .'f In this work he 
 
 * Ep. Fara. 4. 6. it. Ad Att. 12. 28. 
 
 t Feci, quod ante rae nemo, ut ipse me per litteras consolarer — 
 affinuo tibi nullam consolationem esse talem. Ad Att. 12. 14. it. 
 lb. 28. 
 
 Quid ego de consolatione dicam ? quae mihi quidem ipsi sane ali- 
 quantum raedetur, ceteris item multura illam proruturam puto. De 
 Div. 2. 1. 
 
:384 THE LIFE OF sect. viii. 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cie. 62.— C. Jul. Caesar Diet. III. M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 chiefly iaiitated Grantor, the academick, who had 
 left a celebrated piece on the same subject ; yet 
 he inserted also whatever pleased him, from any 
 other author who had written upon it ;* illustrat- 
 ing his precepts all the way, by examples from 
 their own history, of the most eminent Romans 
 of both sexes, w4io had borne the same misfortune 
 with a remarkable constancy. This book was 
 much read by the primitive fathers, especially 
 Lactantius ; to whom we are obliged for the few- 
 fragments which remain of it ; for, as the criticks 
 have long since observed, that piece, which we now 
 see in the collection of his writings, under the title 
 of Consolation^ is undoubtedly spurious. 
 
 But the design of this treatise was, not only to 
 relieve his own mind, but to consecrate the vir- 
 tues and memory of I'uUia to all posterity : Nor 
 did his fondness for her stop here, but suggested 
 the project of a more eflfectual consecration, by 
 building a temple to her, and erecting her into a 
 sort of deity. It was an opinion of the philoso- 
 phers, which he himself constantly favoured, and, 
 in his present circumstances, particularly indulged, 
 •'that the souls of men whereof heavenly extrac- 
 " tion ; and that the pure and chaste, at their dis- 
 
 In consolationis libro, quera in ineflio (non enim sapientes eramus) 
 moerore et dolore conscripsiraus : quodque vetat Chrysippus, ad re- 
 centes quasi tumores animi reinedium adhibere, id nos Teciraus, na- 
 turaeque vim adtulimiis, ut rnagnitudini iiiedicinae doloris magortudo 
 concederet. Tusc. Disp. 4. 29. 
 
 * Crantorem sequor. Plin. Praef. Hist. N. 
 
 Neque taraen progredior loiigius, quain mihi doctissimi homines 
 concedunt, quorum scripta omnia, quaecunque sunt in earn senten- 
 tiam, non legi solum — sed in raea etiara scripta transtuli. Ad Att. 
 12. 21. it. 22. 
 
SECT. VIII. CICERO. 385 
 
 A.SUrb. 708. Cic. 62.~C. Jul. Caesar Diet. III. M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 " solution from tlje body, returned to the foun- 
 "tain from which they were derived, to subsist 
 " eternally in the fi uition and participation of the 
 " divine nature ; whilst the impure and corrupt 
 " were left to i^rovel below in the dirt and dark- 
 " ness of these inferiour regions." He declares, 
 therefore, "that, as the wisdom of the ancients 
 " had consecrated and deified many excellent per- 
 " sons of both sexes, whose temples were tlien re- 
 " mainino; ; the progeny of Cadmus, of Amphitry- 
 "on, of Tyndarus ; so he would perform the same 
 " honour to Tullia, who, if any creature had ever 
 "deserved it, was of all the most worthy of it. I 
 " will do it, therefore, (says he,) and consecrate 
 " thee, thou best and most learned of women, now 
 " admitted into the assembly of the gods, to the 
 " regard and veneration of all mortals."* 
 
 In his letters to Atticus, we find the strongest 
 expressions of his resolution, and impatience to 
 see this design executed : " I will have a temple," 
 says he, " it is not possible to divert me from it — 
 
 * Non enira omnibus illi sapientes arbitrati sunt enndenri cursum 
 in coelum patcre. Nam vitiis et sceleribus contaminatos deprimi in 
 tenebras, atque in coeno jacere dorueruut ; castos autein animos, 
 piiros, integros, incorniptos, bonis etiara stiidiis atqiie artibiis expo- 
 litos, leni quodam ac facili lapsu ad deos, id est, ad natuiara sui si- 
 mi lem, pervolare. Fragm. Consolat. ex Lactantio. — 
 
 Cum vero et mares et ibeminas eomplures ex hominibus in deo- 
 rum numero esse videamus, et eorum in urbibus atque agris- augus- 
 tissima templa veneremur, assentiamur eorum sapieiitiae, quorum in- 
 geniis et inventis oranem vitam legibus et iQ«^titut s exrultam con- 
 stitutamque habemus. Quod si ullum unquam animal consecran- 
 dum tuit, illud profecto fuit. Si Cadmi, aut Amphytriouis proge- 
 nies, aut Tyndari, in coelum lollenda Cama fuit, huic idem honos 
 certe dicandus est. Quod quidenj faciam ; teque omnium optimam 
 doctissimamque, approbanUbus diis ipsis, in eorum coetu locatam, ad 
 opinionem omnium raortaliura consecrabo. lb. — Vid. Tusc. Disp. 
 1. 1. c. xi. 12. 30, 31, 
 
 TOL. ir. 19 
 
386 THE LIFE OF sect. viii. 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 62.— C. Jul. Caesar Diet. III. M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equk. 
 
 " if it be not finished this summer, I shall not 
 "think myself clear of sjuilt — I am more religious- 
 " ly bound to the execution of it, than any man 
 " ever was to the performance of his vow."* He 
 seems to have desiii;ned a fabrick of great magni- 
 ficence; for he had settled the plan with his ar- 
 chitect, and contracted for pillars of Chian marble, 
 with a sculptor of that isle ; where both the work 
 and the materials were the .most esteemed of any 
 in Greece.f One reason, that determined him to 
 a temple, rather than a sepulchre, was, that in the 
 one he was not limited in the expense, whereas, 
 in the other, he was confined by law to a certain 
 sum, which he could not exceed, without the for- 
 feiture of the same sum also to the publick : yet 
 this, as he tells us, w^as not the chief motive, Ijut 
 a resolution, that he had taken, of making a pro- 
 per apotheosis.J The only difficulty was, to find 
 
 * Fanum fieri volo, neque milii erui potest. (Ad Att. 12. 36.) 
 Redeo ad Fanum, nisi hac aestate absolntum erit — scelere ine libe- 
 ratum non putabo. (lb. 41.) Ego majore religione, quam quisquam 
 fuit ullius voti, obstrictnin puto. lb. 43. 
 
 t De Fano ijlo dico — neque de geilere dubito, placet enira mihi 
 Cluatii. (lb. 18.) Tu tamen cum Apella Chio confice de columuis. 
 (lb. 19.) Vid. Plin. Hist. N. 36. 5, 6. 
 
 I Nunquani mihi venit in mentem, quo plus insuratum in mo- 
 numenium esset. quam nescio quid, quod lege conceditnr, tantun- 
 dem populo dandum esse: quod non magnopere moveret, nisi nescio 
 quomodo, axoyui fortasse. Nollem illud nl!o nomine nisi Fani ap- 
 pellari. (All. 12. 3.').) Sepulcri similitudinem efFugere non tarn 
 propter poenam legis studeo, quam ut maxima asse^quar ajroesas-;-,. 
 lb. 36. ^ 
 
 This fact seems to confirm what the author of the book of W^isdom 
 observes on the origin of idolatry ; that it was owing to the fond 
 affection of parents, seeking to do honour to their deceased chihJren. 
 **The father," says he, "oppressed with an unexpected grief tor the 
 "sudden death of his child, after making an in;age of him, began to 
 "worship him as a god, though he was but a dead man, and enjoined 
 "certain rites and mysteries to his servants and dependants.'* 
 
SECT. viii. CICERO. 397 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 62.— C. Jul. Caesar Diet. III. M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 a place that suited his purpose : his first thou<i;ht 
 was, to purchase certain g;ardens across the Tiber, 
 which, lying near llie city, and in the publick 
 view, were the most likely to draw a resort of vo-^ 
 taries to his new temple: " he presses Atticus, 
 '' therefore, to buy them for him at any rate, with- 
 '' out regard to his circumstances ; since he would 
 " sell, or mortgage, or be content to live on little, 
 " rather than be disappointed. Groves and remote 
 " places," he says, " were proper only for deities 
 "of an established name and religion; but, for the 
 " deification of mortals, publick and open situa- 
 " tions were necessary, to strike the eyes, and at- 
 " tract the notice of the people." But he found 
 so many obstructions in all his attempts of pur- 
 chasing, that, to save trouble and expense, At- 
 ticus advised him, to build, at last, in one of his 
 own villas ; to which he seemed inclined, lest the 
 summer should pass without doing any thing : yet 
 he was irresolute still, which of his villas he should 
 
 (Wisd. x\v. 15.) Bnt it was not Cicero's real thought, after all, to 
 exalt his daughter iuto a deity : he knew it to be absurd, as he often 
 declares, to pay divine honours to dead mortals ; and tells us, how 
 their very publicans had decided that question in Boeotia : for, when 
 the lands of the immortal Gods were excepted out of their lease, by 
 the law of the censors, they denied that any one could be deemed 
 an immortal God, wlia had once been a man; and so made the land 
 of Amphiaraus and Trophoiiius pay the same taves with the rest. 
 (De Nat. Deor. 3. 10.) Yet, in a political view, he sometimes recom- 
 mends the worship of those sons of men, whom their eminent ser- 
 vices to mankind had advanced to the rank of inferiour gods, as it 
 inculcated, in a manner the most sensible, the doctrine of the soul's 
 immortality : (De Leg. 2. xi.) And since a temple was th.e most 
 ancient way of doing honour to those dead who had deserved it, (Plin. 
 Hist. 27.) he considered it as the most etiectual method of perpetua- 
 ting the memory and praises of Tullia ; and was willing to take the 
 benefit of the popular superstition, and follow the example of those 
 ancients, who had polished and civilized human life, by consecrating 
 such patterns of virtue to the veneration of their fellow citizens. 
 Vid. Mongault, Not. 1. Ad Att. 12. 18. 
 
388 THE LIFE OF sect, vii 
 
 A. Urb. t08. Cic. 62.— C. Jul. Caesar Diet. III. M. Aetnil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 choose; and discouraoed, by reflecting on the 
 change of masters, to which all private estates 
 ^ere exposed, in a succession of ages; which 
 might defeat the end of his building, and destroy 
 the honour of his temple ; by converting it to 
 other uses, or suffering it to fall into ruins.* 
 
 But after all his eagerness and solicitude about 
 this temple, it was never actually built by him f 
 since we find no mention of it in any of the an- 
 cient writers; which could not have been omitted, 
 if a fabrick so memorable had ever been erected.f 
 It is likely, that as his grief evaporated, and hia 
 mind grew more calm, he began to consider his 
 project more philosophically ; and to perceive the 
 vanity of expecting any lasting glory from such 
 monuments, which time itself, in the course of a 
 few ages, must necessarily destroy : it is certain, 
 
 * Sed ineunda nobis ratio est, quemadmodunti in omni mntatione 
 dominorum, qui innumerabiles fieri possiint in infin ta posteritate — 
 illud quasi conserratum remanere possit. Kquidem jam nihil egeo 
 vectigalibns, et parvo contentus esse possmn. Cogito iuterduni irans 
 Tibenra hortos aliquos parare, et qiiidem ob banc caiisam maxima ; 
 nihil enim video qu<^ tarn celebre esse posset. (Ad Att. 12. 19.) 
 De hortis, etiam atqne etiam te rogo. (lb. 22.) Ut saepe Jocuti 
 siimus, commutationes dominorum reformido. (lb. 36.) Celebrita' 
 tern requiro. lb. 37. 
 
 f Coelius Rbodiginus tells ns, that in the time of Sixtus the 4th, 
 there was found near Rome on the Appian way, over against the 
 tomb of Cicero, the body of a woman, whose hair was dressed up in 
 network of gold, and which, from the in^^cription, was thought to be 
 the body of Tullia. It was entire, and so well preserved by spices, 
 as to have suffered no injury from time; yet when it was removed 
 into the city, it moulderf d aivay in three days. But this was only 
 the hasty <'onjecture of som*^ learned of that time, which, for want 
 of authority to support it. soon vanished of itself; for no inscription 
 was ever produced *o confirm it, nor has it been mentioned, that I 
 know of. by auv other author, that there was any sepulchre of Ci- 
 cero on the Appian way— vid. Coel. Rhod. Lection, antiq. I. 3. c. 24, 
 
SECT. VIII. CICERO. 389 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cio. 62— C. Jul. Caesar Diet. IIL M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. £qwt. 
 
 at least, that as he made no step towards building 
 it this summer, so Caesar's death, which happened 
 before the next, 2;ave fresh obstruction to it, by 
 the hurry of atfairs in which it ensiaged him ; and 
 though he had not still wholly dropt the thoughts 
 of it, but continued to make a preparation, and to 
 set apart a fund for it,* yet, in the short and busy 
 scene of life, which remained to him, he never had 
 leisure enough to carry it into execution. 
 
 He was now grown so fond of solitude, that all 
 company was become uneasy to him ; and when 
 his friend Philippus, the father-in-law of Octavius, 
 happened to come to his villa in that nei^^^^hbour- 
 hood, he was not a little disturbed at it, from the 
 apprehension of being teazed with his visits ; and 
 he tells Atticus, with some pleasure, that he had 
 called u])on him only to pay a short compliment, 
 and went back again to Rome, without giving him 
 any trouhle.f His wife Publilia also wrote him 
 word, that her mother and brother intended to wait 
 upon him, and that she would come along with 
 them, if he would give her leave ; which she beg- 
 ged in the most earnest and submissive terms ;— 
 but his answer was, that he was more indisposed 
 than ever to receive company, and would not have 
 them come : and, lest they should come without 
 leave, he desires Atticus to watch their motions, 
 and give him notice, that he might contrive to 
 
 * Quod ex istis fructnosis rebus receptum est, id ego ad illud faouin 
 sepositura putabam. Ad Att. 15. Id. 
 
 f Mihi adhuc nihil prius fuit hac solitudine, qiiam vereor, lie Phi- 
 lippus tollat : heri enim vesperi venerat. lb. 12. 16. 
 
 Q,uod eram ventus, non obturbavit Philippus : nam ut heri me sa- 
 lutavit, statim Romam profectus est. lb. 18. 
 
390 THE LIFE OF sect. vm. 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 62.— C. Jul. Caesar Diet. III. M. Aemil. Lepidus- Mag. Equit. 
 
 avoid them.^ A denial so peremptory confirms 
 what Plutarch says, that his wife was now in dis- 
 grace with him, on account of her carriage to- 
 wards his daughter, and for seeming to rejoice at 
 her death : a crime which in the tenderness of his 
 affliction, appeared to him so heinous, that he 
 could not bear the thoughts of seeing her any more ; 
 and, though it was inconvenient to him to part 
 with her fortune at this time, yet he resolved to 
 send her a divorce, as a proper sacrifice to the ho- 
 nour of Tullia.t 
 
 Brutus likewise about this time took a resolution 
 of putting away his wife Claudia, for the sake of 
 taking Porcia, Bibulus's widow, and his uncle Cato's 
 daughter. But he was much censured for this step ; 
 since Claudia had no stain upon her character ; was 
 nobly born; the sister of Appius Claudius ; and near- 
 ly allied to Pompey ; so that his mother Servilia, 
 though Cato's sister, seems to have been averse to 
 the divorce, and strongly in the interests of Clau- 
 dia, against her niece. Cicero's advice upon it 
 was, that if Brutus was resolved upon the thing, 
 he should do ft out of hand, as the best way to put 
 an end to people's talking; by shewing, that it 
 was not done out of levity or complaisance to the 
 
 *Publiliaad me scripsit, matrem suam cum Piihlilio ad me ventii- 
 ram, et se una, si ego paterer : orat multis et supplicibus verbis ut 
 liceat, et ut sibi rescribam rescripsi, me etiam gravius esse affec- 
 tum, quam tum, cum illi dixissem, me solum esse velle, quare nolle 
 
 me hoc tempore eam ad me venire- te hoc nunc rogo ut explores. 
 
 lb. 32. 
 
 f This affair of Publilia's divorce is frequently referred to, though 
 with some obscurity, in his letters ; and we find Atticus employed 
 by him afterwards to adjust with the brother Publilius, and the time 
 and manner of paying back the fortune. Vid. Ad Att. 13. 34. 47. 
 16.2. 
 
S£CT. YIII. 
 
 CICERO. 391 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic 62.— C. Jul. Caesar Diet. IIL M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 times, but to take the daughter of Cato, whose 
 naaie was now hiii^hly popular :^ which Brutus soon 
 after complied with, and made Porcia his wife. 
 
 There happened another accident this summer, 
 which raised a i^reat alarm in the city ; the surprising 
 death of Marcellus, wliom Caesar had lately par- 
 doned. He had left Mitylene, and was come as 
 far as Piraeeus, on his way towards Rome ; where 
 he spent a day with his old friend and colieao;ue, 
 Serv. Sulpicius, intending to pursue his voyage the 
 day following by sea ; but in the night, after Sul- 
 picius had taken leave of him, on the twenty-third 
 of May, he was killed by his friend and client, 
 Magius, who stabbed himself instantly with the 
 same poignard : of which Sulpicius sent the fol- 
 lowing account to Cicero. 
 
 Serv. Sulpicius to M. T. Cicero. 
 
 " Though T know that the news which I am go- 
 -'' ing to tell you will not be agreeable, yet since 
 " chance and nature govern the lives of us all, I 
 " thought it my duty to acquaint you wdth the fact, 
 ** in what manner soever it happened. On the 
 " twenty-second of May I came by sea from Epi- 
 " daurus to Piraeeus, to meet my colleague Mar- 
 " celhjs, and for the sake of his company, spent 
 " that day w^ith him there. The next day, when I 
 
 * A to expectosi quid de Bnito ; quanquain Nicias confectum pu- 
 tabat, sed divortium non probari. — Ad Att. 13. 9. 
 
 Brutus si quid — curabis ut sciara. Cui quidem quam primum agen- 
 dum pu to, praesertira si statuit ; sennunculum enira oinuera aut re- 
 stinxerit aut sedarit. lb. 10. 
 
392 THE LIFE OP sect. vni. 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 62.— C. Jul. Caesar Diet. III. M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 " took my leave of him, with design to go from 
 " Athens into Boeotia, to finish the remaining part 
 " of my jurisdiction, he, as he told me, intended to 
 '« set sail at the same time towards Italy. The day 
 "' following, about four in the morning, when I was 
 " preparing to set out from Athens, his friend, P. 
 " Postumius, came to let me know that Marcellus 
 " was stabbed by his companion, P. Magius Cilo, 
 " after supper, and had received two wounds, the 
 " one in his stomach, the other in his head near 
 " the ear, but he was in hopes still that he might 
 "live; that Magius presently killed himself; and 
 *' that Marcellus sent him to inform me of the 
 ^' case, and to desire that I would bring some phy- 
 ♦' sicians to him. I got some together immediate- 
 '^ ly, and went away with them before break of 
 " day : but when I was come near Piraeeus, Aci- 
 /' dinus's boy met me with a note from his master, 
 " in which it was signified, that Marcellus died a 
 ** Utile before day. Thus a great man was mur- 
 " dered by a base villain ; and he, whom his very 
 "enemies had spared on the account of his dignity, 
 ^* received his death from the hands of a friend. 
 " I went forwatd, however, to his tent, where I 
 " found two of his freedmen, and a few of his 
 *^ slaves ; all the rest, they said, were fled, being 
 " in a terrible fright, on the account of their mas- 
 *' ter's murder. I was forced to carry his body 
 " with me into the city, in the same litter in which 
 " I came, and by my own servants, where I pro- 
 " vided a funeral fox him, as splendid as the 
 " condition of Athens would allow. I could not 
 ** prevail with the Athenians to grant a place of 
 " burial for him within the city ; they said, that 
 " it was forbidden bv their religion, and had never 
 
lECT. VIII. CICERO. 393 
 
 A. Utb, 708. Cic. 62.— C. Jul, Caesar Diet. III. M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. ' 
 
 " been indulged to any man : but they readily 
 " granted, what was the most desirable in the next 
 " place, to bury him in any of their publick schools 
 '' that I pleased. I chose a place, therefore, the 
 *' noblest in the universe, the School (f the Arade- 
 " my, where I burnt him ; and have since given 
 " orders, that the Athenians should provide a marble 
 "monument for him in the same place. Thus I 
 '* have faithfully performed to him, both when liv- 
 " ino- and dead, every duty Avhich our partnership in 
 " office, and my particular relation to him, required. 
 " Adieu. The thirtieth of May from Athens."* 
 
 M. Marcellus was the head of a family, which, 
 for a succession of many ages, had made the first 
 figure in Rome ; and was himself adorned with all 
 the virtues that could qualify him to sustain that 
 dignity, which he derived from his noble ancestors. 
 He had formed liimself in a particular manner for 
 the bar, w4iere he soon acquired great fame ; and, of 
 all the orators of his time, seems to have approached 
 the nearest to Cicero himself, in the character of a 
 complete speaker. His manner of speaking was 
 elegant, strong, and copious ; with a sweetness of 
 voice, and propriety of action, that added a grace 
 and lustre to every thing that he said. He was a 
 constant admirer and imitator of Cicero ; of the 
 same principles in peace, and on the same side in 
 war; so that Cicero laments his absence, as the loss 
 of a companion and partner in their common studies 
 and labours of life. Of all the magistrates, he was 
 the fiercest opposer of Caesar's powder, and the 
 most active to reduce it : his high spirit, and the 
 
 ^Ep. Fam. 4. 12. 
 
 VOL. II. 50 
 
394, THE LIFE OF sect, vin 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 62.— C. Jul. Caesar Diet. III. M- Aeiiiil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 ancient glory of his house, made hitn impatient 
 under the thou<>;ht of receiving a master ; and when 
 the battle of Pharsalia seemed at last to have im- 
 posed one upon them, he retired to Mitylene, the 
 usual resort of men of learning ; tliere to spend the 
 rest of his days in a studious retreat, remote from 
 arms and the hurry of war ; and determined nei- 
 ther to seek nor to accept any grace from the con- 
 queror. Here Brutus paid him a visit, and found 
 him, as he gave an account to Cicero, as perfectly 
 easy and happy under all the misery of the times, 
 from the consciousness of his integrity, as the con- 
 dition of human life could bear ; surrounded with 
 the principal scholars and philosophers of Greece, 
 and eager in the pursuit of knowledge : so that, in 
 departing from him towards Italy, " he seemed," 
 he said, *' to be going himself into exile, rather than 
 " leaving Marcellus in it."* 
 
 Magius, who killed him, was of a family whicti 
 had borne some of the publick offices, and had 
 
 * Mihi, inquit, Marcelhis satis est notns. Quid igitur de illo judi- 
 cas ? — quod habitur^ es sjmilem tui — ita est, et vehenienter placets 
 3Vam et didicit, et omissis caeteris studiis. id egit uniim, seseque quoti- 
 dianis commentationibus acerrime exercuit. Ilaque et lectis u'. itur 
 verbis et frequentibus ; et splendore vocis, dignitate inotus, fit spe- 
 ciosum et illustre, quod dicitur; oirui'aque sic suppetunt, ut ei nullam 
 deesse virtutem oratoris putein. Brut. 367. 
 
 DolebaiB, patres conscripti,— ilto aemulo atque imitatore studiorum 
 nrieorura, quasi quodain socio a ine et comite distracto — quis eniiu est 
 illo aut nobilitate, aut probitate, aut optimaruui artiuiii studio, aut 
 innocentia, aut ullo genere laudis praestautior ? Fro Marcel. 1. 
 
 Noslri enim seusus, ut in pace semper, sic turn etiara in belto con- 
 gruebant. lb. 6. 
 
 Qui hoc tempore ipso — in hoc communi nostro et quasi fatal! malo, 
 con-^oletur se cum conscientia optimae menlis, turn etiara usnrpatione 
 ac renovatione doctrinae. Vidi enim Mitylenis nuper virum, atque 
 ut Hxi, vidi plane virum. Itaque cum eum antea tui similera jn di- 
 cendo viderim; turn vero nunc doctissimo viro, tibique ut intellexi, 
 amicissimo Cratippo, instructum omni copia, raulto videbam similio" 
 rena. Brut. Ibid. Vid. Senec. Consolat. Ad Heiv. p. 79. 
 
SECT. viii. CICERO. 39i 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 62.— C. Jul. Caesar Diet. III. M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 himself been quaestor;^ and, having attached him- 
 self to the fortunes of MarcelJus, and followed him 
 through the wars and his exile, was now returning 
 with him to Italy, hulpicius gives no hint of any 
 cause that induced him to commit this horrid fact : 
 which, by the immediate death of Magius, could 
 never be clearly known. Cicero's conjecture was, 
 that Magius, oppressed with debts, and apprehend- 
 ing some trouble on that score at his return, had 
 been urging Marcellus, who was his sponsor for 
 some part of them, to furnish him with money to 
 pay the whole ; and, by receiving a denial, was pro- 
 voked to the madness of killing his patron.f Others 
 assign a different reason, as the rage of jealousy, 
 and the impatience of seeing others more favoured 
 by Marcellus, than himself.J 
 
 As soon as the news reached Rome, it raised a 
 general consternation : and, from the suspicious na- 
 ture of the times, all people's thoughts were pre- 
 sently turned on Caesar, as if he were privately the 
 contriver of it ; and, from the wretched fate of so 
 illustrious a citizen, every man began to think him- 
 self in danger : Cicero was greatly shocked at it, 
 and seemed to consider it as the prelude of some 
 greater evil to ensue ; and Atticus, signifying his 
 concern upon it, advises him to take a more particu- 
 
 * Vid. Pigh. Annal. A. U. 691. 
 
 fQiianquam nihil habeo quod diibitem. nisi ipsi Magio quae fucrit 
 causa aiTientiae. Pro quo qnidem etiam sponsor Sunii factus est. 
 Ximiruin id fuit. Solveudo eniin non erat. Credo eum a Marcello pe- 
 tiisse aliquid, et ilium, ut erat, constantius respondisse. Ad Att. 
 13. 10. 
 
 X Indiguatus aliquein amicorum ab eo sibi praeferri. Val. Max. 
 i). 11. 
 
tiQ6 THE LIFE OF sect. viii. 
 
 A. Uib. 708. Cic. 62.— C. JrJ. Caesar Diet. III. M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 lar care of himself, as being the only consular sena- 
 tor left, who stood exposed to any envy."^ But 
 Caesar's friends soon cleared him of all suspicion ; 
 as indeed the fact itself did, when the circumstances 
 came to be known, and fixed the whole guilt of it 
 on the fury of Magius. 
 
 There appeared at this time a bold impostor, who 
 began to make a great noise and fit>;ure in Italy, by 
 assuming the name, and pretending to be the grand- 
 son of Caius Marius : but, apprehending that Cae- 
 sar would soon put an end to his pretensions, and 
 treat him as he deserved, he sent a pathetick letter 
 to Cicero, by some young fellows of his company, 
 to justify his claim and descent, and to implore his 
 protection against the enemies of his family ; con- 
 juring him, by their relation; by the poem, which 
 lie had formerly written in praise of Marius : by 
 the eloquence of L. Crassus, his mother's father, 
 whom he had likewise celebrated, that he would 
 undertake the defence of his cause : Cicero answer- 
 ed him very gravely, that he could not want a pa- 
 tron, when tiis kinsman Caesar, so excellent and ge- 
 nerous a man, was now the master of all ; yet. that 
 he also should be ready to favour him.f But Cae- 
 sar, at his return, knowing him to be a cheat, ba- 
 
 * Minime miror te et graviter ferre de Marcello, et pliira vereri peri- 
 culi genera. Q,iiis enira lioc timeret, quod neqne acciderat antea, uec 
 videbatur natiira ferre, ut accidere posset. Omnia igitiir metuenda, 
 etc. Ad Att. 13. 10. 
 
 f Heri— quidam urbani, nt 'videbantur, ad me mandata et litteras 
 attnlernnt, a C. Mario, C. F. C. N. multis verbis agere mecum per 
 c«»guationem, quae mihi secum esset, per eum Marium, quern scripsis- 
 sem, per eloquentiam L. Crassi avi sui, ut se delenderem. Kescripsi, 
 nihil et patrono opus esse, quoniam Caesaris. propinqui ejus, onin.is po- 
 teMas esset, viri optimi et hominis liberalissimi : me tamea ei fautu- 
 rum. Ad Att. 12. 49. 
 
SECT. viii. CICERO. 397 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cie. 62.— C. Jul. Caesar Diet. III. M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 nished him out of Italy ; since, instead of being 
 what he pretended to be, he was found to be only 
 a farrier, whose true name was Herophihis.^ 
 
 Ariarathes, the brother and presumptive heir of 
 Ariobarzanes, king of Cappadocia, came to Rome 
 this year ; and, as Cicero had a particular friend- 
 ship with his family, and, when consul, had, by a 
 decree of the senate, conferred upon his father the 
 honour of the regal title, he thought proper to 
 send a servant to meet him on the road, and invite 
 him to his liouse : but he was already engaged by 
 Sestius, whose office it then was, to receive foreign 
 princes and ambassadours at the publick expense ; 
 which Cicero was not displeased with, in the pre- 
 sent state of his domestick affairs : " he comes," says 
 he, " I guess, to purchase some kingdom of Cae- 
 " sar, for he has not at present a foot of land of 
 " his own."t 
 
 Cicero's whole time during his solitude was em- 
 ployed in reading and writing : this was the bu.-i- 
 ness both of his days and nights : " it is incredible," 
 he says, '* how much he wrote, and how little he 
 " slept : and if he had not fallen into that way of 
 " spending his time, he should not have known 
 
 * Heropliilus equarius medicus, C. Marinm septiesConsulem avum 
 sibi vindicaudo, ita so cxtiilit, ut coloniae veteranorum coinpluies 
 et niiiuicipia splend;«la, collegiaque fere omnia pationniii adopta- 
 rent — oaeteruin decreto Caesaiis extra Italiam relo2;atus, etc. Val. 
 Max. 9. 1,'). 
 
 f Ariarathes, Ariobarzani filiiis, Romam venit. Viilf, opinor. reg- 
 num aliquod eiuere a Caesare : nam. quo inodo nunc est, pedcm nhi 
 ponat ill sno non habet. Oninino eum !^estius noster parochus piib- 
 liciis occupavit : quod qniriem fa< ile patior. Vernmianx n quod ii:ihi, 
 suraino beneficio meo, magna cum iVatrihus illius nece^situdo est, in- 
 vito eum per litteras, ut apud me diversetur. Ad Att. 13. 2 
 
398 THE LIFE OF sect. viii. 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 62.--C. Jul. Caesar Diet. III. M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 *' what to do with himself."^ His studies were 
 chiefly philosophical, which he had been fond of 
 from his youth, and, after a long intermission, now 
 resumed with great ardour ; having taken a reso- 
 lution, to explain to his countrymen, in their own 
 language, whatever the Greeks had taught on 
 every part of philosophy, whether speculative or 
 practical : " For being driven," as he tells us, 
 " from the publick administration, he knew no way 
 *' so effectual of doing good, as by instructing the 
 " minds, and reforming the morals of the youth ; 
 ^' which, in the license of those times, wanted every 
 " help to restrain and correct them. The calamity 
 " of the city," says he, " made this task necessary 
 ** to me : since, in the confusion of civil arms, I 
 ^' could neither defend it after my old way ; nor, 
 *' when it w^as impossible for me to be idle, could T 
 " find any thing better on which to employ my- 
 *' self. My citizens therefore will pardon, or rather 
 "thank me, that, when the government was fallen 
 *' into the power of a single person, I neither whol- 
 *« ly hid, nor afflicted myself unnecessarily ; nor 
 " acted in such^ manner as to seem angry at the 
 " man, or the times ; nor yet flattered or admired 
 " the fortune of another, so as to be displeased 
 " with my own. For I had learnt from Plato and 
 "philosophy, that these turns and i evolutions of 
 " states are natural ; sometimes into the hands of 
 " a ferv^ sometimes of the many, sometimes of one : 
 " as this was the case of our own republick, so 
 ** when I was deprived of my former post in it, I 
 
 '■'' Credibile non est, quantum scribam die, quin etiara noctibns. 
 Nihil eniin sorani. lb. 26. 
 
 Nisi mihi hoc venisset in nientem scribere ista nescio quae, quo 
 sreterem me non haberem. lb. 1.0. 
 
SECT. VIII. CICERO. 399 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 5S.— C. Jul. Caesar Diet. III. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 " betook myself to these studies, in order to re- 
 " lieve my mind from the sense of our common 
 " miseries, and to serve my country at the same 
 " time in the best manner that I was able : for my 
 " books supplied the place of my votes in the se- 
 " nate and of my speeches to the people, and I 
 *' took up philosophy, as a substitute for my ma- 
 " nagement of the state."^ 
 
 He now published, therefore, in the way of 
 dialogue, a book which he called Hortensius, in ho- 
 nour of his deceased friend : where, in a debate 
 of learning, he did, what he had often done in 
 contests of the bar, undertake the defence of phi- 
 losophy against Hortensius, to whom he assigned 
 the part of arraigning it.f It was the reading of 
 this book, long since unfortunately lost, which 
 first injflamed St. Austin, as he himself somewhere 
 declares, to the study of the Christian Philosophy : 
 and if it had yielded no other fruit, yet happy it 
 was to the world, that it once subsisted, to be the 
 instrument of raising up so illustrious a convert 
 and champion to the Church of ChrisLt 
 
 * Divin. 2. 2.— deFin. 1.3. 
 
 f Cohoitati siimus, iit maxirae potuinius, and philosophiac stnJiiim 
 eo libi'o, qui est iuscriptus, Hortensius— de Div. 2. 1. 
 
 Nos autem universae philosophiae vituperatoribus respondiraus in 
 Hortensio. Tusc. Dip. 2. 2. 
 
 I It is certain, that all the Latin Fathers made great use of Ci- 
 cero's writings ; and especially Jerome, who was not so grateful as 
 Austin, in acknowledging the benefit ; for, having conceived some 
 scruples on that score in his declining age, he endeavoured to dis- 
 courage his disciples from reading them at all ; and declared, thaf 
 he had not taken either Cicero or Maro, or any heathen writer, into 
 his hands for above Jifteen years : for which his adversary Huffinus 
 rallies him very severely. Vid. Hieron. Op. Tom. 4. par. 2. p. 4U, 
 it. par. 1. p. 288. Edit. Benedict.— 
 
400 THE LIFE OF sect, vhi 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic 62.— C. Jul. Cae'ar Diet. III. M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 He drew up also about this time, in four books, 
 a particular account and defence of the Philoso- 
 phy of the Academy ; the sect which he himself 
 followed, beini>;, as he says, of all others the most 
 consistent with itself, and the least arroo;ant, as 
 well as most elegant.* He had before published a 
 work on the same subject in two books, the one 
 called Catulus, the oiheiLucullus ; but considering 
 that the argument was not suited to the characters 
 of the speakers, who were not particularly re- 
 markable for any ^udy of that sort, he was think- 
 ing to change them to Cato and Brutus : when At- 
 ticus happening to signify to him, that Yarro had 
 expressed a desire to be inserted in some of his 
 writings, he presently reformed his scheme, and 
 enlarged it into four books, which be addressed 
 to Yarro, taking upon himself the part of Philo, of 
 defending the Principles of the Academy, and as- 
 signing to Yarro that of Antiochus, of opposing 
 and confuting them, and introducing Atticus as 
 the moderator of the dispute. He finished the 
 whole with great accuracy, so as to make it a 
 present worth;)^ of Yarro ; ''and if he was not de- 
 *' ceived," he says, " by a partiality, and self-love, 
 " too common in such cases, there was nothing 
 '' on the subject equal to it, even among the 
 " Greeks."! All these four books, excepting part 
 
 * Qnod genus philosophaudi minime arrogans. maximeque ct con- 
 stans, et elegans arbitrareiuur, quatuor Acadeinicis libris ostendi- 
 mus. De Divin 2. 3. 
 
 f Ergo illam 'Ajt*<r«^w»v, in qua homines, nobiles i!!i qnidein, sad 
 nuilo raodo phiiologi, nimis acute loqnuntiir, ad Vanoneuj transfera- 
 mus — Caliilo et Luciillo alibi reponnmiis. — Ad Au. 13. 12. 
 
 Quod ad me de Varrone srrip^eras, totam Academiam ab-horai- 
 nibus nobilis>imis absluli ; Iranstuli ad nostrum sof;al<m et ex-duo- 
 bus libris contuli in quatuor — libri quidem ita exierunt, (nisi me 
 
SECT. VIII. CICERO. 40i 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 62.— C. Jul. Caesar Diet. III. M. Aemil, Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 of the first, are now lost ; whilst the second hook of 
 the first edition, which he took some pains to sup- 
 press, remains still entire, under its original title of 
 Lucullus. 
 
 He published likewise this year one of the no- 
 blest of his works, and on th:-^ noblest subject of 
 philosophy, his treatise called, De Finibus^ or of the 
 Chief Good and III of 3Ian, written in Aristotle's 
 manner,^ in which he explained, with o;reat ele- 
 gance and perspicuity, the several opinions of all the 
 ancient sects on that most important question *" It 
 ''is there required," he tells us, '' what is the chief 
 *' end to which all the views of life ouoht to be re- 
 " ferred, in order to make it happy : or what it is 
 "which nature pursues as the supreme good, and 
 "shuns as the worst of ills."t The work consists 
 of five books: in the two first, the Epicurean doc- 
 trine is largely opened and discussed, being defend- 
 ed by Torquatus, and confuted by Cicero, in a 
 conference, supposed to be lield in his Cuman Vil- 
 la, in the presence of Tiiarius, a young gentle- 
 man who came with Torquatus to visit him. The 
 two next explain the doctrine of the Sloicks, assert- 
 ed by Cato, and opposed by Cicero, in a friendly 
 debate, upon their meeting actidently in lucul- 
 lus's library. 'J'he fifth contains the opinions of 
 
 forte communis ^tkeivJiat. decipit) ut in tali genere ne apud Graecos qui- 
 dera qiiicqtiam simile. lb. 13. vide it. lb. 16. 19. 
 
 * Quae autem his temporibus scripsi ^ A^ta-Tiltxtiov morem habent— 
 ita confeci qiiinque libros Trt^t rtKav — lb. 19. 
 
 f Turn id, quod his libris qiiaeritnr, quid sit finis, quid extremum, 
 quid ultimum, quo sint omnia bene vivendi, recteqiie fa( ien.ii consi- 
 lia referenda. Quid seqnatiir nalura, ut suramum ex rebus expeleu- 
 dis; quid fugiat ut extremum malorum. De Fiu. 1. 4 
 VOL. IT. H} 
 
4m THE LIFE OF sect. viii» 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 62.— C. Jul. Caesar Diet. III. M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 the old Academy, or the Pcripateiicks. explained by 
 Piso in a third dialogue, supposed to be held at 
 Atliens, in the presence of Cicero, his brother 
 ftuintus, his cousin Lucius, and Alticus. The 
 criticks have observed some impropriety in this 
 last book, in making Piso refer to the other two 
 dialogues, of which he had no share, and could not 
 be presumed to have any knowledge.^ But if any 
 inaccuracy of that kind be really found in this, or 
 any other of his works, it may reasonably be ex- 
 cused by that multiplicity of affiiirs, which scarce 
 allowed him time to write, much less to revise what 
 he wrote : and in dialogues of length, composed 
 by piece-meal, and in the short intervals of leisure, 
 it cannot seem strange that he should sometimes 
 forget his artificial, to resume his proper character, 
 and enter inadvertently into a part which he had 
 assigned to another. He addressed this work to 
 Brutus, in return for a present of the same kind, 
 which Brutus had sent to him a little before, a Trea- 
 tise upon Virtue.^ 
 
 Not long after he had finished this work, he 
 published sfnot^ier of equal gravity, called his Tus- 
 culan Dispytalions, in five books also, upon as many 
 different questions in philosophy, the most impor- 
 tant and useful to the happiness of human life. The 
 first teaches us, "how to contemn the terrours of 
 "death, and to look upon it as a blessing rather 
 "than an evil :" The second, " to support pain and 
 " affliction with a maqly fortitude :" I'iie third, " to 
 " appease all our complaints and uneasinesses under 
 " the accidents of life :" The fourth, " to moderate all 
 
 * Vid. Praefat. Davis in Lib de Finib. + De Finib. 1.3. 
 
SECT. vni. CICERO. 403 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 62.— C. Jul. Caesar Diet. III. M. Aeniil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 " our other passions :" The Jiflh, " to evince the 
 " sufficiency of virtue to make man happy." It 
 was his custom, in the opportunities of his leisure, 
 to take some friends with him into the country, 
 where, instead of amusing themselves with idle 
 sports or feasts, their diversions were wholly spe- 
 culative, tendino; to improve the mind and enlarge 
 the understanding. In this manner he now spent 
 five days at his Tusculan villa, in discussing with his 
 friends the several questions just mentioned : For, 
 after employing the mornings in declaiming and 
 rhetorical exercises, they used to retire, in the after- 
 noon, into a gallery, called the Academy^ which he 
 had built for the purpose of philosophical confer- 
 ences : where, after the manner of the Greeks, he 
 held a school, as they called it, and invited the com- 
 pany to call for any subject that they desired to 
 hear explained ; which, being proposed according- 
 ly by some of the audience, became immediately 
 the argument of that day's debate. These five 
 conferences or dialogues he collected afterwards 
 into writing, in the very words and manner in which 
 they really passed, and published them under the 
 title of his Tusculan Disputations^ from the name of 
 the villa in which they were held.^^ 
 
 He wrote also a little piece, in the way of a fu- 
 neral encomium, in praise of Porcia, the sister of 
 
 * In Tusciilano, cum essent compliircs mecmn fainiliares — poiiere 
 jubebani, de quo quis audira vellet; ad id auL sedei.s aiit ambiiians 
 disputabain. Itaque dierum quiiiqnc Scliolas, ut Graeci appellant, 
 in totidem libros contuli. Tuso. Disp. 1. 4. 
 
 Itaque cum anle meridiem dictioni operam dedissemus — post me- 
 ridiem in acwiciniam descendimus ; in qua dispulationem habitam non 
 quasi narnintes exponimus, sed eisdem fere verbis ut actum dis puta- 
 tumqueest. lb. 2. 3. 3. 3. 
 
404 THE LIFE OF sect, vin 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 62.— C. Jul. Caesar Diet III. M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 Cato, and wife of Domitius Ahenobarbus, Caesar's 
 mortal enemy ; which shews how little he was still 
 disposed to court the times. Varro and Lollius at- 
 tempted the same subject, and Cicero desires Atti- 
 cus to send him their compositions ; but all the 
 three are now lost, thouj^h Cicero took the pains to 
 revise and correc t his, and sent copies of it after- 
 wards to Domitius the son, and Brutus the nephew^ 
 of that Porcia.* 
 
 Caesar continued all this while in Spain, pur- 
 suino^ the sons of Pompey, and providing^ for the 
 future peace and settlement of the province ; 
 wlience he paid Cicero the compliment of sending 
 him an account of his success with his own hand. 
 Hirtius also gave him early intelligence of the de- 
 feat and flight of the two brothers, which was not 
 disagreeable to him ; for, though he was not much 
 concerned about the event of the war, and ex- 
 pected no good from it on either side, yet the 
 opinion which he had conceived of the fierceness 
 and violence of the young Pompeys, especially of 
 the elder of them, Cnaeus, engaged his W'ishes 
 rather for'^Cacsar. In a letter to Atticus, " Hir- 
 " tius, (says he,) wrote me word, that Sextus Pom- 
 "pey had withdrawn himself from Corduba into 
 " the hither Spain ; and that Cnaeus too was fled, 
 " I know not whither, nor in truth do I care :"t 
 
 *Lan<]ationem Porciae tibi misi correetam : ac eo properavi ; ut si 
 forte aiit Doinitio fiiio acit Bruto miltert^tur, haec initteretur. Id si 
 tibi erii cominodura, niasrn(>pere cures velim ; et veliin ; M. Varro- 
 nis, Lolliique mittas laudaiionem. Ad Att. 13. 48. it. lb. 37. 
 
 I Hirtin«! ad me srripsit, Sex. Pompeiiim Corduba exisse. et fugis- 
 se in Hispaniani citeriorein ; Cnaeuui lugisse nescio quo, nequeenira 
 euro. Ad Att. 13. 37, 
 
SECT. viif. CICERO. 405 
 
 A. Urb. 109. Gic» 62.--C. Jul. Caeam- Diet IIL M. Aerail. Lepidm. IVfag. Equit. 
 
 And this indeed seems to have been the common 
 sentiment of all the republicans, as Cassius him- 
 self, writing to Cicero on the same subject, de- 
 clares still more explicitly : '• May I perish, (says 
 ** he,) if I be not solicitous about the event of 
 " things in Spain, and would rather keep our old 
 " clement master, than try a new and cruel one. 
 *' you know what a fool Cnaeus is ; how he takes 
 ^^ cruelty for a virtue j how he has always thought 
 " that we laughed at him : I am afraid, lest he 
 " should take it into his head to repay our jokes, 
 " in his rustick maimer, with the sword."* 
 
 Young duintus Cicero, w^ho made the campaign 
 along with Caesar, thinking to please his company, 
 and to make his fortunes the better among them, 
 began to play over his old game, and to abuse 
 his uncle again in all places. Cicero, in his ac- 
 count of it to Atticus, says, " there is nothing 
 "new, but that Hirtius has been quarrelling in my 
 "defence with our nephew Quintus, who takes 
 " all occasions of saying every thing bad of me, 
 "and especially at publick feasts; and when he 
 " has done with me, falls next upon his father : 
 " He is thought to say nothing so credible, as that 
 " we are both irreconcilable to Caesar ; that Cae- 
 "sar should trust neither of us, and even beware 
 " of me : This would be terrible, did I not see 
 " tliat our king is persuaded tliat 1 have no spirit 
 " left."t 
 
 * Peream, nisi sollicitus sura ; ac malo veterem ac clementera do- 
 rniniira habere, qnam novum et cnideleiu cxpeiiri, Scis, Cnaeus 
 quani sit latuns ; scis. qiiomodo ciudelitatem virtutera putet ; scis, 
 quani se semper a nobis derisum putet. .^ 
 
 Vereor, ue nos ruslice giadio velit tiy]ifxvK%^iadii. Ep. Fam. 1.'). 19. 
 
 fNovi sane nihil, ni<;i Hirtinm cum Quinto acerrime pro me liti- 
 gasse ; omnibus cum locis I'acere, maximeque in conviviisi cum mul- 
 
406 THE LIFE OF sect. viii. 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 62.— C. Jul. Caesar Diet. III. M. Aerail. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 Atticus was always endeavouring to moderate 
 Cicero's impatience under the present govern- 
 ment, and persuading him to comply more cheer- 
 fully with the times ; nor to reject the friendship 
 of Caesar, which was so forwardly offered to him : 
 And, upon his frequent complaints of the slavery 
 and indignity of his present condition, he took oc- 
 casion to observe, what Cicero could not but own 
 to be true, " that, if to pay a particular court and 
 " observance to a man was the mark of slavery, 
 " those in power seemed to be slaves rather to him, 
 '' than he to them.""^ With the same view, he was 
 now pressing him, among his other works, to think 
 of something to be addressed to Caesar ; but Cicero 
 had no appetite to this task ; he saw how difficult 
 it would be to perform it, without lessening his 
 character, and descending to flattery ; yet being 
 urged to it also by other friends, he drew up a let- 
 ter, w^hich was communicated to Hirtius and Bal- 
 bus,'for their judgment upon it, whether it was 
 proper to be sent to Caesar ? The subject seems to 
 have been some advice about restoring the peace 
 and liberty of the republick,^ and to dissuade him 
 from the PaYthfein war, which he intended for, his 
 next expedition, till he had finished the more ne- 
 cessary work of settling the state of thino;s at home. 
 There was nothing in it, he says, but Vv^hat might 
 come from the best of citizens. It was drawn, 
 however, with so much freedom, that, though At- 
 
 ta de rae, turn redire ad patrein : Nihil autem ab eo tarn a.^n>7ri<rrm di- 
 ci, quam alieiiissiraos iios esse a Caesare ; fidera nobis habeudam, 
 non esse ; rae vero cavendura. <:poy2sg3v«v> nisi viderem scire Regem, me 
 animi nihil habere. Ad Att. 13.37. 
 
 * Et si mehercule, ut tu intelligis, magis mihi isti serviunt, si ob- 
 fervare servire est. Ad Att. 13. 49. 
 
SECT. VIII. CICERO. 40t 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic 62.— C. Jul. Caesar Diet. III. M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 ticus seemed pleased with it, yet the other two 
 durst not advise the sending it, unless some passa- 
 ges were altered and softened, which disgusted Ci- 
 cero so much, that he resolved not to write at all ; 
 and, when Atticus was still urging him to be more 
 complaisant, he answered with great spirit in two 
 or three letters."* 
 
 • " As for the letter to Caesar," says he, "I was 
 *^ always very willing that they should first read it : 
 " for otherwise, I had been wanting in civility to 
 " them ; and if I had happened to give offence, ex- 
 *' posed myself also to danger. They have dealt 
 " ingenuously and kindly with me, in not conceal- 
 " ing what they thought : but what pleases me the 
 *' most is, that, by requiring so many alterations, 
 " they give me an excuse for not writing at all. 
 " As to the Parthian war, what had I to consider 
 " about it, but that which I thought would please 
 " him ? for what subject was there else for a letter, 
 '' but tlaltery ? or if I had a mind to advise, what 
 " I really took to be the best, could I have been 
 " at a loss for words ? there is no occasion theie- 
 " fore for any letter : for where there is no great 
 " matter to be gained, and a slip, though not 
 " great, may make us uneasy, what reason is there 
 " to run any risk ? especially when it is natural for 
 
 * Epistolam ad Caesareni mitti video tibi placere — miiii qijidem 
 hoc idem maxime placuit, (^t eo magis, quod nihil est in ea nisi opiimi 
 civis, sed ita optinii, ut tempora, quibus parere omnes TrcKiliy-oi pracci- 
 piunt. Sed scis ita nobis esse visum, ut isti ante legeient. Tu igi- 
 tur id curabis. Sed nisi plane intelliges iis plarerei inittenda noo 
 est. Ad Att. 12. 51. 
 
 De epistola ad Caesarem, KiK^u^t. Atque id ipsum, quod isti aiunt 
 illuiu scribere, se, nisi constitutis rebus, non iturum in Parthos. idem 
 ego suadebani in ilia epistola. lb. 13. 31. 
 
408 THE LIFE OF sect. viu. 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 62.— C. Jul. Caesar Diet. III. M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit 
 
 " him to think, that as I wrote nothing; to him be- 
 ^' fore, so I should have written nothing; now, had 
 " not the war been wholly ended : besides, I am 
 " afraid lest he should imatrine, that I sent this 
 '' as a sweetner for my Cato : in short, I was hear- 
 *' tily ashamed of what I had written ; and nothinor 
 *' could fall out more luckily, than that it did not 
 " please."^ 
 
 Again, "As for w riting to Caesar, I swear to 
 " you, I cannot do it : nor is it yet the shame of it 
 " that deters me, which ousjht to do it the most ; 
 *' for how mean would it be to flatter, when even 
 " to live is base in me ? but it is not, as I was say- 
 '' ini;, this shame which hinders me, thouiijh I wish 
 " it did ; for I should tlien be, what I ouo;ht to be ; 
 " but I can think of nothincr to write upon. As 
 ^' to those exhortations, addressed to Alexander, 
 " by the eloquent and the learned of that time, you 
 " see on what points they turn : they are addressed 
 •^ to a youth, inflamed with the thirst of true ^lory, 
 '' and desiring to be advised how to acquire it. On 
 " an occasion of such dif^nity^ words can never be 
 " wanting ; butVhat can 1 do on my subject? Yet 
 *' I had scratched, as it were, out of the block, 
 " some faint resemblance of an ima2;e : but because 
 '' there were some thino-s hinted in it, a little bet- 
 " ter, than what we see done every day, it was dis- 
 " liked : I am not at all sorry for it ; for had the 
 " letter gone, take my word for it, I should have 
 '' had cause to repent; For do you not see that 
 " very scholar of Aristotle, a youth of the greatest 
 '' modesty, after he came to be called a king, grow 
 
 * Ad Att. 13. 27. 
 
SECT. VIII 
 
 CFCERO. 109 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 62.— C. Jul. Caesar Diet. III. M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 '' proud, cruel, extravao;ant ? Do you imaoine, that 
 " this man, ranked in the processions of the Jiods, 
 '' and enshrined in the same temple with Romulus, 
 " will he pleased with the moderate style of my 
 " letters 1 It is better that he be disgusted at my 
 " not writing, than at what I write : in a word, 
 " let him do what he pleases ; for that problem, 
 " which I once proposed to you, and thought so 
 " difficult, in what way I should manage him, is 
 " over with me: and in truth, I now^ wish more, to 
 " feel the eflect of his resentment, be it what it 
 " will, than I was before afraid of it."^ " I heor 
 "of you, therefore," says he, in another letter, 
 '' let us have no more of this ; but shew ourselves 
 " at least half free, by our silence and retreat."t 
 
 From this little fact, one cannot help reflecting 
 on the fatal effects of arbitrary power, upon the 
 studies and compositions of men of genius, and on 
 the restraint that it necessaiily lays on the free 
 course of good sense and truth among men. ft 
 had yet scarce shewn itself in Rome, when 
 we see one of the greatest men, as well as the 
 greatest wits, which that republick ever bred, 
 embarrassed in the choice of a subject to write 
 upon; and, for fear of offending, choosing not 
 to write at all : and it was the same power 
 which, from this beginning, gradually debased 
 the purity both of the Roman wit and language, 
 from the perfection of elegance to which Cicero 
 had advanced them, to that state of rudeness and 
 
 * Ad Att. 13. 28. 
 
 t Obsecro, abjiciainiis isfa ; et semiliberi saltern simus ; quod asse- 
 qiiemur et tacendo, et latendo— lb. 31. 
 
 TOL. II. 52 
 
410 THE LIFE OF «ect. vim- 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. G2.— C. Jul. Cae-sar Diet. III. M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equiu 
 
 barbarism, which we find in the productions of 
 the lower empire. 
 
 This was the present state of things between 
 Caesar and Cicero ; all the marks of kindness on 
 Caesar's part ; of coldness and reserve on Cicero's. 
 Caesar was determined never to part with his 
 power, and took the more pains, for that reason, 
 to make Cicero easy under it: he seems indeed 
 to have been somewhat afraid of him ; not of his 
 engaging in any attempt against his life ; but lest, 
 by his insinuations, his railleries, and his authori- 
 ty, he should excite others to some act of vio- 
 lence : but what he more especially desired and 
 wanted, was to draw from him some publick tes- 
 timony of his approbation ; and to be recommend- 
 ed by his writings to the favour of posterity. 
 
 Cicero, on the other hand, perceiving no step 
 taken towards the establishment of the republick, 
 but more and more reason every day to despair 
 of it, grew still more indifferent to every thing 
 else : the restoration of publick liberty was the 
 only conditfon *bn which he could entertain any 
 friendship with Caesar, or think and speak of him 
 with any respect : without that, no favours could 
 oblige him ; since to receive them from a master, 
 was an affront to his former dignity, and but a 
 splendid badge of servitude : books therefore were 
 his only comfort ; for while he conversed with 
 them, he found himself easy, and fancied him- 
 self free. Thus in a letter to Cassius, touching 
 
 upon the misery of the times, he adds, " What is 
 " become then, you will say, of philosophy ? Why, 
 " yours is in the kitchen ; but mine is trouble- 
 
sfcjci. viii. CICERO. 411 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic 62.— C. Jul. Caesai- Diet. III. M. Aeinil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 '' some to me : for I am ashamed to live a slave ; and 
 " fei;crn myself therefore to be doing something else, 
 *' that I may not hear the reproach of Plato."^ 
 
 During Caesar's stay in Spain, Antony set for- 
 ward from Italy, to pay his compliments to him 
 there, or to meet him at least on the road in his return 
 towards home : but when he had made about half 
 of the journey, he met with some dispatches, which 
 obliged him to turn back, in all haste, to Rome. 
 This raised a new alarm in the city ; and especially 
 among the Pompeians, who were afraid that Caesar, 
 having now subdued all opposition, was resolved, 
 after the example of former conquerors, to take 
 his revenge in cool blood on all his adversaries ; 
 and had sent Antony back, as the properest instru- 
 ment to execute some orders of that sort. Cicero 
 himself had the same suspicion, and was much sur- 
 prised at Antony's sudden return; till Balbus and 
 Oppius eased him of his apprehensions, by sending 
 him an account of the true reason of it :t which, 
 contrary to expectation, gave no uneasiness at last 
 to any body but to Antony himself. Antony had 
 , bought Pompey's houses in Rome, and the neigh- 
 bourhood, with all their rich furniture, at Caesar's 
 auction, soon after his return from Egypt; but 
 trusting to his interest with Caesar, and to the part 
 which he had borne in advancing him to his power, 
 
 * Ubi igitur, inqiiies, pliilosopliia ? 1\ia quideiti in ciilina; mea rao- 
 lesta est. Piidet eiiim servire. Itaque facio me alias res agere, ne 
 convicium Piatonii; audiam. Ep. Fam. 15. 18. 
 
 f Heri cum ex aliorum litteri?. cognovisscm de Antouii adveatu, ad- 
 miratus sum nihil esse in tuis. Ad Att. 12. IB. 
 
 De Antonio Balbus qjioqwe ad me cum Oppio conscripsit, idque tibi 
 placuisse, ne perturbarer. Ulis egi gratias. — lb. 19. 
 
412 THE LIFE OF sect. viii. 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 62.— C. Jul. Caesar Diet. III. M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 never dreamt of being obliged to pay for them; 
 but Caesar, being disfyusted by the account of his 
 debauches and extravagancies in Italy, and resolved 
 to shew himself the sole master, nor suffer any con- 
 tradiction to his will, sent peremptory orders to L. 
 Plancus, the praetor, to require immediate payment 
 of Antony, or else to levy the money upon his 
 sureties, accordinsi to the tenor of their bond. This 
 was the cause of his quick return, to prevent that 
 disgrace from falling upon him, and find some 
 means of complying with Caesar's commands : it 
 provoked him, however, to such a degree, that, in 
 the height of his resentment, he is said to have en- 
 tered into a design of taking away Caesar's life ; 
 of which Caesar himself complained openly in the 
 senate.^ 
 
 The war being ended in Spain, by the death of 
 Cnaeus Pompey, and the flight of Sextus, Caesar 
 finished his answer to Cicero's Cato, in two books, 
 which he sent immediately to Rome, in order to be 
 published. This gave Cicero at last the argument 
 of a letter to him, to return- thanks for the great 
 civility with wlfich he had treated him in that piece ; 
 and to pay his compliments likewise, in his turn, 
 upon the elegance of the composition. This letter 
 was communicated again to Balbus and Oppius, 
 who declared themselves extremely pleased with it. 
 
 * Appellatiis es de pecnnia, qnam pro domo, prohortis, pro sectione 
 
 dedebas — et ad te et ad praedes (nos milites inisit (Phil. 2. 29.) 
 
 Idcirco urbein teriore noi-tuinb, ItaJiam inultorum dierum inetu per- 
 turbasti — ne L. Plancus praedes tuos venderet — (lb. 31.) Qiiiu his 
 ipsis temporibus domi Caesaris percnssor ab isto missus, deprehensus 
 .dicebatur esse rum sioa. l)e quo Caesar in senatu, aperte in te inve- 
 iFeus, questus est — lb, 29, 
 
SECT. VIII. CICERO. 413 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 62.-.C Jul. Caesar Diet. III. M. Aemil. Lepidus. Mag. Equit. 
 
 and forwarded it directly to Caesar. In Cicero's 
 account of it to Atticus, '• I forgot," says he, '* to 
 <' send you a copy of what I wrote to Caesar : not 
 *'for the reason, which you suspect, that I was 
 " ashamed to let you see how well I could flatter : 
 " lor in truth, I wrote to hini no otherwise than as if 
 " I was writinor to an equal ; for I really have a good 
 "- opinion of his two books, as I told you, when we 
 <* were together ; *^nd w rote therefore, both, without 
 " flattering him ; and yet so, that he will read no- 
 *' thing, I believe, with more pleasure."* 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 62. Coss.— Q. Fabius Maximus. C. Trebonius. 
 
 Caesar returned to Rome about the end of Sep- 
 tember; when, divesting himself of the consulship, 
 he conferred it on Q.. Fabius Maximus, and C. 
 Trebonius, for the three remaining months of the 
 year.f Hi» first care, after his arrival, was to en- 
 tertain the city with the most splendid triumph 
 which Rome had ever seen : but the people, instead 
 
 ♦Conscripsi de his libris epistolam Caesari, quae deferretur ad Do- 
 labellam : sed ejus exeniplum misi ad Balbnm et Oppium, scripsique 
 adeos,ut tura deferri ad Dolabellam jnberent meas litteras, si ipsi ex- 
 emplum probassent ; ita mibi rescripserunt, nihil unquam se legisse 
 melius. Ad Att. 13.50. 
 
 Ad Caesarem quara niisi epistolam, ejus exerapluin fus^it me tum 
 tibi mittere ; nee id fuit quod suspicaris, lit me pudeiet tui — nee me- 
 heronle scripsi aliter, ac si t^oc ktov ofxom que scriberem. Bene enim 
 existlmo de illis libris, ut tibi coram. Itaque scripsi et atxcxajauTo?, et 
 tamen sic, ut nihil eum existiraem lecturum libeutius. lb. /)!. 
 
 t Utroqoe anno binos cousules substitnit sibi in ternos novissimos 
 menseg. Suet. J. Cafe*. 76. 
 
414 THE LIFE OF sect, viiu 
 
 A Urb. 708, Cic. 62.— Coss.— Q. Fabius Maximus. C. Trebonius. 
 
 of admirinoj and applauding it, as he expected, were 
 sullen and silent ; considering it, as it really was, a 
 triumph over themselves ; purchased by the loss of 
 their liberty, and the destruction of the best and no- 
 blest families of the republick. They had before 
 given the same proof of their discontent at the Cir- 
 censian games ; where Caesar's statue, by a decree 
 of the senate, was carried in the procession along 
 with those of the gods : for they -gave none of their 
 usual acclamations to the favourite deities, as they 
 passed, lest they should be thought to give them to 
 Caesar. Atticus sent an account of it to Cicero, 
 who says, in answer to him, " Your letter was 
 "agreeable, though the shew was so sad — the peo- 
 " pie however behaved bravely, who would not clap 
 " even the goddess Victory, for the sake of so bad 
 " a neighbour."^ Caesar however, to make amends 
 for the unpopularity of his triumph, and to put the 
 people into good humour, entertained the whole 
 city, soon after, with something more substantial 
 than shews ; two publick dinners, with plenty of 
 the most esteemed and costly wines of Chios and 
 Falernum.f 
 
 Soon after Caesar's triumph, the consul Fabius, 
 one of his lieutenants in Spain, was allowed to 
 triumph too, for the reduction of some parts of that 
 province which had revolted : but the magnificence 
 
 * Siiaves tuas Htteras ! etsi acerba porapa— populum vero praecla- 
 rum, quod propter tain malum, vicinum, ne Victoriae quidera plauditur. 
 Ad Att. 13. 44. 
 
 f Quid non et Caesar Dictator triumphi sui coena vini Falerni am- 
 phoras, Cliii cados in convivia distribuit ? idem iu Hispaniensi trium- 
 ph© Chium et Falernum dedit. Plin. Hist. 14. 15. 
 
 Adjecit post Hispaniensem victoriam duo prandia. Sneton. 38: 
 
SECT. VIII. CICERO. 415 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic 62.— Coss.— Q. Fabixis IMaximus. C. Trebonius. 
 
 of Caesar's made Fabius's triumph appear con- 
 temptible ; for his models of the conquered towns, 
 which were always a part of the shew, being made 
 only of wood, when Caesar's were of silver or 
 ivory, Chrysippus merrily called them the cases 
 only of Caesar's towns.^ 
 
 Cicero resided generally in the country, and 
 withdrew himself wholly from the senate :t but, on 
 Caesar's approach towards Home, Lepidus began 
 to press him by repeated letters, to come and give 
 them his assistance ; assuring him, that both he and 
 Caesar would take it very kindly of him. He 
 could not guess, for what particular service they 
 wanted him, except the dedication of some temple, 
 to which the presence of three augurs was neces- 
 sary.J But whatever it was, as his friends had long 
 been urginjj^ the same advice, and persuading him 
 to return to publick affairs, he consented at last, to 
 quit his retirement and come to the city ; where, 
 soon after Caesar's arrival, he had an opportunity 
 of employing his authority and eloquence, where 
 he exerted them always with the greatest pleasure, 
 in the service and defence of an old friend, king 
 Deiotarus. 
 
 * Ut Chrysippus, cum in triumpho Caesaris eboreaoppidaessent 
 translata, et post dies paucos Fabii iMaxiiui lignea, thccas esse oppido- 
 rum Caesaris dixit. Quintil. 6. 3. Diu, 234. 
 
 f Cum his temporibus noii sane in senatum ventitarem — Ep. Fam. 
 13. 77. 
 
 I Ecce tibi. erat Lepidus, ut veniara. Opinor augures nil habere 
 ad tempium efiandum. Ad Alt. 13. 42. 
 
 Lepidus ad me heri — litteras misit. Rogat magnopere ut sim Ka- 
 lend. in seuatu, me et sibi et Caesari vehementer gratum esse factu- 
 rum — lb. 47. 
 
416 THE LIFE OF sect. viii. 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 62. Coss.— Q. Fabius Maximus. C. Trebonius. 
 
 This prince had already been deprived by Cae- 
 sar of part of his dominions, for his adherence to 
 Pompey, and was now in danger of losing the rest, 
 from an accusation preferred against him by his 
 grandson, of a design pretended to have been form- 
 ed by him against Caesar's life, when Caesar was 
 entertained at his house, four years before, on 
 his return from Egypt. The charge was ground- 
 less and ridiculous ; but, under his present dis- 
 grace, any charge was sufficient to ruin him ; and 
 Caesar's countenancing it so far, as to receive and 
 hear it, shewed a strong prejudice against the king; 
 and that he wanted only a pretence for stripping 
 him of all that remained to him. Brutus likewise 
 interested himself very warmly in the same cause ; 
 and when he went to meet Caesar, on his road 
 from Spain, made an oration to him at Nicaea, in 
 favour of Deiotarus, with a freedom which start- 
 led Caesar, and gave him occasion to reflect, on 
 what he had not perceived so clearly before, the 
 invincible fierceness and vehemence of Brutus's 
 temper/^ The present trial was held in Caesar's 
 house ; wh^re /]icero so manifestly exposed the 
 malice of the accuser, and the innocence of the ac- 
 cused, that Caesar, being determined not to acquit, 
 yet ashamed to condemn him, chose the expedient 
 of reserving his sentence to farther deliberation, 
 till he should go in person into the east, and in- 
 
 =^ Ad Att. 14. 1. The Jesuits, Catron and Rouille, take Nicaea, 
 where Brutus made this speech, to be the capital of Bithynia, Deio- 
 tarus's kingdom ; but it was a city on the Ligurian coast, still called 
 Nice, where Brutus met Caesar on his last return from Spain, and 
 when he was not able to prevail for Deiotarus, Cicero was forced to 
 undertake the cause as soon as Caesar came to Rome. Vid. Hist 
 Tom. 17. p. 91. note. 
 
^ECT. VIII. ' CICERO. 417 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 62. Coss.— Q. Fabius Maximus. C. Trebonius, 
 
 form himself of the whole affair upon the spot. 
 Cicero says, *' that Deiotarus, neither present nor 
 " absent, could ever obtain any favour or equity 
 " from Caesar : and that as oft as he pleaded for 
 "him, which he was always ready to do, he could 
 '* never persuade Caesar, to think any thing rea- 
 " sonable that he asked for him."* He sent a copy 
 of his oration to the king; and, at Dolabella's 
 request, gave another likewise to him : excusing 
 it, as a trifling performance, and hardly worth 
 transcribing ; but ** I had a mind," says he, " to 
 ''make a slight present to my old friend and host, 
 '' of coarse stuff indeed, yet such as his prescRts 
 *' usually are to me."t 
 
 Some little time after this trial, Caesar, to shew 
 his confidence in Cicero, invited himself to spend 
 a day with him, at his house in the country ; and 
 chose the third day of the Saturnalia for his visit; 
 a season always dedicated to mirth and feasting 
 among friends and relations.J Cicero gives Atti- 
 cus the following account of the entertainment, 
 and how the day passed between them. '' O this 
 " guest," says he, *' whom I so much dreaded ? yet 
 
 * Quis enim ciiiquam iniraicitior, quam Deiotaro Caesar ? — a quo 
 nee praesens, nee absens rex Deiotarus quidquam aeqni boni impe- 
 travit — ille uunquam, semper enim abseuti affui Deiotaro, quicquam 
 sibi, quod nos pro illo postularemus, aeqnum dixit videri. Philip. 
 2. 37. 
 
 f Oratiiinculam pro Deiotaro, quam requirebas tibi niisi. Quara 
 
 velim sic legas, ut causam tenuem et inopem. nee scriptioue magno 
 opere diguam. Sed ego hospiti veteri et amico niuniisi-uhim millere 
 volui lovidense, crasso filo, cujusmodi ipsius solent esse muuera. I£p. 
 Fara. 9. 12. 
 
 I This festival, after Caesar's reformation of the kalendar, began 
 on the 17th of December, and lasted three days. Alacrob. hsaturo 
 ]. X. 
 
 VOL. IT. 5:^ 
 
418 THE LIFE OF sect. vhi. 
 
 A. Urb. 708, Cic. 62. Coss.— Q. Fabius Maximus. C. Trebonius. 
 
 *' I had no reason to repent of him : for he was 
 "well pleased with his reception. When he came 
 " the evening before, on the eighteenth, to my 
 ''' neighbour Philip's, the house was so crowded 
 " with soldiers, that there was scarce a room left 
 " empty for Caesar to sup in : there were about two 
 " thousand of them : which gave me no small pain 
 '' for the next day : but Barba Cassius relieved me ; 
 '• for he assigned me a guard, and made the rest 
 " encamp in the field : so that my house was clear. 
 " On the nineteenth, he staid at Philip's till one in 
 " the afternoon ; but saw nobody ; was settling ac- 
 " counts, I guess, with Balbus ; then took a walk 
 '* on the shore ; bathed after two ; heard the verses 
 " on Mamurra ;^ at which he never changed coun- 
 " tenance ; was rubbed, anointed, sat down to ta- 
 "ble. Having taken a vomit just before, he eat 
 " and drank freely, and was very chearful : f the 
 " supper was good and well served : 
 
 * Mamurra was a Roman knight, and general of the artillery to 
 Caesar in Gaul ; where he raised an immense fortune, and is said to 
 have heen the first man in tioiue who incrusted his house with mar- 
 ble, and made all his pillars of solid 'marble. (Plin. Hist. 36. 6.) 
 He was severely lasffed, together with Caesar himself, for his exces- 
 sive luxury, and more infamous vices, by CJatullus ; whose verses are 
 still extant, and thtj same probably that Cicero here refers to, as be- 
 ing first read to Caesar at his house. Vu\. Catull. 27. 55, 
 
 The reader perhaps will not readily understand the time and man- 
 ner of Caesiar's passing from Philip's house to Cicero's in this short 
 account of it : but it must be remembered, that their villas were 
 adjoining to each other on the Formian coast, near Cajeta ; so that 
 wnen Caesar came out of Philip's at one, he took a walk on the shore 
 for about an hour, and then entered into Cicero's; where the bath 
 was prepared for him, and in f)athing he heard Catullus's verses; not 
 produced by Cicero, for that vi^ould not have been agreeable to good 
 manners, but by some of his own friends, who attended him, and 
 who knew his desire to see every thing that was published against 
 him, as well as his easiness in slighting or forgiving ]t. 
 
 f The custom of taking a vomit both iminediately before and after 
 meals, wiiich (.'icero mentions Caesar to have done on different occa- 
 
SECT. VIII. CICERO. 419 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic 62. Coss.— Q. Fabius Maxinuis. C. Trebonius. 
 
 " But our discourse at table as we eat, 
 
 •'For taste and seasouing still excell'd our meat.* 
 
 " Besides Caesar's labia, his friends were plentiful- 
 " ly provided for in three other rooms ; nor was 
 " there any thing vvanting^ to his fieedmen of lower 
 " rank ; and his slaves ; but the better sort were 
 " elegantly treated. In a word, I acquitted my- 
 " self like a man : yet he is not a guest to whom 
 " one would say at parting, pray call upon me 
 ** again, as you return: once is enough: we had 
 **nota word on business, but many on points of 
 " literature : in short he was delighted with his en- 
 " tertahiment, and passed the day agreeably. He 
 "talked of spending one day at Puteoli; another 
 " at Baiae : thus you see the manner of my re- 
 " ceiving him ; somewhat troublesome indeed, but 
 " not uneasy to me. I shall stay here a little long- 
 ''er, and then to Tusculam. As he passed by 
 " Dolabella's villa, his troops marched close by his 
 
 sions, (pro. Deiot. 7.) was very common with the Romans, and used 
 by them as an instrument both of their luxury, and of their health : 
 " they vomit." says Seneca, "that they may eat, and eat that they 
 " may vomit." (Cousol. ad Helo. 9.) By this evacuation before 
 eating, they were prepared to eat more plentifully ; and by emptying 
 themselves presently after it, prevented any hurt from repletion. 
 Thus Vitellius, who was a famous glutton, is said to have preserved 
 his life by constant vomits, while he destroyed all his companions, 
 who did not use the same caution : (Sneton. 12. Dio. G5. 734.) And 
 the practice was thought so effectual for strengthening the constitu- 
 tion, that it was the constant regimen of all tJie Athletae ; or the 
 professed wrestlers, trained tor the publick shews, in order to make 
 them more robust. So that Caesar's vomiting before dinner was a 
 sort of compliment to Cicero, as it intimated a re^olution to pass the 
 day cheerfully, and to eat and to drink freely with him. 
 
 * This is a citation from Luciliii>, of an hexameter verse, with part 
 of a second, which is not distinguished from the text, in the editions 
 of Cicero's Letters. 
 
 Sed bene cocto et condito sermone bono, et si qvaeris libcnter. 
 
420 THE LIFE OF sect. viii. 
 
 A. Urb. 708. Cic. 62. Coss.—Q. Pabius Maximus. C. Trebonius. 
 
 '* horse's side, on the rii^ht and left ; which was done 
 ** no where else. I had this from Nicias."* 
 
 On the last of December, when the consul Tre- 
 bonius was abroad, his colleague Q. Fabius died 
 suddenly ; and his death being declared in the 
 morning, C. CaniniusRebilus was named by Caesar 
 to the vacancy at one in the afternoon ; whose 
 office was to continue only through the remaining 
 part of that day. This wanton profanation of the 
 sovereign dignity of the empire raised a general in- 
 dignation in the city ; and a consulate so ridiculous 
 gave birth to much raillery, and many jokes which 
 are transmitted to us by the ancients ;t of which 
 Cicero, who was the chief author of them, gives us 
 the following specimen, in his own account of the 
 fact. 
 
 Cicero to Curius. 
 
 " I no longer either advise or desire you to come 
 " home to us, but want to fly, some whither myself, 
 " where I may hear neither the name nor the acts of 
 " these sons of Pelops. It is incredible how meanly I 
 "think of myself, for being present at these trans- 
 factions. You had surely an early foresight of 
 *' what was coming on, when you ran away from this 
 " place : for though it be vexatious to hear of such 
 ^'things, yet that is more tolerable than to see them. 
 " It is w ell that you were not in the field, when at 
 " seven in the morning, as they were proceeding to 
 " an election of quaestors, the chair of Q. Maxi- 
 
 * Ad Att. 13. 52. t Macrob. Saturn. 2. 3. Dio. p. 236 
 
SECT. viii. CICERO. 421 
 
 A. Urtk f08. Cic 62. Cost.~4|. Eabtus Maximus. €. TrebMt^s. 
 
 " mus, wham they called consul,* was set in its place : 
 "but, his death bein^^ immediately proclaimed, it 
 " was removed ; and Caesar, thous^h he had taken 
 "the auspices for an assembly of ihe tribes, chang- 
 " ed it to an assembly of the centuries ; and, at one 
 "in the afternoon, declared a new consul, who was 
 " to govern till one the next mornino;. T would have 
 " you to know, therefore, that whilst Caninius was 
 " consul, nobody dined ; and that there was no crime 
 " committed in his consulship, for he was so won- 
 *' derfully vigilant, that through his whole adminis- 
 " tration he never slept. These things seem ridicu- 
 " lous to you, who were absent, but were you to see 
 *' them, you would hardly refrain from tears. What 
 "if I should tell you the rest ? For there are num- 
 " berless facts of the same kind ; which I could 
 " never have borne, if I had not taken refuge in the 
 " port of Philosophy, with our friend Atticus, the 
 " companion and partner of ray studies, &c."t 
 
 Caesar had so many creatures and dependents, 
 who expected the honour of the consulship from 
 him, as the reward of their services, that it was im- 
 possible to oblige them all in the regular way, so 
 that he was forced to contrive the expedient of split- 
 ting it, as it were, into parcels, and conferring it for 
 a few months, or weeks, or even days, as it happen- 
 ed to suit his conv enience : and as the thing itself 
 was now but a name, without any real power, it was 
 
 * Cicero would not allow a consul of three months, so irregularly 
 chosen, to be properly called a consul : nor did the people themselves 
 acknowledge him : for, as Suetonius tells us, [in J. Caes. 80.] when, 
 upon Fabius's entrance into the theatre, his officers, arcordinglo cus- 
 tom, proclaimed his presence, and ordered the people to make way for 
 the consult the whole assembly cried out, he is no consul. 
 
 I Ep. Fam. 7. 30. 
 
422 THE LIFE OF sect. viii. 
 
 A, Urb. 708. Cic. 62. Coss.— Q. Fabius Maximus. C. Trebonius. 
 
 of little moment for wliat term it was granted ; 
 since the shortest gave the same privilege with the 
 longest, and a man once declared consul, enjoyed 
 ever after the rank and character of a consular 
 senator.^ 
 
 A. Urb. 709. Cic. 63. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar V. M. Antonius. 
 
 On the opening of the new year, Caesar entered 
 into his fifth consulship, in partnership with M. An- 
 tony : he had promised it all along to Dolabella, 
 but, contrary to expectation, took it at last to him- 
 self. This was contrived by Antony, who, jealous 
 of Dolabella, as a rival in Caesar's favour, had been 
 suggesting somewhat to his disadvantage, and la- 
 bouring to create a diffidence of him in Caesar ; 
 which seems to have been the ground of what is 
 mentioned above, Caesar's guarding himself so par- 
 ticularly, when he passed by his villa. Dolabella 
 was sensibly touched with this affront, and came 
 full of indignation to the senate ; where, not daring 
 to vent his spleen on Caesar, he entertained the as- 
 sembly with a severe speech against Antony, which 
 drew on many warm and angry words between 
 them ; till Caesar, to end the dispute, promised to 
 resign the consulship to Dolabella, before he went 
 to the Parthian war : but Antony protested, that, 
 by his authority as augur, he would disturb that 
 election, whenever it should be attempted ;t ^ind 
 
 * Vid. Dio. p. 240. 
 
 f Cum Caesar ostendisset, se, priusquam proficisceretur, Dolabellam 
 consulem esse jnssurum— hie bonus Augur eo se sacerdotio praeditum 
 
SECT. viii. CICERO. 423 
 
 A. Urb. 709. Cic. 63. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar V. M. Antonius. 
 
 declared, witliout any scruple, that the ground of 
 his quarrel with Dolabella was, for having caught 
 him in an attempt to debauch his wife Antonia, the 
 daughter of his uncle ; though that was thought to 
 be a calumny, contrived to colour his divorce with 
 her, and his late marriage with Fulvia, the widow of 
 Clodius.=^ 
 
 Caesar was now in the height of all his glory, and 
 dressed, as Florus says, in all his trappings, like a 
 victim destined to sacrifice.t He had received from 
 the senate the most extravagant honours, both hu- 
 man and divine, which flattery could invent ; " a 
 " temple, altar, priest ; his image carried in proces- 
 " sion with the gods ; his statue among the kings ; 
 " one of the months called after his name, and a 
 "perpetual dictatorship."! Cicero endeavoured 
 to restraint he excess of this complaisance, witliin 
 the bounds of reason ;^ but in vain, since Caesar 
 was more forward to receive, than tliey to give ; 
 and, out of the gayety of his pride, and to try, as 
 it were, to what length their adulation w^ould reach, 
 when he was actually possessed of every thing 
 which carried with it any real power, was not con- 
 tent still without a title, which could add nothing 
 but envy and popular odium, and wanted to be cal- 
 led a king. Plutarch thinks it a strange instance of 
 
 esse dixit ut coniitia auspiciis vel irapedire vel vitiare posset, idque 
 se lacturuin asseveravit. Phil. 2. 32. 
 
 * Frequentissimo senatu — banc tibi esse cum Dolabella causamodii 
 dicere ausus es, quod ab eo sorori et uxori tuae stuprum oblatum esse 
 coraperisses. Phil. 2. 38. 
 / 
 
 f Quae omnia, velut in^ulae, in destinatam raorti victimara congere- 
 bantur. 1. 4. 2. 92. 
 
 f Flor. Ibid. Sqetou. J.Caes. 7fi 5 Plutarch, iu Caes 
 
424 THE LIFE OF sect, viti, 
 
 A. Urb. 709. Cic. 63. Co9s.--C. Julius Caesar Y. M. Antonius. 
 
 folly in the people, to endure with patience all the 
 real effects of kingly government, yet declare such 
 an abhorrence to the name. But the folly was not 
 so strange in the people as it was in Caesar : it is 
 natural to the multitude to be governed by names, 
 rather than things, and the constant art of parties to 
 keep up that prejudice; but it was unpardonable 
 in so great a man as Caesar, to lay so much stress 
 on a title wliich, so far from being an honour to him, 
 seemed to be a diminution rather of that superiour 
 dignity which he already enjoyed. 
 
 Among the other compliments that were paid to 
 him, there was a new fraternity of Luperci insti- 
 tuted to his honour, and called by his name, of 
 which Antony was the head. Young Quintus Ci- 
 cero was one of this society, with the consent of his 
 father, though to the dissatisfaction of his uncle, 
 whO' considered it not only as a low piece of flat- 
 tery, but an indecency, for a young man of family 
 to be engaged in ceremonies so immodest, of run- 
 ning naked and frantick about the streets.^ The 
 festival was^ he^d about the middle of February, 
 and Caesar, in his triumphal robe, seated himself in 
 the rostra, in a golden chair, to see the diversion 
 of the running, where, in the midst of their sport, 
 the consul Antony, at the head of his naked crew, 
 made him the offer of a regal diadem, and attem])t- 
 edto put it upon his head, at the sight of which a 
 general groan issued from the whole forum, till, 
 upon Caesar's slight refusal of it, the people loud- 
 ly testified their joy by an universal shout. An- 
 
 * Quintus pater quartura vel potiiis Loillesimiim nihil sapit, qui.Iae- 
 tetur Luperco filio et Statio, ut cernat duplici dedecore cumulcitain 
 domum. Ad Att. 12. 5. 
 
SECT. VIII. CICERO. 4-25 
 
 A. Urb. 709. Cic, 6^ Coss.— C. Julius Caesar V. M. Antonius. 
 
 tony, however, ordered it to be entered in the 
 publick acts, that, by the command of tlie peo- 
 ple, he had offered tlie kinjjjly name and power to 
 Caesar, and that Caesar would not accept i1.^ 
 
 While this affair of the kingly title amused and 
 alarmed the city, two of the tribunes, IMarullus 
 and Caesetius, \vere particularly active in discour- 
 ao;ing every step and attempt towards it : they 
 took off the diadem which certain persons had pri- 
 vately put upon Caesar's statue in the rostra, and 
 committed those to prison who were suspected to 
 have done it; and publickly punished others, for 
 daring to salute him in tlie streets by the name of 
 King ; declaring, that Caesar himself refused and 
 abhorred that title. This provoked Caesar be- 
 yond his usual temper and command of himself, 
 so that he accused them to the senate of a design 
 to raise a sedition against him, by persuading the 
 city that he really affected to be a king ; but when 
 the assembly was going to pass the severest sen- 
 tence upon them, he was content with deposing 
 them from their magistrary, and expelling Ihem 
 from the senate,t which convinced people still the 
 more of his real fondness for a name that he pre- 
 tended to despise. 
 
 * Sedebat in rostris coHega tiius, araictus toga purpurea, in sella 
 aurea, coronatus : adscendis. acoedis ad seilam — diadenja osJendis : 
 geraitnv toto foro— tu diadema imponebas cum plangore populi, ille 
 cum plausu rejiciebat — at enim adsciibi jussit in Fastis ad l>uperca- 
 lia, C. Caesari, dictatori perpeluo, M. Antonium consulem populi 
 jussu regnum detulisse, Caesarem uti noluisse. [Phil. 2. 34. J Qiiod 
 ab eo ita repulsum erat, ut non ofl'cnsus videretur. Veil. Pat. 2. .56. 
 
 t Sueton. J. Caes. 79. Dio. p. 245. App. 1. 2. p. 496. Veil. Pat. 
 2. 68. 
 
 VOL. IT. 54 
 
4'J6 THE LIFE OF sect. vni. 
 
 A. Urb. 709. Cic. 63. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar. V. M. Antonius, 
 
 He had now prepared all thin;^s for his expedition 
 aoainst the Parthians, had sent his les^ions before 
 him into Macedonia, settled the succession of all 
 the macristrates for two years to come,^ appointed 
 Dolabella to take his own place as consul for the 
 current year, named A. Hirtius and C, Pansa for 
 consuls of the next, and D. Brutus and Cn. Plan- 
 cus for the following year : but before his depar- 
 ture, he resolved to have the regal title conferred 
 upon him by the senate, who were too sensible of 
 his power, and obsequious to his will, to deny 
 him any thing : and to make it the more palatable 
 at the same time to the people, he caused a re- 
 port to be industriously propagated through the 
 city, of ancient prophecies found in the Sibylline 
 books, that the Parthians could not be conquered, 
 but by a king ; on the strength of which, Cotta, 
 one of the guardians of those books, was to move 
 the senate, at their next meeting, to| decree the 
 title of king to him.f Cicero, speaking afterwards 
 of this design, says, " It was expected that some 
 *' forged testimonies would be produced, to shew, 
 " that he, whom we had felt in reality to be a king, 
 " should be called also by that name, if we would 
 ^' be safe : but let us make a bargain with the keep- 
 " ers of those oracles, that they bring any thing 
 " out of them, rather than a king, which neither 
 *^' the gods nor men will ever endure again at 
 " Rome."t 
 
 * Etiamne consiiles et tribur.i^js plebis in biennium, quos ille volu- 
 it? AdAtt. 14. 6. 
 
 t Proximo autera senatu, L. Cottam quiinlecejDviruni sententiam 
 dicturuin ; ut quoniara iibris fatalibus contiiieretur, Partbos non nisi 
 a rege posse vinci, Caesar rex appellaretur. Suelon. c. 79. Dio. p. 
 247. 
 
 I Quorum interpres nuper falsa quaedam hominum faraa dicturns 
 in senatu putabatur, eum, quern re vera regera habebamus, appellan- 
 
SECT. vin. CICERO. 427 
 
 A. Urb. 709. Cic. 63. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar V. M. Antonius. 
 
 One would naturally have expected, after all the fa- 
 tigues and dangers through which Caesar had made 
 his way to empire, that he would have chosen to 
 spend the remainder of a declining life in the quiet 
 enjoyment of all the honours and pleasures which 
 absolute power, and a command of the world, 
 could bestow : but, in the mindst of all this glory, 
 he was a stranger still to ease : he saw the people 
 generally disaffected to him, and impatient under 
 his government ; and, though amused a while, 
 with the splendour of his shews and triumphs, yet 
 regretting severely, in cool blood, the price that 
 they had paid for them, tlie loss of their liberty, with 
 the lives of the best and noblest of their fellow 
 citizens. This expedition, therefore, against the 
 Parthians, seems to have been a political pretext 
 for removing himself from the murmurs of the 
 city, and leaving to his ministers the exercise of 
 an invidious power, and the task of taming the 
 spirits of the populace, whilst he, by employing 
 himself in gathering fresh laurels in the East, and 
 extending the bounds, and retrieving the honour 
 of the empire, against its most dreaded enemy, 
 might gradually reconcile them to a reign that was 
 gentle and clement at home, successful and glorious 
 abroad. 
 
 But his impatience to be a king defeated all 
 his projects, and accelerated his fate, and push- 
 ed on the nobles, who had conspired against his 
 life, to the immediate execution of their plot, 
 that they might save themselves the shame of be- 
 
 (lum quoqiie e«;se regem, sisalvi esse vcllemiis — cum antistitibus aga- 
 mus, lit quidvis potiiis ex illis libris, qiiaiii rcgem proferant, quern 
 Roinae posthac nee Dii ncc homines esse patieiitur.. Dc Diviii. 2. f)i. 
 
428 THE LIFE OF sect. viii. 
 
 A. Urb. 709. Cic. 63. Coss.~C. Julius Caesar V. M. Antonius. 
 
 ing forced to concur in an act which they heartily 
 detested :^ and the two Brutusesin particular, the 
 honour of whose house was founded in the extir- 
 pation of kingly government, could not but con- 
 sider it as a personal infamy, and a dissjrace to 
 their very name, to suffer the restoration of it. 
 
 There were above sixty persons said to be en- 
 gaged in this conspiracy,! the greatest part of 
 them of the senatorian rank ; but M. Brutus and C. 
 Cassius were the cliief in credit and authority, 
 the first contrivers and movers of the whole de- 
 sign. 
 
 M. Junius Brutus was about one and forty 
 years old, of the most illustrious family of the 
 republick, deriving his name and descent in a di- 
 rect line from that first consul, L. Brutus, who ex- 
 pelled Tarquin, and gave freedom to the Roman 
 people.! Having lost his father when very young, 
 
 * Quae causa conjuratis fnit maturandi destinata negotia, ne assen- 
 tiri nccesseessct. Suet J.Caes. 80. Uio. p. 247. 
 '^ f 
 
 f Conspiratura est in eum a sexaginta araplius, C. Cassio, Marcoque 
 ,ct Dccimo Bruto principibus conspirationis. Suel. lo. 
 
 I Some of the ancient writers call in question this account of Bru- 
 tus's descent ; particularly Didnysius ol Halicarnassus, tht niosi Ju- 
 dicious and critical of them, who alleges several arguments against it, 
 which seem to be very plausible. Yet, while Brutus lived, it was 
 universally allowed to him. Cicero mentions it in his publick speech- 
 es, and other writings, as a fact that nobody doubted ; and often 
 speaks of the image of old Brutus, which Marcus kept in his house 
 among those of his ancestors : And Atticus, who was peculiarly cu- 
 rious in the antiquities of the l^oman families, drew up Brvtus':i gene- 
 alogy for him, and deduced his succession from that old hero, in a di- 
 rect line through all the intermediate ages from father to son. Corn. 
 Nep. Vit. Att IB. Tusc. Disp. 4. 1. 
 
 He was born in the consulship of L.Cornelius Cinna III. an(J Cn. 
 Papirius Carbo A. U. 668. which fully confutes the vulgar story of 
 his being commonly believed to be Caesuras son; since he was but 
 
SECT. viii. CICERO. 429 
 
 A. Urb. 709. Cic. 63. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar V. M. Antonius. 
 
 he was trained with ^reat care, by his uncle Cato, in 
 the studies of polite letters, especially of eloquence 
 and philosophy, and, under the discipline of such 
 a tutor, inibibed a warm love for liberty and 
 virtue. He had excellent parts, and equal in- 
 dustry, and acquired an early fame at the bar, 
 where he pleaded several causes of great im- 
 portance, and was esteemed the most eloquent 
 and learned of all the young nobles of his a^e. 
 His manner of speaking was correct, eleiiant, ju- 
 dicious, yet vvantino; that force and copiousness 
 which is required in a consummate orator. But 
 philosophy was his favourite study, in which, though 
 he professed himself of the more moderate sect of 
 the old academy, yet, from a certain pride and 
 gravity of temper, he atTected the seyerity of the 
 Stoick, and to imitate his uncle Cato, to which 
 he was wholly unequal ; for he was of a mild, mer- 
 ciful, and compassionate disposition, averse to 
 every thing cruel, and was often fr)rced, by the 
 tenderness of his nature, to confute the rigour of 
 his principles. While his mother lived in the 
 greatest familiarity with Caesar, he was constantly 
 attached to the opposite party, and firm to the in- 
 terests of liberty ; for the sake of which he fol- 
 lowed Pompey, whom he hated, and acted on that 
 side with a distinguished zeal. At the battle of 
 Pharsalia, Caesar gave particular orders to find out 
 and preserve Brutus, being desirous to draw him 
 
 fifteen years younger than Caesar liimsclf, whose lamiliarity with his 
 mother. Servilia, cannot be supposed to have coniuienced till many 
 years after Brutus was born ; or. not till Caear had lost i.is first wife 
 Cornelia, whom he married when he was very young, and always ten- 
 derly loved; and whosefiineral nratiun he made whrn he was Qvaes- 
 *or,'and consequently tkirti/ years old. Vid. Sueton. J. Caes. c. 1. 6. 
 .W. It. Brut. p. 343. 447. rt Corradi notas. 
 
430 THE LIFE OF sect, vi 
 
 A. Urb. 709. Cic 63. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar V. M, Antonius. 
 
 from the pursuit of a cause that was likely to prove 
 fatal to him ; so that, when Cato, with the rest of 
 the chiefs, went to renew the war in Africk, he 
 was induced, by Caesar's generosity and his mo- 
 ther's prayers, to lay down his arms, and return to 
 Italy. Caesar endeavoured to oblio^e him bv all 
 the honours which his power could bestow ; but 
 the indignity of receiving from a master, what he 
 ought to have received from a free people, shocked 
 him much more than any honours could oblige ; 
 and the ruin, in which he saw his friends involved 
 by Caesar's usurped dominion, gave him a disgust 
 which no favours could compensate. He observ- 
 ed, therefore, a distance and reserve through Cae- 
 sar's reign ; aspired to no share of his confidence, 
 or part in his counsels, and, by the uncourtly ve- 
 hemence with which he defended the rights of 
 King Deiotarus, convinced Caesar, that he could 
 never be obliged where he did not find himself free. 
 He cultivated, all the while, the strictest friendship 
 with Cicero, whose principles, he knew, were ut- 
 terly averse to the measures of the times ; and in 
 whose free conversation he used to mingle his own 
 complaints on the unhappy state of the republick, 
 and the wretched hands into which it was fallen, 
 till, animated by these conferences, and confirmed 
 by the general discontent of all the honest, he 
 formed the bold design of freeing his country by 
 the destruction of Caesar. He had publickly de- 
 fended Milo's act of killing Clodius, by a maxim, 
 which he maintained to be universally true, " that 
 *' those who live in defiance of the laws, and can- 
 " not be brought to a trial, ought to be taken off 
 " without a trial." The case was applicable to 
 Caesar in a much higher degree than to Clodius, 
 
SECT. VIII. CICERO. 431 
 
 A. Urb. 709. Cic. 63. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar V. M. Antonius. 
 
 whose power had placed him above the reach 
 of the law, and left no way of punishing him but 
 by an assassination. This, therefore, was Brutus's 
 motive ; and Antony did him the justice to say, 
 that he " was the only one of the conspiracy, who 
 " entered into it out of principle ; that the rest, 
 " from private malice, rose up against the man, he 
 *' alone against the tyrant. ""* 
 
 C. Cassius was descended likewise from a fami- 
 ly not less honourable or ancient, nor less zealous 
 for the publick liberty, than Brutus's : whose an- 
 cestor, Sp. Cassius, after a triumph and three con- 
 sulships, is said to have been condemned, and put 
 to death by his own father, for aiming at a dominion. 
 He shewed a remarkable instance, when a boy, of 
 his high spirit and love of liberty ; for he gave 
 Sylla's son, Faustus, a box on the ear, for bragging, 
 among his school-fellows, of his father's greatness 
 and absolute power ; and, when Pompey called^the 
 boys before him, to give an account of their quar- 
 rel, he declared in his presence, tliat if Faustus 
 should dare to repeat the words, he would repeat 
 the blow. He was quaestor to Crassus, in the Par- 
 
 * Natura adinirabilis, et exqnisita doctrina, et singiilaris industria. 
 Cum enim in maximis caiisis versatus esses. [Brut, 26.] Quo uiagis 
 luum, Brute, judicium probo, qui eorum, id est, ex vetcre acadcmia. 
 philosophorum sectam secutus es, qiionnn in doctrina et praeceptis 
 disserendi ratio conjungitur cum suavitate dicendi et copia. [Brut. 
 219.1 ^^m cum inamfjularem in Xysto— M. ad me Brulus, ut con- 
 
 sueverati cum T. Pomponio venerat. [Brut. 15.] Tum Brutus 
 
 itaque doleo et illius cousilio et tua voce populum Worn. cartMe tam- 
 diu. Uuod cum per se dolendum est, tum multo magis consideranti. 
 ad quos ista non translata sint, sed nescio quo pacto devencriut. 
 [Brut. 269.] 
 
 'Axa' 'Ai9av/5u yi km mKKivc etx.outrui hiyovloc, 1; fxovcv omlo B^&utov i'riBifQtit 
 KoLicrupi. TT^cot^Bivlai th KA/UTr^oTtlll KAi T(c <j)3f/va^«V5c xa^M T>'C Tr^n^ii^r. Vid. 
 
 Plur. in Brut. p. 997. it. App. p. 498. 
 
432 THE LIFE OF sect, viii- 
 
 A. Urb. 709, Cic. 63. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar V. M. Antonius. 
 
 tliian war, where he sjreatly signalized both his cou- 
 ra^re and skill ; and if Crassus had followed his 
 advice, would have preserved the whole army ; but, 
 after their miserable defeat, he made good his re- 
 treat into Syria with the remains of the broken 
 legions : and when the Parthians, flushed with suc- 
 cess, pursued him thither, soon after, and blocked 
 him up in Antioch. he preserved that city and pro- 
 vince from falling into their hand^ ; and watching 
 his opportunity, gained a considerable victory over 
 them, wiih the destruction of their general. In 
 the civil war, after the battle of Pharsalia, he sail- 
 ed with seventy ships to the coast of Asia, to raise 
 fresh forces in that country, and renew the war 
 ao^ainst Caesar ; but, as the historians tell us, hap- 
 pening to meet with Caesar crossing the Helle- 
 spont, in a common passage boat, instead of destroy- 
 ing him as he might have done, he was so terrified 
 by the sight of the conqueror, that he begged his 
 life ill an abject manner, and delivered up his fleet 
 to him. But Cicero gives us a hint of a quite 
 diiFerent story, which is much more probable, and 
 worthy of Cassius ; that having got intelligence 
 wliere Caesar d^sioned to land, he lay in wait for 
 hirn, in a bay of Ciiicia, at the mouth of the river 
 Cs dnus. with a resolution to destroy him ; but 
 Caesar happened to land on the opposite shore be- 
 fore he was aware : so that seeing his project blast- 
 ed, and Caesar secured in a country where all peo- 
 ple were declaring tor him, he thought it best to 
 make his own peace too, by going over to him 
 with his fleet. He married Tertia, the sister of 
 Brutus ; and though diifering in temper and philo- 
 phy, was strirtly united with him in friendship and 
 politicks ; and the constant partner of all his coun- 
 
SECT. VIII. CICERO. 433 
 
 A. Urb, 709. Cic, 63. Coss.—C. Julius Caesar V. M. Antonius. 
 
 sels. He was brave, witty, learned ; yet passion- 
 ate, fierce, and cruel ; so that Brutus was the more 
 amiable friend, he the more dangerous enemy : in 
 his later years he deserted the stoicks, and became 
 a convert to Epicurus ; whose doctrine he thought 
 more natural and reasonable ; constantly maintain- 
 intr, that the pleasure which their master recom- 
 mended, was to be found only in the habitual 
 practice of justice and virtue ; while he professed 
 himself, therefore, an Epicurean, he lived like a 
 Stoick ; was moderate in pleasures, temperate in 
 diet, and a water-drinker through life. He attach- 
 ed himself very early to the observance of Cicero ; 
 as all the young nobles did, who had any thing 
 great or laudable in view : this friendship was con- 
 firmed by a conformity of their sentiments in the 
 civil war, and in Caesar's reign; during which, 
 several letters passed between them, written with 
 a freedom and familiarity which is to be found on- 
 ly in the most intimate correspondence. In these 
 letters, though Cicero rallies his Epicurism and 
 change of principles, yet he allows him to have 
 acted always with the greatest honour and integri- 
 ty ; and pleasantly says, '' that he should begin to 
 " think that sect to have more nerves than he had iraa- 
 '• gined, since Cassius had embraced it." The old 
 writers assign several frivolous reasons of disgust, as 
 the motives of his killing Caesar :-tliat Caesar took a 
 number of lions from him, which lie had provided for 
 a publick shew ; that he vvould not give him the con- 
 sulship ; that he gave Brutus the more hon-uiable 
 praetorship in preference to him. But we need 
 not look farther for the true motive than to his 
 temper and principles : for his nature was singu- 
 larly impetuous and violent ; impatient of contra- 
 voL. ir. •'^•'3 
 
434 THE LIFE OF sect, vih- 
 
 A. Uib. 709. Cic 63. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar V. M. Antouius. 
 
 diction, and much more of subjection; and pas- 
 sionately fond of glory, virtue, liberty : it was from 
 these qualities, that Caesar apprehended his dan- 
 ger ; and, when admonished to beware of Antony 
 and Dolabella, used to say, that " it was not the 
 ^* gay, the curled, and the jovial, whom he had 
 '' cause to fear, but the thoughtful, the pale, and 
 the lean ;" — meaning Brutus and Cassius."^ 
 
 The next in authority to Brutus and Cassius, 
 though very different from them in character, were 
 Decimus Brutus, and C. Trebonius : they had 
 both been constantly devoted to Caesar ; and were 
 singularly favoured, advanced, and entrusted by 
 
 * C. Cassias in ea familia natus, quae non modo dominatum, sed ne 
 •potentiain quidem cujusquara t'erre potuit. [Phil. 2. 11.] Q,uejn ubi 
 primiira inagistratu abiit, damuaturaque constat. Sunt qui patrem 
 actorem ejus supplicii terant. Earn cognita dorai causa verberasse 
 ac necasse, peculiumque filii Cereri consecravisse. [Liv. 2. 41.] Cu- 
 jus filiuna, Faustum, C. Cassius condiscipnlum suum in schola, pro- 
 scriptionem paternain landantem — colapho perctissit. [Val. Max. 3. 
 1. vid. Plut. in Brut.] Reliquias legionuiii C. Cassius, — quaestor con- 
 servavit, Syriaraque adeo in populi Romani potestate retinuit, ut 
 transgresses in eutn Parthos, felici renim eventu fugaret ac funderet, 
 
 [Veil. Pat. 2. 46. it Phil. Xi. 14.] ovh ig^ycv In^ov yiyoofjio-t rv'^nc iV o-vo^oo 
 xst<p» yvii<r^tii ^i«iXov,^ XrtiTcr/ov Tsy TroKi/xinanAlov iTri r^i/i^xv iCJ^ofAmovrsi ATrat- 
 
 gAa-}CiUa> XoLiO-dL^t (T'JVTV^OVTCt, ^Xdf' «f ;^«g*f iMitV CrrOO-^UVdil, cT' CVTCUC iAV%V 
 
 eti<rypui; Ctto <po/io'j fAovou TTUgATTkiuvli rrA^st.J'ivs, vtmeov iv I'ce/uif Jvvxa-Tiucvrn »Sn 
 KAliiClxm. [App. 2. 483. it. Dio. 1.42. 188. Sueton. J. Caes. 63.] C. 
 Cassius — sine his clarissimis viris banc rem inCilicia ad ostinm flumi- 
 nis Cydni confecisset, si ille ad earn ripam, quam constituerat, non ad 
 contrariam naves appulisset. [Piii!. 2. 11.] e quibus Brutum arniciim 
 habere inalles in'.niieum magis timeres Cassium. [Veil. Pat. 2. 72.] 
 wcTgvwv vero et aratgst^fiv vifiute, justitia, to* kako) parari, et verum et 
 probabile est. Ipse enim Epicurus — dicit. oy» io-riv ySicn; aisw tcv 
 KAhoii Kcit SiKctiaic ^w. fEp. Fain. 15. 19,] Cassius tota vita aquam 
 bibit. Senec. 547.] Quanqu^m quicum loquor ? cum uno ibrtissimo 
 viro ; qui postea quam forum attigisti, nihil lecisti nisi plenis- 
 simum amplissimae dignitatis. In ista ipsa cf.:^i<rit metuo ue plus ner- 
 vorum sit. quam ego putarim, si modo earn tu probas. [Kp. Fam. 15. 
 16.] Diffbreudo consu latum Cassium offenderat. [Veil. Pat. 2. 5(>. 
 it. Plut. in Brut. App. 408.] 
 
SECT. VII!. CICERO. 435 
 
 A. Urb. 709. Cic. 63. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar. V. M. 
 
 him in all his wars ; so that, whan Caesar marched 
 first into Spain, he left them to command the siege 
 of Marseilles, Brutus by sea, Trebonius by land ; 
 in which they acquitted themselves with the great- 
 est courage and ability, and reduced that strong 
 place to the necessity of surrendering at discre- 
 tion. Decimus was of the same family with his 
 namesake Marcus ; and Caesar, as if jealous of a 
 name that inspired an aversion to kings, was par- 
 ticularly solicitous to gain them both to his inter- 
 est ; and seemed to have succeeded to his wish 
 in Decimus; who forwardly embraced his friend- 
 ship, and accepted all his favours ; being named 
 by him to the command of Cisalpine Gaul, and to 
 the consulship of the following year, and the se- 
 cond heir even of his estate, in failure of the first. 
 He seems to have had no peculiar character of vir- 
 tue, or patriotism, nor any correspondence with 
 Cicero, before the act of killing Caesar ; so that 
 people, instead of expecting it from him, Avere 
 surprised at his doing it ; yet he was brave, gene- 
 rous, magnificent, and lived with great splendour, 
 in the enjoyment of an immense fortune ; for he 
 kept a numerous band of gladiators at his own ex- 
 pense, for the diversion of the city ; and, after 
 Caesar's death, spent about four hundred thousand 
 pounds of his own money, in maintaining an army 
 against Antony.^ 
 
 * Adiectis etiam consiliariis caedis, familiarissiinis omnium, et for- 
 tiina partium ejus in snmmum evictis fasti^ium. D. Bruto et C. Tre- 
 bonio, aliisqueclari nominis viris. [Veil. Pat. 2.'.''>fi.J Pluresqiie per- 
 cussorum in tutoribus filii nominavit : Dccimum Bruttim eiiam in 
 sccnndis heredibiis. [Sueton. .T. Caes. (J3.] Vid. Caes. Comm. de 
 Bell, civil. I. 2. Pint, in Brut. App. p. 407. f>in. Dio, 1. 44. 247. etc. 
 D. Brutus— cum Cacsaris primus omnium amicorum t'uisset, intcriec- 
 tor fuit. Veil. Pat. 2. 64. 
 
486 THE LIFE OF sect, viik 
 
 A. Urb. 709. Cic. 63. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar V. M. Antonius. 
 
 Trebonius had no family to boast of, but was 
 wholly a new man, and the creature of Caesar's 
 power, who promoted him through all the honours 
 of the state, to his late consulship of three months : 
 Antony calls him the son of a buffoon ; but Cice- 
 ro, of a splendid knight : he was a man of parts, 
 prudence, integrity, humanity ; was conversant 
 also in the politer arts, and had a peculiar turn to 
 wit and humour : for, after Caesar's death, he pub- 
 lished a volume of Cicero's sayings, which he had 
 taken the pains to collect ; upon which Cicero 
 compliments him, for having explained them with 
 great elegance, and given them a fresh force and 
 beauty, by his humorous manner of introducing 
 them. As the historians have not suggested any 
 reason that should move either him or Deci- 
 mus to the resolution of killing a man, to whom 
 they were infinitely obliged ; so we may reasona- 
 bly impute it, as Cicero does, to a greatness of 
 soul,' and superiour love of their country, which 
 made them prefer the liberty of Rome to the 
 friendship of any man ; and choose rather to be 
 the destroyers, than the partners of a tyranny.^ 
 
 The rest of the conspirators were partly young 
 tnen, of noble blood, eager to revenge the ruin of 
 
 t Scurrae filium appellat Antonius. Quasi vero ignotus nobis fue- 
 ritsplendidus Eqnes Homanus Trebonii pater. [Phil 13. 10.1 Tre- 
 bonii — consilium, ingenium, buraanitatem, innocentiam, magnitudi- 
 uem animi in patria liberanda quis ignorat ? [Phil. xi. 4.] liber iste, 
 quern mihi misisti, quantam habt^t declarationem amoris tui ? primum, 
 quod tibi facetum videtur quicquid ego dixi, quod aliis fortasse non 
 item : deinde, quod ilia, sive iaceta sunt, sive sic fiunt narrante te 
 Tenustissima. Quiii etiam antequam ad me veniatur, risus omnis 
 paene consumitur, etc. [Ep. Fam. 16. 21. it. 12. 16. J Qui liberta- 
 tem populi Romani unius amicitiae praeposuit, depulsorque domina- 
 tus, quam partieeps esse maluit. Phil. 2. IK 
 
SECT. vin. CICERO. 437 
 
 A. Urb. 709. Cic. 63. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar V. M. Antonius. 
 
 their fortunes and families ; partly men obscure, 
 and unknown to the publick ;^ yet whose fidelity 
 and courage had been approved by Brutus and 
 Cassius. It was agreed by them all in council, to 
 execute their design in the senate, which was sum- 
 moned to meet on the Ides, or fifteenth of March : 
 they knew that the senate would applaud it when 
 done, and even assist, if there was occasion, in 
 the doing it ;t and there was a circumstance, which 
 peculiarly encouraged them, and seemed to be 
 even ominous ; that it happened to be Pompey's 
 senate house, in which their attempt was to be 
 made ; and where Caesar would, consequently, fall 
 at the foot of Pompey's statue, as a just sacrifice 
 to the manes of that great man. J They took it 
 also for granted, that the city would be generally 
 on their side ; yet, for their greater security, D. 
 Brutus gave orders to arm his gladiators that 
 morning, as if for some publick shew, that they 
 might be ready, on the first notice, to secure the 
 avenues of the senate, and defend them from any 
 sudden violence ; and Pompey's theatre, which ad- 
 joined to his senate house, being the properest 
 place for the exercise of the gladiators, w^ould cov- 
 er all suspicion that might otherwise arise from 
 them. The only deliberation that perplexed them, 
 and on which they were much divided, was, wheth- 
 er they should not kill Antony also, and Lepidus, 
 
 * fn tot horainibus, partim obscuris, partiiii adolescentibus, etc. 
 Phil. 2. 11. 
 
 f ^ TaiH /3iwA.ey7aiv, it jta< /uh Tr^o/utxdonvi Tr^oQiifxa;, In iJoKv to i^yov, a-j\i7ri>.- 
 if-^ujutvmTf. App. 499. 
 
 I Postquam senatus idibus Martiis in Pompeii curiam cdictus est, 
 facile tempus et locum praetulenint. [Sueton, 80.] 
 
438 THE LIFE OF sect, vi 
 
 A. Urb. 709. Cic. 63. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar V. M. Antonius. 
 
 together with Caesar; especially Antony; the 
 more ambitious of the two, and the more likely 
 to create fresh danger to the commonwealth. Cas- 
 sias, with a majority of the company, was warmly 
 for killing him : but the two Brutuses as warmly 
 opposed, and finally overruled it : they alleged, 
 " that to shed more blood than was necessary. 
 '' would disgrace their cause, and draw upon them 
 " an imputation of cruelty ; and of acting, not as 
 " patriots, but as the partisans of Pompey ; not so 
 " much to free the city, as to revenge themselves 
 " on their enemies^, and get the dominion of it in- 
 " to their hands." But what weio;hed with them 
 the most, was a vain persuasion, that Antony 
 would be tractable, and easily reconciled, as soon 
 as the affair was over : but this lenity proved their 
 ruin ; and by leaving their work imperfect, de- 
 feated all the benefit of it ; as we find Cicero af- 
 terwards often reproaching them in his letters.* 
 
 Many prodigies are mentioned by the historians 
 to have given warning of Caesar's death :t which 
 having been forged by some, and credulously re- 
 ceived by others, were copied, as usual, by all, to 
 strike thie imagination of their readers, and raise 
 an awful attention to an event, in which the gods 
 were supposed to be interested. Cicero has re- 
 lated one of the most remarkable of them ; " that 
 " as Caesar was sacrificing a little before his death, 
 " with great pomp and splendour, in his triumphal 
 
 * Plutar. in Caes. App. 2. 499, 502. Dio. 247, 248. Qiiam vellera ad 
 Jllas piilcherrimas epulas me Idibiis Martiis invitasses. Reliquiarum 
 nihil haberemiis. Ep. Fain. x. 28. 12. 4. ad Brut. 2. 7. 
 
 ITf Sed Caesarl fiitura caedes evideutibus prodigiis deminciata est. 
 etc. .Su eton. 81. Plut. in vit. 
 
SECT. VIII. CICERO. 43y 
 
 A. Urb. 709. Cic 63. Coss.— C. Jalius Caesar V. M. Antoiiius. 
 
 " robes, and golden chair, the victim, which was a 
 " fat ox, was found to be without a heart : and when 
 " Caesar seemed to be shocked at it, Spurinna, the 
 " Haruspex, admonished him to beware, lest through 
 " a failure of counsel, his life should be cut off, 
 " since the heart was the seat and source of them 
 " both. The next day he sacrificed again, in hopes 
 '' to find the entrails more propitious ; but the liver 
 " of the bullock appeared to want its head, which 
 " was reckoned also among the direful omens."* 
 These facts, though ridiculed by Cicero, were pub- 
 lickly affirmed and believed at the time ; and seem 
 to have raised a general rumour through the city, 
 of some secret danger that threatened Caesar's life ; 
 so that his friends being alarmed at it, were endea- 
 vouring to instil the same apprehension into Caesar 
 himself; and had succeeded so far, as to shake his 
 resolution of going that day to the senate, when it 
 was actually assembled, by his summons, in Pom- 
 pey's senate house ; till D. Brutus, by rallying 
 those fears, as unmanly and unworthy of him, and 
 
 J DeDiviu. 1. 62. 2. 16. These cases of victims found sometimes 
 ivithout a heart or liver, gave rise to a curious question among those 
 who believed the reality of this kind of divination, as the Sioicks ge- 
 nerally did, how to account for the cause of so strange a phaenome- 
 uon. The common solution was, that the gods made such changes in- 
 stantaneously, in the moment of sacrificing, by annihilating or altering 
 the condition of the entrails, so as to make it correspond with the cir- 
 cumstances of the sacrificer, and the admonition vAhich they intended 
 to give. [De Div. ibid.] But this v»as laughed at by the natura]ist'<. 
 as wholly unphilosophical, who thought it absurd to imagine, that thr 
 Deity could either annihilate, or create; either reduce any thing to 
 nothing, or form any thing out of nothing. What seems the mobt 
 probable, is, that if the f?cts really happened, they were contrived by 
 Caesar's friends, and tb.o heart conveyed away by some artifice, togiv*.- 
 them a better pretence of enforcing their admonitions, and putting 
 Caesar upon his guard against dangers, which they really apprehended, 
 from quite different reasons than the pretended dfnunciation« of the. 
 sods. 
 
440 THE LIFE OF sect. vni. 
 
 A. UA. 709. Cic. 63. Coss.—C. Julius Caesar V. M. Antonius. 
 
 alleging, that his absence would be interpreted as 
 an affront to the assembly, drew him out, against 
 his will, to meet his destined fate.=^ 
 
 In the morning of the fatal day, M. Brutus and 
 C. Cassius appeared, according to custom, in the 
 forum, sitting in their praetorian tribunals, to hear 
 and determine causes ; where, though they had dag- 
 gers under their gowns, they sat with the same 
 calmness, as if they had nothing upon their minds ; 
 till the news of Caesar's coming out to the senate, 
 called them away to the performance of their part 
 in the tragical act ; which they executed at last 
 with such resolution, that, through the eagerness of 
 stabbing Caesar, they wounded even one another.f 
 
 Thus fell Caesar, on the celebrated Ides of 
 March ; after he had advanced himself to a height 
 of power, which no conqueror had ever attained 
 before him ; though, to raise the mighty fabrick, 
 he had made more desolation in the world than any 
 man, perhaps, who ever lived in it. He used to 
 say, that his conquests in G^ul had cost about a 
 million and \w(f hundred thousand lives ;J and if 
 we add the civil wars to the account, they could 
 not cost the republick much less, in the more valu- 
 able blood of its best citizens : yet when, through 
 a perpetual course of faction, violence, rapine, 
 slaughter, he had made his way at last to empire, 
 
 * Plutar. in J. Caes. , t lb. in Brut. App. 2. 505. 
 
 f Undecies centenaet nonaginta duo hominum raillia occisa praelJis 
 ab eo — quod ita esse confessus est ipse, bellorura civilium stragem non 
 prodendo. Pliu. Hist. 7. 25. 
 
SECT. VIII. CICERO. 441 
 
 A. Urb. 709. Cic. 63. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar V. M. Antonins. 
 
 he did not enjoy the quiet possession of it above 
 five months."^ 
 
 He was endowed with every great and noble 
 quality, that could exalt human nature, and give a 
 man the ascendant in society : formed to excel in 
 peace, as well as war ; providentrin counsel ; fear- 
 less in action ; and executing what he had resolved 
 with an amazing celerity : generous beyond mea- 
 sure to his friends ; placable to his enemies ; and 
 for parts, learning, eloquence, scarce inferiour to 
 any man. His orations were admired for two 
 qualities, which are seldom found together, strength 
 and elegance : Cicero ranks him among the greatest 
 orators that Rome ever bred : and Quintilian says, 
 " that he spoke with the same force with which he 
 "fought; and if he had devoted himself to the bar, 
 " would have been the only man capable of rival- 
 '' ling Cicero." Nor was he a master only of the 
 politer arts ; but conversant also with the most ab- 
 struse and critical parts of learning ; and among 
 other works which he published, addressed two 
 books to Cicero, on the analogy of language, or 
 the art of speaking and writing correctly .f He 
 was a most liberal patron of wit and learning, 
 wheresoever they were found ; and, out of his love 
 of those talents, would readily pardon those who 
 had employed them against himself; rightly judg- 
 ing, that, by making such men his friends, he should 
 
 * Neque illi tanto viro— plusquam qiiinque rucnsiiim principalis 
 quies contigit— Veil. Pat. 2. 56. 
 
 f It was in the dGtlication of this piece to Cicero, that Caesar paid 
 him the compliment, which Pliny mentions, of his having "acquired 
 "a laurel, superiour to that of all triumphs, as it was more glorious 
 *' to extend the bounds of the Roman wit, than of their empire." 
 Hist. N. 7. 30. 
 
 TOL. ir. '>6 
 
442 THE LIFE OF sect. viii. 
 _Jl__ , _„- 
 
 A. Uib. 709. Cic. 63. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar V. M. Antonius. 
 
 draw praises from the same fountain from which he 
 had been aspersed. His capital passions were, am- 
 bition and love of pleasure, which he indulged in 
 their turns to the greatest excess ; yet the first was 
 always predominant, to which he could easily sacri- 
 fice all the charms of the second, and draw pleasure 
 even from toils and dangers, when they ministered 
 to his glory. For he thought tyranny, as Cicero 
 says, the greatest of goddesses ; and had frequent- 
 ly in his mouth a verse of Euripides, which ex- 
 pressed the image of his soul, " that, if right and 
 "justice were ever to be violated, they were to be 
 *' violated for the sake of reigning." This was the 
 chief end and purpose of his life ; the scheme that 
 he had formed from his early youth ; so that, as 
 Cato truly declared of him, "he came with sobriety 
 " and meditation to the subversion of the repub- 
 " lick." He used to say, " that there were two 
 " things necessary to acquire and to support power, 
 "soldiers and money," which yet depended mu- 
 tually on each other : With money, therefore, he 
 provided soldiers, and with soldiers extorted mo- 
 ney : and was of all men the most rapacious in 
 plundering botR friends and foes, sparing neither 
 prince nor state, nor temple, nor even private per- 
 sons, who were known to possess any share of trea- 
 sure. His great abilities would necessarily have 
 made him one of the first citizens of Rome ; but, 
 disdaining the condition of a subject, he could ne- 
 ver rest till he had made himself a monarch. In 
 acting this last part, hi^ usual prudence seemed to 
 fail him, as if the height, to which he was mounted, 
 had turned his head, and made him giddy ; for, by 
 a vain ostentation of his power, he destroyed the 
 stability of it ; and, as men shorten life by living 
 
sfccT. viit. CICERO. 44; 
 
 A. Urt). 709. Cic. 63. Coss.-^. Julius Caesar V. M. Antonius. 
 
 too fast, so, by an intemperance of reii^nino-, he 
 brought his reign to a violent end.^ 
 
 it was a common question, after his death, and 
 proposed as a problem by Livy, " Whether it was 
 " of service to the republick, that he had ever been 
 " born ?"t The question did not turn on tlie sim- 
 ple merit of his acts, for that would bear no dis- 
 pute, but on the accidental effects of them, their 
 producing the settlement under Augustus, and the 
 benefits of that government, which was the con- 
 sequence of his tyranny. Suetonius, who treats 
 the characters of the Caesars with that freedom 
 which the happy reigns in which he lived indulijed, 
 upon balancing the exact sum of his virtues and 
 
 * De Caesare et ipse ita jiidico — ilium omnium fere oratorura La- 
 tine loqui elegantissime — et id — multis litteris, et iis qiiidem recon- 
 ditis et exquisitis, summoque studio ac diligentia est conseciitus. — 
 [Brut. 370.] C. vero Caesar si foro tautuin vacasset, non alius ex nos- 
 tris contra Ciceronem nominaretur, tanta in eo vis est, id acumen, ea 
 concitatio, ' ut ilium eodem animo dixisse, quo bellavit, appareat. 
 [Quintil. X. 1.] C. Caesar, in libris, quos ad M. Ciceronem de analo* 
 gia conscripsit. [A. Gell. 19. 8. J Quin etiara in raaximis occupa- 
 tionibus cum ad te ipsum, inquit, de ratione Latine loquendi acciira- 
 tissime scripserit. [Brut. 370. vid. it. Sueton. 56.] In Caesare haec 
 sunt, mitis, clemensque natura — accedit, quod rairifice inseniis excel- 
 lentibus, quale tuum est, delectatur — eodera fonte se hausturum in- 
 telligit laudes suas, e quo sit leviter aspersus. — [Ep. Fam. 6. 6.] r^^v 
 B-iav /!jtiyt<;-Tiiv wst' t^iiv tv^avviJa. [Ad Att. 7. 11.] Ipse autem iu ore 
 semper Graecos versus de Phoenissis liabebat — 
 
 Kam si I'olandvm est jus, rfgnandi gratia^ 
 Fiolanduni est : aliis rebus pietatem colas. 
 
 [Offic. 3. 21.] 
 
 Cato dixit, C. Caesarem ad evertendam rempublicam sobrium ae- 
 cessisse. [Quintil. 1. 0. 2.] Abstinentiam neque in imperils neque 
 in masistratibus praestitit — in Gallia Tana, templaque Deumdouis re- 
 ferta expilavit : Urbes diruit, saepiiis ob praedam quam delictum — 
 evidentissimis rapinis ac sacrilegiis onera bcllorum civilium— susti- 
 nuit. [Sueton. c. M. Vid. it. Dio. p. 208.] 
 
 T Vid. Senec. Natur. Quaest. I. 5. 13. p. 7C6. 
 
444 THE LIFE OF sect. viii. 
 
 A. Urb. 709. Cic. 63. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar V. M. Antonius. 
 
 vices, declares him, on the whole, to have been 
 justly killed ;^ which appears to have been the ge- 
 neral sense of the best, the wisest, and the most 
 disinterested in Rome, at the time when the fact 
 was committed. 
 
 The only question which seemed to admit any 
 dispute w^as, whether it ought to have been com- 
 mitted by those who were the leaders in it,t some 
 of whom owed their lives to Caesar, and others 
 has been loaded by him with honours to a degree 
 that helped to increase the popular odium, par- 
 ticularly D. Brutus, who was the most cherished 
 by him of them all, and left by his will the second 
 heir of his estate ? J For, of the two Brutuses, it 
 was not Marcus, as it is commonly imagined, but 
 Decimusj who was the favourite, and whose part 
 in the conspiracy surprised people the most.^ 
 But this circumstance served only for a diiFerent 
 handle to the different parties, for aggravating 
 either their crime or their merit. Caesar's friends 
 charged them with base ingratitude, for killing 
 their benefactor, and abusing the power, which he 
 had given, to file destruction of the giver. The 
 other side gave a contrary turn to it, extolled the 
 greater virtue of the men, for not being diverted, 
 by private considerations, from doing an act of 
 
 * Praegravant lamen caetera facta, dictaqiie ejus, ut et abusus do- 
 minatione et jure caesus existimetur. Sueton. c. 76. 
 
 t Disputari de M. Bruto solet, an debuerit accipere a D. Julio 
 vitam, cum occideiidum eum judicaret. Senec. de Benef. 1. 2. 20. 
 
 t Appian. 2. 518. 
 
 5 Etsi est enim Brutorum commune factum et laudis societas aequa 
 Decirao taraen iratiores erant ii, qui id factum dolebant, quo minus 
 ab eo rem illam dicebaut lieii debuisse. Piiilip. x. 7. 
 
SECT. viii. CICERO. 445 
 
 A- Urb. 709. Cic. 63. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar V. M. Antonius. 
 
 publick benefit. Cicero takes it always in this 
 view, and says, *' That the republick was the more 
 "indebted to them, for preferring the common 
 " good, to the friendship of any man whatsoever ; 
 " that as to the kindness of giving them their life, 
 " it was the kindness only of a robber, who had 
 " first done them the greater wrong, by usurping 
 " the power to take it ; that, if there had been 
 " any stain of ingratitude in the fact, they could 
 " never have acquired so much glory by it ; and 
 '* though he wondered, indeed, at some of them for 
 "doing it, rather than ever imagined that they 
 "would have done it, yet he admired them so 
 " much the more for being regardless of favours, 
 " that they might shew their regard to their coun- 
 "try."^ 
 
 Some of Caesar's friends, particularly Pansa 
 and Hirtius, advised him always to keep a stand- 
 ing guard of praetorian troops, for the defence of 
 his person ; alleging, that a power acquired by 
 arms must necessarily be maintained by arms : but 
 his common answer was, " that he had rather die 
 "once by treachery, than live always in fear of 
 "it."t He lised to laugh at Sylla for restoring 
 
 * Quod est aliud beneficiiim — latronutn, nisi ut corairemorare pos- 
 sint, lis se dedisse vitam, quibiis Don ademerint ? quod si esset bene- 
 ficium, nunquam ii qui ilium interCecrrunt, a quo erant servati, — tan- 
 tam essent gloriam consecuti. Phil. 2. 3. 
 
 Quo etiam majorem ei llespub. gratiam debet, qui libertatcm po- 
 puli Uomani uoius amicitiac praeposuit, depulsorque dominatus quain 
 particeps esse raaluit — admiratus sura ob earn causaiD, quod imme- 
 mor beueficioruin, ineraor patriae fuisset. — lb. 11. 
 
 f Laudandum experientia consilium est Pansae atque Hirtii : qui 
 semper praedixerant Caesari, ut principatura armis quacsitum arniis 
 teneret. Ille dictitans, mori se quam timere malle. Vel. Pat. 2. 57. 
 
 Insidias undique imminentes subire scmel confessum satis esse, 
 quam ravcre semper. Suclon. c. 8G. 
 
446 THE LIFE OF sect, vii 
 
 A. Urb. 709. Cic. 63. Cojs.— C. Julius Caesar V. M. Antonius. 
 
 the liberty of the republick ; and to say in con- 
 tempt of him, '' that he did not know his letters.^" 
 But, as a judicious writer has observed, '' Sylla 
 " had learnt a better grammar than he ; which 
 " taught him to resign his guards, and his govern- 
 " ment together : whereas Caesar, by dismissing 
 " the one, yet retaining the other, committed a 
 " dangerous solecism in politicks ;"t for he strength- 
 ened the popular odium, and consequently his 
 own danger, while he weakened his defence. 
 
 He made several good laws during his adminis- 
 tration, all tending to enforce the publick disci- 
 pline, and extend the penalties of former laws. 
 The most considerable, as well as the most useful 
 of them was, that no praetor should hold any pro- 
 vince more than one year, nor a consul more than 
 two.J This was a regulation that had often been 
 wished for, as Cicero says, in the best of times ; 
 and what one of the ablest dictators of the repub- 
 lick had declared to be its chief security, not to 
 suffer great and arbitrary commands to be of long 
 duration ; but t(j limit them at least in time, if it 
 was not convenient to limit them in power.^ Cae- 
 sar knew, by experience, that the prolongation of 
 
 * Nee minoris impotentiae voces propalain edebat — Syllara nes- 
 cisse litteras, qui dictaturam deposuerit. Sueton. 77. 
 
 f Vid. Sir H. Savile's Dissertat. de Militia Rom. at the end of 
 his translation of Tacitus. 
 
 \ Phil. 1. 8. Sueton. J. Caes..42, 43. 
 
 \ Quae lex melior, utilior, optima etiara Repub. saepius flagitata, 
 quam ne praetoriae provinciae plus quam anuuin, neve plus quam 
 bienuium consulares obtinerentur ? — Phil. 1. 8. 
 
 Maraercus Aemilius— maximam auteni, ait, ejus custodiam esse, si 
 magna imperia diuturna non essent, et temporis modus imponeret'ur. 
 quibus juris imponi non posset. Liv. i. 4. 24. 
 
SECT. VIII. CICERO. 447 
 
 A. Urb. 709. Cic. 63. Coss.— C. Julius Caesar V. M. Antonius. 
 
 these extraordinary commands, and the habit of 
 ruling kingdoms, was the readiest way, not only 
 to inspire a contempt of the laws, but to ^ive a 
 man the power to subvert them ; and he hoped, 
 therefore, by this law, to prevent any other man 
 from doing what he himself had done, and to se- 
 cure his own possession from the attempts of all 
 future invaders. 
 
 END OF VOLUMB SECOND. 
 
I